Another Lembeh Blog . . .

[tarczy]

Well . . . it's official!!

I'm goin' to Lembeh!!

I couldn't make Jonathan's recent Lembeh trip (http://www.uwphotochat.com/forums/showthread.php?t=343)'cuz of work related issues, but I have three weeks free over the Christmas Holidays. Not wanting to twiddle mah thumbs over the Holiday Season, and being bored with the Caribbean, I decided to take the plunge and book a trip to Divers Lodge in Lembeh (http://www.diving-on-sulawesi.com/) from December 17th to January 8th.

Soooo . . . the flight is on my fav trans-con carrier, Malaysia Airlines, from Los Angeles to Singapore, where I decompress for about 30 hours. We stop briefly in Kuala Lumpur, a phenomenal airport! Total flight time from LAX to SIN = 21 hours. Not bad!

Once in Singapore, I get a good night's rest at the fabulous M Hotel (http://www.millenniumhotels.com.sg/mhotelsingapore/index.html). The next day will be spent exploring Singapore (never been there). Later that evening - dinner with one of my more favorite Singapore based clients. Maybe he'll let me drive his very cool Aston Martin V12 Vanquish (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:SC06_Aston_Martin_Vanquish_green.jpg) around Singapore for awhile. The guy has a collection of something like 30 cars! :rolleyes:

Next day, board Silk Air for a short hop (yeah ... like 4.5 hours!) to Manado, North Sulawesi. Once there, the Divers Lodge folks pick me up and drive to the lodge. That will be "home" for the next 18 days. I don't expect this lodge to be a five-star resort, but hey . . . we be diving! Just hope the beds are comfy.

Soooo . . . stay tuned. Hope to be posting regular updates beginning December 17th.

[Neptune7]

Gee! I was thinking of asking you to go next spring but you're too quick for me. I will end up the only one who didn't get there.:confused:

Never been to Singapore? It's not a city, it's a huge shopping mall. But you gotta see it to beleive it. Since you have a friend there, he might show you more interesting stuff than stores, malls and dutyfree shops. The night life can also be "memorable". I hope we are gonna get some pictures...:cool:

I am gonna wait impatiently for your blog.

Take care Mark.

Pierre

[Jonathan Bird]

18 days....holy crap, you aren't fooling around man! NICE!

If the guy has 30 cars, see if he will really spoil you and let you drive something with a horse on the hood that was made in Italy. Aston Martins are nice and all....:D

Jonathan

[David White]

Several of us extended our Lembeh trip with a few days at the Santiki Hotel in Manado, diving with the Thalassa Dive Centre. After nine days of diving in Lembeh it provided a refreshing change of pace; deep walls, monstrous corals, lots of fish etc. Something to consider since you have almost three weeks in Manado. Bear in mind that Thalassa Dive Centre only does three dives a day (night dives are scheduled twice a week but are available with three or more divers) and bottom times are limited to 60 minutes. Because of the extreme depths available they do not offer nitrox.

[Jonathan Bird]

Jim sent me an e-mail and said it was kinda cattle-boat-like though. Do you agree?

[David White]

To be fair to Thalassa, when we first arrived they were catering to more than 70 divers. Uncommonly busy, even for them. They even had to bring in an extra boat to accomodate us. Four of us shared a divemaster on our boat and the other group (5 maximum) went with the other divemaster. There was plenty of room on the boats for everyone. During a slower period it would likely be a lot less hectic for all concerned. The divemasters took care of all the equipment, even ferrying our cameras back and forth to the boats by truck since it was a really long walk. The diving in Bunaken Marine Preserve is well worth the visit. The coral formations are some of the largest that I have ever seen, visibility is as far as the eye can see, and the water is warmer than Lembeh. I wish that I had been able to spend more time there since there was so much more to see than we were able to accomplish. Besides, how many dive operations limit a divemaster to a buddy pair, or provide a personal divemaster for a certain videographer like they do at Divers Lodge? As far as cattle boats go, Thalassa's operation is tame. Given the circumstances, I think they did a commendable job.

The Santiki Hotel is quite luxurious set in acres of landscaped grounds, although the service levels in the dining room were not as personal as we had become accustomed to in Lembeh. The food was good with a varied selection at the buffet and personal pizzas available at The Big Tree restaurant. I will download some of the video from Bunaken and see if something can be put together to show what it is like.

[Jonathan Bird]

Sounds like it was pretty good then. Jim must have been suffering from DLSS. (Divers Lodge Spoiling Syndrome.)

:D

Jonathan

[tarczy]

Ahhhh . . . sorry for jumping the gun, Pierre!! Oh well . . . you're welcome to join me over the Christmas Holidays. :D

David - Great video footage!! Can't wait to see the rest of your footage as well as experiening Lembeh in real time. Thanks for the Santiki Hotel/Thalassa Dive Centre tip. I dunno, though. This trip is not only a photo expedition, but also a time to get away from the cell phones, e-mail and overall stress of my job. It seems to me that switching resorts and diving in a "loaded" boat might be too much of a stresser. Nevertheless, I'm thinking about your recommendations.

On another note . . . supposedly I get a boat and a divemaster all to myself for 18 days. So, I'm hoping I can balance the days between muck diving and deeper reef diving. I'm looking forward to diving some of the deeper sites like Nudi Retreat and Pulau Putas.

Jonathan - Somehow I knew you'd fit in a reference to Ferrari. :D I dunno if he has one (more likely several), but just for you, I'll be sure to take some pics and post them if he lets me drive one. :cool:

[sorvju-f]

Well . . . it's official!!

I'm goin' to Lembeh!!

I couldn't make Jonathan's recent Lembeh trip (http://www.uwphotochat.com/forums/showthread.php?t=343)'cuz of work related issues, but I have three weeks free over the Christmas Holidays. Not wanting to twiddle mah thumbs over the Holiday Season, and being bored with the Caribbean, I decided to take the plunge and book a trip to Divers Lodge in Lembeh (http://www.diving-on-sulawesi.com/) from December 17th to January 8th.

Soooo . . . the flight is on my fav trans-con carrier, Malaysia Airlines, from Los Angeles to Singapore, where I decompress for about 30 hours. We stop briefly in Kuala Lumpur, a phenomenal airport! Total flight time from LAX to SIN = 21 hours. Not bad!

Once in Singapore, I get a good night's rest at the fabulous M Hotel (http://www.millenniumhotels.com.sg/mhotelsingapore/index.html). The next day will be spent exploring Singapore (never been there). Later that evening - dinner with one of my more favorite Singapore based clients. Maybe he'll let me drive his very cool Aston Martin V12 Vanquish (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:SC06_Aston_Martin_Vanquish_green.jpg) around Singapore for awhile. The guy has a collection of something like 30 cars! :rolleyes:

Next day, board Silk Air for a short hop (yeah ... like 4.5 hours!) to Manado, North Sulawesi. Once there, the Divers Lodge folks pick me up and drive to the lodge. That will be "home" for the next 18 days. I don't expect this lodge to be a five-star resort, but hey . . . we be diving! Just hope the beds are comfy.

Soooo . . . stay tuned. Hope to be posting regular updates beginning December 17th.

You too my friend:cool: ...it will be hard to recover something new after all of you in Feb...also having second ( or I dont know how many totally) tiger trip, but HAA I might be first to give Raja Ampat report to UW-chat.

You can check also Livingcolours, Bunaken, very pro resort ( I have been there already two times and March 08 will be third.

http://www.livingcoloursdiving.com/

There are couple of muck-diving site, but mainly its wall diving. There is also one mid size wreck, but the best area is behind the wreck!

Jukka

[tarczy]

You too my friend:cool: ...it will be hard to recover something new after all of you in Feb...also having second ( or I dont know how many totally) tiger trip, but HAA I might be first to give Raja Ampat report to UW-chat.

