00:00:04
Matt Waters: The podcast for the inquisitive diver. Hey, they

00:00:06
dive buddies and welcome to the show. I'm super jealous of my

00:00:10
next guest. She's based in the ridiculously spectacular

00:00:12
location that is Ningaloo Reef. A dive pro and dive shop owner.

00:00:17
Kirsten Shepherd also has a pretty epic dad too. We'll chat

00:00:21
about his awesomeness later. For now, Shep. Welcome to the show,

00:00:25
lady.

00:00:26
Kirsten Sheppard: Hey, Matt. Thanks so much. Very well.

00:00:28
Thanks. Thanks for having me. It's pleasure to be here.

00:00:30
Matt Waters: Good, good. And speaking of here, you're not

00:00:33
here because it's freezing on this side of the world, or this

00:00:35
side of Australia standard. We're starting to go into winter

00:00:38
now and I'm getting really chilly. How are you doing over

00:00:40
that side?

00:00:41
Kirsten Sheppard: Still sweating. Still 40 degrees

00:00:44
today. But looking forward to like you're looking forward to

00:00:47
it cooling down a little bit soon.

00:00:49
Matt Waters: Yeah.

00:00:50
Kirsten Sheppard: Sorry about that.

00:00:53
Matt Waters: We've got so much we can talk about in this one.

00:00:56
Much. But let's start with you. Where did the I'm guessing a

00:01:02
might know where the watery kind of scuba diving knowledge came

00:01:07
from. But where did it start?

00:01:10
Kirsten Sheppard: He could probably take a guess. I'm

00:01:14
originally from the UK. And both of my parents are marine

00:01:18
biologists or coral reef ecologists. So I grew up

00:01:23
spending a lot of time overseas, snorkeling, and then when I was

00:01:27
old enough learning to dive I was lucky enough to be able to

00:01:30
do that in the Bahamas, not in the icy waters of the UK. very

00:01:35
fortunate there. So yes, so I started off years ago, diving

00:01:42
and snorkeling all around the world. And it just became a

00:01:45
passion. For a long time, it was just a hobby. And I actually

00:01:51
have a master's in forensic psychology actually. So used to

00:01:54
work as a forensic psychologist in the UK. But realized, after a

00:02:00
while, it wasn't quite for me. And I wanted to go down that the

00:02:04
diving route. And so several years later, and a lot of hard

00:02:09
work. I'm here in Western Australia with a dive company

00:02:14
that I run with my partner.

00:02:16
Matt Waters: Yeah, yeah. And it's it's a location I've not

00:02:19
been to yet and I emphasize yet, but I'm super, super excited.

00:02:24
I'm at least in the same country as whoever it is.

00:02:28
Kirsten Sheppard: Hopefully, we'll get you over soon.

00:02:31
Matt Waters: Now, we do have to mention that little island in

00:02:35
Thailand, Koh tao.

00:02:36
Kirsten Sheppard: Yes, of course.

00:02:38
Matt Waters: And you did your pro training there.

00:02:41
Kirsten Sheppard: I did my pro training there. Yes, I was

00:02:43
already a rescue diver with a few 100 dives under my belt over

00:02:46
the years. But when I got to coetail in Thailand, you know

00:02:50
exactly what I'm talking about. There's a real appeal of this

00:02:52
little island. It's got some great diving, it's got some, you

00:02:55
know, great community and nightlife as well. So what was

00:03:00
meant to be just staying for a few months ended up staying into

00:03:03
nearly two years on the island. And and yes, that's where I did

00:03:07
my instructor training as well met some great people and we

00:03:10
have a lot of mutual friends.

00:03:11
Matt Waters: It appears that we've not actually met yet, but

00:03:15
you know, just looking on social media and it's all the same

00:03:17
people. Got to have a shout down to the octo boys. Questi.

00:03:21
Kirsten Sheppard: Yes, yeah. So, I guess I realized that the

00:03:26
diving industry was something I wanted to pursue and stay into.

00:03:29
And I knew if I didn't leave Kotel sooner rather than later,

00:03:33
I'd never leave, as a lot of people have been coding that. So

00:03:37
came over to Western Australia, while I could still get a

00:03:41
working holiday visa, and what actually started out working on

00:03:46
a worship boat, but really wanted to diving. So I met my

00:03:50
partner and we decided to step that up together. Okay, that was

00:03:53
six years ago or eight years I've been in Australia, but six

00:03:57
years ago, we started up gardening glue. So going for a

00:03:59
little while now.

00:04:02
Matt Waters: Yeah, because we only just missed each other on

00:04:04
Koh Tao because you left in the same year that I arrived. And I

00:04:08
was at the dive shop just down the road from where you are, or

00:04:11
where you were.

00:04:13
Kirsten Sheppard: Think we had a two month over last year.

00:04:18
Matt Waters: And it was the same thing. I mean, I went there for

00:04:20
Well, I went to Southeast Asia to start a trip, a diving trip

00:04:24
for six months on my own just lugging around doing some

00:04:27
diamond and I got to Koh Tao and never left. I was four and a

00:04:32
half years later when I did actually leave and go to Papua

00:04:34
New Guinea.

00:04:36
Kirsten Sheppard: Hopefully is a peaceful place as well. Yeah.

00:04:40
Matt Waters: So yeah, so we got from Koh Tao over to Ningaloo.

00:04:47
And you started what what year was it? You started on? dive

00:04:50
Ningaloo? What year did you open?

00:04:54
Kirsten Sheppard: It was 2014 that we registered and started

00:04:58
up. There's a lot of people work involved in getting a dive

00:05:01
school up and running so you know getting licenses and

00:05:04
accreditation took a while. So that took nearly a year really

00:05:08
to get everything up and running. And the boat we bought

00:05:11
was a dual wrapper in that, you know, it was a good price but it

00:05:17
needed a lot of work doing to it. So a lot of the year was

00:05:21
actually spent refitting the boat and refurbishing everything

00:05:24
and getting it sort of ready for diving and capable for diving.

00:05:29
So I remember actually, the day before our first charter, we

00:05:34
were just laying the carpet getting the final touches in so

00:05:39
yeah, it's definitely a process getting to where we are now.

00:05:42
Matt Waters: Yeah. I bet it was quite unnerving as well. opening

00:05:47
up your first time and getting your first customers on board.

00:05:50
Kirsten Sheppard: Absolutely. Yes. And obviously you wanted to

00:05:55
give everyone the best day possible and so it is very nerve

00:05:59
wracking knowing that you're doing everything right we know

00:06:01
the diving here is great so that sells itself but you know just

00:06:04
making sure that we had everything in place beforehand

00:06:06
the right equipment and everything so yeah, very nerve

00:06:10
wracking, but I feel I know fell into the swing of it pretty

00:06:13
pretty easily.

00:06:13
Matt Waters: Yeah. Welcome that paints a picture for me because

00:06:18
Ningaloo Reef is off broome, correct?

00:06:21
Kirsten Sheppard: No.

