After exploring underwater for over 40 years, last week I found the reefs of my dreams!
As far east in Indonesia as one can travel, among the islands of the four kings in West Papua, we dived on reefs so intact and rich in every imagineable form of marine life, that I couldn't believe this was real.
We shared our adventure with ten friends and there were times when we all congregated on the top deck, cruising among islands and seascapes that left us all speechless.
We dived in a river like inlet, that in fact was a long, narrow high-sided passage between two islands. Overhead a flock of parrots called out to us from the dense jungle. At the waters edge, just below the overhanging trees and only centimeters below the surface, large blood red soft corals and giant orange sea fans lined the limestone walls of this two kilometer long passage.
We dived on the outer slope of a small island, where we gazed in awe as thousands of fusiliers and blue lined snapper streamed around us in endless patterns.
We watched a dozen bump head parrot fish have parasites removed at a cleaning station. A turtle eating soft coral for breakfast, a hundred trevally schooling above us and a reef shark cruise beside us... and this was on just one dive.
After 12 days of sensory overload, we expected our last dive below a small wooden jetty, to be a little mundane. But, as had happened on almost every dive, we found something that was unique or new to us seasoned divers.
To our surprise, some children from the island came to keep us company below the jetty. Diving down, smiling at us underwater and giving us the thumbs-up. We laughed until sea water filled our masks, mixing with the tears in our eyes, our dreams had now been fulfilled by the reefs, islands and people of Raja Ampat, the Four Kings of Indonesia.
To view more photos from our trip, please visit our FlickrPhoto site by clicking on any of the photos below:

By pure coincidence our latest live-aboard trip from Komodo to Sumbawa was made-up entirely of guests shooting with Olympus camera's: E-PL1, E-PL2, E-PL3, E-PL5, OMD-EM5 and XZ1.
We visited some great photographic sites and explored to find some new sites also. Red Ridge Reef in North Komodo had  a beautiful wall with lots of colour and fish life, the shallows had the best bommies with gorgonia sea fans in only 7 meters of super clear water (40m viz).
The coastline of Sumbawa has many hidden treasures, including the best nudibranch site ever. We did a night dive, then a morning dive by popular demand. We found LOTS of nudibranchs, as well as being buzzed by a two meter shark in only 6 meters of water.

We picked a very windy day for our Sunday Social Dive in North Bali. With friends Chris Cunnold & Wendy Hutchins, we went in search of critters to photograph, all armed with our new BluSnoot Fiber Optic Snoots
We chose Tianyar Beach west of Tulamben, as it had the largest waves  and most surge - ideal for fine tuning our skills with our Fiber Optic Snoots ??
It was also a great place for fine tuning our surf entry/exit skills. We were surprised that we found anything given the conditions but we all managed to capture a few shots of some nudi's and a juvenile ornate ghost pipefish. If nothing else we proved that in very low visibility conditions, we can eliminate almost all backscatter by using our Fiber Optic Snoots to light just the photo subject, rather than all of the sediment in the water... and there was plenty of it !!

Our latest Live-Board cruise from Sumbawa Island to Flores, via the Komodo National Park was a great buzz.
We managed to dive on some sites that are often inaccessible due to currents. One of these was GPS Point offshore from Batanta Island, this is a world-class dive with sharks, schooling fish by the hundred, lobsters and clear water. The white tip reef sharks were checking us out really close!

Then there was Makassar Reef with Manta Rays being cleaned right beside us.
One big black manta swam directly over each of us in turn, almost touching our heads with its wing tips
(see video below).

Not forgetting the fish action at Crystal Rock, one of the liveliest dives imaginable; there were snappers, surgeonfish, sweetlips, sharks, soldierfish and scorpionfish and these were just the ones beginning with 'S' !!

We have added some new products to our Reef Images Underwater Photo Accessories over the last month.

• Strobe Protectors for Inon strobes made from 5mm Neoprene (for protection and added bouyancy).
• BluSnoot Fiber Optic Snoots to suit Inon Z240, Z220 & D180 strobes (great for special effects macro photography).
• Swing Away Macro Wet Lens Mount for Olympus PEN camera's (easy to swing in a wet macro lens to add additional magnification).

                    More details on these pages:

• Reef Images - U/W Photo Accessories
  
• Fiber Optic Snoots
  

We did a late afternoon dive near Seraya Secrets a few days ago. It was pouring with rain (but still 31 degrees out of the water) but viz was still good enough for hunting tiny critters. We dived with our friend and local nudibranch expert Ajiex Dharma, who quickly found some specimens we have never seen. I'm sure he has a microscope in his BCD pocket !!
Among our finds were many tiny nudibranchs, as well as a Pacific Thecacera nudibranch laying eggs and a boxer crab also laden with eggs.
Many of our local dive sites also have the bright pink eggs of Spanish Dancer nudibranchs on top of rocks. So it seems everything is breeding here in Tulamben.

Today we were reminded of the fragility of life for Balinese people living in the remote villages of north-east Bali.

At daybreak we joined a small family procession to our village high temple (Pura Puseh). Towering above us, Mount Agung glowed brighter than normal at sunrise, as today the Gods would descend and take the spirits of our young friend's wife and his unborn baby boy.

In the west we often take hospital care, doctors, nurses and specialists for granted. We expect the best care available for our wives, babies, children and ourselves, because it is accessible and we can (mostly) afford it.

Wayan was 20 years old when she married and later that year fell pregnant, her husband cared for her as well as any husband would. But when the birth day arrived, she was wisked away to the nearest hospital facility an hour away by car. During her labour she was struck with an asthma attack and stopped breathing. Sadly she passed away and subsequently their unborn baby boy also died still in his mother's womb.

Few people who come to dive here in north east Bali are aware that this area, (the furthest point from Denpasar in either direction) has the highest infant mortality rate in South-East Asia.

More mothers die in north Bali during child birth or pregnancy than in Libya, Iraq or Botswana!
The hospitals are few and far between, and the medical equipment they have is limited and mostly outdated. Getting trained medical staff is difficult, as few want to work in remote areas.

Today we witnessed Wayan and her baby son's spirits ascend to heaven. As the family placed offerings on the altars and the priest finished praying. Clouds soon began forming around the holy mountain's peak. Within half an hour the mountain was concealed by clouds and remained out of view for the rest of the day.

Please spare a thought when you are in these parts, perhaps bargaining for a cheaper dive guide, transport driver or room at your locally run dive resort. These people mostly do it tough, and all of them know how to make every rupiah count. One day....we hope, they may have the luxury of a hospital with modern equipment and well trained medical staff.

Om Swastiastu Wayan dan anda Bayi
(Peace Be With You Wayan & your Baby)

Dawn found this beautiful juvenile Pinnate Batfish at the Drop-Off in Tulamben yesterday. It was approximately the size you are seeing here.... around 60mm long.
This was a very photo friendly fish and the first of this size we have seen around Tulamben.
The Drop-Off seems to have lots of juveniles and many fish welcoming us back to Tulamben this year.
Check out the Video below also. Both the video and Photo were taken with the same camera, an Olympus E-PL2 in an Olympus PT-EP03 housing with an Olympus M.Zuiko 60mm F2.8 macro lens.
One our new LED Focus Lights was used to light the video. While a single Z220 Inon strobe lit the photo.

• Above - Swing Away Wet Macro Lens Adaptor

• Top Left - LED Focus Light

• Bottom Left - Triple Ball Joint Swivel Connector