V3 Shark Quest

[Steven]

Thefinal decision would be made only after he had assessed the reef just before the dive-team entered the water. At that point we went for plan A, and decided to dive Little Brother from the north end.

I sat there motionless at about 10m, set my camera to manual shutter and aperture to give a nice deep-blue background, and set my flash to manual half-power, creating this lighting so that I could shoot from about 1-1.5m away. This would, in theory, fill the frame and give me the shot I wanted.

AFTER OUR THREE MEMORABLE dives in the south, Hurricane lifted anchors and headed north to Big Brother, just half an hour away. The crew reset the anchors for the night, while the divers reviewed a great day of diving.

The plan was to dive the most northerly part of the island and check out the Numidia, the Scottish steamship that lies at depths between 8 and 80m. The RIBs headed off through the choppy seas to the drop zone, just on the edge of the drop-off.

In a few minutes we had arrived at the western side of the island. It was after 11am, and the sun started to brighten up the wall, bringing it alive. We drifted past colourful schooling anthias as they danced over the dappled coral-head.

To ensure a great shot of any cave or overhang I always bring a torch for my dive-model. Yasser positioned himself in the entrance and I slipped to the back so that I could get a silhouette of him entering the cave with a beam of lights, surrounded by a garden of soft corals and seafans.

As the dive drew to an end, one of the team spotted a thresher out in the blue. The 2.5m shark patrolled along the outer reef, keeping a safe distance from us before drifting back and melting into the murky grey background, but the brief encounter left us mesmerised.

IT WAS TIME for the long 11-hour transfer to Daedalus, famous for the strong currents that make it a good place for spotting hammerheads. The best place to see them there is on the northernmost plateau.

On the reef, pipework was strewn all over the slope. The site had hardly been explored, so it could be that it contains an interesting wreck to explore on future trips. The guides say that much of the main hull lies beyond 100m, and this location is also subject to strong tides and down-currents.

The group hovered motionless in the blue, waited patiently until finally our first hammerhead appeared, 15m below us. The 2m shark turned its head 45 to eye the intruders in its hunting ground, then thrashed its tail and disappeared back into the grey depths.

We made our way up the reef and followed it around, coming across another shark, but both kept their distance. That might have been disheartening for me, but the big positive was that we had seen sharks in numbers on every dive since the beginning of this shark-dedicated trip.

Those dives extended to the hours of darkness, too. On the second night at Daedalus we noticed a large group of silky sharks congregating under the boat to intercept any scraps of food from the evening meal being thrown overboard.

A number of guests got out selfie sticks and improvised broomsticks to film the sharks at the rear dive-deck. This was highly entertaining, as we had up to four 2m sharks thrashing around under the boat. I was tempted to get into the water, but not sure if I would have ever get back out again!

The final part of this grand tour was a visit to Elphinstone. After the overnight crossing, it was difficult to moor in the windy, choppy conditions, and we managed to get in only one dive, at the northernmost plateau.

WE DECIDED TO STOP over instead at Marsa Shorna, a shallow sandy reef near Port Ghalib known as a good spot to see dugongs. None of us saw one under water, unfortunately, though we did see one surface in the distance.

Just as the boat was ready to go, a school of common dolphins swam by. Some of the group launched themselves into the murky waters and so spent the last 20 minutes of the trip snorkelling with this friendly school as they dived

These Shark Quest trips are not suitable for beginners but aimed at advanced divers. They are perfect for snappers who enjoy wide-angle photography, because most of the diving is on walls and in strong currents.

We donate 10% of profits to the Georgia Aquarium and their work protecting whale sharks worldwide. Your purchase helps further their mission alongside a unique approach to research as the only aquarium with whale sharks in the western hemisphere.

Whale sharks ingest these animals through different filter feeding behaviors aided by specialized flaps in their mouth called velum, which stop the backflow of water as the shark closes its mouth, preventing the loss of food.

Eschewing the former system of randomized rotating missions, the Shark Quests system instead assigns a static set of four unique quests for each playable shark. Each set consists of three normal quests, which can be advanced through simultaneously, and a final quest that unlocks once the first three are completed. Normal quests use similar objectives to the previous mission system, such as eating a certain number of prey, or collecting a certain amount of gold within a single game. Final quests are similar, but will also often take on the form of fetch quests, where certain items must be found and located around the map in order to complete the mission.