00:06:23
Matt Waters: See, I told I told you I wasn't. I wasn't gonna

00:06:26
look at it because I would just want to get it firsthand from

00:06:28
you. Paint me a picture of where it is,

00:06:32
Kirsten Sheppard: unfortunately get crocodiles up in brooms so

00:06:34
that that would not be quite such fun experience. The

00:06:37
Ningaloo Reef is off x now, which is in the northwest of

00:06:41
Australia. It's a little peninsula that sticks out

00:06:46
halfway between Perth and broom, actually. The reef itself is 260

00:06:53
kilometers long. So it's a decent sized reef. Wow. And it's

00:06:57
a fringing reef, which means it's very close to land. I like

00:07:00
the barrier reef, which takes the trouble to get to, you know,

00:07:03
the closest part of the reef where it where it comes in is

00:07:06
really just a few 100 meters offshore. So we're very lucky in

00:07:10
that, you know, it makes it easy for day trips and accessibility.

00:07:14
Unknown: And so exmouth, the town itself, what kind of size

00:07:18
is it?

00:07:20
Kirsten Sheppard: Population fluctuates a lot with a high

00:07:23
season and low season as little as sort of two and a half 1000

00:07:27
people really that's a small town. Yeah.

00:07:30
Matt Waters: So everybody knows everyone

00:07:32
Kirsten Sheppard: everyone knows everyone has its advantages and

00:07:35
disadvantages, as you can imagine. But it can during the

00:07:39
high tourist season, it can get to about six 7000. With with

00:07:43
workers and seasonal workers and things like that. And then even

00:07:47
even more since COVID. And no international travel allowed,

00:07:50
we're finding that we've had a bit of a boost, even from those

00:07:54
numbers. So yeah, yes, little town,

00:07:57
Matt Waters: I was gonna COVID must have been quite good for

00:08:00
wha and people visiting, because one who kind of got locked down

00:08:05
and just closed all the borders. And you didn't you got a lot of

00:08:10
people that can't go anywhere else.

00:08:12
Kirsten Sheppard: I think it pissed off a lot of people in

00:08:13
other states because you tell someone that you can't do

00:08:16
something, they only want to do it. Exactly, yeah, who ever

00:08:19
wanted to come? Obviously, we all got the lockdown, which was

00:08:24
a nerve wracking time for a couple of months when everything

00:08:27
shut down. Or you can only operate with two other people,

00:08:30
which means you can't really run tours, you know, it doesn't work

00:08:33
like that. But once things did open back up, we were all very

00:08:38
surprised because it seemed like the whole of Perth came to x

00:08:40
mouth all in one month. So it was a nice little boost after

00:08:45
quite a nerve wracking time. Obviously, it's had its other

00:08:49
disadvantages in that. It's people from wi which is great,

00:08:54
but it's hard when people from overseas to booked and then

00:08:57
border closures have happened. And so there's been a lot of

00:09:00
cancellations or obviously missing our international market

00:09:04
as well. But really, we're very lucky where we are on the grand

00:09:09
scheme of things. We are probably one of the luckiest

00:09:11
sort of parts of the world to be in tourism. So

00:09:14
Matt Waters: yeah, I'm more than happy that I'm here in Australia

00:09:17
and not in the UK right now. That's for sure.

00:09:20
Kirsten Sheppard: Absolutely. Yes. Well, my family are in the

00:09:22
UK. So it's I'm obviously hearing what's happening to

00:09:25
them. So it's Yeah, makes you feel even luckier. Yeah,

00:09:28
definitely.

00:09:31
Matt Waters: So going on about the town a bit more. As soon as

00:09:33
I've got a goat beer in my hand. What's it what's what's the

00:09:37
nightlife like though man, is it? Is it large enough to have a

00:09:39
selection of bars or is it everyone go to bed at nine

00:09:42
o'clock at night ready for diamond the next day?

00:09:44
Kirsten Sheppard: No, you can definitely find a party in Exner

00:09:47
for sure. Okay. There's there's a number of bars, there's

00:09:50
probably about five bars. But there's two microbreweries as

00:09:54
well that do some great beer and great pizzas and things like

00:09:59
that. so and they always have live music or comedy nights or

00:10:04
bands that have been traveling around australia to come and

00:10:07
visit so i think we even had the world record breaker with

00:10:11
cracker in one time so you get a good variety of of performances

00:10:18
there but also good night yeah definitely a party around did

00:10:21
you hire him

00:10:22
Matt Waters: straightaway crack the whip on the on the staff

00:10:25
great

00:10:25
Kirsten Sheppard: entertainment on the boat

00:10:29
longest week crack or fastest whip crack or something

00:10:32
impressive he was he was very good

00:10:38
Matt Waters: the seasons over there

00:10:40
Kirsten Sheppard: we do operate all year round ourselves but it

00:10:43
is definitely a seasonal town we don't have a wet season it's

00:10:47
desert it's dry always we do have a cyclone season luckily

00:10:51
we're on the edge of it so we're it's very unusual for us to see

00:10:54
cyclone does mean we occasionally get some rain

00:10:56
dumped on us

00:10:57
Matt Waters: you were getting into a cyclone when we first

00:11:01
started to chat about coming on the podcast

00:11:03
Kirsten Sheppard: i believe so yes

00:11:07
Unknown: i'll speak to you in a few days after the cyclones

00:11:11
Kirsten Sheppard: it was coming straight for us and we got

00:11:14
everything packed away took the roof and the clears off the boat

00:11:17
which is a pain in the ass to get back on and then last minute

00:11:20
it skirted around us so it was kind of all for nothing bit of

00:11:24
an anticlimax actually but but obviously very lucky that there

00:11:27
was no high winds and damage to the town so yeah that's when we

00:11:32
get rain but otherwise it summers are hot summers mid 40s

00:11:37
to high 40s most days and winters do cooled down but it's

00:11:43
still still shorts and t shirts in the day but it does get quite

00:11:45
cold at night and it's the winter months that we get the

00:11:49
big marine life the megafauna that comes through so well shark

00:11:53
season which is what the ningaloo reef i guess is most

00:11:56
famous for even though that snorkeling not diving is

00:12:00
studying now starts around mid march and depending on the

00:12:04
whalesharks usually follows through to august september time

00:12:08
okay we do get some mentors all year round but you'll see big

00:12:12
numbers sort of from may onwards may to sort of the end of the

00:12:16
year october november and then of course we get our humpback

00:12:19
whale migration as well and we get a huge amount of humpbacks

00:12:22
come through and that's usually we start to see them around june

00:12:25
but usually july in the big numbers again through to sort of

00:12:28
november october november so that's when we get the big stuff

00:12:32
but of course we get we get turtles all year round during

00:12:36
the summer months is when they're nesting and hatching so

00:12:38
all through sort of november to march they're either nesting on

00:12:41
the beach or i've seen a few times in the last few weeks and

00:12:44
seen the eruption of babies hatching which is just

00:12:47
incredible every time you see it so even if you come outside of

00:12:51
the the peak season there's a lot of amazing brain activity

00:12:55
Matt Waters: you mentioned that the whale sharks is snorkeling

00:12:57
only what's that what's the background to that is that just

00:13:00
to protect the animals or just not to have too many lunatics

00:13:04
scuba diving all over the place

00:13:06
Kirsten Sheppard: probably it's i mean logistically it

00:13:08
would be very hard to dive they're usually on the surface

00:13:12
and swimming quite quickly so you know you're swimming along

00:13:15
next to them if you had scuba gear on that would be pretty

00:13:18
difficult also most of you who get on the tours you know

00:13:21
generally snorkel is not divers so it makes it a lot more

00:13:24
accessible to everyone but i guess you're sometimes the whale

00:13:28
sharks do dive you're out way off the reef possibly in 100

00:13:32
meters of water if they start to dive you'd get people following

00:13:35
them down the disaster so snorkeling is just logistically

00:13:39
much easier in and out the water you hop in and out several times

00:13:43
chasing after the shark and and it's on the surface so

00:13:49
Matt Waters: and there's a they migratory adults are they

00:13:52
juveniles now you see

00:13:53
Kirsten Sheppard: they're mainly juveniles we do get some bigger

00:13:56
ones but majority of the ones you see are juveniles around

00:14:00
that sort of five meter mark and majority of males again you do

00:14:04
get females as well but a lot of research going into where they

00:14:09
go outside of the whaleshark season and why just the the type

00:14:14
that we get why the juveniles were or the the breeding females

00:14:18
so they're doing a lot of tagging and things to try and

00:14:20
figure out where they are

00:14:22
Matt Waters: well you know, is there a team down there?

