Cenderawasih Bay whale sharks, Mike Veitch July 2012 Workshop

I was a late addition to this trip – someone had to cancel and I was able to wangle some last minute leave. Now that the trip is done and I’m cooling my heels in Jakarta waiting for my flight home tomorrow, I can still hardly believe my luck. What a fantastic trip – terrific bunch of divers, good boat and great crew, some pretty nice Raja Ampat reefs, wobbegong sharks, a nesting leatherback turtle, manta rays, pilot whales, beautiful, beautiful whale sharks, and of course, the fab Mike Veitch. Really, what’s not to love about Mike.

This was my second liveaboard dive trip and second outing with my Canon G12, Fisheye Fix Housing and single Inon Z240. The first trip, last year’s Wetpixel Ultimate Indonesia, also on Damai II, was fabulous, but left me with a pretty long “what I wish I had had with me” list. This time I was better prepared.

The itinerary for this trip – embark Sorong, 5-6 dive days in the northern part of Raja Ampat then a couple of days diving and motoring around to Manokwari, stopping on the way to check out a rare leatherback turtle nesting site. Down through Cenderawasih Bay to spend the final two diving days and last day snorkeling with the whale sharks, disembark - Nabire, fly to Jayapura, Jakarta and home. This was not just a dive trip, it was a photo workshop with Mike and my aim was simple, try to improve wide angle shots, without backscatter and preferably not green.

Like this -

Not everything went to plan but the experience of diving with whale sharks, and the results of the photoworkshop for me worth the awful travel days.

And you have to have a sunset

Seriously, what is not to love about Mike Veitch ... except maybe that Facebook photo with guns.

I've written a trip report - too long so have saved it to a website, enjoy because it drove me mad to make a website!

Trip report here:

http://oldladyholidaysnaps.com

I’m home now, unpacked and back at work. It was minus 4^oC last night. Nothing left now but to embrace the suitcase within and hang out for November - except maybe buy a new camera.

Shout out to Mike, Mandy, Shallum, Cheryl, Jeffrey, Grant, Dimitry, Lester, Eliana and the Damai II Captain and crew. It was a pleasure travelling with you.

J.

Hi Jenny, thanks for the report! what's wrong with guns? hahaha... thats an Alex Mustard original so it may be worth something in the future

Glad to hear you enjoyed the trip and the shots look great! Fab... I like that haha

A very good and entertaining write up, I enjoyed reading your thoughts about the trip and of course reason #10 haha

hopefully see you again soon!

Alex Mustard, eh. That explains the perfect exposure and beautiful composition. But guns? Was there a scary spider you had to deal with? Seriously though, great trip. My blues are still bleak but the improvement was extraordinary. Cannot be bothered with post production, maybe you could add a course on that.

Post Script. I've just heard Dive Damai is offering a 2 night credit to guests on this trip as a make up for the delayed start. Classy.

Hey, The Damai is a class act all around!

We did a trip that was the weather from hell trip. We were supposed to get to unexplored waters from West Papua to Timor. The weather said it just wasn't going to happen as planned. We went into RA instead after a great stay in Triton Bay. The trip required the Damai office to rebook our return flights TWICE...once from Timor (couldn't get there), once from Ambon (couldn't get there either) then from Sarong (finally got there). The Damai office did it with no complaint and took care of all of the arrangements.

The fabulous boat, great crew and wonderful meals all made for a memorable experience. Mike, you were a great host! Are you still playing Rummy-cube?