Issue # 38: Hidden treasures

DIVE’s Summer ’25 magazine is here! Packed as always with brilliant photography and great writing – subscribe quickly so you don’t miss out on a copy!

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A DIVE INTO THE UNKNOWN

Raja Ampat is one of the world’s most sought-after diving destinations but it’s far from being completely explored. Award-winning photographer Jenny Stock dives into the unknown as she visits some previously undiscovered spots on board the Raja Ampat Aggressor, accompanied by some of her fantastic photography of never-before-seen reefs.

SAVING MEXICO’S MANTAS

The Caribbean Coast of Mexico is home to one of the world’s largest aggregations of whale sharks – and a gathering of giant manta rays follows them. Mark ‘Crowley’ Russell talks to Karen ‘Manza’ Fuentes about her determination to make sure their populations are preserved, and why they may well be the long-awaited third species.

OCEAN PHYSICS

Helen Czerski began studying the science of bubbles at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography when she realised she needed to learn to scuba dive – and fell in love with it. She talks to Jo Caird about combining her passion for the underwater world with a background in physics in her award-winning science book Blue Machine: How the Ocean Shapes Our World.

MULTI-DISCIPLINE DIVING

Some underwater photographers prefer macro over wide-angle; others big fish or landscapes. Each takes time to learn and perfect, but diving under the Cement Plant Pier in Barbados provides photographers with a single site to practice them all. Award-winning photographer Catherine Holmes gives us her top tips for study and some stunning results of her own.

UNDERWATER EARNINGS

Lots of people love taking pictures underwater, and there are some super-talented amateurs out there. Most people will only ever see their pictures shared among social media friends – but can you earn an income from sharing them with the world? Colin Marshall shares tips from his 30-year history as a stock agency photographer.

SPEAKING OF PHOTOGRAPHERS…

While there some talented amateurs out there among the underwater photo pros, many, many divers pick up a camera and turn into nightmares with bubbles. Mark ‘Crowley’ Russell shares some of his experiences from his time a full-time dive professional, and what steps divers need to take before ever even thinking about taking snapshots!

BIG SHOT TOGETHERNESS

DIVE’s latest Big Shot underwater photography competition called for images of underwater animals living together – in harmony or, as the case might be, not. Check out the best of the entries from our Big Shot Living Together photo competition as they were meant to be seen – on the pages of a glossy print magazine.

More DIVE Magazine previews:

• DIVE Magazine Spring 2025 – Ocean Colour Scenes
• DIVE Magazine Winter 2024/25 – Never Stop Learning
• DIVE Magazine Autumn 2024 – a giant stride for mankind
• DIVE Magazine Summer 2024 – exploring the depths
• DIVE Magazine Spring 2024 – the Magazine with Bite

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The post DIVE Magazine Summer 2025 preview appeared first on DIVE Magazine.

The granite topography of Thailand’s Similan Islands gives writer and photographer Mark B Hatter plenty to work with during a journey on board the Thailand Aggressor

Words and pictures by Mark B Hatter

Occasionally, a rookie mistake can result in a positive outcome. Such was my situation on our final dive aboard the Thailand Aggressor as we approached the end of our cruise in the Andaman Sea, off the western coast of Thailand.

Everything seemed perfect on this final morning in the Similan Islands, capping off a wonderful week. The sea was smooth and super clear, and the early morning sun, hazy behind a thin layer of high clouds, would likely provide excellent sunburst photographic opportunities.

As a bonus, our boat was the only vessel at the dive site.

We’d visited Christmas Point earlier in the cruise and I was looking forward to again shooting the wildlife in and around the massive granite boulders strewn around the site.

The smooth rocks are signature surface and underwater topography features of the Similan Islands. Settling onto the sandy floor at 20 metres, between two massive granite boulders, I attempted to test fire my camera to validate aperture and shutter speed settings. The lack of a response was puzzling and unsettling. Up until now, I’d had no issues with my kit.

After a quick sequence of checks, the ‘err’ message on the camera’s LCD was soberingly clear: I had left the memory card out of the camera after downloading my last series of images the night before. Something I would have realised, had I completed my gear check before climbing into the dinghy.

We’d already dived Christmas Point early in the cruise but, nevertheless, this mistake would still cost me…

Or so I thought.

THE SIMILAN ISLANDS’ GRANITE PARADISE

The Similan Islands and associated sea mounts run up the west coast of Thailand. They are mainly composed of ‘intrusive granitoids’, rocks that formed between 250 and 150 million years ago as a result of plate tectonics that allowed magma to bubble up from deep within the Earth’s core to form protrusions and small mountains.

Aeons of weathering and erosion have left the islands smoothly contoured, creating a unique topography which is extremely
popular with tourists and divers.

There are 11 ko (the Thai word for ‘island’) in the Similan Archipelago, all of which are under Thailand’s protection as a national park. While each ko has a formal name, for the sake of simplicity they are more commonly known locally as Islands 1 through to 12.