00:14:25
Kirsten Sheppard: no there's there is organizations that do

00:14:28
taking yes but the spotters that work on worship boats can also

00:14:34
remove the tags if they do see whale sharks with them and

00:14:36
collect them as well

00:14:37
Unknown: okay that sounds cool does mum and dad get involved in

00:14:44
that at all

00:14:46
Kirsten Sheppard: i'm not in the whale sharks so i did work on

00:14:50
whaleshark boats when i first got here but as i said mr diving

00:14:54
and they're they're mainly coral reef ecologists rather than mega

00:14:58
fauna so They they love the reef and that's what they're really

00:15:03
interested in. Give them a piece of coral over Wireshark any day

00:15:07
for sure. Really? Yeah. There's some great coral here

00:15:10
too.

00:15:11
Matt Waters: Yeah, yeah, I'm sure.

00:15:13
Kirsten Sheppard: I just realized I hadn't put you on Do

00:15:16
Not Disturb. So I just

00:15:19
Matt Waters: you can wind up buying a case of Goat if that

00:15:21
went off, you know?

00:15:24
Kirsten Sheppard: That I caught it in time.

00:15:26
Surely that stuff's any any cheap. It is.

00:15:31
Matt Waters: Well, so cheap. It's like 20 bucks for six cans.

00:15:35
Which when I got into Australia three years ago, might 20 bucks

00:15:38
for six beers. That's outrageous. You know?

00:15:40
Kirsten Sheppard: Yeah. 20 Thanks for that. Exactly. Yeah,

00:15:44
yeah.

00:15:44
Matt Waters: So frankly, over here, but it's even more

00:15:46
expensive over there, isn't it? On the

00:15:48
Kirsten Sheppard: way she is? It is there is. We joke that

00:15:52
there's a bit of an exchange rate at the W a border is a bit

00:15:56
more expensive. I think it's all relative with oil and gas and

00:15:59
things. Some people are earning some big wages over here. So

00:16:03
yes, it does make things sometimes a bit a bit more

00:16:06
challenging.

00:16:07
Matt Waters: I suppose logistically as well, because if

00:16:09
you're that far away from Perth, because you've got to fly from

00:16:11
Perth, we need to get up to broom and then come down to you

00:16:13
guys. Is that right?

00:16:15
Kirsten Sheppard: You can fly directly from Perth to x mouse.

00:16:17
Okay. It's under two hour flight. Now I'm 45 Qantas fly.

00:16:22
And during the peak season, there's two flights a day. So

00:16:25
it's pretty easy. If you drive it's 12 160 kilometers, so it's

00:16:31
gonna take you a good good full day to get there. People usually

00:16:36
stop off on the way like stop off there to Cal berry or Shark

00:16:39
Bay on the way and split it over two to three days. But I have

00:16:43
done that trip in one day, many many times too many times. And

00:16:47
it's it's an easy drive because it's long straight roads but

00:16:52
have nothing it's just a bush So

00:16:54
Matt Waters: no, that's where a Tesla would come in handy. Stick

00:16:57
it in Drive and just go and you can have a little siesta on

00:17:00
Route and not have to worry about it sleep

00:17:01
Kirsten Sheppard: watch a movie that's

00:17:05
Matt Waters: when I do come over I'm gonna fly

00:17:08
Kirsten Sheppard: much easier. Yeah.

00:17:10
It's a good road trip though. I mean, there's lots to see off

00:17:11
the wha coastline on the way up so got to do at least once

00:17:13
depending on your timings.

00:17:17
Matt Waters: Well, maybe maybe I wouldn't say got to just right

00:17:21
now. I just got to get

00:17:26
Kirsten Sheppard: flying Cz and the airport's 25 minutes out of

00:17:28
town so it's Yeah.

00:17:31
Matt Waters: Now we did briefly touch on the point you've got

00:17:36
some exciting stuff going on with dive Ningaloo? Like a

00:17:42
little boat coming in?

00:17:44
Kirsten Sheppard: as little boat. Yes.

00:17:46
Matt Waters: Not so little boat, I should say.

00:17:48
Kirsten Sheppard: biggest of all our boats. But yeah, 24 meters.

00:17:52
So decent sized boat. That's mine. Yes. So our new project we

00:17:56
are launching a liveaboard something we've been talking

00:18:02
about for a while. And then just the right boat came along. The

00:18:07
timing wasn't right with COVID. We bought the boat Two months

00:18:10
later, we went into lockdown going What have we done. But

00:18:15
that's an exciting project. Again, a do a wrapper with seem

00:18:20
to be a big fan of it at the time. And then when we're

00:18:22
actually doing it, we're like Why? Again? But you know,

00:18:28
obviously it's financially you know, buying a boat that's

00:18:30
really due up not only is it financially the better option,

00:18:33
but you can also then pick how you want it to be done. Exactly.

00:18:37
You can design it, you've got a blank slate.

00:18:39
Matt Waters: You put your own stamp on it.

00:18:42
Kirsten Sheppard: Exactly. So that's what I'm telling myself

00:18:43
right now that we're in the process of doing it up. This is

00:18:47
the preferred option, honestly. So yes, so we bought her. Yeah,

00:18:53
back in January. And then obviously just she sat in in

00:18:58
ovaries for a while as we couldn't get her. And then we

00:19:02
had a great fun trip mid of last year bringing her from Cannes

00:19:07
round which brought her in Harvey Bay, bringing her around

00:19:10
to x now so we got stopped and see the beautiful Kimberly on

00:19:13
the way round and made a great trip of it. And yeah, so we're

00:19:18
we're still getting the equipment ready and everything

00:19:20
on her but if all goes to plan, then she will be ready to run

00:19:26
our first charters at the end of this year. We're launching in

00:19:29
December.

00:19:29
Matt Waters: Amazing. And how many other liveaboards are in

00:19:33
the area.

00:19:35
Kirsten Sheppard: Um, there's another liveaboard in Coral Bay.

00:19:39
It is a smaller one. It's the sailing boat and they do diving

00:19:41
and snorkeling. So we're hoping to just we're doing dedicated

00:19:46
dive boat only seven night trips, four or five times a day.

00:19:51
So some nights there'll be a night dive included as well. So

00:19:54
you'll really get a good diving fix throughout the week.

00:19:58
Otherwise, there's this No others in this area. You know,

00:20:01
there's a lot of liveaboards up in the Kimberley, but there's no

00:20:03
diving up there with the crocs and ripping current. So they're

00:20:07
all sightseeing ones. So there's definitely a gap in the market.

