Finding the Calm Amongst Rough Waves

WORDS: Jessica Nelson & Cloe Jager PHOTOGRAPHY Todd Thimios and Southern Cross University

How underwater photographer and author Todd Thimios discovered peace in the deep — and why he’s working to protect it.

In a world of doom-scrolling and distractions, Todd Thimios says few things make you more present than sharing space with a whale. Floating in a realm where most people hold their breath, Todd finds a peaceful quality to being beneath the waves.

He’s forged an awe-inspiring career that has made the ocean his office but, unlike most, Todd’s place of work brings more calm than chaos.

Photo: Todd Thimios

“I’ve got a soft spot for big marine creatures. When you are underwater with them, it’s intense. There is a big presence right there in front of you. It’s personal and very in your face. Everything goes still and you’re focusing on the encounter that’s happening,” Todd says.

“I love being present in the moment, and the bigger the marine life, the more present you have to be.”

The international dive guide, author and photographer has some inspiring stories to tell, from freediving with orcas in the Arctic to swimming with countless grey reef sharks in the Pacific.

Growing up in Cairns, on the doorstep of the Great Barrier Reef, Todd spent much of his youth scuba diving one of the natural wonders of the world. He says it was a natural progression to become a diving instructor at Lord Howe Island for a decade before travelling to the other side of the globe to work as a private diving scout on super yachts around the world.

Marine Science graduate Todd Thimios is a professional dive scout, photographer and best-selling author.

“My job was to travel ahead of the client and basically scout out dive locations I thought they would like, create content of it for them, then take them there and look after them underwater while they dived the site,” Todd says.

While working in Spain, Todd made the decision to formalise his studies in Marine Science and enrolled at Southern Cross University.

“I thought adding a good base of marine science to a strong practical knowledge of diving would really be helpful for the future if I ever was to change careers. It was pretty amazing. I was living overseas, working freelance all over the world and the beauty of the marine science degree was that a majority of it was online, so it gave me the chance to work at my own pace in different locations all over the place,” Todd says

“I joke that I did my degree in cafes around the world.”

Todd would coincide family visits back to Australia with on-campus residentials.

“I really enjoyed the baseline core subjects of biology, ecology, and chemistry, because it gave a good organic breakdown of how everything worked. I could then add it to my personal knowledge of what I had experienced already,” Todd says.

“It’s given me knowledge to bounce back on. Finishing a degree as a mature-age student is a large accomplishment. I know that I can finish things under pressure, even when a lot of life’s noises are in the background.”

When the global pandemic put a spanner in the works of his freelance lifestyle, Todd returned to Cairns, where he met and married the love of his life. They’ve since had two children and settled on the NSW North Coast.

The ‘ultimate’ career

Since graduating, Todd now splits his time between the renowned waters of Byron Bay and working as an international guide and underwater photographer. Despite having conducted dives in beautiful locations across the globe, he still regards Nguthungulli/Julian Rocks, off the coast of Byron Bay, as a “special dive site across all seasons”.

It’s high praise considering Todd is an expert in global dive sites. He has recently published the best-selling book, Ultimate Dive Sites, which outlines the best 50 dive experiences in the world.

“I’ve basically been collating material for this book over the past 15–20 years, from manta rays in the Maldives, orcas in the Arctic, crocs in Cuba and anacondas in Brazil and so much in between,” Todd says.

Marine Science graduate Todd Thimios is a professional dive scout, photographer and best-selling author.

“It celebrates the best diving sites in the world – a top 50 list as curated by me – and puts a lot of emphasis on ‘experience’ in the broader sense of diving: free-diving, snorkelling and scuba diving, with a real focus on wildlife events, natural wonders and ocean stewardship.

“I definitely brought a lot of what I learned in my degree, of how to dial myself into a project and focus and finish something, in that process, but it was a wonderful occasion to bring all my photography over the years into one publication and I’m very proud of it.”

Future-proofing our reefs

Ensuring our coral reefs can be enjoyed for generations to come is a top priority for Southern Cross University researchers, given Australia’s own Great Barrier Reef has experienced six mass coral bleaching events since 2016.

Distinguished Professor Peter Harrison’s coral larval restoration technique, known as Coral IVF, helps corals reproduce more successfully by allowing coral larvae – bred from corals that survived bleaching – to develop in the safety of a floating nursery before release on degraded reefs.

The research is part of the Reef Restoration and Adaption Program (RRAP), a funded partnership between the Australian Government’s Reef Trust and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.

Also part of the RRAP is an investigation into cooling and shading options for the Great Barrier Reef, including ‘cloud brightening technology’, led by Associate Professor Daniel Harrison. The trial uses water cannons to pump atomised sea water into low marine clouds above the Reef. This causes brighter, whiter clouds to form that can reflect sunlight away from the ocean’s surface, creating a cooling effect that protects marine life below.

Both projects aim to ensure the Great Barrier Reef can be cherished by divers like Todd, so they too can find the calm amongst the currents, now and into the future.

“When you are underwater, everything goes quiet,” Todd says. “It’s peaceful. It gives you a moment to yourself. There are no interruptions. You notice the interconnectivity of our environment and how it all works.”