Enjoyed a week of diving onboard the Cayman Aggressor IV. They run a good operation, but sorry to say that the reefs around the Cayman Islands are not in good shape – dead corals, not much color on the reefs. I think our oceans are in big trouble.
Stayed at Amun Ini Resort on the island of Bohol for 10 days. As you can see by the pictures, there is some great diving there. The people and food were just as wonderful.
Spent a week at Crystal Blue Resort in Anilao, Philippines. Finally had a chance to do some blackwater diving (diving at night over deep water). Saw some new stuff, along with the old familiar creatures. I’ve already signed up for next year, same time.
Nice to escape the Colorado winter for a week of diving in Grand Cayman. Attended a photography workshop devoted mostly to wide-angle photography, something I haven’t done much of. It sure was fun learning lots of new techniques.
After a 17 year hiatus, in November I returned to Wakatobi, located on the southeastern tip of Sulawesi, Indonesia. The multi-day journey to arrive there is definitley worth the trouble. Friendly people, amazing food and of course, the diving, all combine to make it one of most divers’ top destinations. The reefs there are some of the most pristine I’ve seen. Let’s hope they can stay that way.
April brought me back to Atmosphere Resort in the Philippines for the fourth time. I’d go back there every year if I could! I saw more frogfish on this trip than in all of my previous diving to date. This is the time of year when the juvenile frogfish are the most abundant. Most of the frogfish you see on this page are no more than an inch long. As you can see, there were plenty of other critters to observe, as well.
After a four year absence, I finally made it back to one of my favorite spots, Atmosphere Resort on the island of Negros. Spent two weeks there in March. The diving was exceptional! I think I took more pictures on this trip than any other. On my first trip here, six years earlier, it rained almost every day. This trip not a drop. The main attraction this time of year is the abundance of frogfish, of all sizes, and we were not disappointed. I already have my return trip planned for next year.
In November, I spent two wonderful weeks in Fiji, mostly diving. The first week I was at Volivoli Beach Resort on the main island of Viti Levu.
The second week was spent at Paradise Taveuni Resort on the island of Taveuni, some 180 miles northeast of the main island. I can’t say that the diving was anything exceptional (the mediocre visibility didn’t help), but I think I got enough pictures that are worth looking at. It was enough just to be underwater again and to experience the genuine hospitality and friendliness of the Fijiian people. I’d like to go back, but next time on a liveaboard!
After two long years, I was finally able to get back underwater. Spent a week in late February on the Caribbean island of Grenada diving with Aquanauts Grenada and staying at True Blue Bay Resort. I have to say that both the dive shop and resort did a wonderful job taking care of us (the free drinks helped). The diving was typical for the Caribbean – lots of reef fish, pretty healthy corals, some wrecks, the usual suspects….. Did see some seahorses and frogfish and probably the biggest nurse shark I’ve ever seen. We also heard whales and dolphins on several occasions. Overall, an excellent trip. Just what I needed.
After a week in Yap, it was off to Palau and a week onboard the Palau Aggressor II. Just about perfect weather all week and the diving lived up to Palau’s reputation. This made up for my previous trip there, when we experienced almost constant rain. One of our dives in German Channel goes down as one of my top five dives ever. Hope you enjoy the photos below as well as a short video of various fish activities. I don’t consider myself a videographer, but it’s fun to shoot video a little.
Mid-winter is a good time to escape to warmer surroundings, so I spent almost three weeks over January and into February in Micronesia. This was the reverse of a trip I made almost 10 years ago. So after a night spent in Guam, the first destination was the island of Yap, part of the Federated States of Micronesia. We had good shark action, but the mantas were being a bit shy this week. Perhaps due to the high winds we experienced all week?
In October, I made a return trip to Atmosphere Resort south of the town of Dumaguete on Negros Island. The weather and hence the diving, were magnitudes better than my last visit there, two years ago. This being octopus season, we spent much of our time looking for them and weren’t disappointed. The highlight of the trip was being able to observe a pair of mating wunderpus. I took more pictures on this dive trip than any other, so it was hard to whittle them down to something manageable. Still, I ended up with a lot of them, so take a look below.
After a ten year absence, I returned in April to the muck diving capital of Lembeh on the island of Sulewesi. Spent nine days diving, three long dives a day. They were in a slow period, so I lucked out and had my own dive guide every day. Stayed at the same resort I was at before, Kungkungan Bay Resort and would highly recommend it. No shortage of critters to photograph here, so there are more pictures posted than usual. Great time – I’ll be back!
Everyone’s heard of Tahiti. A good place to visit in the middle of winter. After one night in Tahiti we flew off to Rangiroa for three nights at a resort on the atoll, then another flight to Fakarava took us to a liveaboard for a week of diving. Though the weather was pretty rough for a couple of days, we didn’t lose any dives. Had some memorable drift dives through some of the passes and saw plenty of sharks, dolphins, huge schools of fish and a couple of manta rays. Didn’t get any great photos of the schools of sharks, but they will remain in my memory.
Some of the best dive destinations are also the hardest to get to. I guess that’s what keeps them on every scuba diver’s bucket list. The Solomon Islands are no exception. Counting fewer than 25,000 annual visitors, most of them non-divers, the Solomons offer dive sites that see few divers. Unfortunately, there is no escaping the larger problem of warming oceans and acidification. Some evidence of coral bleaching was seen on our ten day trip aboard the Biliki liveaboard, but nowhere as dramatic as that in Australia, about a three hour flight to the southwest.
Did a quick trip to the Channel Islands in July. Dove off the Raptor, based out of Ventura, California. This was dry suit diving, since the water temperature was in the 60s. Though my preference is still for warm water, tropical diving, this was s nice change of pace. Here’s a sampling of what we saw underwater.
Not easy to get to (overnights in Singapore and Bali along the way), but well worth the effort. You are rewarded with some of the best diving in the world, not to mention spectacular scenery above water. A highlight of the trip was seeing the Komodo dragons up close.
A three week trip to the Middle East proved to be one of the best ever. Four days spent visiting Luxor in Egypt, followed by a 10 day liveaboard and then three more days in Jordan. Can’t say enough good things about our visit there. Needless to say, we had most of the tourist attractions to ourselves. Nice for us, but sorry to say that that the locals are hurting and need the tourists back! Tourism was down to 10-20% of normal. I never felt at risk during the trip – after all, we had or own armed guard during most of the land excursions. I’d go back in a heartbeat! Next time I won’t miss the pyramids.
A ten day trip on the Febrina liveaboard which operates out of Walindi Resort on the island of New Britain. A fabulous trip where I got in 41 dives! Most of the pictures are of close-up subjects since the visibility wasn’t at its best.
We were a hardy group of eight trying out the frigid waters (48°) off Vancouver Island. With the proper equipment we were all able to enjoy 45 minute dives as we took in the wonders that the Pacific Northwest offers.
Misool Eco Resort is located in the Raja Ampat region of eastern Indonesia. It is accessed by flying into Sorong on the western tip of New Guinea, followed by a five hour boat ride. The resort itself is located on the small island of Batbitim, which is on the southeast side of Misool Island. Surrounded by a 460 square mile No-Take Fishing Zone, the reefs are very healthy and the larger-fish population is rebounding nicely.