This is Dan of kozyndan, getting in my way, on purpose, at Carl’s Ultimate dive site in the Eastern Fields of Papua New Guinea:
And just to give you an idea of what I have to put up with on trips…this is what Dan and Eric did to me with the aid of an iPhone (using the Face Fighter app) and a Go Pro camera:
With “friends” like this, I prefer enemies.
This is Nana. In her natural state. Aboard MV Golden Dawn, on my recent trip to the Eastern Fields:
Following is Nana’s simple 3-Step Guide on how to set up your underwater camera housing.
Step 1: Do a bunch of stuff.
Step 2: Wait patiently for Colin to set up his housing, then get him to fix everything.
Step 3: Wake up. Play with Bunny while Colin toils.
Bonus Tip for Advanced Learners: Repeat daily to ensure proper camera housing maintenance.
I guess I’ve been a good boy this year. Santa Clause just added me to his Google+ Circles:
This is me. At work. In Tonga. Looking for whales.
I’m sporting my oh-so-stylish whale-watching attire comprising the only pair of sunglasses I’ve ever managed to keep intact for more than a few days ($14.99 polarised pair I picked up at Target); a hat with a built-in back-flap to minimise sunburn on my ears and neck (I have sensitive skin); and my custom-made neoprene coat to keep me warm after prolonged immersion (I get cold easily).
Chic, no?
Vania, one of the six people who joined my first trip in Tonga this season, took this photo. And then embellished it.
From what I gather, I remind her of a Japanese manga character named Keroro…a green frog who, like me, is at the cutting edge of fashion.
I’m not actually familiar with this animated character, but since it appears that Keroro-san merits salutes from an entire phalanx of multi-hued two-dimensional amphibian shock troops…I’ll take it as a compliment.
Thanks Vania!
You certainly can’t fault this company for having low aspirations:
It’s been nearly three weeks since I got back from my recent trip to Milne Bay aboard MV Golden Dawn, and I still haven’t been able to sort through and process all my photos. Sigh.
I’ll be heading out to Tonga soon though, so I need to focus my attention on preparing for the humpback whales…which means I probably won’t make any more headway on my PNG images for a while.
To wrap up my PNG posts for now, here’s a final photo, one that I took when we stopped at a village called Boga Boga at Cape Vogel. It’s a picturesque place, with lots of friendly, energetic kids.
Trips like this are about more than just diving. Experiences such as visiting beautiful Boga Boga and meeting the wonderful people who live there are enriching and memorable.
In addition, sharing adventures and laughs with old friends and new helps to keep life’s priorities in perspective. When you’re on a boat for a month, isolated from the daily madness of political turmoil, economic crises and other miscellaneous social woes…it’s much easier to focus on what’s important and forget about the things that aren’t.
Of course, there’s always the danger of going a bit funny in the head, as Bob demonstrates in the following video clip (though one could reasonably make the case that he was already somewhat off):
I’d like to say thanks to everyone who was silly enough to join joined me during the trip and put up with my antics…and of course to Craig (and his crew!) and Bob. All kidding aside, their experience, knowledge and patience made the trip, and I’m looking forward to my next opportunity to share another adventure with them.
And finally, I’d like to give a shout out to Scubacam, Light and Motion, Zillion, Aquaforum, Xit 404, and Air Niugini.
It may not be obvious, but trips like this require a lot of preparation and logistical coordination (a situation exacerbated by the fact that I tend to schlep around so much junk and add new junk on a regular basis), and I need assistance and cooperation from a lot of people to pull everything together. So…thank you very much!
Oh…if you’re planning a visit to PNG, please note that Air Niugini has a specific baggage allowance for scuba divers, which some travel/ booking agents may not necessarily know. From Air Niugini’s website:
Air Niugini offers the following baggage allowance for scuba divers; International flights – 20kgs (44lbs) plus an additional 15kgs (33lbs) per person. Domestic flights – 16kgs (35lbs) plus an additional 15kgs (33lbs) per person. Air Niugini honours the International allowance for International passengers in direct transit on same day to a domestic port in PNG
Sometimes when you gotta go, you just gotta go:
This is the biggest dump I’ve ever seen from a sperm whale.
I wonder if the makers of Imodium would consider using this image for an advertising campaign?
I’ve decided upon a new strategy for getting through airports without suffering equipment attrition at the hands of overzealous security officers with a penchant for confiscating my junk…make them laugh:
I figure, instead of trying to have logical discussions about why carrying a few loose screws isn’t actually a problem (i.e., banging my head against a titanium wall), I may have better luck by playing off of the universal appeal of The Simpsons.
I know, I know. It’s a cheap trick, but hey, if it works, my life will be so much less stressful.
I mean…what security guard in their right mind is going to confiscate something in a ziploc bag with Bart and Lisa holding up my name? Am I right?
I guess I’ll find out soon enough.
First, let me state up front, for the record, that I take my work very seriously. 24/7/365, I’m always looking for the optimal way to portray subjects in a flattering, aesthetically pleasing manner.
I have to confess defeat, however, at the hands of this terrible trio:
Julian and Phil (left and middle) were two of the participants on the recent Ambon Night Safari trip at Maluku Divers with Eric, me and others from Wetpixel and the FiNS Flickr group. Andy is the owner of the resort (who admittedly deserves more respect than I can manage to muster for him…but c’est la vie).
I did my best to make them look good, but I learned a valuable lesson in the process… Sometimes, there is just no going against Mother Nature.
In the end, I settled upon shooting them from a higher vantage point, not just so I could look down upon them (I already do in any event), but also, so I (and by extension you) wouldn’t have to gaze further upon their gruesome grimaces:
And finally, more for my amusement than theirs, I asked them to sit-and-shuffle, in a shell game with no clear winner:
Late last night, while browsing for books to download and take with me to Ambon, I had the crazy, some would say insane, notion that I might try reading Moby Dick again (I’ve tried and failed at least a dozen times).
When I typed “Moby Dick” into my chosen online bookstore, this is what I saw:
Any way you look at it, this is a well-mannered humpback whale enjoying a frisky frolic in the sun. And here I was thinking for so many years that Moby was an all-white sperm whale with a bad attitude and a penchant for torturing semi-deranged seamen.
Amazon.com had more than one Kindle edition of Melville’s masterpiece available, at least two of which featured the same species shuffle.
So…I guess this means that Amazon’s mistake wasn’t just a fluke (Sorry, I couldn’t resist the horrible pun).
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