During our seven-day cruise we visited dive sites along most of them, along with those at Ko Surin and Richelieu Rock.

We began our journey with an introductory dive at a shallow site called Anita’s Reef, between Islands 5 and 6, where classic coral bommies rise up from a shallow sandy plain.

The morning light was perfect for capturing colourful anthias and damselfish streaming over stony coral formations. I love shooting into the sun when it’s low on the horizon, and the conditions at Anita’s were ideal that day for cool sunbursts as backdrops against bommies that were teaming with life.

Our next dive, at Elephant Head Rock, between Islands 6 and 7, was a surprisingly different experience. This site, dominated by massive granite boulders, offers classic Similan diving. You might expect the boulders to be festooned with corals and sea fans – but actually most of the rocky surfaces are oddly devoid of encrusting life. Yet there are areas on every reef that offer an exception to the rule.

At these underwater oases, soft and stony corals, as well as massive sea fans, abound. This phenomenon of largely naked rock surface is apparently completely natural and not related to climate change or historical storm impacts – indeed, there are old growth tabling corals on the smooth granite, albeit few and far between.

Could it be that the windward facing sides of the islands, being more exposed seasonally, are less inclined to promote extensive coral or sea fan encrusting?

We also dived a number of sites which appeared to be within the seasonal lee of an island, and provide the conditions for much more typical massive coral bommies and linear reef structures to form.

At Ko Bon (Island 10), we got the best of both worlds. Having entered the water along a windward point, we let the current sweep us past the mostly barren rocky slopes, around a boulder-strewn point, to a protected lee-side shore where we found an astonishing developed coral reef.

Almost immediately, we encountered an enormous school of batfish hovering in the current, mid-water, which captivated half of our dive group.

I was drawn instead to shoot the massive shoals of golden and translucent sweepers, ever shape-shifting, like a single amorphous organism, in and around the stony coral structures.

MEETING THE ANDAMAN LOCALS

On the afternoon of our fifth day we left the Similan Islands for the five Surin Islands, an archipelago closer to the coast of Thailand but still within the Andaman Sea.

At Ko Surin Tai we made an afternoon sojourn to a village of Indigenous sea people called the Moken, a group also known as Sea Gypsies.

The Moken number in the hundreds, share everything communally and have their own language. As people of the sea, their mode of transportation is a longboat made of hardwood, colourfully painted and propelled by the most unusual engine I’ve ever seen, bearing a drive shaft at least 3m long that terminated in a double-bladed propeller.

After our visit to the Moken village we suited up for a sunset dive along the south shore of Surin Island. In the gloaming, my dive buddy and I were blown away by the underwater metropolis of stony coral, starting near the surface and sloping to around 20m.

The diversity was staggering and the coral was in surprisingly excellent health. Massive tabling corals, easily 2.5m in diameter, were complemented by forests of branching staghorn corals, lettuce corals and many other species of smaller plating corals.

Between the thickets of coral, an occasional magnificent anemone, replete with anemonefish, punctuated the dense seascape.

The dive was incredibl,e and it was only our inability to focus on subjects after twilight that ultimately drove us from the water. The surprising old-growth fringe reef at the south end of Surin Island left me perplexed about how this magnificent feat of nature could be evading the ever-encroaching threat of climate change.

Happily, at least for now, there are still places on the planet that are defying the odds of human-caused degradation.

DIVING RICHELIEU ROCK

The following morning we travelled before dawn to reach one of six mooring buoys off fabled Richelieu Rock, a massive underwater pinnacle barely reaching the surface between the Similan and Surin islands.

‘The Rock’ is one of the most popular dive sites on the planet, visited daily by dozens of boats and hundreds of divers – and for good reason.

As an isolated pinnacle in the open ocean, the Rock is swept by unimpeded currents that support an astounding abundance of life. Signature species include a myriad pastel-coloured carnation corals, giant sea fans and more magnificent anemones than I’ve ever seen in one place.

When the current is raging at Richelieu Rock, it’s the side receiving the brunt of the current where everything happens.

Shoals of glass fish are under continuous assault from schools of predator jackfish, long-nose emperor fish, groupers and snappers. Carnation corals covering every available surface swell in the tidal flow.

At the crown of the pinnacle, anemonefish in thousands of magnificent anemones fight to keep from being swept away from their hosts.

We make the penultimate dive of our trip at the Rock as the sun is going down. The day boats are gone and divers from the few other liveaboards still moored on fixed buoys have all left the water.

We have the place to ourselves in the waning light. Magnificent anemones often fold up into the shape of an onion at twilight. Seeing this phenomenon, with thousands of anemones in action at once, left me shooting continuously until it was time to go topside.

A NEW PERSPECTIVE

I had a lot of images to process after four dives at Richelieu, which might explain why I had forgotten to put my memory card back in the camera immediately after completing the download.

