Raja Ampat aboard the Paradise Dancer

Had an excellent trip aboard the Paradise Dancer(Peter Hughes) in Raja Ampat. The boat and crew are phenomenal. Getting there is a pain, but once there the dive sites were spectacular. Most memorable was the manta ray cleaning station. We watched for about an hour while three or four different individuals came to be cleaned.

A photo of the boat with full sails in my gallery.

Link to gallery is here:

http://www.davidkleinfelt.com/Underwater/R...785634464_KutjT

David

Fantastic images, David. I especially like your shots at "The Beau Window".

Great Stuff.....

Excellent images - you did very well

Just stunning...

Tim

Extremely nice!

Every time I see images like these I want to go diving.

Stew

You have a fine eye, and good taste in dive destinations. I also use smugmug, good company.

great shots, nice macro.

wow..... well done! Makes me 2nd guess my choosing Thailand over Indo.... Very enjoyable images. I loved many of them, but the one with the ship, and curvature was fabulous.

You have some inspirational images there David.

What focal length lens do you use for the macro shots and what strobes do you use? also interested in how you configure them.

Cheers,

Andy.

You have some inspirational images there David.

 

What focal length lens do you use for the macro shots and what strobes do you use? also interested in how you configure them.

 

Cheers,

 

Andy.

Thanks Andy.

All macro was shot with Canon 100mm with or without a Woody's wet diopter. Wide was taken with Sigma 15mm fisheye.

Just purchased a pair of Ikelite DS 161 strobes from REEF photo before the trip. They worked fantastic!

I have ULCS arms I think 3+8 on each side.

David

Lovely set of pics - good job!

Funny coincidence about Paradise Dancer - I met one of the owners last week at a rugby tournament here in KL...and the previous week I had returned from a US business trip via LAX-HKG and briefly bumped into a group who were heading off to Raja Ampat diving...wonder if you were one of them ?? Eerily small world if you were.

What is Paradise Dance like as a liveaboard...from what I've seen of her, looks great (but presumably pricey) ?

Steve

Thanks Andy.

All macro was shot with Canon 100mm with or without a Woody's wet diopter. Wide was taken with Sigma 15mm fisheye.

Just purchased a pair of Ikelite DS 161 strobes from REEF photo before the trip. They worked fantastic!

I have ULCS arms I think 3+8 on each side.

 

David

Thanks for the info David.

Keep doing, what your doing.

Andy.

Lovely set of pics - good job!

 

Funny coincidence about Paradise Dancer - I met one of the owners last week at a rugby tournament here in KL...and the previous week I had returned from a US business trip via LAX-HKG and briefly bumped into a group who were heading off to Raja Ampat diving...wonder if you were one of them ?? Eerily small world if you were.

 

What is Paradise Dance like as a liveaboard...from what I've seen of her, looks great (but presumably pricey) ?

 

Steve

Did you meet Guido? He is the Dutch guy who built (owns?) the boat. Extraordinary boat. LOTS of room and the staff is exceptional. Main dive guide/boat manager Wendy worked at Wakatobi for years so knows the area very well. Acho and Yan are both very experienced guides and find whatever you are looking for!

As far as cost, I am not sure that it is THAT much more than other boats for the length of stay. Traveling 2 days to get there it is worth it to have a nice place to spend 12 days! I'm not a salesman for Peter Hughes(a few years ago had a mediocre experience on PH boat in Belize and wouldn't recommend it ), but this really is an exceptional boat.

David