You can check also Livingcolours, Bunaken, very pro resort ( I have been there already two times and March 08 will be third.

http://www.livingcoloursdiving.com/

There are couple of muck-diving site, but mainly its wall diving. There is also one mid size wreck, but the best area is behind the wreck!

Jukka

Jukka-

With your phenomenal eye for composition, I'm sure you will return from Lembeh in February with the best pics out of all of us.

Thanks for the Living Colours dive resort recommendation. I'm finding it difficult to decide whether or not to stay at the same resort for 18 days and just relax, or split the trip into two parts - first part Divers Lodge and second part somewhere else. However, $35.00 EU per day??? Jeez!!! That's a screaming deal!! Do they have toilets in each of the bungalows?? What am I missing? I guess if you're going back there for a third time, it must be pretty good! ;)

[sorvju-f]

Jukka-

With your phenomenal eye for composition, I'm sure you will return from Lembeh in February with the best pics out of all of us.

Thanks for the Living Colours dive resort recommendation. I'm finding it difficult to decide whether or not to stay at the same resort for 18 days and just relax, or split the trip into two parts - first part Divers Lodge and second part somewhere else. However, $35.00 EU per day??? Jeez!!! That's a screaming deal!! Do they have toilets in each of the bungalows?? What am I missing? I guess if you're going back there for a third time, it must be pretty good! ;)

18 days in same resort sounds much...I would devide it to two places ( I divided mine to tree ).

There you get help with your luggages where ever you go...also diving is just to sit to your gears and go..when coming back, you first will give your gears to crew to lift it back to boat...then you just wait for next dive and when you want to go again everything is ready! Its worth of asking a paggage if you stay there ( or somewhere else ) longer.

Every bungalow had toalet and shower...no AC, no nitrox, but the crew is great and they do everything to get you the greatest experience! Dive masters are one of the best I have ever met!

There is also house-band with exotic instruments having a party in "Safety stop"-bar very often! If staying late there, maybe diving is not good idea next morning:rolleyes:

Mainly I go there, because the owner is my friend origin of Finland. This Manado area is not really some tourist oriented holiday place and having some night life action!

To me best relaxation is being underwater...:D

Jukka

Jukka

[sorvju-f]

Jukka-

With your phenomenal eye for composition, I'm sure you will return from Lembeh in February with the best pics out of all of us.



Now I got also stress...got to get UW;)

[David White]

As promised, a video clip from Bunaken has just been uploaded to Stage6. It is available here: http://stage6.divx.com/OceanView-HD/video/1805854/. As far as stress is concerned Jukka, it is the next best thing to being there.

[tarczy]

David-

Your Bunaken Video is your best one yet!!

Love it!!

[Neptune7]

Bravo! Bravo! Very nice David.

Pierre

[David White]

Thanks guys, your comments are appreciated.

[sorvju-f]

As promised, a video clip from Bunaken has just been uploaded to Stage6. It is available here: http://stage6.divx.com/OceanView-HD/video/1805854/. As far as stress is concerned Jukka, it is the next best thing to being there.


This divx seems to have the greatest quality on web publishing...do you have to buy some license to use it.

I really want to serve you some clips online from the next trips...is it enough power in the laptop with core-duo 2,66MHz processor for HD.

I am not asking, what is the first best thing:rolleyes:

Jukka

[David White]

The DivX Pro codec, which is required to produce DivX videos, is available as a download for $19.99 from: http://www.divx.com/divx/windows/ Or you can get a 15 day trial of the converter with the free version so you can play around with it and determine it's usefulness. For web streaming high definition files in full screen it is the best solution that I have found thus far. As an example, a 40Gb .avi file converts to a 100Mb DivX file. My laptop is only a 1.66 dual core with 2Gb RAM and a 200 Gb hard drive and it is capable of HD editing. However, I am generally too tired at the end of a day of diving to do anything constructive and save the editing for when I get home and can load the clips onto the editing suite.

[Jonathan Bird]

Nice choice of music and nicely edited. I would like to see some macro shots in there too, although I know you are going for the "dreamy" panoramic look. Looks like some nice reefs! I can hardly wait to see some Lembeh stuff!

Jonathan

[sorvju-f]

The DivX Pro codec, which is required to produce DivX videos, is available as a download for $19.99 from: http://www.divx.com/divx/windows/ Or you can get a 15 day trial of the converter with the free version so you can play around with it and determine it's usefulness. For web streaming high definition files in full screen it is the best solution that I have found thus far. As an example, a 40Gb .avi file converts to a 100Mb DivX file. My laptop is only a 1.66 dual core with 2Gb RAM and a 200 Gb hard drive and it is capable of HD editing. However, I am generally too tired at the end of a day of diving to do anything constructive and save the editing for when I get home and can load the clips onto the editing suite.

You are really great help to my hungriness of info David, thanks.

One more question: do you have some special card like PMCIA or are you using 1394/FireWire/USB/S-video or what to unload your material to lap-top?

Jukka

[David White]

Jukka,
I just use the firewire connection on both the laptop and the editing computer. One of the nice things about Vegas is that it is not hardware dependant, except that it does not run on a Mac, and requires a system with a bit of beef for handling the high def stuff.

By the way, I made some revisions to the Bunaken clip and it is now available at: http://stage6.divx.com/OceanView-HD/video/1820057/Bunaken-Marine-Preserve. There are macro opportunities at Bunaken, just as there are coral reefs in Lembeh, but after nine days of shooting the little guys in Lembeh it was a refreshing change to put the wide angle lens on and just take it easy for a few days. Stay tuned...more to come.

[tarczy]

Welll folks . . . I have good news and bad news ...

Good news first:

The Malaysia Airlines flight out of L.A. went off without a hitch. Believe it or not, security wasn't that bad either. And best news of all, one bag weighed in at 65lbs and the other bag weighed in at 69.5lbs (0.5lbs below the 70lb limit) Suh-weet!!!

Soooo . . . we motor our way over to Taipei for a 1-hour refueling stop. Then we took off for Kuala Lumpur. Spent 3-hours in KL until boarding for Singapore. Total travel time from LAX to Singapore = 21 hours.

The flights were lovely. I had plenty of Ambien to knock me out. Now comes the bad news!

I have experienced some trying times in my life . . . like the time I had to climb over balconies from the top floor of the Bloomfield Hills Marriott in order to escape a raging fire. But, I never experience more intense times of nervousness waiting at that luggage line when I slowly realize my bags are'nt coming through. Yep!! That's right!! Malaysian Airlines has LOST BOTH MY FREAKIN GEAR BAGS!! Well . . . looking on the bright side . . . Malaysia Airlines has 48 hours to get me my bags before the next leg of my trip to Manado, Sulawesi.

Stay tuned. This could be interesting.

P.S. If worse comes to worse, I'm formulating backup plans to have an Ikelite Housing, ports and strobes shipped to mee in Manado. Pretty extreme!! Let's hope
I don't need to employ the nuclear option.

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_7242.jpg
My very nice Presidential Suite Courtesy of Chairman Kwek

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_7243.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_7247.jpg

Aren't these spectacular underwater images? This may be all we get if I don't get my bags back!! :mad:

[sorvju-f]

Hi Mark, nice to hear from you even you have problems!

You should take the pics from the bathroom, bath full of water added some nice color rubber fish:D !

Seriously bad start, but I am sure the things will be OK after a while.

If the luggages have disappeared totally, let me know and I can check some alternatives for camera rigs from Jaska from Bunaken!

Time to have one refreshing drink!

I can't understand the size of your room!