00:20:10
So

00:20:11
Matt Waters: sure, Kimberly's, you can only dive it like, is it

00:20:14
six weeks out of the year or something like that? and dive

00:20:18
boats that do go out there but a very small window.

00:20:21
Kirsten Sheppard: They they typically as far as I'm aware,

00:20:24
there's no diving, because they still get sued of their 10 meter

00:20:27
tides and whirlpools which we witnessed, bringing the boat

00:20:32
round. You ever been in a whirlpool? it's exhilarating. To

00:20:35
say the least. The Rowley shoals has got diving as well.

00:20:39
Matt Waters: That's the one we might see the geography still

00:20:45
off. It's Rowley shoals I was thinking of.

00:20:46
Kirsten Sheppard: Yes. Yep.

00:20:48
Matt Waters: So you're effectively going to be the only

00:20:51
dedicated scuba diving liveaboard in town.

00:20:55
Kirsten Sheppard: Yes, correct. Yeah. And it's going to be nine

00:20:59
double cabins. They're being built. And all on suites. All on

00:21:07
suite. So nice high end luxury, you know, doing it, doing it.

00:21:11
Well. Nice luxury, high end liveaboard Hot Tub on the back

00:21:15
deck. cocktail bar. very civilized. Everything you want

00:21:19
when you book diving holiday, nice. All Nitrox on board. And

00:21:26
yeah, so we're still figuring out a lot of the details. So I'm

00:21:31
releasing some more details soon in the next couple of months.

00:21:34
Once we finalize pricing and itinerary and things like that,

00:21:37
but in the next couple of months people be able to start booking.

00:21:40
Matt Waters: Awesome. Well, in that case, looking at this

00:21:44
calendar I've got in front of me, so I want to see whalesharks

00:21:49
because the missus has seen whale sharks over your side, but

00:21:52
just snorkeling never on scuba. Possible see one if we're going

00:21:57
to do liveaboards you never know.

00:22:00
Kirsten Sheppard: You never know.

00:22:02
Matt Waters: whales. I love seeing whales even just the nice

00:22:06
just think instantly Finding Dory that's great. answers.

00:22:11
Dolphins. Okay, I want July. July is a good month to get get

00:22:15
them all together Big Three for sure. Yes. And the humpback

00:22:18
whales. I most dives we hear their song underwater. And it's

00:22:23
just magical. really is and when they close you can you can

00:22:28
actually feel this song vibrating in your chest. It's

00:22:30
that loud. Yeah, it's a very special moment when you first

00:22:34
realize that humpback whale song isn't amazing. I've only

00:22:38
experienced them in South Africa where it was really shivers but

00:22:42
I got my I had my camera on record ready to go just in case

00:22:47
they passed by. And I left it running. I know you can see his

00:22:50
ship is but you can hear the noise and it's just so relaxing.

00:22:54
It's it's an amazing sensation.

00:23:00
Kirsten Sheppard: I saw that your sleep sounds that you fall

00:23:01
asleep.

00:23:02
Matt Waters: It's ingrained in my brain. I tell you I don't

00:23:04
even need to turn it on on the brain.

00:23:09
Kirsten Sheppard: Well, I have been on dives and head of fright

00:23:13
when I look up and there's a humpback whale swimming past me

00:23:16
and your your clothes fi and then they pop up so and then

00:23:21
massive. You know that's really quite something to see

00:23:23
underwater, but it does sometimes happen. They're

00:23:25
curious and they just feel bubbles and sintesi and check

00:23:28
you out and then swim off. So

00:23:30
Matt Waters: there's been some amazing photos taken over there

00:23:32
with humpbacks in there. Yes, there has.

00:23:35
Kirsten Sheppard: Yes.

00:23:37
Matt Waters: All I know. Was it that one. Was it was it Davey

00:23:41
Palfrey that got some awesome shots or was he was that Tonga?

00:23:44
Okay, remember?

00:23:45
Unknown: Tonga is a hot spot as well. Wonderful.

00:23:50
Matt Waters: Davey Palfrey. He's now in Bahamas where you

00:23:55
started today. Okay, he's doing a Bimini sharpening. Tangent man

00:24:00
here goes away. Obviously the other guy, Alex. Alex kid.

00:24:06
That's the one. Yeah, he's got some amazing photos. Nice,

00:24:10
sensational. And there's I've seen quite a few photos in the

00:24:16
past where it looks relatively shallow and over sand. And it

00:24:20
was was it tigershark? Or maybe? Yeah, really. I've only ever

00:24:27
seen one tiger shark. And that was in Galapagos Galapagos a

00:24:30
couple years ago. And I was almost crying in my mask was not

00:24:34
happy. But at the same time. It's the first time I had kind

00:24:38
of gotten asked which wasn't expected to see it.

00:24:44
Kirsten Sheppard: bull sharks will do that to me. But no, we

00:24:46
get we get quite a lot of Tiger sharks. I mean, there's a lot of

00:24:49
turtles here. They're well fed. They're not, not anything to

00:24:53
worry about. But yet we we see them on diets and they're

00:24:57
beautiful, very curious, very placid. Nice. Let's get your

00:25:02
Hammerhead here to

00:25:03
Matt Waters: really

00:25:07
Kirsten Sheppard: go ahead and sculpt. Yep that's the beauty of

00:25:11
the Ningaloo you never know what will turn up yeah, it's still

00:25:13
getting surprised after eight years of diving here I'm still

00:25:17
seeing new stuff whether it's little nudibranches I've not

00:25:20
seen before or whether it's yeah Hammerhead swim past me on a

00:25:23
diet. It's Yeah, it's just a special

00:25:26
Matt Waters: I love seeing macro well I love all of it. But we do

00:25:29
a lot of macro diving around here. And the missus jazz she's

00:25:33
not that interested in macro. But I caught her was a couple

00:25:36
months ago. We're on a dive just off Colonel and I just had to

00:25:40
look over to see what she was up to. And she had a GoPro filming

00:25:43
and at Bank of not that I forget it and I'm never gonna let her

00:25:46
Forget it.

00:25:50
Kirsten Sheppard: I wonder how many manta rays and sharks I've

00:25:53
missed just swimming over the top of my head while I'm staring

00:25:55
at the slipper nudibranch

00:25:59
Matt Waters: I was working with it a DM years ago. In fact, it

00:26:04
was Ko Tao. And we were off the deep side if you can call it

00:26:08
deep side of twins. And I'm a little bit further out from him.

00:26:12
And he's he's literally got his face in the wall looking for

00:26:16
nudie banks. He's one of those that he just loves the macro.

00:26:19
And all of a sudden, you know, this shadow comes over and as

00:26:23
well sharp. So I'm thinking the tank thing big, big, big thing.

00:26:27
And looking down trying to get Steven trying to get his

00:26:30
attention. And he he almost whipped around looking at a

00:26:34
scowl through his mask straight back to his money disturbing

00:26:38
Kirsten Sheppard: me for

00:26:41
Matt Waters: a bloody idiot. Oh, yeah. Look at this Nudibranchs

00:26:45
Kirsten Sheppard: jacket twins. Great. My very first Whaleshark

00:26:49
I saw was at Green Rock in Koh Tao.

00:26:52
Matt Waters: So that was quite a hot spot actually green rock.

