If you’re contemplating a dive adventure later this year, there are still a couple of spaces open for my trip to Ambon.
The trip, which I’m running jointly with Wetpixel and Eric Cheng, is scheduled for 7 to 16 November. We’ll be staying at the new Maluku Divers resort, situated right on the best muck sites in Ambon.
There are lots of Coleman shrimp on fire urchins in Ambon!
If you’re a fan of muck diving and observing amazing critter life in shallow water at close quarters without any other divers around(!), Ambon is worth considering.
Ambon hit the news recently because of the unusual new frogfish discovered there, but from personal experience, I can say that there’s a lot more to see than just the frogfish (sightings of which are unpredictable).
Tiny cuttlefish hunting in shallow water
With so few divers around + relatively easy diving conditions, it’s not difficult to spend quality time with animals that are considered rare or difficult-to-approach elsewhere.
In short…the conditions are ideal for observing and documenting marine life behaviour.
Our plan is to do a lot of night diving, which means that the chances of seeing predation, mating and other fun stuff increases significantly. Up to this point, it has been difficult to do extensive night diving in Ambon, because there was no dive resort near the muck sites!
I’m planning to visit Papua New Guinea twice in the coming months, first in June 2011 and second in January 2012.
Note: If you’d like advance notice of trips like this in the future, please sign up for my trip e-newsletter. I won’t spam you!
June 2011 Itinerary: Port Moresby to Milne Bay to Walindi
Some time ago, I received a brief email from Craig that went something like this: “Tony, Wow! You gotta see this!” Nothing more. No response to my: “See what???!!!” email for a few days. (This is normal behaviour for Craig.)
As it turned out, he had just dived some reefs on the Papuan Barrier Reef, not too far from Port Moresby, but far enough that no one dives there, at least not on a regular basis.
Now…Craig gets easily excited at times (picture a little boy with knee-socks getting a colourful candy lollipop), so I usually have to calm him down and ask pointed questions to figure out what’s what.
Fortunately, Bob Halstead was also on the boat at the time, so I was able to get independent confirmation for Craig’s enthusiasm.
Craig had stumbled upon some amazing reefs.
Most of the time when people tell me they’ve come across “amazing” such and such, I’m sceptical. But if there’s one thing Craig knows…it’s unspoiled reefs. Bob is no slouch either.
Craig later elaborated, telling me that of the sites he’s dived/ marked, one is a deep passage with a two-stepped wall that has a stunning vista comprising row after row of very large fans. He saw lots of large mobula and eagle rays, wobbegong sharks, silver tips and grey reefs.
Another location apparently has at least 20 bommies like Suzie’s. If you haven’t dived at Suzie’s, here’s a photo to give you an idea of what it’s like:
So basically, it’s a “Wow! You gotta see this!” kind of place.
[Update 19 June: Just received another update from Craig, who's out in this area right now: "Just wanted to let you know about a new discovery. We just finished a dive...and it's awesome!!! We had a large population of female grey reef sharks, 20 plus easily, a few species of grouper, including a giant grouper, 8 or 9 eagle rays flying in formation, mobula rays, many huge dogtooth tuna, some with mackeral and other species of jacks, rainbow runners galore, fusiliers and the list goes on...Truly spectacular!!!"]
We planned the June 2011 itinerary specifically so that we start in Port Moresby and explore the “Wow! You gotta see this!” reefs first. To date, Craig has dived the reefs twice, so there’s still plenty to explore and no doubt new things to discover. If you’re an adventurer at heart, this trip is for you!
Diving along the barrier reef will naturally takes us over to Milne Bay, which is, in my experience, some of the most amazing diving anywhere…critters like you wouldn’t believe, as well as beautiful corals and big stuff too (there’s a manta cleaning station). It’s been a few years since I’ve been to the area, not because I haven’t wanted to go, but because there aren’t many dive operators there now.
Back in the day…there were several liveaboard boats and a couple of land-based operations, so Milne Bay was relatively easy to dive. These days…not so much. Quite a shame, as it’s a world-class destination.
I filmed a documentary in Milne Bay several years ago with NHK of Japan, along with Dr Eugenie Clark, Bob Halstead and Rob Vanderloos. It was an absolutely amazing experience (to say the least!) with my only regret being that I wasn’t able to spend more time in the area.