Jukka

[tarczy]

So far, my Indonesia trip has been great . . . except for the lost luggage thing. The flight over was fabulous and very restful (thank you Ambien). The accommodations here in Singapore are phenomenal.

In about an hour and a half, I'm having dinner with The Chairman at a fancy French Restaurant of his choosing. Since I have no luggage, I will be wearing blue jeans and a Tommy Bahama shirt. Do ya think they'll let me in? Oh well . . . we'll see!! :rolleyes:

Soooo . . . I finally got in touch with somebody in baggage handling that seemed to know something. He told me that due to bad weather at LAX, Malaysia Airlines had to off-load some weight. Unfortunately, my bags were part of the off-load. Apparently, my bags are now on a Singapore Airline flight winging its way over here as I write this. The Singapore baggage dude assured me that, no matter what, they will have my bags to Divers Lodge either upon my arrival or no later than one day beyond my arrival. I'll believe it when I see it!

The good news here is that they seem to have found my bags. I had visions of some gangbangin' baggage handler makin' off with my bags. Anyway, things are looking up. I'm leaving for Manado, Divers Lodge tomorrow morning at 10:00am.

Ciao!

Mark

[Jonathan Bird]

Hey Mark,
As you have been through this before, you know the deal. Get the name of the guy you are talking to and make sure he knows that you are going to keep calling until you have your bags. Don't count on them being smart enough to get them to Divers Lodge. Keep calling and harassing. 48 hours ought to be enough to get your bags to you before you leave for Manado. Myself, I would feel a lot better about having the bags BEFORE leaving for Manado and I would seriously consider not leaving Singapore until you have them, only because it's a lot easier to get them at the original destination they were headed towards than getting the airline to forward them. (Of course, if they forward them, they will pay the Silk Air excess weight.) Don't feel bad, this happens to me on about 50% of my trips these days. Airlines suck. Fortunately for you, you are dealing with one of the best airlines in the world and not someone like Delta.

If you need anyone stateside to harass them, just e-mail me details and I will call and work it from this end. I know how hard it can be to deal with the airlines from a foreign country where you don't have easy access to phones, etc.

If I were you I would skip the whole diving thing and just hang out in that awesome pad you have there!! HOLY COW!

Jonathan

[tarczy]

Thanks Jonathan, for the advice and many more thanks for the "stateside" offer of help. You're a stud!!! And . . . if/when you're ever in the same pickle, don't hesitate to call on me for the same kind of help!!

Sooo . . . I just returned from a fabulous dinner at Gunther's . . . supposedly one of the best French restaurants in all of Singapore. I highly recommend it. Great company. Had a good time. Unfortunately, The Chairman didn't pick me up in his Aston Martin like I had hoped. He came in a brand new Porsche Cayenne. :rolleyes: I told him he could drive my M6 next time he is in L.A. That Porsche is a pig. :rolleyes: (Hey . . . is this an underwater photography blog or a car enthusiast blog?) :D

GOOD NEWS!!!

Upon my return from dinner, guess what was waiting for me in my room!!! You guessed it!! Both of my bags . . . in pristine condition. I am MAJORLY relieved!!! Whew!!!

Okay . . . I'm off to Manado tomorrow. Then we'll start the real blogging!!

Oh yeah . . . one more thing . . . so I was telling the Chairman that I'm staying another day in Singapore on my way back home in January and that I was gonna stay in his M Hotel again. He said noooooo and had me re-booked into a suite at his brand new St. Regis Hotel that opens December 22nd. Cool!! I think I might stay in Singapore a few days longer on my way back.

Cheers

Mark

[David White]

Hey Mark,

Glad your bags arrived intact and in time. Man you sure travel in style.

[Jonathan Bird]

Mark,
I'm very glad to hear that teh bags showed up. That makes things a lot nicer, huh?? Nothing like the sense of relief when the bags show up.

Next time I go to Singapore, I'm going with you man!

Jonathan

[David White]

Mark,

Next time I go to Singapore, I'm going with you man!

Jonathan

Yea, me too. Looks like we could squeeze about 20 people and all their gear into your room. Well, maybe not all of Pierre's gear.

[Jonathan Bird]

C'mon Mark! Where the heck are you???

[Ken Hawk]

C'mon Mark! Where the heck are you???

Yep, were waiting all around the globe ;)
Ken

[tarczy]

So sorry I've been tardy in submitting a report. Things have been a bit difficult.

I arrived Lembeh yesterday. Silk Air was okay. No excess weight fees, even though one of my bags was about 2 kilos over the limit. Very cool.

Rob (the Owner of Divers Lodge) picked me up at the airport as planned. As we were driving to Bitung we got a flat tire. Sooo . . . it's raining and we're parked half on and half off the road and poor Rob is changing the tire while I'm waving traffic away from the car. I was laughing on the inside because it was a comical scene. Fortunately for Rob, I spared him the indignity of taking pictures. ;)

Divers Lodge is a very cool place (actually it's hotter than blazes here, but hey - it's Indonesia). Everybody is soooo nice and helpful. Rob tells me he has 30 people on staff for a maximum of 9 divers . . . so 3 staff for every diver. Jeez! How can you beat that?

I went out for 3 dives today. Got some cool pics. I'll post some pics tomorrow. I'm tired 'cuz I have this raging cold and a bad cough that I caught from some clown on the Malaysian Airlines flight. I have plenty of Sudafed and hopefully the cough medicine will arrive soon.

Tomorrow I'll be doing 4 dives during the day and one night dive.

Oh well . . . dinner is served. Bye for now.

P.S. Somebody please tell me how you're seeing those images I posted of the hotel room. Are they too dark? Are they flat? It would help me immensely since I'm not used to editing and posting pics with this laptop monitor. Since this laptop monitor is so bright, the images I edit tend to be toward the darker side. Thanks

[Ken Hawk]

Ok we can wait another 24 hours :rolleyes:
I am sure it will be worth it :D
Ken

[Jonathan Bird]

Fortunately for Rob, I spared him the indignity of taking pictures. ;)

WHY? Sheesh, that would be hilarious!

Sorry to hear you got a cold. Fortunately, you will be there so long that even if you have to take a week off, you will still get more pictures than you know what to do with! ;)


The pics of the hotel room look fine. Don't worry, this is the internet, not a coffee-table book! The pics will look fine. If they really look bad, we'll let you know, but I doubt they will.

Jonathan

[tarczy]

Sooo . . . the cough medicine arrived last night. I had the best night's sleep in a loooong time. I should be over this chest cold in another day or two.

Breakfast was served at 7:00am and we started our diving at 9:00am. Today was a great day. I shot over 600 images and deleted about 120. I shot so many images that I depleted my camera battery at the end of the 4th dive. Canon camera batteries usually last a whole day. Not here!! Tomorrow I'm bringing my spare camera battery fully charged.

Weather was pretty much overcast with intermittent rain. That's good 'cuz if the sun was shining it would be unbearably HOT and HUMID!!

So we did four dives lasting about an hour each. My guide, Andris, gets cold fast, so I canceled the night dive. But, we're doing two day dives and two night dives tomorrow . . . and I told Andris to bring an extra wetsuit.

So here's a few images. I'll try not to duplicate Jonathan's work, but unfortunately you'll see some similar creatures. Hey! That's why I'm here!!

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_7915.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_7860.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_7843.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_7881.jpg

[tarczy]

Here's some more images . . .

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_7842.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_7805.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_7782.jpg

And finally . . . Jonathan, this one's for you courtesy of Andris . . .

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_7613.jpg

Lemme know if the images are too dark.

I'll post some more tomorrow.

Ciao!

[Jonathan Bird]

Mark,
Sweet, you got a wonderpus on the first day!!! Nice work! I also like the mantis shrimp.

How are you getting All rights reserved" on your lightroom exports? Are you just adding that to your copyright?

