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Declan Stick

@declan_stick

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Big fan of coral šŸŖø toe socks and livin simply ā˜€ļø
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Wasssup, interweb. Hereā€™s a lil collection of film from the past week, captured by the lovely Ruby and Chris (see mug shots at the end of post) @focuspocuslab Now, you might be thinking, *ahh yes ā€” another freeeken ocean post from that marine science dood.* And youā€™d be right. I love the salty sea, and I love sharing it with my homies. Weā€™re talking 5am freezinā€™ missions. Sun-soaked afternoons. Glorious glass-offs and fiery sunsets. Reef cuts and sunburn. Standing around goggling at a thousand shades of blue and green for hours. Head spins from repeated dives chasing that last-minute Christmas cray for Nan. Toe nibbles from curious seals. Howling, 40-degree, stinking easterlies. Old friends, new ones. Country god-damn music, baby. **BUT** For memoryā€™s sake, this chunk of filmā€™s got a lil bitta somethinā€™ somethinā€™ extra. It captures my first small celebrations and fleeting tastes of freedom after finally submitting the olā€™ PhD. Four years. 150 ish pages. Bing bang bosh. Onward to the next wild chapter. by @declan_stick
Few snaps from my time at sea. Small notes. - Christmas tree worms rock. Image #1 - Thereā€™s always a bigger fish. Image #2 - Damn this coral has wild colour. Image #4 ā€¦.. on second though I have too many images to ramble on about. Overview? Iā€™m always left on the surface post dive, in awe but unable to hold onto the memory of all the colours, life and diversity l just saw. - Smiles on dials for Deccy. Image #7 - 5 new lifffeerrrs. Image #15 End. by @declan_stick
Some Raja ramblings and favourite moments 1. Coming up from a dive to glassy water and lush green tropics. BANANAS 2. Just a neat photo I hell like 3. blue ring occy with the blue light disco. 4. 3-5m depth provided surreal calm moments at the end of a dive. 5. Always seemed to find a Mantis shrimp. My underwater, funky, freaky tour guide. 6. More gorgonians fans in a single dive than Iā€™ve seen my entire life. 7. Surrounded by ten of thousands of goldband fusilier, with packs of GT and predators going coco loco! 8. New love of coral polyps and how crazy colourful and weird they can be. 9. Finally finding a pigmy seahorse. Giddy up, Heckin flip yeh! 10. Yo this place do be crazy like. 11. Me stokithed and feeling maximum righteousness. Ready to plan a trip back fo sure. by @declan_stick
Kyrgyzstan with a ripper crew. @focuspocuslab for my perfect film šŸŽžļø Shot on me moms Pentax ME Super šŸ¤˜ Bishkek: Probably get on a yandi scooter, stop at every corner for ice cream or fermented milk? Sometimes good, sometimes the worst think youā€™ve ever popped in your mouth. kms of bazaars, an emporium of wolf and arctic fox hats, bartering for trail mix and the best chocolate milk Iā€™ve ever had. Ala-Archa: Glacial streams, stark mountain peaks, small detours, friendly grandmas. Lost shoes. The shoe police, apparently bedrocks are not sound footwear for alpine hiking. 3,300m camps, waterfalls and new friends. Basecamp comprised of jƤgermeister, coke and spare sleeping bag. Thunder-box toilet. A special place. Song-Kul: 180km/h taxi with the fastest man in Kyrg. Playing knuckle bones with local kids. Getting bullied by local kids. Yurts, donkey rides, Kok-Boru, my horse Samarai and I galloping through the mountains as the rain rolled in. Sore bums and backs. A daily cycle of euphoria. Karakol: Five days of hiking through valleys, glaciers and scree: 17km days, which were easier than the 9km days. Icy swims, red-rock passes, griffons, hot springs, hail, beers, muddy downhill slides in thongs, a 3,920m scramble to Ala-Kol and skiing down scree into a ridiculous blue glacial lake ā€” more yurts, loud Dutchmen, questionable camp hygiene and Chris continuing his campaign in bedrocks. Bedtime stories, endless card games, cows and horses everywhere. And the best guide in Kyrg! Cholpon-Ata: world Nomad games. An accomodation scam. Mumma finding room for us in her house, heart and maybe she only liked the money a little bit. Horse wrestling, horse archery, eagles, Mongolian throat singing, Kok-Boru. Mouth harps, horse impressions and lightning storms (all in one song). Nomad Fest ā€” the good; food, song, generous strangers, camel lifting? A local game of hacky sack TBC. Getting mistaken for Australian athletes and getting on an express athletes bus. The bad. Trying to leave on local free busā€™s during a storm and mass exodus. Mob mentality. Small bit of suffering, and an eventual beer and cup noodle at mummas house to heal the situation. Hell good. by @declan_stick
