Lembeh, Komodo, Taiwan and Palau

I just got back from a 3 and a half month long trip throughout Asia and Southeast Asia. I had a ball, met great people, had religious experiences (above and below the water), scuba dove till my brain hurt and took photos like a madman.

Here was the Scuba Schedule -

March 18th thru 24th - Green Island, Taiwan. Diving with Flying Fish Divers. Both the diving and the operator were top notch!

April 12th thru 18th - Komodo Island aboard the MV Manguana. Recommend the diving but not the operator.

April 24th thru May 4th - Lembeh and Bunaken with 2 Fish Divers. Recommend them both.

May 8th thru May 15th - Palau with the Tropic Dancer. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR BOTH!! Haha, I suppose the most expensive dive on my trip is going to be recommended but I really loved everything about this stint of the trip.

May 29th thru June 7th - Back to Lembeh with 2 Fish Divers (couldn't stay away from the macro and Palau was too expensive and hard to get to).

In that span of time I did 102 hours underwater with 106 dives added to the logbook... ain't life grand?

Here are Facebook links to my galleries -

Komodo

Lembeh and Bunaken

Palau

Taiwan

If you get even 1/20th of the pleasure that I had in taking those photos then you are sure to smile for the rest of the day. And if I learned one big thing (in terms of Underwater Photography), take a laptop that you can view your photos with! This may seem like a no-brainer to many of you but if I could have viewed my photos instead of dumping them onto an external hardrive then I would have worked much harder at my strobe positioning and would have erased all of the "snow" in my macro and wide angle shots... oh well... c'est la vie.

I could write about all of my dive trips separately, but right now, taken as a whole the task is too much to bear. If anyone has any specific questions they would like to know I would be happy to elaborate on one part. I could also get into the topside drama's of the trip as well... the earthquake in Japan, the Ashram in India, the beauty of Jakarta, the madness of Vietnam...

What do I wanna do now? Back in NYC, unemployed with a double major in philosophy and religion degree? Well... go diving....

I just got back from a 3 and a half month long trip throughout Asia and Southeast Asia. I had a ball, met great people, had religious experiences (above and below the water), scuba dove till my brain hurt and took photos like a madman.

 

Here was the Scuba Schedule -

 

March 18th thru 24th - Green Island, Taiwan. Diving with Flying Fish Divers. Both the diving and the operator were top notch!

April 12th thru 18th - Komodo Island aboard the MV Manguana. Recommend the diving but not the operator.

April 24th thru May 4th - Lembeh and Bunaken with 2 Fish Divers. Recommend them both.

May 8th thru May 15th - Palau with the Tropic Dancer. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR BOTH!! Haha, I suppose the most expensive dive on my trip is going to be recommended but I really loved everything about this stint of the trip.

May 29th thru June 7th - Back to Lembeh with 2 Fish Divers (couldn't stay away from the macro and Palau was too expensive and hard to get to).

 

In that span of time I did 102 hours underwater with 106 dives added to the logbook... ain't life grand?

 

Here are Facebook links to my galleries -

Komodo

Lembeh and Bunaken

Palau

Taiwan

 

If you get even 1/20th of the pleasure that I had in taking those photos then you are sure to smile for the rest of the day. And if I learned one big thing (in terms of Underwater Photography), take a laptop that you can view your photos with! This may seem like a no-brainer to many of you but if I could have viewed my photos instead of dumping them onto an external hardrive then I would have worked much harder at my strobe positioning and would have erased all of the "snow" in my macro and wide angle shots... oh well... c'est la vie.

 

I could write about all of my dive trips separately, but right now, taken as a whole the task is too much to bear. If anyone has any specific questions they would like to know I would be happy to elaborate on one part. I could also get into the topside drama's of the trip as well... the earthquake in Japan, the Ashram in India, the beauty of Jakarta, the madness of Vietnam...

 

What do I wanna do now? Back in NYC, unemployed with a double major in philosophy and religion degree? Well... go diving....

Amazing. I'm so jealous. What operator did you use in Taiwan? Thanks for sharing.

My credit card melted just by reading your entry! What a fantastic trip and great pics you shared.

Seems you are preaching a great diving message here. But then, that would be preaching to the choir perhaps...and we know there is no money in that endeavor.

What was the itinerary on the tropic dancer? Same as the aggressor or did it go north to kayangel etc?

Awesome Mandarin shot! Looks like you had a blast. Congrats on a great trip.

Cheers,

Steve

Amazing. I'm so jealous. What operator did you use in Taiwan? Thanks for sharing.

Ack! It is not FlyingFish, but Airfish Dive Center. Vincent Yu is the operator and a really fantastic guy. I became great friends with all of the guys on the trip and they would take me to play badminton in the evenings. They really made me feel at home.

My credit card melted just by reading your entry! What a fantastic trip and great pics you shared.

Seems you are preaching a great diving message here. But then, that would be preaching to the choir perhaps...and we know there is no money in that endeavor.

Yea, my credit card practically did melt. Ahh to be young and have affinities for financial risk! I know I am preaching to the choir... what a great choir it is though!

What was the itinerary on the tropic dancer? Same as the aggressor or did it go north to kayangel etc?

No we just stayed in the south and on the final day made our way further up north and did Jellyfish lake at last... Jellyfish lake was probably the most fun I have ever had... in my life quite possibly. If I would have booked a few extra days I could have done a japanese zero in the north... seeing the nautilus would have been great as well... NEXT TIME!

Awesome Mandarin shot! Looks like you had a blast. Congrats on a great trip.

 

Cheers,

Steve

Thanks Steve! Hearing things like that from an experienced U/W photographer makes me feel really great! You and the rest of the crew on here were a real inspiration for this and I thank you for that!