Tell my man Andris I said hi!!

Jonathan

[Jonathan Bird]

Mark,
As I read my old lembeh thread, one thing I should have done is post more topside shots. I got so excited about all the critters I was seeing that I didn't post much of the area. However from the perspective of being on the other end of the blog now, it would be nice to see more images of the region, resort, etc. Just a suggestion!

Also, please say hi to Linda and Rob for me. Have a piece of toast with peanut butter and nutella in my honor! :cool:

Jonathan

[Ken Hawk]

Well worth the wait, keep um coming.
Are you using the 100mm Macro?
Thanks Ken

[tarczy]

Jonathan . . . I've been shooting a bunch of topside stuff but the days have been overcast, so I haven't been thrilled with my topside images. Today promises to be very sunny (and freakin' HOT!), so I think I'll get some good shots to post this evening. I dunno about the "city" or "regional" images. I think I'm stuck here until the 4th, but maybe we'll arrange an excursion. Just to let you know, you left quite an impression on these folks. Considering the language barrier, I find it amazing you were able to make them laugh so much . . . maybe it was your antics rather than that razor sharp wit of yours. :rolleyes:

Ken . . . most of the images posted were shot with the 100mm Canon Macro Lens. I'm gonna try the Canon 50mm lens today. I have this Sigma 70mm Macro Lens, but it doesn't seem to want to work correctly. I think it's the fault of the special Ikelite port rather than the lens. We'll see if I can fix it.

My boat is departing at 10:00am this morning, so I have some time to kill. I think I'll go and get some of those topside shots.

P.S. I thought I'd lose some weight while on this trip since alcohol isn't readily available. Forget it! The amount of food they serve here is incredible! Oy!!

Merry Christmas to all of you!!

Marcos

[David White]

Great pics Mark. Isn't Lembeh great? Such incredible diversity. 480 keepers on day 1. Hope you have lots of storage capacity. Wish everyone a very happy holiday for me. And keep those pictures coming.

[sorvju-f]

Jonathan . . . I've been shooting a bunch of topside stuff but the days have been overcast, so I haven't been thrilled with my topside images. Today promises to be very sunny (and freakin' HOT!), so I think I'll get some good shots to post this evening. I dunno about the "city" or "regional" images. I think I'm stuck here until the 4th, but maybe we'll arrange an excursion. Just to let you know, you left quite an impression on these folks. Considering the language barrier, I find it amazing you were able to make them laugh so much . . . maybe it was your antics rather than that razor sharp wit of yours. :rolleyes:

Ken . . . most of the images posted were shot with the 100mm Canon Macro Lens. I'm gonna try the Canon 50mm lens today. I have this Sigma 70mm Macro Lens, but it doesn't seem to want to work correctly. I think it's the fault of the special Ikelite port rather than the lens. We'll see if I can fix it.


My boat is departing at 10:00am this morning, so I have some time to kill. I think I'll go and get some of those topside shots.

P.S. I thought I'd lose some weight while on this trip since alcohol isn't readily available. Forget it! The amount of food they serve here is incredible! Oy!!

Merry Christmas to all of you!!

Marcos

Merry Christmas to you also!

I think that with your examble next Chrismas I will also combine diving/photographing to my program as its the biggest present I can get!

Enjoy your time!

Jukka

[Jonathan Bird]

Just to let you know, you left quite an impression on these folks. Considering the language barrier, I find it amazing you were able to make them laugh so much . . . maybe it was your antics rather than that razor sharp wit of yours. :rolleyes:

Maybe it was just a good old fashioned big American-style tip! ;)

[Ken Hawk]

Maybe it was just a good old fashioned big American-style tip! ;)

They will never forget Mark then :D

Ken

[tarczy]

The Internet has been down for the last two days, so I haven't had a chance to post until now. The saying here in Indonesia is that Murphy (of Murphy's Law fame) was an OPTIMIST! Here in Indonesia, just count on things going wrong! Fortunately, so far, the boat motor has conked out and we've had problems charging my strobe batteries. However, we hope that today all will be fixed.

A good tip when diving Lembeh, bring a set of spare strobe batteries. In fact, bring two sets of spare strobe batteries. That way you'll maximize your dive time without having to wait for your batteries to recharge.

Day 3 saw us doing 4 dives . . . two during the day, one at dusk (Mandarin Fish mating) and one at night. The first two day dives were all about shooting Harlequin Shrimp. Below are two versions of the same pose. I originally picked the first one, but in discussing lighting philosophies with Rob (owner of Divers Lodge), he convinced me that the second image creates more depth and drama with it's "lack" of light on the right side. He believes the first image is just "flat." What do you think?

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_8129.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_8107.jpg

The dusk dive was all about trying to shoot Mandarin Fish in the act of mating. This is VERY difficult since Mandarin Fish mate only at dusk, which means lighting conditions are less than optimal. I managed to pop off three shots, none of which are acceptable. We're going back this evening to see if I can do better.

Weather has been sunny and hot, but strangely enough, it seems to be hotter and stickier when it rains than when it is sunny. Go figure.

Below are two more images from underwater Lembeh. Next post will be about the resort and topside.

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_8565.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_8775.jpg

[tarczy]

Divers Lodge is a very "basic" dive resort. The accommodations are spartan. But hey . . . are we here to dive or are we here to lounge in the lap of luxury? So, the spartan accommodations are just fine. Combine that with a very helpful and friendly staff, and you've got yourself one helluva nice dive resort.

The view from my room . . .

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/IMG_5960.jpg

The Porch of my bungalow . . .

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/IMG_5962.jpg

The lounge area of the resort (this is where everyone gets Internet access) . . .

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/IMG_5972.jpg

The dining area . . .

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/IMG_5973.jpg

[tarczy]

Sulawesi (and Indonesia for that matter) is a Third World Nation. Most everything here is manual labor, except when more advanced nations come here to invest (i.e. Japan built the very advanced container shipping port). Hence, Sulawesi is an interesting contrast between "old" and "new."

A local fisherman going out for the day's catch. Note the modern container ships in the background.

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/IMG_6035.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/IMG_6106.jpg

Kids playing in front of a fishing shack on the beach . . .

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/IMG_6116.jpg

Despite the relative lack of wealth, Indonesians are generally good natured people who love to laugh and have a good time . . . .

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/IMG_6122.jpg

It's the day after Christmas on this side of the world. Hope all of you are having a merry Christmas Holiday!!

Cheers!

Marcos

[Jonathan Bird]

Despite the relative lack of wealth, Indonesians are generally good natured people who love to laugh and have a good time . . . .

I agree, Indonesians are good people.

Mark, I don't know if it is the composition, the lighting, or both, but I like the second harlequin shrimp shot better. We didn't see those! Where'd ya find them??

Merry Christmas to you!

Jonathan

[tarczy]

Today was all about Pygmy Seahorses . . . and Blue Ringed Octopus . . . and mating Mandarin Fish. Soooo much to see here in Lembeh and sooo little time.

We started the day chasing Pygmy Seahorses and we managed to nail three different species. The Brown and the Orange Pygmy Seahorses were somewhat easy compared to the pesky little Red Pygmy Seahorse. The Red Pygmy was perched on a Sea Fan that was right on the apex of a large rock outcropping. Once you positioned yourself for the shot, you quickly notice that the current is ripping fast!! It had to be 7 knots (okay ... maybe 3 knots ... probably more like 2, but it FELT like 7 knots). Don't touch the coral?? Ha!! I was hangin' on to anything for dear life!! It felt like I was gonna get blown clear back to Singapore if I let go. Sooo . . . I'm firing away, trying as hard as I can to keep an object no larger than a hangnail in focus and relatively composed, when I realize that my right arm really hurts. Well . . . that's because the damned current is trying to rip off your strobe and right arm is fighting to keep the camera balanced. At the end of the day, the Red Pygmy Seahorse was a ***** to shoot.