00:26:54
Kirsten Sheppard: Okay. In current how it through my as I'm

00:26:57
chasing past this after this thing. It was great.

00:27:02
Matt Waters: Going back to the liveaboard Let's do let's do a

00:27:06
scuba go trip next July.

00:27:09
Kirsten Sheppard: Okay, let's do it. Sounds good.

00:27:11
Matt Waters: Yeah, I've got lots of people that would be keen on

00:27:13
that. There's a couple that will be listening to this podcast

00:27:16
that have just been on me for the last couple of months. When

00:27:18
when do we go? What should we do? When it's finally here? We

00:27:22
go with her. So yeah, salvo Yeah.

00:27:27
Kirsten Sheppard: We can take 18 of you. Happy Days, nine, nine

00:27:30
double cabins or they can be twins as well. So you know 18

00:27:34
scuba goats. Yeah, coming my way.

00:27:38
Matt Waters: A lot of fun.

00:27:40
Kirsten Sheppard: Awesome. And I will try and lock in the Big

00:27:41
Three for you then. Oh,

00:27:43
Matt Waters: yeah, see what I can do. Yeah, just text them.

00:27:45
Make sure that they turn up

00:27:47
Kirsten Sheppard: arranger arrange to meet time, no worries.

00:27:51
Matt Waters: That should be should be really exciting,

00:27:52
though, isn't it? Because you're gonna have so much freedom,

00:27:54
rather than going to the particular dive locations that

00:27:58
you do for sure you've got that freedom to roam.

00:28:00
Kirsten Sheppard: I'm so excited about that. Obviously, after all

00:28:03
these years of diving, you know, I still love the dive sites. And

00:28:06
there's some incredible dives. But I'm excited to explore new

00:28:09
territory being daytrips you'll see this so far you can get and

00:28:13
do dives and come back in a day. with seven nights we can we can

00:28:17
go pretty far and explore, explore parts where there's

00:28:21
going to be you know, no one's going to die for years.

00:28:25
Matt Waters: Yeah, I've when I was working up in Papua New

00:28:27
Guinea, I was one of the kickers of the job was that if there was

00:28:31
no guests around, or they just decided that they wanted to have

00:28:34
a sister instead, we could just go out and take a dive boat out

00:28:38
and the reefs were just countless. So you know just find

00:28:43
a reef jump in see what's there.

00:28:45
Kirsten Sheppard: It's any good? It's naturally the GPS Yeah, to

00:28:49
explore new spots. Yeah. So hopefully we'll find some, some

00:28:52
great typography in some some great walls and bombs and things

00:28:56
that we can add to our list. So yeah, the first we're going to

00:29:00
be doing a lot of exploring ourselves that the first few

00:29:02
trips are also going to be that so it's you know, I think every

00:29:05
trip will say to the guests All right, this is a new spot. Let

00:29:08
us know if it's good. It looks good on the sounder. Let me know

00:29:12
it's down there. So I think that's going to be quite

00:29:14
exciting to get as well to go Okay, well, no one's ever done

00:29:16
it before. Let's

00:29:17
Matt Waters: Yeah,

00:29:17
Kirsten Sheppard: let's check it out. And it's the Ningaloo you

00:29:19
can't really have a bad dive. So

00:29:22
Matt Waters: sounds so good.

00:29:24
Kirsten Sheppard: Where were you in Papua New Guinea out of

00:29:25
interest.

00:29:26
Matt Waters: I was at Tufi Resort. It's on the northern or

00:29:31
north eastern coastline of the main island. So you go you go

00:29:36
into Port Moresby, and it's like a 15 minute flight. going north.

00:29:41
To Fear Itself sits it sits on top of the almost rock faces of

00:29:46
the IRAs or the fjords as people call them, which is incorrect

00:29:50
because it's not in Sweden or anything like that. It's an IRA.

00:29:54
But it's very interesting there as well. And in fact, your mum

00:29:58
and dad, if ever they got the Opportunity send them to to fee.

00:30:02
If the coral heads, they will absolutely bloody love it

00:30:05
because it's got almost like three stages of perfection to

00:30:11
deterioration by man. So writing close to land, it's all been

00:30:18
over fish by the local villages, and all the rubbish has gone in

00:30:21
over the years. So you don't have massive amounts of big

00:30:26
species. And the coral tends to have a lot of algae on it, and

00:30:29
it's almost dead, you know. But then you go the inner reefs,

00:30:32
which are about 4k, offshore, and there's nowhere near as much

00:30:37
algae but a few more fish and a few more big stuff. But then you

00:30:41
get to the outer reefs, which are 20k. And it sounds like a

00:30:45
hell of a journey. But, you know, if you're not there in

00:30:48
winter time, then it's it's glass flat Anyway, you get out

00:30:52
there, and you'd be forgiven for thinking that you're jumping

00:30:55
into a virgin water that someone's never seen before.

00:30:57
It's beautiful. And the corals you just probably would want to

00:31:04
mainline to the boat and just stay there forever. It's a

00:31:07
fantastic location.

00:31:08
Kirsten Sheppard: Well, you're reading the Coral Triangle there

00:31:10
so 18 months ago, my partner went to Papua New Guinea we went

00:31:13
to betclan we could travel pre COVID we went to kavieng we went

00:31:19
to rebel when he was born actually and so so did a few

00:31:26
days around there and he had corals stunning.

00:31:28
Matt Waters: Yeah, it is. Yeah, there's quite a bit. In fact

00:31:32
kavieng do dolphins and stuff like that? That is Kakapo up

00:31:36
that way

00:31:38
Kirsten Sheppard: um we Kapow

00:31:43
Matt Waters: you might be familiar there's quite a few

00:31:49
quite a few small islands off the coastline and shallow ranks

00:31:53
and stuff like that.

00:31:54
Kirsten Sheppard: Yes, yes lovely Japanese planes and Rex

00:31:57
Yeah.

00:31:59
Matt Waters: Well to fee if you imagine the coastline between

00:32:05
two wildly which is the furthest to the east along the main

00:32:11
coastline of Papua New Guinea. And then to fee between the two

00:32:16
is the famous blackjack dive the world war two record 48 meters.

00:32:23
And that's that's that's a dive and a half to beautiful. I've

00:32:29
not done KVM yet, though.

00:32:32
Kirsten Sheppard: Beautiful place. Yeah, highly recommended.

00:32:34
Yeah, really nice. After after the Ningaloo.

00:32:37
Matt Waters: Yeah, yeah, we'll do it. We'll do a skip, skip go

00:32:41
trip to the Ningaloo and then we'll do a skip ego trip to sci

00:32:44
fi to alien cave Yang. Okay.

00:32:46
Kirsten Sheppard: Yeah, I'll join you on that one.

00:32:49
Matt Waters: Excellent. Now, what I did, what I did want to

00:32:53
ask is, or just ask, or just actually just give a bloody good

00:32:59
shout out to all you guys over on the West Coast because it was

00:33:04
not too long ago that the subsea seven proposals were withdrawn.

00:33:11
Kirsten Sheppard: Right, yes.

00:33:13
Matt Waters: I'll let you backfill that once.