From Milne Bay, we’ll head north to Kimbe Bay, ending up at Walindi Plantation Resort. Again, there are great reefs along the way that are almost never dived (see the common theme?), with lots of unspoiled marine habitat and no other people around…absolutely perfect for photography.
Of course, that’s a lot of territory to cover, so we’re dividing the trip into three sections:
1. Port Moresby to Milne Bay (31 May to 7 June)
2. Milne Bay (8 to 14 June)
3. Milne Bay to Walindi (16 to 26 June)
Here’s a map to make it easier to get a handle on the geography (click the markers for more details):
Essentially, this makes it possible to get on or off the boat for any of the segments, or hop on board for two or even all three segments of the trip. (The international airport is in Port Moresby. Alotau airport is at Milne Bay. Hoskins airport is at Walindi. Good planning, no?)
As a bonus(?), Bob Halstead will be joining us for the trips. Bob is one of the pioneers of diving in PNG, and in particular, he knows Milne Bay like no one else. Bob is articulate, well-spoken, knowledgeable, and perpetually struggling for a half-decent comeback when I insult him. He’s quite a fish expert, and even has a couple of fish named after him (small, nondescript ones of course). Even more amazing, he still uses a film camera. Well, he knows how to push the shutter release in any case.
All kidding aside, Bob is a treasure trove of information and experience, particularly with regard to the areas we’ll be visiting. I have the greatest respect for him, and it will be a pleasure and an honour to have him with us.
Pricing for the trips is as follows: 1. Port Moresby – Milne Bay (31 May to 7 June)
Cabin 1 US$2800/ person
Cabin 2 US$2625/ person
Cabin 3 US$2450/ person
Cabin 4 US$2800/ person
Cabin 5 US$2800/ person
2. Milne Bay (8 to 14 June)
Cabin 1 US$2400/ person
Cabin 2 US$2250/ person
Cabin 3 US$2100/ person
Cabin 4 US$2400/ person
Cabin 5 US$2400/ person
3. Milne Bay to Walindi (16 to 26 June)
Cabin 1 US$4000/ person
Cabin 2 US$3750/ person
Cabin 3 US$3500/ person
Cabin 4 US$4000/ person
Cabin 5 US$4000/ person
Click here to see the cabin layout on the Golden Dawn.
Please get in touch via my contact form if you’re interested.
January 2012 Itinerary: Eastern Fields
I probably don’t need to write too much about the Eastern Fields, as I can let Craig do the talking in the video I posted.
What I can add is that the Eastern Fields atoll system, like the areas I described above, is not over-dived, is not over-fished, and is not sitting next to areas suffering from over-development.
In case you haven’t noticed, I like travelling to unspoiled places. I don’t mean “unspoiled” in the over-Photoshopped-vacation-brochure sense. I mean truly unspoiled…as in, “almost no one has ever been there” and “you definitely won’t see anyone else underwater there” unspoiled.
The plan for January 2012 is to do two trips. On the first trip, we’ll visit several of the best sites around the Eastern Fields. Depending on how the weather and water look, we may dash over to another reef system called the Ashmore’s. The exact itinerary will be a judgement call based on prevailing conditions.
The second trip will concentrate on my personal favourite dive site in the area, Carl’s Ultimate…a site named after my friend and mentor Carl Roessler.
It’s a small bommie in the middle of a channel that gets swept by nutrient-filled currents. To say the marine life is “amazing” is like saying the Great Barrier Reef is “big”. It’s a major understatement.
Devoting most of an 8-day trip to a single dive site would normally be madness, but believe me, once you see this site, you’ll want to stay.
I’m co-organising the Eastern Fields trips with Eric Cheng and Wetpixel again, so there will no doubt be lots of photographers on board!
Prices and dates are as follows:
1. 10-20 January 2012, Eastern Fields
Cabin 1 US$4320/ person
Cabin 2 US$4050/ person
Cabin 3 US$3780/ person
Cabin 4 US$4320/ person
Cabin 5 US$4320/ person
2. 22-30 January 2012, Carl’s Ultimate
Cabin 1 US$3456/ person
Cabin 2 US$3240/ person
Cabin 3 US$3024/ person
Cabin 4 US$3456/ person
Cabin 5 US$3456/ person
An overview of trip logistics from our previous excursion can be found here, and here is a trip report that Eric posted after our trip.
My trips videos from last year’s excursion are here and here.
