North Sulawesi Trip - Testimonial
Ian Robertson
As with other well-organised trips with Jeff & Dawn Mullins, North
Sulawesi is excellent. It has a wonderfully broad spectrum of
environments, from the black volcanic sands of the Lembeh Strait,
home to some of the most bizarre creatures I have ever seen, to the
coral reefs and walls of Bangka Island and the Bunaken Marine Park,
decked with soft corals, gorgonia and sea-whips. These are suitable
for wide-angle, close-up and macro photography and sometimes it was
difficult to choose which set-up to take.
The nudibranchs are stunning - red, green, pink, spotted, spiky and some like Chinese dragons. Among the bottom dwellers are pipefish of all types, rays, octopi, gurnards, frogfish of every variety, scorpion-fish of every colour, and wasp-fish of every form. The reefs are populated with the usual mass of bright coral fish, sponges and ascidians. The night dives are spectacular, with plenty to see that is not found in daylight. There were even two wrecks to investigate. All this is against a backdrop of green jungle-covered islands and graceful volcanic peaks with lenticular cap-clouds and unforgettable sunsets. The boat was comfortable and well-appointed, the diving was well-organized, varied and safe. The dive guides were absolutely superb at locating what seemed a never-ending supply of photo-subjects that exercised every camera skill, but left the photographer to get on with the task - never a dull moment. Dawn was on hand as a model for the wide-angle shots and had an uncanny way of arriving in the right spot just at the right time. Enthusiastic Jeff provided his vast experience in camera techniques, both in the water and between dives. In the evenings, the whole group avidly watched his tutorials on image processing with LightRoom. Above all, there was the delightful company of a group of dedicated and skilled diver-photographers, to compare images and learn from one another. The result…. thirty-three productive dives in temperatures of 28-29ºC in visibility of 8-30 m over 12 days and 1200 acceptable raw images to sort through! |
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Ian Robertson - Australia
Canon G10 in Patima Housing & Inon Z240 strobes. See more of Ian's Photos at his website: www.aquashutterbug.net.au |
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