00:33:18
Kirsten Sheppard: A subsea seven was a oil and gas project

00:33:22
basically to build a bundle pipeline onshore, and then

00:33:29
launch it via a small sort of railway pipeline into the water

00:33:35
where it was then floated out to various guests that forms off

00:33:40
the coast. Where they were looking at doing it was in the

00:33:43
Ningaloo Gulf, Gulf Gulf. And it's a real nursery, the

00:33:49
ectomorph Gulf. And there's a lot of research not done on it,

00:33:53
you know, we're still finding out that there's actually some

00:33:55
endangered species, a small fish in the Exmouth Gulf is a

00:33:57
breeding ground for do gongs and humpback whales. So, of course,

00:34:01
there was a lot of concern, what this would do to the local

00:34:05
environment. So there was a big push from protecting glue, and

00:34:10
the KIPP conservation group to to really get it out to to the

00:34:17
public knowledge and to actually get the EPA the Environmental

00:34:21
Protection done on it. Basically, they decided they

00:34:26
need more information and then subsea seven did pull out that

00:34:29
um, I did do my fair share of banner waving and he's like that

00:34:34
at the time just to get just to raise awareness of of the area

00:34:38
because x North Gulf is is a spectacular place. And actually

00:34:41
we do we do dives in the Gulf as well. A lot of soft corals, we

00:34:45
get sponge gardens and things like that, and it's an

00:34:48
incredible marine life, the visibility is lower. But you can

00:34:51
see very clearly the diversity and the amount of marine life

00:34:56
and especially juvenile, fish and mammals as well. In this so

00:35:00
it's it's yeah obviously it's a very sensitive subject in that

00:35:06
two sides of it in terms of jobs and development of x now, but

00:35:11
for me it was definitely a win for the environment. Yeah,

00:35:14
definitely.

00:35:15
Matt Waters: Well it is. There's there is two sides to it, but

00:35:18
Sod 'em sorry, people hate me for that I don't care, if we get

00:35:24
rid of everything in the oceans and there's nothing left of this

00:35:26
planet anyway. So you know,

00:35:28
Kirsten Sheppard: and I feel that's a bit of the appeal of x

00:35:30
mouth You know, there's a lot of small quaint little lovely towns

00:35:34
in in Western Australia, but in the northwest it is dominated

00:35:37
largely by mining and oil and gas towns. So you know, we're

00:35:41
one of the last few towns in the northwest that that isn't has

00:35:45
that as one of the major industries tourism is a major

00:35:48
industry so it's, you know, I think it's nice to keep it that

00:35:52
way as well.

00:35:54
Matt Waters: Keep it that way forever. They can they can go

00:35:57
and do their oil and gas stuff elsewhere

00:36:00
Kirsten Sheppard: as well so they've moved on so I'm sure

00:36:02
they found somewhere else where they'll where they'll do it

00:36:04
where there's already the setup as well. So yeah, that

00:36:08
definitely was definitely was a win for the for tourism and also

00:36:12
of course all the marine marine creatures here. Yeah. Yeah.

00:36:15
Could do gongs.

00:36:17
Matt Waters: Yeah, it's not like they could get out of the way

00:36:19
too quick, is it? No. Um, hey, but I didn't that was quite a

00:36:28
few questions actually, that I got from a lot of people was

00:36:31
about accommodation over in Ningaloo. It's all old hotels

00:36:36
and guest houses and that kind of thing.

00:36:38
Kirsten Sheppard: huge variety. You've got luxury resorts,

00:36:43
you've got hotel motel style options. You've got campsites in

00:36:48
town where you can get either a chalet or obviously camp if

00:36:53
you've got a tent or a camper van, and then down in the

00:36:56
national parks or the cape range National Park is just a 30

00:36:59
minute drive from x mouse over to the west side of the cape.

00:37:03
And there's some amazing bush camping in the cat range as well

00:37:07
and just snorkeling right off the beach there so yeah, a big

00:37:10
range for those of you that want the the bush camping or those

00:37:13
you want the resort with the pool and cocktails, and

00:37:16
everything in between

00:37:17
Matt Waters: happy days.

00:37:18
Kirsten Sheppard: Lots of lots of options and of course heaps

00:37:20
of holiday homes that at the moment as well. So

00:37:23
Matt Waters: at the moment

00:37:25
Kirsten Sheppard: at the moment Yeah, that's another story for

00:37:27
the day.

00:37:28
Matt Waters: What was it all was it all headed ship? what's

00:37:32
what's the long term goals for dive Ningaloo?

00:37:35
Kirsten Sheppard: A dive Ningaloo on the spot? Yeah.

00:37:39
Okay. Well, we're very happy doing a day tours, which our

00:37:43
boat goes out every day and dives Northern Ireland's

00:37:47
Ningaloo Reef, lighthouse Bay. We also have the exclusive

00:37:51
license for diving on the Navy Pier, which you may have heard

00:37:55
about the Navy Pier. voted Yeah, concentrated on the top 10

00:37:59
dives. It is incredible because of its diversity. That's what

00:38:03
it's very famous for it is a low of visibility dive. You know, if

00:38:08
you've got eight meters, it's good day average is about five.

00:38:11
But the sheer amount of fish life under there just just

00:38:15
Trumps any visibility.

00:38:16
Matt Waters: I was watching a little bit of Facebook stalking

00:38:19
earlier today. And I look at one of the videos from a few months

00:38:22
ago. And it was a journalist of some sort that was going for a

00:38:26
dive there. And that you've got a grip of that. Yeah, it's it's

00:38:34
a little bit big. 150 kilos, correct. 120 kilos, it must be

00:38:43
Kirsten Sheppard: two and a half meters long, 2.3 meters long and

00:38:46
yeah, he's huge. And he can be boisterous as well. He's um,

00:38:50
he's got personality here. You know, when you dive in Long You

00:38:54
got a feeling you're being watched or whatever and you look

00:38:56
over your shoulder and and he's there from you just staring at

00:39:00
you. He's particularly active on a night dive as well. I've

00:39:03
actually been pushed out the way I've been looking at a fish with

00:39:06
my torch and he's pushed me out the way to come in and eat that

00:39:09
fish that I'm shining my torch on which kill a bit bad which

00:39:16
makes it a great experience but he's great some days he's a

00:39:21
little more in social interest. You can see him up at the top

00:39:24
cruising around the pylons, but Sundays he will actually get up

00:39:27
close and personal. Yeah. We call him BFG Big Friendly groper

00:39:33
Matt Waters: friendly.

00:39:34
Kirsten Sheppard: Yeah, very friendly.

00:39:37
But yeah, huge amount of Marine life. I mean, she just calls it

00:39:40
Ravallion Barracuda, and then you've just got so many

00:39:43
different species of nudibranch there as well. So from the big

00:39:46
to the small it we really, it covers it all. And we can do

00:39:50
deep dives and night dives there as well. And during the winter

00:39:53
months when the water gets cooler, down to 20 degrees that

00:39:56
I was telling you about so to get so jealous about as hot 28

00:40:00
at the moment, it does get cooler here, sometimes we get

00:40:03
our greener shocks coming through as well. So a decent

00:40:07
population of those under the pier. So, and regular sightings

00:40:11
of those, so most twins, and you've got

00:40:15
Matt Waters: exclusive diving there

00:40:17
Kirsten Sheppard: do Yes, we do. Yes, it is yes.