After two dives chasing Pygmy Seahorses, we went after the Blue Ringed Octopus. Unfortunately 8 other divers from Kungkungan Bay Resort landed on top of us, kicking up silt and sand . . . and I was only allowed something like 10 shots before I was waved away so other divers could get their shots. I must say, the personal guides that Divers Lodge provides is one helluva luxury. Needless to say, I was dissatisfied with my Blue Ringed Octopus shots. We'll get some later.

We did our fourth dive trying to shoot Mandarin Fish while mating (great fish porn). You can only shoot Mandarin Fish in the act of mating between the hours of 5:00pm and 6:00pm. After that, it's all over. These little guys wiggle around in their mating dance and then once they figure out they like each other, they shoot up about two feet in their embrace for about 5 seconds and then decouple to race back for cover. 5 seconds is not a long time to focus, compose and get a shot off, especially when it's dusk and there isn't a lot of contrast with which the lens can use to focus. Needless to say, I'm not satisfied with my results so far.

That's all for today. Tomorrow, I'm off to California Dream to shoot some Close Focus Wide Angle stuff. We have 4 dives planned for the day.

Until then . . . below are some of the results from the last four dives . . .

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_8815.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_9014.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_9062.jpg

Anybody know what this shrimp is? It's not in any of the books and nobody here seems to know what it is.

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_8908.jpg

P.S. Jonathan . . . thanks for the input . . . I like the second one better too. You're gonna have to ask Andris where he found the Harlequins. I have no idea which dive sites we're diving when. But, I'm havin' a blast!!

[Ken Hawk]

Your doing great Mark, keep up the good work.
Can't wait for the next one Ken

[Daniel]

Great pics Mark... this day-to-day blogging is great! Looking forward to reading and seeing the subsequent entries.

[tarczy]

Today we completed four dives. The first three were at the California Dream divesite. Believe me, California looks NOTHING like this place. It's nothing short of a spectacular dive with lots of opportunities for Close Focus Wide Angle shots (CFWA). The fourth dive was 50mm Macro stuff. I almost got mah Blue Ribbon Eel image, but the lil' tyke was too shy. Sooo, you're gonna have to settle for a Yellow Ribbon Eel instead.

Tomorrow we're gonna start the day early (yeah . . . like 5:00am!!!!) and dive Pulau Dua, which I guess translates to "two islands," or something like that. It's supposedly another spectacular site for CFWA work. After the VERY early morning dive, we're going to do four more day dives looking for various interesting things. I know I've said it before, but I'm gonna say it again . . . this business of having your very own "personal" dive guide and two assistants to get you into and out of your gear is absolutely the ONLY way to dive. That Nazi Divemaster on the Mistral should take a lesson or two from these guys.

Oh yeah . . . one other thing . . . I've been using my brand new Oceanic Datamask (http://oceanicworldwide.com/p_computers_iddm_development.html)for the very first time. VERY COOL!!! I like it a bunch, and it's now my new favorite scuba toy. I gotta say . . . when you're filming a subject as it moves to the murky depths, it sure is nice just glancing down to see your depth, air pressure and Air Time Remaining without having to reach down, find your gauge, take your eyes off the subject, etc. etc. Is it worth $1,500 USD?? Probably not. But hey!! I'm an "Early Adopter." We pay premiums for the privilege. That said, I think some divers definitely NEED this little toy next time they decide to go chasing after Galapagos Turtles. *wink*

Hope all is well.

Marcos

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_9169.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_9143.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_9218.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_9308.jpg

[Jonathan Bird]

Hey Mark,

That unidentifed shrimp is COOL (no idea what it is) and your pygmy seahorse shots are awesome! Nice work! Now I want to go back! California Dream is a fantastic site. I loved it. And you found a sea snake! DAMN! You are finding all kinds of stuff we didn't see!

Here is your divemaster:

Jonathan

[tarczy]

We just finished diving Pulau Dua and I've got an hour to kill before we go out for the next four dives. Sooo . . . I thought I'd post some more topside shots.

This is my view every morning as I walk down to the beach to board my dive boat. This is Dua Saudara, translation is "two sisters." These two inactive volcanoes rise about 4,500 ft above sea level.

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/IMG_5981.jpg

This is Divers Lodge beach. That's my personal boat . . . crewed by two drivers/assistants and Andris the dive guide.

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/IMG_5988.jpg

These are the infamous steps from the beach to the dining room/great room area. My goal before I leave this place is to be able to climb these steps without getting winded. We'll see. :]

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/IMG_5980.jpg

This is Andris, dive guide extraordinaire! Stephan, one of the two boat drivers is behind Andris.

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/IMG_6064.jpg

Jonathan, Ken and Daniel . . . thanks for the kudos. It's nice to know somebody is reading this. Jonathan, I think there is soooo much bio diversity here that it's very difficult to get it all in one visit. Some of my fellow guests, Brits, Belgians and Germans, have been coming here for five years and they are still finding critters they've never seen before.

To a man, every one of the guests here at the lodge think that the Caribbean is literally devoid of life. I dunno if it's European arrogance or what, but I gotta say that after diving this place, I think they may be on to something.

I'll post again tonight if the Internet is up and running.

Mark

[Jonathan Bird]

There is no doubt that the Indo-Pacific, but specifically the "coral triangle" (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines) will spoil you, and it's hard to get excited about the macro possibilities in the Caribbean. I have been fortunate enough to visit all three countries of the coral triangle this year alone, and sometimes Caribbean dives can be yawn-inducing as a result. I still find a lot to love about the Caribbean though. The water is often quite clear and the big animal action is awesome in many places. You just can't beat those Tiger sharks!

I will most certainly go back to Lembeh soon. I want to do some Blue World episodes there. I absolutely loved it there and I really like the Dive Lodge! After a few days there, I felt like I owned the place. It was fantastic. I'll never go anyplace else for Lembeh. All it takes is to see the other dive resorts show up at a site with 6-8 divers per divemaster and you know you made the right choice to go to Divers Lodge!

Jonathan

[Jonathan Bird]

It's nice to know somebody is reading this.

As of right now the thread has 558 views, so more people than just us are reading it. Remember, 95% of the people that surf this site are unregistered and don't post. You are a hero to we landlocked people living vicariously through your adventures right now. Keep bloggin'!

Jonathan

[Jonathan Bird]

I've been using my brand new Oceanic Datamask (http://oceanicworldwide.com/p_computers_iddm_development.html)

Hey Mark....how do you see the numbers on that thing. They look really close to your eye.

http://oceanicworldwide.com/img/p_computers_datamask_view1.jpg

[tarczy]

Today was a day where I dodged a bullet.

After a gorgeous 5:00am dive a Pulau Dua, we went off in search of the famed Blue Ringed Octopus. The first dive didn't find him, but on the second dive we managed to locate the little bugger at 78 feet (26 meters) . . . and I had him all to myself (translation - no Kungkungan Bay Resort divers swarming all over me trying to get their shot of my subject). I was sooo excited that I lost track of time and went into Deco. That seemed to get my dive guide pretty agitated. Oh well, big deal. ;]

We made the fourth dive at a shallow reef where we were just looking for cool stuff to photograph when I started having trouble with one of the push-buttons on my Ikelite housing. The damned button wouldn't "push" anymore. Hmmmm . . . that's odd. Soooo, I'm looking at the button outside the housing and I'm looking at it on the inside of the housing (one of Ikelite's unique advantages) and I notice that the little stainless steel collar that holds the push-button in place is actually missing on the malfunctioning push-button. Uh oh!! This can't be good. So we immediately surface and get the housing out of the water as fast as possible.

