Instead of writing a trip report about my recent visit to Ambon, I played around with a web 2.0 service I’ve been watching for some time to put together a multimedia essay of sorts. The service is called Vuvox, and essentially, it allows you to combine various media forms into online shows and presentations, which [...]

I posted a few images from my recent Ambon trip on Flickr (slideshow below). I’m still working on a summary of my trip (”contemplating” is perhaps a more accurate representation than “working on” at this stage), which I’ll post when I finish.

I just received another photo of me with a couple of whales from another person who was with me in Tonga earlier this year. This photo was from the same encounter as the photo I received last month.

Thank you Izume-san!

I’m off to Ambon in Indonesia, specifically to visit Maluku Divers/ Ambon Dive Center. This is my first trip to this destination. I sort of know what to expect, but then again, I know that there will be many unanticipated events and experiences along the way…which is part of the fun of travel and exploration.
I’ve [...]

It seems like all I’ve been writing about recently is whales, which of course, is entirely understandable given that I just returned from six weeks of thinking about nothing but whales.
Before going to Tonga though, I was in Papua New Guinea for a month, cruising around New Ireland aboard MV Golden Dawn, spending a [...]

One of the people who was with me in early August snapped this photograph during what was probably the most interactive encounter that we had while I was in Tonga this year.
The whale in front of me in the photo is a female, one of a male/ female pair playing under and around a [...]

I’ve just started contributing a regular column called The Photographic Eye for Wetpixel Quarterly, which is the print magazine covering underwater photography and related issues produced by my friends from Wetpixel.
The idea behind this column is to pick a photograph and discuss some of the thoughts, preparation and any other relevant considerations that went into [...]

My final week in Tonga was at once exasperating and incredibly interesting. It was exasperating because the strong winds that have been around for much of the season continued, as did the swells, choppy conditions and murky underwater visibility.
It was interesting for several reasons: We ID-ed three more calfs, bringing the total to 16 [...]

This past week has been one of the toughest I’ve had in Tonga for many years. The winds have been consistently strong. We’ve had rain, lightning, thunder and even hail. There have been several power outages. Swells and high seas have hit from every direction. All-in-all, not a prime week for whale watching.
A Wet Dry [...]

It’s been quite a week, starting off with awful weather, followed by some of the best weather of the season, then by foul conditions again…talk about volatility. Fortunately, however, the best weather coincided with the days I was out on the water, while the worst fell on the days I was land-bound…talk about good timing!
Besides [...]

Lots of wind, few whales, more calfs. That, in short, best characterises this past week.
After the Full Moon Party
One observation that I’ve heard consistently from my friends here is that the whales disappear around full moon. I have to admit I was sceptical about this for a long time, but the more time I spend [...]

Executive summary for the week: Winds, weather, water and whales all improved, but developing quality encounters with whales is still relatively difficult.
Toward the latter part of the week, some of the activity that moved offshore last week seems to have returned to the waters around the islands, with an increase in calf sightings, heat [...]