Summary
Trips aboard Golden Dawn are always an adventure, with lots to see, terrific food, wonderful conversation and unforgettable experiences.
All of these trips will be dedicated to photography.
The waters of Papua New Guinea are teeming with marine life, and you can’t get to many of the places we’ll be visiting except on a liveaboard. Even better, at any given time, we will probably be the only people in the water!
If we find some place or thing that everyone wants to spend time on, we’ll adjust accordingly. Similarly, if we see that conditions aren’t right, we’ll move on and look for a more suitable location.
In other words, we’ll have a plan, but we’ll go with the flow to maximise fun, safety and photographic opportunities.
Let me know if you have any questions, and I look forward to sharing an adventure with you!
I just received the following photo from my friend Dr John Potter:
More interesting than the photo is John’s “explanation” of what this is:
“The picture is of a 30m long oil-filled tube containing an array of 4 state-of-the-art hydrophones with preamplifiers, spaced 2m apart (hence the aperture of the active part is 6m). The oil-filled tube allows the array to be neutrally buoyant and either towed or hung vertically in the water with the minimum pickup of flow noise. There is also a portable 96 kSa/s 4-channel recorder in the centre of the image that will record sounds up to 48 kHz from the array onto an SD card. Since the oil-filled tube is 30m long, we can deploy the 4 hydrophones at the depth of our choice up to about 20m below the surface. This will allow us to record humpback sound at close range, without disturbing the whales, with the highest quality and with the possibility to measure their range and source levels. Think of the 4 hydrophones as being able to record a kind of surround-sound, hyper-stereo, THX acoustic landscape.”
After reading this a couple of times, I think it means: “It’s a kick-a** hydrophone that we can send down to 20 metres and record really cool whale sounds.” though I’m not entirely certain.
Anyway, we’ll be using this high-tech gadget on the trips that John and I are running together in Tonga soon, with the objective of kicking off what we hope will be a long-running project to understand more about acoustic communication among humpback whales. (More explanation about our trip/ project here.)
There are still a couple of spots left on the first trip from 29 July to 4 August. Drop me a line if you’re interested in helping me decipher John-speak for a few days.
The Cove…a movie about the annual slaughter of dolphins in Japan…recently received the Oscar for Best Documentary of the year, along with a bunch of other awards.
I haven’t actually seen the film yet, as I’ve been on the road for the past six months, but it’s certainly on my list of things to do.
The reason I’m bringing this up is that one of my friends, Dr. John Potter, was interviewed in the movie. John is quite proud of his performance, so please try not to laugh when you watch the clip below:
Note: Excerpt from The Cove used with permission from Director Louie Psihoyos.
John is a marine acoustics expert (and he’s also a Kiwi [Correction: John just informed me that he's not a Kiwi, so I owe all you decent Kiwis an apology. John is from Essex in the UK.]…so please excuse the odd accent and crazed look in his eye).
We are kicking off a joint effort later this year to learn more about southern hemisphere humpback whales by studying the noises they make.
Specifically, we’ve organised a couple of itineraries (29 July to 2 August, and 3 to 7 August) on a liveaboard yacht to spend quality time with the humpback whales that visit the Kingdom of Tonga each year.
There are one or two places left, so if you’re interested in having a great time whale watching while also learning about humpback whale acoustics using cutting-edge instruments (i.e., toys!), please see my earlier post for additional trip details, and drop me a line via my contact form if you’d like to know more.
Incidentally, I will commence sending out trip updates via email soon (assuming I can figure out what I’m doing).
If you’d like to be on my email list to be first to hear about new trips, please use the form below, or click this link to sign up for the e-newsletter. Don’t worry, I won’t spam you, and you can unsubscribe at any time!
It’s been a while since I’ve updated my Upcoming Trips page, largely because I’ve been travelling so much that it’s been difficult for me to hammer out logistical details and communicate with relevant counter-parties.
The year-end quiet period has given me some time to (just barely) catch up, so here’s a long overdue update of some of my trips for the near future, set out in chronological order. (I’m doing my best to keep my Upcoming Trips page updated, so bookmark that page if you want to check back later for more trips.)
The Night Safari Lembeh (27 Feb-6 Mar): I’ll be heading to Kasawari Lembeh Resort again soon, this time for the primary purpose of checking out the night life. As far as I know, this Night Safari trip is the first-ever organised effort to focus on diving at night in the Lembeh Strait. It’ll be fascinating(!) to see what happens late at night, when most (sane) people are asleep.