After drying off the housing while on the boat, I start to fiddle with the malfunctioning push-button. Lo and behold, the push-button comes right out in my hand leaving a nice big hole in my housing. Oooops!! No more diving today!!! Back at the resort, I find that the stainless steel collar had a defect and actually broke in half while the housing was at depth. Malfunctioning at depth is what saved the day because the outside water pressure kept the push-button o-ring seated, even though there was no collar holding it in place. Hence, no water ever entered the housing. Lucky me (or, maybe Ike designed it that way).

So now I need to find a replacement collar so I can keep this rig working. I still have six more days of diving to do here in Lembeh, plus another 10 days of diving in Irian Jaya/Raja Ampat. Getting this housing back in the water is MONDO important. To most people, this wouldn't be much of a problem because they would simply go to their trusty spare parts bag (supplied with all Ikelite housings) and replace the broken stainless steel collar. However, I'm not smart enough to remember to bring the spare parts bag!! At this point, I'm getting somewhat nervous.

I figure I have three options. Option number one is to wait for one of the other guests, Peter, to finish diving and ask him if he had the presence of mind to bring his Ikelite spare parts bag (Peter is the only other guest here at the resort shooting with a Nikon D-200 and an Ikelite housing). Option number two would be to figure out a way to wrap something like copper wire around the push-button in order to hold it in place, thus keeping the o-ring seated. Option number three would be to jam some water proof cement in the hole and then drill it out upon my return to L.A. Option number three is the least attractive because it would most certainly de-value my housing if I went to re-sell it on e-bay.

At about 9:00pm, Peter finally returned from his diving (he's always the last one out of the pool). Fortunately, Peter brought his spare parts, plus extras, so we were able to repair the housing . . . I think! We're gonna pressure test it tomorrow and see how she holds up.

Below are some shots from today's diving. I particularly like the one of the Frog Fish with his mouth open. ;]

The shot below is from Pulau Dua . . . the 5:00am dive!






P.S. Java has been having mondo problems with its Internet service, so my postings may be sporadic until they get things fixed. Sorry no pics this time. Couldn't get 'em to load. :[

[sorvju-f]

Today was a day where I dodged a bullet.

After a gorgeous 5:00am dive a Pulau Dua, we went off in search of the famed Blue Ringed Octopus. The first dive didn't find him, but on the second dive we managed to locate the little bugger at 78 feet (26 meters) . . . and I had him all to myself (translation - no Kungkungan Bay Resort divers swarming all over me trying to get their shot of my subject). I was sooo excited that I lost track of time and went into Deco. That seemed to get my dive guide pretty agitated. Oh well, big deal. ;]

We made the fourth dive at a shallow reef where we were just looking for cool stuff to photograph when I started having trouble with one of the push-buttons on my Ikelite housing. The damned button wouldn't "push" anymore. Hmmmm . . . that's odd. Soooo, I'm looking at the button outside the housing and I'm looking at it on the inside of the housing (one of Ikelite's unique advantages) and I notice that the little stainless steel collar that holds the push-button in place is actually missing on the malfunctioning push-button. Uh oh!! This can't be good. So we immediately surface and get the housing out of the water as fast as possible.

After drying off the housing while on the boat, I start to fiddle with the malfunctioning push-button. Lo and behold, the push-button comes right out in my hand leaving a nice big hole in my housing. Oooops!! No more diving today!!! Back at the resort, I find that the stainless steel collar had a defect and actually broke in half while the housing was at depth. Malfunctioning at depth is what saved the day because the outside water pressure kept the push-button o-ring seated, even though there was no collar holding it in place. Hence, no water ever entered the housing. Lucky me (or, maybe Ike designed it that way).

So now I need to find a replacement collar so I can keep this rig working. I still have six more days of diving to do here in Lembeh, plus another 10 days of diving in Irian Jaya/Raja Ampat. Getting this housing back in the water is MONDO important. To most people, this wouldn't be much of a problem because they would simply go to their trusty spare parts bag (supplied with all Ikelite housings) and replace the broken stainless steel collar. However, I'm not smart enough to remember to bring the spare parts bag!! At this point, I'm getting somewhat nervous.

I figure I have three options. Option number one is to wait for one of the other guests, Peter, to finish diving and ask him if he had the presence of mind to bring his Ikelite spare parts bag (Peter is the only other guest here at the resort shooting with a Nikon D-200 and an Ikelite housing). Option number two would be to figure out a way to wrap something like copper wire around the push-button in order to hold it in place, thus keeping the o-ring seated. Option number three would be to jam some water proof cement in the hole and then drill it out upon my return to L.A. Option number three is the least attractive because it would most certainly de-value my housing if I went to re-sell it on e-bay.

At about 9:00pm, Peter finally returned from his diving (he's always the last one out of the pool). Fortunately, Peter brought his spare parts, plus extras, so we were able to repair the housing . . . I think! We're gonna pressure test it tomorrow and see how she holds up.

Below are some shots from today's diving. I particularly like the one of the Frog Fish with his mouth open. ;]

The shot below is from Pulau Dua . . . the 5:00am dive!






P.S. Java has been having mondo problems with its Internet service, so my postings may be sporadic until they get things fixed. Sorry no pics this time. Couldn't get 'em to load. :[



Marcos, sounds like you have had unforgetable UV/topside trip so far and you have not used half of your holiday.

In Egypt it happened same to me with this push putton...lock ring which was holding it was in two pieces! I noticed it immediately when entering to water in lifted gears back to boat without damage. Hi All, remember to be prepared to this. I had spare part to it with me!

Great pics all, I love them all and cant wait to follow your steps. Its good that people, who have been there regularly still find something new...I mean that after you and Jonathan I have change to find something you both have not presented so far!

Some questions:

How many pics so far? You have one month to process them after your present trip until you are heading for two tiger trips and again huge amount of pics!

You said that you have done one dive and four more to go. How many dives you are able to do per day and are you using nitrox?

Jukka

[sorvju-f]

[[[FONT=Comic Sans MS]Jonathan, Ken and Daniel . . . thanks for the kudos. It's nice to know somebody is reading this.

Sorry, I have not been active enough to reply to you great thread...but you have forgotten there what a mess and panic we others are having with Christmas and New Year, which you have luckily avoided:D


Jukka

[Ken Hawk]

Thank God you didn't flood it.
I never got a spare parts kit with mine :(
Ken

[David White]

Thank goodness that you did not flood your housing and camera and that Peter had spare parts with him. Hope the replacement part sorts out your problem. Diving Lembeh without a camera to record all the creatures that you see would drive an underwater photographer mad.

[tarczy]

Good news! The housing repair was successful! We're back in business.

Jukka - I have over 2,500 images stored so far, but I'm about to delete a bunch that are of lesser quality. So far, the most amount of dives I've completed in a day has been five. Peter is diving six times a day (he's a freakin' fish!!). It's really your choice as to how many dives you want to do in a day.

This fist image is from Pulau Dua - a phenomenal dive!!

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_9387.jpg

This Blue Ringed Octopus is MONDO poisonous!! We're in search of the Hairy Octopus next.

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_9508.jpg

I thought this guy was cute!

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_9575.jpg

[tarczy]

Today was a "light" day. We only did three dives because most of the morning was devoted to fixing the housing.

Most of the guests are leaving the resort today (my 9th day). It will be just me and a Swedish Marine diver. What a fun New Years party we're gonna have! Oh boy!!

Some images from yesterday . . .

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_9701.jpg

For all of the Nudi lovers out there . . .

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_9739.jpg

Tis Orangutan Crab is very difficult to shoot. Nearly all of my images turn out looking like a fuzzy red ball with no "crab" features. This is my best attempt yet . . .