00:40:21
Matt Waters: And certainly a way to control the amount of divers

00:40:24
in the water as well. And

00:40:26
Kirsten Sheppard: absolutely. And you also have, I mean, it's

00:40:28
the sanctuary. So people, you know, driving passing boats have

00:40:31
to pass quite some distance away. So it is protected. It's

00:40:35
actually an active military base as well. So we're limited on the

00:40:38
number of people we can take, because obviously, it has to go

00:40:41
through the fence land and through secure areas. But you

00:40:47
know, being a sanctuary zone, you really tell you know,

00:40:49
there's huge blue bones down there and coral trout, and often

00:40:52
the divers are looking around and looking at me, I'm rubbing

00:40:54
their bellies. But we can actually only dive on the slack

00:41:01
quarter so you can get some some big currents around there. So at

00:41:04
slac quarter, it's beautiful conditions to jump in. But that

00:41:09
also kind of adds to the limit of when you can dive daily as

00:41:12
well. So it's a different time every day.

00:41:15
Matt Waters: Yeah, yeah. So all of the locations that you've

00:41:18
dived in the era of Ningaloo, which is your favorite

00:41:25
Kirsten Sheppard: question. That's a hard one. Um, look, the

00:41:29
Navy, the Navy Pier is great for the diversity. It really is. You

00:41:32
know, people are filling out their logbooks, and they they

00:41:34
run out of space in the note section. There's, there's just

00:41:38
so much the mute the soft coral at the murin Islands is

00:41:44
stunning. And maybe there's an inference from my parents, but

00:41:47
you know, they come up from a dive and they said, Wow, that

00:41:49
surf curl is just incredible. And some of the largest soft

00:41:54
corals they've seen before anywhere in the world. So you

00:41:57
know that that really is special and very different from the rest

00:41:59
of the Ningaloo, which is a lot more hard coral and search

00:42:03
channels and things like that. But then, then on the west side

00:42:08
and lighthouse phase, you know, you get this sharks, I haven't

00:42:10
answered that question at all. However,

00:42:12
Matt Waters: none of them

00:42:15
Kirsten Sheppard: every day, it's so good.

00:42:17
And of course, you know, if you dive it enough, you know, you

00:42:20
see a bit of everything and some days obviously clearer than

00:42:23
others. Oh, yeah. All of them. What a rubbish answer. Yeah,

00:42:29
Matt Waters: yeah. very precise. Well,

00:42:32
Kirsten Sheppard: politically correct. Maybe?

00:42:34
Matt Waters: Well, we got it. We've got to put a little bit of

00:42:35
balance on it as well, because a bit a little bit of focus on

00:42:39
what you've just said. Your dad saying that. It's some of the

00:42:43
biggest corals and all that kind of thing that he's seen. Yeah.

00:42:48
For those people who don't know of Shep's dad, Shep's dad is

00:42:52
also known as Professor Charles Shepard, OBE. And he he was

00:42:59
fundamental in creating correct me if I'm wrong, but he was

00:43:03
fundamental in creating the largest marine reserve. Yes.

00:43:11
Kirsten Sheppard: Yeah, no, take marine park in the world at I

00:43:14
think blue still now. So yeah. And the shaker said,

00:43:17
archipelago, my parents have been there for decades, spanning

00:43:23
sort of four decades of work there. They still go every year.

00:43:28
Obviously, they haven't been last year with with COVID. But

00:43:33
yeah, it's been a lot of hard work into this area and, and

00:43:37
that the OP ob was recognition for that work as well. But yeah,

00:43:42
they cornered they love it. And they've obviously seen huge

00:43:47
changes over time as well. Not necessarily for the best. But,

00:43:54
you know, the shaker archipelago, you can get to

00:43:57
privately you know, can't fly there. It's the US as British

00:44:00
Indian Ocean territory, but there's a US based on Diego

00:44:03
Garcia, the largest island and although you can sail there from

00:44:07
maybe Seychelles, it's a long way away. It's in the middle of

00:44:09
the Indian Ocean, so you can't get there. So it really, you

00:44:13
know, at the start of their career diving that was pristine.

00:44:16
Yeah.

00:44:17
Matt Waters: Yeah. Anyone that doesn't know the Chagos

00:44:19
archipelago it ch ag o 's just Google it and look on the maps

00:44:25
to see where it is is literally in the middle of bloody nowhere

00:44:30
Kirsten Sheppard: yeah so yeah, hard to get to which has

00:44:33
obviously helped keep it pristine but you know being no

00:44:37
take there still have a lot of fish boats coming over. So it is

00:44:40
patrolled. Oh, good to ensure that it is yeah. Unfortunately,

00:44:44
not such a great story for the coral reef there. And due to

00:44:48
warming, sea temperature level rises. So it's I think a bit I

00:44:56
think it's still great, but having seen it over four

00:44:58
decades. It's probably And not such good shape as it as it used

00:45:02
to be, which is quite sad for the people going over there now

00:45:05
to see how it's changed over the years. But yeah, very, very

00:45:10
important work and they're very proud of both of them.

00:45:13
Matt Waters: So you should be I'm sure they're proud, very

00:45:14
proud of you, too. Speaking of global temperatures and water

00:45:20
temperatures are like anything. Do you see any kind of

00:45:24
fluctuations, any kind of bleaching going on over at

00:45:26
Ningaloo? There was a there was a pie on the ash because there

00:45:29
was a few a few months in 2017. And there's quite a bit of

00:45:34
bleaching that occurred in Papua New Guinea. And just wondering

00:45:36
whether the the temperatures and water flow follow through and

00:45:42
down to that side of Australia.

00:45:44
Kirsten Sheppard: Yes, we have seen some we are definitely more

00:45:46
fortunate than a lot of other reefs. In that we have two

00:45:50
different currents that come through and one is a quarter

00:45:53
current. In the eight years I've been here I've seen two

00:45:55
bleaching events. They've been significant but not

00:45:59
catastrophic. And they have recovered fairly quickly

00:46:02
afterwards. But we have blue and current, which brings water down

00:46:08
and a lot of tropical species. So that's where we get you know,

00:46:12
more of the tropical fish coming down for the infant blue and

00:46:15
current and tropical corals. So even though we're more temperate

00:46:19
climates, we have that advantage and then we've got the Ningaloo

00:46:23
current which brings cool water from the south up which

00:46:26
generally even so we have some incredibly baking hot summers it

00:46:31
generally stabilizes the water temperatures of the roof. So

00:46:35
although the Gulf can get considerably warmer on the west

00:46:37
side of the peninsula where a lot of the Ningaloo is generally

00:46:41
stays a lot cooler. So we're very fortunate, there actually

00:46:44
has been predictions that the Ningaloo is going to be one of

00:46:49
the few less surviving coral reefs as they start to degrade

00:46:55
around the world. We're sitting in a good spot in in terms of

00:47:00
longevity obviously the issue is still the same anywhere around

00:47:06
the world. Yeah,

00:47:07
Matt Waters: yeah. They just got a

00:47:09
Kirsten Sheppard: tough subject because it is you know,

00:47:12
seriously happening and it is already Yeah, yeah.

00:47:16
Matt Waters: It's Yeah, a completely other topic. We won't

00:47:19
go down that rabbit hole No. Crying into our beers.