Hoga Island Marine Station, Southeast Sulawesi Seven weeks. Hooley Dooley... that was something. What the Hec was I doing? Coral Reef Ecology course leader. Life ran from 6:00am until 8:30pm most days. Two or three lectures a day, followed by two dives or snorkels. Rinse and repeat. Equal parts incredible, exhausting and a freeken good amount of fun. Home was a tiny wooden hut perched over the ocean, on stilts, spray blowing through the windows. Unreal. Shared it with my man @jorfjorf_ - head hand washer, room inspector and overall legend. Bucket showers became the norm. Student feedback included: ā€œPeople seem to not like Mandy?ā€ She seemed alright to me. The staff were a bunch of good eggs. The kitchen ladies ā€˜bestiesā€™ snuck me extra tofu with my three daily servings of rice. Lectures with @compassion_ninja often descended into what felt less like teaching and more like us passionately debating marine ecology while a room full of students watched along. Watching students whoā€™d never snorkelledā€”or sometimes never even been in the oceanā€”learn to swim, put their face in the water and see a coral reef for the first time always gave me a big ol grin. The look on their faces never got old. Big, wide-eyed and completely in awe... or panicking because they couldnā€™t swim. Getting that crew floating after just a few days was just as rewarding. The reef just kept delivering. Some days were absolute ripper glass-offs. Sunshine, 100 metres of visibility and not a care in the world. Other days were windy, rainy, soggy wetsuits and visibility close to zero. Night dives were wickedā€”every fin kick lit up the dark with glowing specks of bioluminescence. After spending the last few years diving reefs in decline, seeing such healthy hard coral cover and ridiculous biodiversity was sick. Some little moments. Donut Thursdays. Friday bonfires and karaoke. Hammocks with a book. Far too much table tennis (beating Nina). Beach clean-ups. Dirty feet. Salty skin. Endless laughter, joy, exhaustion and the occasional bout of complete delirium. Far out... that was fun, hard, epic and damn Iā€™m excited for 10 days at home to rest before the next adventure! All raw images from my TG7. by @declan_stick
Maldives part II Couple more underwater scenes from my TG-7. Some rare above water action from @eva.mallon and @willwardlemedia. Yew. by @declan_stick
A note found on my phone. Why the 12th Of March 2026 was in my top 3 days. 1. On a boat full of lovely humans in the maldives. Thanks to @willwardlemedia for organising. Check him out yo. 2. Orange sun glow sunrise on the front deck. Accompanied by an omelet and fresh juice. Hot dang. 3. @eva.mallon ran a classic pre-dive plan. medium plus current. Where are we going ? Follow Johnny I guess. 4. Dive one. Overhangs, eagle rays cruising with me across cliffs. So much life. 5. Dive two. Baby eagle ray flew straight over my snoze, insane. Glass shrimp piggy backed on a moray. Blowing bubbles for 10min, narked or in deco? Either way I was in the flow state. Donā€™t let Trini the safety cop get you down. 6. Dive three. Fish. Colour. Shipwreck. Manta on a pinnacle. Garden eels. Mantis shrimp in burrows. This was a post dive high. 7. Sunset karaoke on the bow. Michael Jackson thriller, a crowd pleaser. 8. Fricken dive number 4? Night dive! All the mantas you could possibly imagine. Dancing in an out of torchlightā€¦. Ahhhhh what in the damn hell is going on. 9. Finish with a movie on the couch with the homies. And a bedtime tuck in from my cabin mate @annabelle_atkins by @declan_stick
Tassie part II Yurt or bell tent? Itā€™s a matter of perspective. The best coffee in a year? Iā€™ll never know, the smoothie was nice. Bird watching or watching birds watch me and fly away. Coastal hikes, scallop pies. Tummy hurt from said pies? No more scallop pies. Sunrise summits, dropped and found lens caps. Thatā€™s real determination. Nowhere to sleep + Pub trip = finding a place to sleep. Mona has too much noise, am I getting too old? Where are the wombats hiding? Over at Wilsonā€™s Prom. Plans to go back and hike the overland, tag parrots, hang with Meils and run through Tarkine. You betcha. As always film by the gorgeous @joy.of.film and developed by the flawless @focuspocuslab. Few snaps on my digi. by @declan_stick
Tassie part I Hire cars and no unsealed roads Lush alpine hikes (Cradle, mount fields and Ben Lamond) Swims in freezing cold tarns 20-30 new lifers? 180 birds in counting Cosy tent mornings Platypus river walks Post dinner digestives Fresh berries and a cuppa bloody tea Old friends, new friends, eels. Scrubbing hire cars that definitely only saw unsealed roads God itā€™s nice to travel with Ruby Film by @joy.of.film and developed by the Freo dream team @focuspocuslab Few snaps on my D3100 and bino vision (maybe Iā€™ll do a series sometime?) by @declan_stick
Stokes / Fitzgerald national park with some of the favs! Seems like Iā€™ve been travelling non-stop this year and it all started with this gem of a trip. A few sweet weeks on the road with roobs. Snorks, digestive walks and loving the simple days. Film by @joy.of.film except a single salvaged shot of Banksia from my poor old camera. @focuspocuslab providing the goods as always xx by @declan_stick
Wave rock. Summed with a bunch of random trigger words. Friends. Connection. Twang. Boogie. Sun and dirt. Back in the saddle. Side quests. Limbo. Lorax. Cursed blue listerine. Croissant anyone? (Donā€™t combine). Iā€™ll prolly have a quick bump. Tys casino. Banana boy Reagan. Some bands? A couple dittyā€™s. Bubbles. 6 in a swag. Aqua aerobics. Hey saddle up. Question time / jimmy recard. Talking stick. Kermit the frog tribute rap p2 coming. Deep long hugs - ah hell yeh. Quick 10. Rock it man. Where were you when the rain hit? Warm rock warm heart. Get that mother ucking gator šŸŠ Sohrab. Cut my bangs. Has anyone seen meils? 5k run sure. Get me to the bakery. Iā€™ll prolly go in the backseat Tye. Film by @joy.of.film @chrisbeecroft @focuspocuslab @ty.mosconi @annekestopler by @declan_stick
Few more snaps of my favourite lil wild moments. Climbing rocks, boom šŸ’„ Surfing with the ocean pals Finding spikey lil monotremes on hikes Camping with the homies Being a freeken goofy guy yo by @declan_stick

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