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_9656.jpg

Jawfish with eggs . . . pretty rare!

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_9763.jpg

[Ken Hawk]

You are starting to exceed all expectations now.
No pressure ;) keep up the good work.
And thanks for your time Ken

[sorvju-f]

Wow,wow and wow!

Frogfish mouth open like screaming help, excellent!

Big eye little fish mouth overflowing eggs, super!

But this schrimp pic is one of the most beutiful UW-pic I have ever seen...the composition with everything is perfect...must be great with A2 size in frames:eek:

Congratulation, Mark!

Jukka

[David White]

You have some real gems there Mark. Outstanding. We only managed 5 dives a day on the days when we conducted night dives. Given that the dives were typically 75 to 90 minutes duration that is still a lot of time underwater. I can't imagine doing six dives a day, day after day after day.

[Jonathan Bird]

A jawfish with eggs! nice!

If you find a hairy octopus, I will have to come over there and join you!!

Jonathan

[tarczy]

For about three days now we've been searching for a Blue Ribbon Eel - didn't find one after 12 dives. So, we kinda gave up and started searching for the Hairy Octopus. Voilà! A Blue Ribbon Eel! I guess that's the way things go here. Ya just gotta take things as they come.

Day nine saw us diving 4 times . . . no night dive. I'm tired. The Brits that were here earlier in the week were on straight air - no Nitrox - and could only manage three dives a day. I guess all that Nitrogen loading really gets one fatigued.

Sooo . . . I nailed about 100 images of the Blue Ribbon Eel. Here's one I only half like . . .

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_9806.jpg

This is Andris, my guide, looking for the Hairy Octopus. :]

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_9781.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_9957.jpg

And . . . . another one for all the lovers of Nudibranchs . . .

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_9996.jpg

David, Jukka, and Ken, thanks so much for all the kudos.

Jonathan . . . the Oceanic Datamask numbers appear in your field of view as if they were a billboard viewed from 100 feet away . . . very clear and very sharp. If one has severe vision problems, there's a feature that allows one to focus the numbers. So far, the only disadvantage I can see to the mask is that it is nowhere near as conservative as my backup Suunto computer. However, I think there's a way to adjust the computer to a more conservative profile. I just gotta figure out how to do it.

Jukka . . . yes, we are diving Nitrox . . . it is highly recommended. We are doing four to five dives per day, but it is really up to you as to how many dives you want to do. I've got more than 2,500 images saved to the hard drive so far. I think it's time to dump some of the more marginal images. :]

Oh well . . . I'm off to find the Hairy Octopus for Jonathan. ;]

[sorvju-f]

For about three days now we've been searching for a Blue Ribbon Eel - didn't find one after 12 dives. So, we kinda gave up and started searching for the Hairy Octopus. Voilà! A Blue Ribbon Eel! I guess that's the way things go here. Ya just gotta take things as they come.

Day nine saw us diving 4 times . . . no night dive. I'm tired. The Brits that were here earlier in the week were on straight air - no Nitrox - and could only manage three dives a day. I guess all that Nitrogen loading really gets one fatigued.

Sooo . . . I nailed about 100 images of the Blue Ribbon Eel. Here's one I only half like . . .

[FONT=Comic Sans MS[/FONT]

This is Andris, my guide, looking for the Hairy Octopus. :]





David, Jukka, and Ken, thanks so much for all the kudos.

Jonathan . . . the Oceanic Datamask numbers appear in your field of view as if they were a billboard viewed from 100 feet away . . . very clear and very sharp. If one has severe vision problems, there's a feature that allows one to focus the numbers. So far, the only disadvantage I can see to the mask is that it is nowhere near as conservative as my backup Suunto computer. However, I think there's a way to adjust the computer to a more conservative profile. I just gotta figure out how to do it.

Jukka . . . yes, we are diving Nitrox . . . it is highly recommended. We are doing four to five dives per day, but it is really up to you as to how many dives you want to do. I've got more than 2,500 images saved to the hard drive so far. I think it's time to dump some of the more marginal images. :]

Oh well . . . I'm off to find the Hairy Octopus for Jonathan. ;]

For that variety and amount you are able to make a book just the pics so far...and you have not been Raja Ampat...maybe other book from there:D

Sometimes when I have been really tired...the things are not so enjoyable...I just have a one day break...if tired its easy to make dramatic mistake with camera gears or myself! When i am not pro I just do it for enjoy and fun!

Its also looks like that only one which is left to me is this hairy elephant...sorry hairy great white...sorry hairy whale...sorry hairy something;)

Enjoy!

It's also time to Wish You Super Great New Year!

Jukka

[Daniel]

Great photo's Mark!

Murphy's law typically prevails... especially you want something. It's best as you mentioned to take things as they come.

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h110/DLaFrance/New%20Years%20Clipart/ny-018.gif Here's wishing you... and the Swedish Marine diver a Happy New Year! http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h110/DLaFrance/New%20Years%20Clipart/PartyGuy3.gif

Cheers!
Daniel :)

[tarczy]

Today was all about the Hairy Octopus, which hangs around the same general vicinity as the Blue Ringed Octopus. Do ya think we found the Hairy Octopus? Nooooo. But, we found the Blue Ringed Octopus! So, I was able to spend some quality time with Mr. Blue Ring while Andris went off in search of Mr. Hairy.

I watched the Blue Ringed Octopus' behavior for a loong time and was able to get off some better shots than my first attempt. One of those "better" images can be found below. This Octopus tends to act more like a Squid than an Octopus, so it's difficult to get him to pose in a fashion where he is immediately recognizable as an Octopus.

Today, I'm off in search of the Flamboyant Cuttle Fish, another MONDO poisonous fish. Both the Blue Ringed Octopus and the Flamboyant Cuttle Fish inject their saliva into you when they bite you. The poisonous saliva then goes to work cutting off your voluntary muscles first, then your involuntary muscles . . . shutting down your whole body while you watch the people above you discussing your imminent death ('cuz your eyesight, hearing and brain remain functioning until you suffocate slowly to death). Nice! Eh? My suggestion!! Wear gloves when working with these species.

I have about 11 more dives left on this leg of my underwater photo expedition. I will be doing five dives today and 5 tomorrow and then one very early dive at Pulau Dua again on January 3rd. Then, I have 24 hours of off-gassing to do and then I'm on a plane to Sorong, Irian Jaya (West Papua). Unfortunately, I will not have Internet access while on the MV Odyssea I. Soooo, I'll have to resort to posting the Raja Ampat trip log upon my return.

Below are some images from day 10 in Lembeh . . .

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_0168.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_0297.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_0269.jpg

Are we seein' some Nudi porn here?

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_0314.jpg

Happy New Year to all of you on the other side of the globe!!

[sorvju-f]

Today was all about the Hairy Octopus, which hangs around the same general vicinity as the Blue Ringed Octopus. Do ya think we found the Hairy Octopus? Nooooo. But, we found the Blue Ringed Octopus! So, I was able to spend some quality time with Mr. Blue Ring while Andris went off in search of Mr. Hairy.

I watched the Blue Ringed Octopus' behavior for a loong time and was able to get off some better shots than my first attempt. One of those "better" images can be found below. This Octopus tends to act more like a Squid than an Octopus, so it's difficult to get him to pose in a fashion where he is immediately recognizable as an Octopus.

Today, I'm off in search of the Flamboyant Cuttle Fish, another MONDO poisonous fish. Both the Blue Ringed Octopus and the Flamboyant Cuttle Fish inject their saliva into you when they bite you. The poisonous saliva then goes to work cutting off your voluntary muscles first, then your involuntary muscles . . . shutting down your whole body while you watch the people above you discussing your imminent death ('cuz your eyesight, hearing and brain remain functioning until you suffocate slowly to death). Nice! Eh? My suggestion!! Wear gloves when working with these species.