In addition to David and Sanah from Scubacam, Aey and Mean from FiNS will be on this trip…and Eric Cheng will be joining as well a few days into the trip. If you’re looking for advice about photography or how to prepare your images for print, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better-informed or nicer group of people.
There are still a few spots left for this trip, so click here to drop David and Sanah an email to sign up! More details here.
Humpback Whale Acoustic Research in Tonga (29 Jul – 7 Aug): In addition to the trips I have scheduled to swim with humpback whales in August this year, I’ve been working with a marine acoustics researcher friend of mine to try to set up a long-term study of humpback whale acoustics.
By way of background, my friend Dr. John Potter is a brilliant acoustics researcher who has studied underwater acoustics and marine mammals for over 20 years, pioneering techniques and a new understanding of how marine mammals use sound and how they’re affected by man-made sound in the ocean. John is a frequent consultant to sonar companies, navies, governments and NGOs concerned about the acoustic impact on the marine environment. Basically…he knows his stuff. In fact, he was the marine acoustics expert featured in the movie The Cove.
I first met John when he was the head of the Acoustic Research Laboratory at the National University of Singapore, which he started back in 1996. Among the interesting things he shared with me was an amazing video that he and other PhD friends put together showing the source, directionality and strength of humpback singer song in Hawaiian waters…a short sample of which is below:
Though it may not be immediately obvious, this is ground-breaking stuff. By using rebreathers, video cameras, audio recorders and distance measuring devices, John and the other researchers were able to construct this real-time representation of where a humpback’s sound comes from, how strong it is (in decibels) at various distances, and also the directionality of sound.
Cool, eh? (Actually, even more cool is the fact that John et al were the ones in the water on rebreathers gathering data first-hand!)
After several years of brainstorming and planning, we’re ready to try undertaking a new project in Tonga. We won’t be using rebreathers, but we will be pursuing new insights into the characteristics and behaviour of humpback whale singers.
The basic idea is to use a cross-disciplinary approach of combining data in the form of photos, video, high-frequency (i.e., whale-safe) ranging systems, and custom-designed hydrophone arrays to measure singer size, record their songs and other social sounds, and try to discern whether there are any meaningful correlations between songs and whales.
Our intention is to consider basic but as-yet unanswered questions such as whether bigger whales sing louder than smaller ones, whether some whales have deeper voices than others, what role if any age plays in song structure and singing behaviour, etc.
In other words, John and I would like to combine my knowledge of the whales in Tonga with his acoustics expertise to achieve something meaningful.
In order to undertake this project without having to beg for funds, we’re asking for help from people who’d like to take part in this research effort by joining us for a few days on the water, aboard John’s 52ft (on deck) yacht Jocara, which is now based in Tonga (yes, he relocated his boat to Tonga in 2007 in part as preparation for this), managed and operated by our mutual friend Christy.
We’re hoping to kick off this effort with two back-to-back trips in 2010:
Trip 1: 29 Jul – 2 Aug (4 nights aboard Jocara)
Trip 2: 3 Aug – 7 Aug (4 nights aboard Jocara)
To cover operating costs, we’re looking for four people on each of the trips, with cost/ person at US$1250. This includes everything while on the boat, as well as discussions that John will lead about marine mammal acoustics, and marine mammal photography advice/ discussions about humpbacks in Tonga from me (excludes accommodation, meals, etc. off the boat, and air travel).
While this isn’t going to be as intensive a photography-oriented trip as the others I have planned, we will get into the water at every opportunity, and we will be taking photos and recording video.
If you’re interested in learning more about humpback whales and helping out with cutting-edge acoustics study of whale song, please contact me via my contact form.
To be honest, this is a departure from the type of trip I usually do, but it’s something that I believe will be worthwhile over the long-run in expanding our knowledge about these graceful marine mammals.
As with the humpback whale calf-count that I started a couple of years ago, John and I will make every effort to share via the internet any insights we gather, and we look forward to feedback and contributions from all interested parties.
Sperm Whales, Ogasawara (early-mid October): Following on the incredible success of last year’s inaugural trip to Ogasawara, I’m planning another visit to Ogasawara in October this year.