00:47:23
Kirsten Sheppard: Well then I definitely wanted to get

00:47:27
Matt Waters: so what's what's the general day to day living

00:47:31
for you like over there then? Is it just all 100% focus on the

00:47:36
the dive shop? Or do you get time to yourself

00:47:40
Kirsten Sheppard: it's about finding balance. And I have

00:47:43
struggled with that over the year years. When I started out

00:47:46
we were obviously very small company. So I was pretty much

00:47:52
when the first two years of operating I was on the boat

00:47:54
every day answering phone calls on the flybridge of the boat

00:47:57
taking bookings for the next day. As we expanded I got

00:48:02
someone to answer the calls during the day and then it got

00:48:04
to the point that okay, office manager required and that

00:48:08
obviously just made everything a lot easier. But you know, as

00:48:11
your business progresses and gets bigger we got the Navy Pier

00:48:15
license, our little day school or sun went boom and then became

00:48:18
a lot bigger and more people word got out to that as and and

00:48:24
yet we and we got busier. So I do very much try to keep the

00:48:28
balance. At the end of day you don't become a diver or dive

00:48:33
professional or open a dive school to become rich

00:48:37
as you know as you do it for the lifestyle so

00:48:40
it's always about managing that lifestyle. So I do make sure

00:48:43
that I get out diving at least couple of times a week on tours

00:48:47
and, and try and minimize the amount of paperwork to be done

00:48:54
that again, in any business. There's always always picked

00:48:57
what to do so yeah, finding the balance and still keeping diving.

00:49:03
Matt Waters: I do have to ask as well, because obviously I've

00:49:05
looked on your website and within your little team. You

00:49:09
have a dude that looks like he could be my best friend

00:49:13
straightaway. Skipper and Chef Joe Reynolds he's he's cooking

00:49:19
up a storm on the boat

00:49:21
Kirsten Sheppard: kicking off his dog. He actually I need to

00:49:23
update my website.

00:49:25
Matt Waters: Oh, the time that's it I'm not coming down. I

00:49:28
need to do there's no there's no there's no snags on the Barbie.

00:49:31
I'm not coming.

00:49:33
Kirsten Sheppard: We do still do the barbecue. Joe Joe is

00:49:36
actually a chef as well and a Skipper so it was perfect. He

00:49:39
was always on barbecue duty. But now we do a barbecue on the boat

00:49:42
every day. Oh these love of barbecue so I mean barbecue and

00:49:46
diving. What a great combination. But also the

00:49:48
international tourists it would just be a bit of a novelty as

00:49:51
well. You know you've got your general backpack is there like

00:49:53
barbecue on a boat? Who would have thought of this thing ever?

00:49:57
Matt Waters: It was some sad lettuce lately Yeah.

00:50:00
Kirsten Sheppard: Hot Dog and slow definitely.

00:50:03
Matt Waters: Well, it's one of the things I'm trying. I was

00:50:05
actually at the gym earlier today got hold of the manager,

00:50:08
and it's a huge gym. And I've asked her to find one of them

00:50:14
members of staff that is possibly a diver but more

00:50:17
importantly a nutritionist, because I want to delve into the

00:50:21
calorific burn rate that we have when we go dive in. Because I've

00:50:25
posted about it many times and people are very surprised to

00:50:27
hear how many calories you burn just in 30 minutes of being

00:50:30
submerged?

00:50:31
Kirsten Sheppard: Absolutely. Isn't it the equivalent to like

00:50:34
an hour dive is equivalent to an hour workout or something like

00:50:37
that? Yeah,

00:50:37
Matt Waters: it's most make the most. Most analysis or reports

00:50:43
are saying between 680 and 720 calories for an hour submerged,

00:50:47
which is crazy. And of course, that's why I see

00:50:50
Kirsten Sheppard: breakfast Sundays, I'm diving.

00:50:53
Matt Waters: That's why I saw Joe and fell in love with him

00:50:54
straightaway because of the snags.

00:50:59
Kirsten Sheppard: I think I assume it's all the off gassing

00:51:00
as well, that burns all the calories too, because you're not

00:51:03
moving a lot underwater. It's definitely far easier than doing

00:51:06
an hour workout. So

00:51:10
Matt Waters: it makes sense as well. Because I don't know about

00:51:12
you, but when I was working hammer and Tong in the industry

00:51:16
every day teaching every day for a number of years. You know, I'm

00:51:19
sitting here at 120 kilos. I was 93 kilos back then and the

00:51:23
weight just fell off. Yes, no time to

00:51:26
Kirsten Sheppard: work hard. Oh, yeah, I was the fittest I've

00:51:29
ever been when I was working Kotel four dives a day. And then

00:51:32
of course, so on our dive boat. Here in the Ningaloo. We have a

00:51:36
compressor and banks on board so there's no carton of cylinders

00:51:40
that you may remember very well you may still have nightmares

00:51:42
about it, pulling Becca off at the at the jetty, Kotel and

00:51:48
being sort of five other boats between you in the jetty and you

00:51:51
having to carry 50 tanks over this

00:51:55
Matt Waters: a few times. Yeah, but then when I was working at

00:51:57
Big Blue, and we could get by the beach is great. But then,

00:52:03
when the compressors broke, and then all the tanks had to come

00:52:06
back to land and then get refilled. You're looking at 120

00:52:08
to 150 tanks getting shipped. Just one way. It's crazy.

00:52:14
Kirsten Sheppard: We were muscley then

00:52:17
Matt Waters: even the women were meatheads. Right, let's let's

00:52:23
let's round it out, shall we ship I'm sure you've got to get

00:52:26
back to work and Rod nine need to have another beer.

00:52:31
Kirsten Sheppard: It's five o'clock now and it's definitely

00:52:32
time for me to have a beer.

00:52:35
Matt Waters: Good idea. Good idea. So just we'll put it in

00:52:38
the show notes anyway, but just to give a quick shout out on

00:52:41
your your social media and your websites and all that kind of

00:52:44
stuff. how people can get ahold of you.

00:52:45
Kirsten Sheppard: Sounds good yet so on Instagram, we're

00:52:48
diving glue and our Facebook we're diving in glue, keeping it

00:52:51
nice and easy, easy, straightforward.

00:52:54
Matt Waters: The website dive Ningaloo diving glue.com au

00:52:58
Yeah, yes is that um,

00:53:00
Kirsten Sheppard: Ningaloo spelt in I NGLW. Yeah, you often get

00:53:05
that question? Yeah.

00:53:07
Matt Waters: Okay. So

00:53:08
Kirsten Sheppard: yeah, like as followers and I will obviously

00:53:11
share this podcast once. Once once it's often online,

00:53:16
Matt Waters: you share it far and wide. You can even put I

00:53:18
tell you what, I'll give you the embed thing. So you can place it

00:53:20
on your website. Now Joe's gone. You could probably put it there.

00:53:24
Okay. And now in all seriousness, let's get a let's

00:53:32
do a liveaboard. next July.

00:53:33
Kirsten Sheppard: That would be great. love to have you.

00:53:35
Matt Waters: Do we get we get special prices? Sure. We'll talk

00:53:38
about that later. Show me

00:53:39
Kirsten Sheppard: that too quickly.

00:53:46
Matt Waters: Well, I'm going to celebrate that one. Share. It's

00:53:48
been an absolute pleasure. Speak to dad, I'd love him to come on

00:53:52
the show. Okay, and if he says no, I'm still gonna praise Him.

00:53:56
Anyway. Thanks again, and I'll speak to you soon. Sounds good.

00:54:02
Thanks. Thanks, everybody. For the podcast for the

00:54:08
inquisitive diver.

whalesharks

Kirsten Sheppard - Dive Ningaloo