I have about 11 more dives left on this leg of my underwater photo expedition. I will be doing five dives today and 5 tomorrow and then one very early dive at Pulau Dua again on January 3rd. Then, I have 24 hours of off-gassing to do and then I'm on a plane to Sorong, Irian Jaya (West Papua). Unfortunately, I will not have Internet access while on the MV Odyssea I. Soooo, I'll have to resort to posting the Raja Ampat trip log upon my return.

Below are some images from day 10 in Lembeh . . .







Are we seein' some Nudi porn here?



Happy New Year to all of you on the other side of the globe!!



What great way of starting the new year...5 dives and menthally preparing to dive in Raja Ampat...I just envy you!

These blue rings of octo are shining beutifuly and makes the pic special even you gave big warning what can happen!

Jukka

[Jonathan Bird]

Are we seein' some Nudi porn here?

Yes. Those two are mating. Sex organs come out the side of the body near the head.

I never knew that the flamboyant cuttlefish was venomous! (Small bit of biology here....animals that sting or bite and have "poison" are venomous. Poisonous animals must be eaten to be poison. So a rattlesnake is venomous and a pufferfish is poisonous.

A blue-ringed octo is venomous, not poisonous.

Jonathan

[tarczy]

Yes. Those two are mating. Sex organs come out the side of the body near the head.

I never knew that the flamboyant cuttlefish was venomous! (Small bit of biology here....animals that sting or bite and have "poison" are venomous. Poisonous animals must be eaten to be poison. So a rattlesnake is venomous and a pufferfish is poisonous.

A blue-ringed octo is venomous, not poisonous.

Jonathan

Ahhhh!! I knew I'd get some fish porn in there somehow, some way!! :] And, thanks for the biology edumacation. You've probably forgotten more biology than I ever learned. The part about the Flamboyant Cuttle Fish being Venomous is Resort here-say, but I'm positive about the Blue Ringed Octopus being venomous 'cuz I read about it in several of the books Rob has around here.

Lembeh Day 11 . . .

Today we were in search of the Flamboyant Cuttle Fish. I was hoping to find the Hairy Octopus, but no success. However, we did manage to find a Flamboyant Cuttle Fish on the second dive.

We found an Electric Clam on the second night dive. How very cool. It's bright red and on either side of the clam there is a long, what looks like a lightning bolt, that flashes alternatively. You can see the white lightning bolt on the right side of the clam. I'm wondering if David White got some video of that 'cuz no still picture can do it justice.

Day twelve is my last full day of diving in Lembeh. :[ So sad to leave, but yet excited to move on to my next adventure - Raja Ampat. We have four day dives and one night dive scheduled for today.

Below are some images from Lembeh day eleven . . .

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_0447.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_0566.jpg

I don't know what this fish is, but I thought it was pretty cool.

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_0572.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_0604.jpg


P.S. Jonathan - I showed Andris and some of the hotel staff that fisheye pic you shot of Andris. They were rolling on the floor laughing hysterically!!

[sorvju-f]

Ahhhh!! I knew I'd get some fish porn in there somehow, some way!! :] And, thanks for the biology edumacation. You've probably forgotten more biology than I ever learned. The part about the Flamboyant Cuttle Fish being Venomous is Resort here-say, but I'm positive about the Blue Ringed Octopus being venomous 'cuz I read about it in several of the books Rob has around here.

Lembeh Day 11 . . .

Today we were in search of the Flamboyant Cuttle Fish. I was hoping to find the Hairy Octopus, but no success. However, we did manage to find a Flamboyant Cuttle Fish on the second dive.

We found an Electric Clam on the second night dive. How very cool. It's bright red and on either side of the clam there is a long, what looks like a lightning bolt, that flashes alternatively. You can see the white lightning bolt on the right side of the clam. I'm wondering if David White got some video of that 'cuz no still picture can do it justice.

Day twelve is my last full day of diving in Lembeh. :[ So sad to leave, but yet excited to move on to my next adventure - Raja Ampat. We have four day dives and one night dive scheduled for today.

Below are some images from Lembeh day eleven . . .





I don't know what this fish is, but I thought it was pretty cool.






P.S. Jonathan - I showed Andris and some of the hotel staff that fisheye pic you shot of Andris. They were rolling on the floor laughing hysterically!!


What the beutiful fish that black one...what is that?

Wish you nice last dives in Lembeh and Good luck to Raja Ampat!

Jukka

[Jonathan Bird]

What the beutiful fish that black one...what is that?



Juvenile batfish.

[Jonathan Bird]

P.S. Jonathan - I showed Andris and some of the hotel staff that fisheye pic you shot of Andris. They were rolling on the floor laughing hysterically!!

Tell Andris that I e-mailed reasonably high res versions of a bunch of those funny topside shots to Rob and he was supposed to give them to Andris!! If he wants me to e-mail them to him directly, get an e-mail address. I have some funny ones!

[tarczy]

Last day of diving and we did four day dives and one night dive.

As I reflect on the last twelve days, I'm both happy and sad to be leaving Lembeh. I'm sad because the underwater life here is incredible . . . a Photographer's dream . . . and I've only managed to see a small part of what actually exists here. On the other hand, I'm happy to leave here because diving more than 50 dives in mud and muck, strewn with more than 50 years of Human produced garbage, visibility less than 30 feet (10 meters) gets me very depressed (see image below). I'm looking forward to Raja Ampat next, anticipating 100 foot (33 meter) visibility, gorgeous hard and soft corals, abundant fish life, all of it un-marred by Human produced waste. I expect Raja Ampat to be exactly the antithesis to Lembeh.

I've met some really nice people here at Divers Lodge Resort. Dirk and his Wife, Andrea . . . a Belgian and a German that kept me laughing throughout my stay. Carla and Peter van Gagt are incredibly wonderful people . . . and thank you, Peter, for saving the balance of my dive trip by providing me with one little 2-cent lock ring. To all you underwater photographers . . . be sure to bring spare parts on major trips like this one!!

This will be my last post as I am outta here tomorrow. I hope my flights go well and I have no major baggage screw-ups. My return trip to L.A. is gonna be one helluva circus. I go from Sorong to Manado . . . Manado to Singapore . . . Singapore to Kuala Lumpur . . . Kuala Lumpur to Taipei . . . and Taipei to L.A. . . . all in what seems to be less than a day, but really is like 38 hours when you consider the 16-hour time change.

Hope all of you had a wonderful New Year. See you on the other side of the Raja Ampat leg of my trip.

Ciao!!

On the last day of diving, I was bored and wanted to just devote the day to shooting Nudibranchs. So here's a few . . .

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_0745.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_0817.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_0752.jpg

Sooo after seeing all that incredible beauty, here's a dose of reality. All of the above was shot in an environment that looks like this . . .

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Lembeh%202007/_MG_0874.jpg

I can only imagine what this place looked like when Alfred Russel Wallace discovered it in the mid-1800's.

Oh well . . .

[Clay Coleman]

Fabulous stuff, Mark. Man, I need to get out more. -Clay

[Jonathan Bird]

Mark,
Have fun in Raja! We are all looking forward to your awesome pictures when you get back, and a full report. I hope your travels go smoothly my friend!!

Jonathan

[David White]

Incredible images Mark!

It is a sobering and disconcerting realization that amidst all of the beauty and fascination of the creatures in Lembeh man has determined that the best use of the Strait is as a refuse area. As Bob Dylan phrased it, "When will they ever learn?"

[tarczy]

The Raja Ampat portion of my trip blog continues here (http://www.uwphotochat.com/forums/showthread.php?t=424) . . . :D