Among the highlights of last year’s trip, we photographed and video-ed a group of female sperm whales eating a giant squid and possibly teaching the calf in the group how to hunt for squid (which means this year…we’ll have to photograph a giant squid engaged in a life-or-death struggle with a sperm whale!)
While in Ogasawara, I also realised that it’s possible to ID sperm whales by markings on their lower ventral areas, and I subsequently compiled a summary of nine individual whales that we encountered. I’m hoping to build on this ID catalog over time, working with the local whale watching authorities to see if we can document repeat visits to the area by these enigmatic cetaceans.
The exact trip dates depend on the ferry schedule between Tokyo and Ogasawara. Last year, the ferry schedule was only announced in July, and the trip was from 8 to 19 October (though I had a good idea of the probable schedule a few weeks prior to the official announcement).
Also, the exact cost depends upon the class of berth aboard the ferry, the number of people on the trip, and the number of days we’re out on the water…so participation in this trip requires a measure of flexibility. A reasonable estimate is Yen 600,000-700,000/ person for 8-9 days on the water.
Yes, I realise that’s not terribly specific…but that’s the nature of the situation, and it’s totally worth the effort and pain-in-the-rear factor when you’re face-to-face with sperm whales. Just ask any of the people who were with me this year!
If you’re interested in going to Ogasawara in early- to mid-October to look for sperm whales, please contact me via my contact form.
The Night Safari Ambon (7-16 Nov): Yes, yes…I’m obsessed with night life this year. After helping to plan the Night Safari Lembeh trip, I realised that the conditions in Ambon are ideal for a Night Safari type of excursion as well.
First, Maluku Divers have just recently opened their new resort, which is located right atop the best muck dive sites in Ambon. This means access to dive sites is easy…and night diving is possible/ practical in the area for the first time in many years.
Second, the new resort was designed and built by my good friend Yos, who coincidentally designed and built Kasawari-Lembeh Resort as well. Yos is a diver himself, and he has really good taste, so I have no doubt that the accommodations and facilities at the new resort in Ambon will be as nice and photographer-friendly as at Kasawari-Lembeh Resort.
And finally, the critter life in Ambon harbour is simply amazing! Need I say more?
I’m arranging The Night Safari Ambon in conjunction with Eric Cheng and Wetpixel, so there will no doubt be lots of experienced underwater photographers on the trip with lots of stories and advice to share. If you’re interested in joining this adventure, please refer to the trip summary below:
Dates/ Diving Schedule: Arrive 7 November 2010, depart on 16 November.
The planned diving schedule comprising 21 dives is:
7 November: Arrive/ set up cameras
8 -9 November: Normal day-diving schedule
10 November: Transition schedule: 14:30; 17:30; 20:30
11-13 November: Night schedule: 17:30; 20:30; 23:30
14 November: Transition schedule: 14:30; 17:30; 20:30
15 November: Off-gas/ Optional land tour (separate cost)
16 November: Depart
Diving Style: Ambon has a combination of reef and muck diving. For this trip, we will be concentrating on muck/ critter diving, and we will devote much of the trip to diving in the evening and night. Although the resort is situated at the best critter sites, we will dive from boats. The dive sites are located inside Ambon bay, and most of the time, we will be diving in relatively shallow water.
Because we will be diving a lot at night, you will need to bring adequate lighting. A minimum of two torches (three would be better) plus lots of batteries would be a good idea.
Also, while the muck sites are sheltered and shallow, there can be strong current at times. Our night dives will be concentrated during the period between new moon and first quarter moon, so in theory, the current will not be strong.
However, you never know with Mother Nature, so we’ll need to be flexible and adapt to prevailing conditions.
Finally, the dive sites we will be diving are where the newly described Maluku frogfish (Histiophryne psychedelica) has been found. We will, of course, hope to see this elusive fish, but to date, only a handful of these animals have been spotted, so please manage your expectations accordingly.
Accommodation: Twin-share rooms at the newly completed Maluku Divers dive resort, which is located at the prime muck dive sites at Laha. All rooms have hot water and aircon, as well as two editing desks with charging stations for batteries. The resort is equipped with back-up generators, so we’ll be insulated from power outages on the island. There is no Nitrox available at this time.
Meals are Indonesian fare, primarily comprising fresh fish and seasonal vegetables. If you have any special dietary requirements, please inform us well in advance so the resort can try to accommodate. Please bear in mind that Ambon is a remote location and some things are not always readily available.