Completing a Shark Quest grants a reward of 1,500 gold. Shark quests also give schematics, which are the main method of unlocking Mecha Sharkjira. Normal quests grant 1 schematic each, while final quests grant 2 schematics, totaling 5 schematics for each playable shark. 90 must be collected to unlock Mecha Sharkjira, and 128 to unlock its ultimate ability. Most sharks' quests can be found in their page, here's a navbox to help you get to the pages:

You might want to research a particular species of shark. Find out all you can about it and share it with your family. We like to share findings at dinner time. Does your family have a special time to share research?

While Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay does offer some options for private events, most of these are for large-scale corporate gatherings. Seaquest Las Vegas can accommodate large groups with hundreds of guests, but they specialize in small-scale events, including birthday parties, field trips, and family reunions!

Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay highlights some creatures that SeaQuest may not have, including a Komodo dragon and golden crocodile, but SeaQuest ultimately comes out as the most cost-effective. Admission to Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay ranges anywhere from $24 to $36 for tickets to view the exhibits. Feeding any animals is an additional cost, from $40 to $99 per animal experience.

SeaQuest Las Vegas admission prices range between $13.99 and $24.99 per person. Guests can feed a variety of animals at the Vegas location, and feeding tokens can be purchased for around $2 per token with a 15-token minimum. SeaQuest offers online booking options, or you can simply walk right into the Guest welcome counter for tickets!

An average visit and walk-through at Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay run 45 minutes. When you visit SeaQuest Las Vegas, expect to spend up to 2 hours on your Quest through the Continents! For the BEST animal interactions in the state, check out the SeaQuest website. You can book your special encounter today! SeaQuest Las Vegas

Note this article focuses on a Beast who has only appeared in the non-canon Master Your Destiny trilogy, and as such the contents of the article does not affect the main timeline of the series.

Polkai is Sanpao's brother and the original Pirate King who features as one of the two Beasts in The Pirate's Curse. Polkai once lead the Pirates of Makai but his leadership was stolen by Sanpao leading a mutiny, which resulted in him walking the plank. Sanpao cursed Polkai so that the sharks waiting below will become one with the good pirate, making him a Beast under Sanpao's command. Of the eight failure endings to the Pirate's Curse, Polkai is responsible for three of them, two involve Polkai killing the Reader, and the final involve him cursing the Reader with his own undead life. Polkai can successfully break free from his curse and betray Sanpao in one of the two successful endings. The Shark Man is armed with a cutlass that he is extremely adept at using. He is extremely fast in the water, able to catch any quarry. The source of the enchantment is in the fin on the top of his head, and harming it can release him from Sanpao's magic, where he will assist the Reader if he is allowed due to a potent desire for revenge against Sanpao. While the other Beasts of the Master Your Destiny trilogy are considered to be partially canon, Polkai is in a more dubious position as it was later revealed Sanpao betrayed his captain Rikkard when he was the Pirates of Makai's first mate, meaning Polkai's position in the canon has since been filled, and as such whether or not he can be canon or not is unknown.

Polkai was a successful pirate captain who lead the Pirates of Makai to fortune far surpassing the norm of pirates of the seas. He exclusively targeted the fortunes of those he considered to be evil, and often shared his bounty with the needy. His success and the loyalty derived from his crew earned him the title of the Pirate King. His brother, Sanpao, was envious of his brother's success while he only remained a minor part of the crew, and as such chose to lead a mutiny against his brother. Due to the deep loyalty of the crew, Sanpao was forced to enchant them to follow his lead, where he ordered them to capture Polkai. Sanpao claimed the captaincy and Pirate King title and forced his brother to walk the plank in shark feeding grounds. Before Polkai was forced into the water, the new Pirate King cast an enchantment on him so that when the former captain fell into the ocean and was attacked by the sharks, the pirate and the sharks would fuse together to become a new Beast: the Shark Man, saving him from death but bending him to Sanpao's will, where he was forced to obey his traitorous brother. This explanation of Sanpao's past is extremely different to the one in the main continuity, where Sanpao convinced the crew diplomatically to mutiny and left Rikkard to be imprisoned in the Chamber of Pain.

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