Getting There: There are regular flights to Ambon from Bali, Manado and Jakarta on Lion Air and Batavia Air. While it is possible to make reservations yourself, it’s best to let the resort handle domestic flight reservations, coordinated through Dan Baldocchi. Domestic itineraries and prices generally firm up within three months of the date concerned, so expect that final itineraries will become clear around mid-August.
Power Supply: Power in Indonesia is 230V/ 50Hz. There are charging stations in the cabins and in the dedicated camera room. Plug shape is recessed two-prong, Type F on this page: http://users.telenet.be/worldstandards/electricity.htm
I only had a chance to do one night dive during my stay in Lembeh. I could’ve done more, but I was too tired at the end of every day. Muscles aching, joints creaking, eyelids drooping…
Of course, the one day that I managed to do four dives, I saw a lot at night. There were many cephalopods on the prowl, like this little octopus that seemed truly surprised to see me:
and an adorable little bobtail squid…sound asleep until my strobes went off:
The cutest crustaceans I came across had to be this little crab couple. The one on the left encircling the one plunked down in the sand was always protective of the other crab, and literally “hugged” the other crab every time they moved.
I suspect the cuddler was a male, and the cuddlee a female. Perhaps I’m imagining things, but it sure seemed like the crab I thought to be the male kept communicating: “She’s mine! She’s mine!” every time I got anywhere close.
I didn’t know how to reassure him by saying: “Not interested” in crab-language though. In any case, they were adorable.
Diving at night presents some unique opportunities to observe and photograph the residents of Lembeh, as the critters active after dark tend to be different than the ones during the day. There’s also a lot of courtship and mating activity that takes place in the early part of the evening, which is always fun to watch.
I’m really looking forward to my next trip to Lembeh, which will be for The Night Safari planned for 27 February to 6 March 2010, when we’ll spend a large proportion of time diving at night. The resort will be on a night schedule, so we’ll have all the logistical support we need to have an enjoyable time…like having hot chocolate after dives!
While at Kasawari this trip, I also arranged to have big lights for us to hang during The Night Safari above the water to get squid (and perhaps other stuff?) to come close, so we can watch them hunt and hopefully get some cool images and video.
If you’re a muck, critter and night diving fan, consider joining us for this unique opportunity to party the night away…Lembeh style.
If you’re looking for a really special place to visit during this year end, this is the place. You can expect to see some amazing stuff, and dive where very few people have.
Click this link to read more about the trip, and let me know if you’re interested.
In case it’s not abundantly clear from the trip name, the focus on the excursion will be on diving and photographing at night. It’s a unique opportunity to experience the dark side of Lembeh and see a lot of interesting behaviour that day-divers miss. The entire resort will be operating on a night schedule, so it’ll be like a big sleep over, except that we’ll be diving and changing batteries the entire time.
Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) are among the most charismatic and well-known of marine mammals. Most everyone has seen images of humpbacks, and many have heard recordings of their haunting songs. Few people, however, have ever seen a humpback, much less been in the water with one.
If you’re looking for an opportunity to swim among these gentle giants, take photo/ video of them, and learn about their behaviour, the Kingdom of Tonga in the South Pacific is one of the few places you can go to do so.
Next year will be my 10th season in Tonga. Over time, I’ve spent dozens of hours in the water with these whales, and I’ve learned a lot about how they behave. With this experience, I’ve taken hundreds of people into the water for high-quality, personal encounters with humpback whales.
For just about everyone, it’s a life-changing experience. Even the most jaded and cynical of people who’ve “been there, done that” come out babbling like little kids after they’ve experienced eye contact with a humpback.
It’s an experience you can’t really put into words. You have to do it to understand. Over the years, I’ve come to appreciate and enjoy everyone’s reactions as much as I do my time in the water with the whales.
This year (2009), I organised a single, seven-day trip for six people from outside Japan (all my other trips are for Japanese travellers). To be honest, I was hesitant about doing this, as coordinating people from around the world and from different cultures poses a much greater logistical challenge than working with groups just from Japan.
In hindsight, I’m really glad I did it though, as I made some really great new friends, and I know that everyone on the trip thoroughly enjoyed this unique experience.
So…for the 2010 humpback whale season in Tonga, I’m going to be a bit more ambitious, and I’m planning two trips, six people per trip:
Trip 1: 14-20 August 2010 Fully Booked Trip 2: 21 August – 31 August 2010 Fully Booked
If you’re interested in either of these trips, please use my contact form to let me know.
If you’re thinking about it, but aren’t really sure, please look back through my blog archives and read some of the entries from August and September of each year. The Tonga-related posts will give you a better idea of the conditions, what to expect, etc.
I’ll be continuing with the calf count that my friend Takaji and I started in 2008, so if you join one or both of the trips…expect to be put to work looking for baby whales!
Update 05 October: The trips are fully booked. If you’d like to be informed if someone needs to cancel, please drop me a note via my contact form.
I suppose this goes without saying, but night dives can be amazing experiences…particularly in critter-filled locations like the Lembeh Strait.
When I was in Lembeh in March, I allocated more time than usual to diving at night. Partially, this was driven by the fact that I was with a bunch of really enthusiastic people who were always up for a night dive, and partially, my schedule was determined by the need to get other things done during the day.
As a result, I saw some incredible stuff.
Besides the usual collection of nocturnal creepy-crawlies like bobbit worms, squid, octopuses and the like, I witnessed all sorts of predation, flounders mating, Inimicus scorpionfish mating, crabs mating, shellfish mating, nudibranchs mating, pufferfish mating…you get the idea.
After each action-packed dive, I found myself wondering what it would be like to keep diving through the night. I mean…it’s not like the hunting, mating and other behaviour stopped at the end of our night dives. Nope. The critters of the night just kept on doing what they were doing…and it just killed me that I wasn’t able to go back in.
After the trip, I discussed this with my friends David and Sanah of Scubacam, and Aey and Mean from FiNS Magazine. As a result of my obsession with nightlife, we’ve put together a trip to Lembeh from 27 February to 6 March next year to focus on diving at night…an outing we’ve dubbed The Night Safari 2010.
The objective of the trip is to dive at night, with a heavy emphasis on photography and video. To do this, we’ve again enlisted the cooperation of Kasawari Lembeh Resort, whose owners and staff have agreed to switch over to a night-schedule for this crazy little project.
With its efficient layout, amazing camera room, and dedicated staff, Kasawari is the perfect place to try something like this.
As far as I know, nothing like this has been done before in Lembeh, perhaps because not too many people would like to dive only at night, or perhaps just because no one ever thought of it.
In any event, this trip isn’t for everyone. If the thought of getting in pitch-black water filled with mostly poisonous creepy things that tend to sneak up on you doesn’t make you positively giddy with excitement, then something’s wrong with you then this trip probably isn’t for you.
If the prospect of exploring the dark, mysterious waters of Lembeh ’til the wee hours of the night tickles your fancy, consider joining us for this unique trip. The prospective schedule looks like this:
27 Feb: Singapore-Manado/ 1 evening/ night dive possible
28 Feb: Normal diving schedule
01 Mar: Switch to night schedule: 17:00, 20:00, 23:00
02 Mar: Night schedule: 17:00, 20:00, 23:00
03 Mar: Night schedule: 17:00, 20:00, 23:00
04 Mar: Transition back to normal schedule: 13:00, 16:00, 19:00
05 Mar: Two morning dives: 07:30, 10:30
06 Mar: Manado-Singapore
The basic cost is US$1840/ diver (normal villa) and US$2000/ diver (deluxe villa), excluding airfare. For more details, download this PDF file and/ or email Scubacam with any questions you may have.
One space has just opened up for the Eastern Fields trip aboard MV Golden Dawn that I’m running with Eric Cheng/ Wetpixel between 8 and 19 December this year.
As many of you know, the Eastern Fields is one of my favourite locations. It’s remote, it’s wild, the marine life is astounding to the nth degree, and best of all…probably only a few hundred people have ever dived there.
The trip will be filled with experienced camera/ video people, so we’ll have lots in common, and hopefully learn a lot from one another. Conditions permitting, we’ll be visiting other reefs too…ones that have seen even fewer divers than the Eastern Fields.
There’s only one space open, for a female diver (due to cabin-sharing requirements).
Click here to read a write-up from my last visit, and here to get trip details.
If you’re in search of an awesome trip to an awesome place on an awesome boat with awesome(?) people…seriously, it doesn’t get much better than this. And if you do join us, I’d strongly recommend setting aside time before or after the trip to dive other parts of Papua New Guinea.
“Parting is such sweet sorrow”, as Juliet once said. My time in Lembeh for this trip has come to an end.
As always, I’m sad to be packing for departure, but at the same time, I’m delighted with the many fascinating encounters I had here…both above and below the waterline.
It’s been an eventful stay, to say the least. A camera and lens gone kaput; gathering of old friends and making of new ones; a photo shootout; amazing experiences underwater…it’s difficult to beat a trip like this.
In contrast to my usual habit of writing one extended trip report after getting back to an urban environment, I did my best to post to my blog as often as possible while I was here in Lembeh.
Partially, this was an experiment to see if it’s better to write when everything is fresh in my mind, or whether I should stick to posting longer text when I’ve had the benefit of a bit of time to reflect upon things.
And partially, this was out of necessity, as I foresee the distinct possibility of life being too chaotic for me to spend much time writing after I leave Lembeh.
What I learned is two things. First, it’s exhausting preparing and writing regular blog posts after doing multiple dives, then downloading and processing images. I ended up getting only four to five hours of sleep on many nights, resulting in my constantly being in a semi-permanent daze (on land only of course).
Second, I think that in retrospect, I’ll find that it’s good to post along the way like I have (internet connection and personal fatigue allowing), and then re-read those posts later and put something longer together when (if) I have time.
All-in-all though, I feel that it was worth the effort of posting, and I hope you enjoyed seeing just a few of the amazing critters here, whether you’ve visited Lembeh previously or not. I have many more photos…quite a few, in fact, that I haven’t even looked at after downloading, which I’ll endeavour to do something with later.
One thing that made this trip really special was being able to share it with some great friends who share my passion for the ocean and everything in it.
(Incidentally, if you haven’t seen the prize winners from this trip’s activities, click here to see the images and comments on why Aey, Mean and I selected the images we did. Most of the time with shootouts like this, you just see the images without getting much insight on the background selection process, so we spent a bit of time writing a few thoughts for each image.)
From here, I’m off to DEEP Indonesia in Jakarta. I’m going to be giving talks about underwater photography, plus I’ll have a chance to hook up with other friends there.
As a parting thought before I commence the unpleasant task of cleaning and packing gear…we had such a good time that we’re going to be doing this trip again next year, tentatively scheduled for the first week of March.
We’ll work out the details in the coming weeks, but if you’re interested in diving in Lembeh with us, let me know or drop David and Sanah an email.
Nonsix and I came across this odd-looking fish yesterday at TKI. I think it’s a stonefish, but I’m not sure. It reminds me somewhat of a stylised Chinese stone lion, the kind guarding gates. It looks sort of like a grumpy little pokemon too.
It was quite active, hopping around a lot in a clumsy, comic manner, frowning all the while.
I’ve never seen this fish before, and Nonsix has only seen it once before, so it can’t be all too common. Any fish aficionados out there have an ID for this critter?
Whatever it is, I love everything about it.
On a separate note, we had our first evening photography discussion last night with the photo workshop participants. Though it was just the first day of shooting, there were quite a few amazing images.
The best part of the evening for me was looking at the images everyone else had taken and discussing how the images were taken, what could have been done differently (or not), and gawking at some of the strange creatures other people had seen.
Many of the questions/ uncertainty seemed to center around effective lighting, so I’m thinking of doing a demonstration tonight using my three land strobes and a unlucky volunteer from the group.
The days here start at 05:30 for me and end at midnight or later, so I’m feeling the fatigue…but it’s just so much fun!
In addition to David and Sanah from 
By way of background, my friend Dr. John Potter is a brilliant acoustics researcher who has studied underwater acoustics and marine mammals for over 20 years, pioneering techniques and a new understanding of how marine mammals use sound and how they’re affected by man-made sound in the ocean. John is a frequent consultant to sonar companies, navies, governments and NGOs concerned about the acoustic impact on the marine environment. Basically…he knows his stuff. In fact, he was the marine acoustics expert featured in the movie 
I suppose this goes without saying, but night dives can be amazing experiences…particularly in critter-filled locations like the Lembeh Strait. 
What I learned is two things. First, it’s exhausting preparing and writing regular blog posts after doing multiple dives, then downloading and processing images. I ended up getting only four to five hours of sleep on many nights, resulting in my constantly being in a semi-permanent daze (on land only of course).