Thus it was that I found myself at Christmas Point completing my last dive yet unable to shoot any more. Rather than regretting my foolish error, though, I was ultimately glad of it.

I’d been shooting Similan’s granite-based reefs for the better part of a week, and it was only on that final dive, without the burden of searching for viable scenes to photograph, that my eyes and mind were opened to the surprising, spectacular underwater vista that is Thailand’s Andaman Sea

THAILAND AGGRESSOR

The Thailand Aggressor was recommissioned in October 2024, so facilities are excellent. Meals include Thai lunches and dinners, and western breakfasts.

The vessel offers two routes, season-dependent. I selected the North Andaman Sea voyage, which covers dive sites in the Similan Islands, Surin Islands and Richelieu Rock, and departs from Tap Lamu Pier, 60-90 minutes by road from Phuket International Airport.

The divemasters and cruise director gave wide latitude on every dive, something photographers will appreciate. As long as we were paired with a buddy and carried an SMB, we were free to dive each site as we liked.

We were offered five dives per day on three occasions.

For more information, visit www.aggressor.com

More great reads from our magazine

• Painting with Light – an interview with Catherine Holmes
• Artificial Intelligence – good or bad for underwater photography?
• Liveaboard safety – how divers can change it and when to walk away
• Luxury resort versus budget homestay in Raja Ampat
• The National Lobster Hatchery – giving lobsters a helping hand

Click here to take out a regular yearly subscription

The post Diving the Similan Islands with Aggressor Adventures appeared first on DIVE Magazine.

Todd Thimios has what many would believe to be the perfect job – he travels the world on private yachts, searching out the very best dive sites for his clients. His 20 years of luxury wandering has resulted in Ultimate Dive Sites – a glossy book listing his 50 favourites dotted around the globe. Here are three to whet your appetite…

Words and photographs by Todd Thimios

MILFORD SOUND, NEW ZEALAND

Dive below mountains and waterfalls into an environment you’d usually find 200 metres deeper

The South Island of New Zealand – Aotearoa, in the native Māori language – is world-renowned for its dramatic mountainous scenery, and there are few places more dramatic than the Milford Sound. For divers, black coral is the main attraction, but the Sound has much more to offer, and the magic begins with the drive in.

According to Māori legend, Aotearoa’s fjord lands were carved out by the demi-god Tu-te-raki-whanoa, who, upon reaching
Piopiotahi (Milford Sound), did his best work before ending his journey. Undoubtedly, this is one of the prettiest landscapes on Earth, but if you think Milford Sound is otherworldly, wait until you see what’s below the surface.

While technical diving and the discomfort of wearing a drysuit deters many divers, the fun of exploring the ethereal world beneath the fjords is absolutely worth the effort.

Known as New Zealand’s ‘coral capital’, some of the interesting coral trees that you’ll find here are those of red and black corals. Despite their name, black corals are actually white in appearance, thanks to millions of miniscule white polyps in a thin layer of tissue covering the coral’s black skeleton.

Finding these usually deep-water corals in shallow water is a novelty, made possible by the murky surface layer of freshwater run-off blocking out the sunlight. The existence of deep water animals surviving at shallower depths is called ‘deep water emergence’.

With nearly 6,800mm (267in) of annual rainfall, this is one of the wettest places on Earth. As the rain falls onto the mountains, it pulls nutrients from the forest floor down into the sea, creating a blanket effect on the water’s surface.

The result of this murky, tannin-stained water is an incredible marine environment that is starved of light – an ecosystem typical of 200m (656ft) depth is found within only a depth of 10–20m of water.

There’s an eerie feeling for the first few metres as you descend into the murkiness, but once you’ve reached the bottom of that freshwater blanket, the visibility and scenery opens up to dramatic walls hosting large branches of snow-white coral, stingrays, octopuses, nudibranchs, dog or carpet sharks, and clusters of crayfish, all enjoying the protection of the 690 hectare (1705 acre) Piopiotahi/ Milford Sound marine reserve.

If you’re lucky you may spot a New Zealand fur seal or some bottlenose dolphins. A day with local operator Descend Diving (currently taking a break from diving) will have you zipping through the Sound and out to the Tasman Sea, with scenic stops for waterfalls and wildlife spotting.

Two dives are offered and those without prior drysuit experience can pay extra to get training and a certification while on the tour.

With the dive boat setting off from the boat ramp at 9 am, I recommend that you stay close by, rather than driving the winding road (which is prone to rockfalls) in the dark.

There are chalets and a campground at Milford Sound Lodge (milfordlodge.com), but they book out far in advance. If you can’t stay there, the next option is the town of Te Anau, 118 km (73 miles) away; allow about an hour and a half for the drive as the 1.2 km Homer Tunnel can get congested sometimes.

If you’re driving a campervan, there are also some great, cheap Department of Conservation (DOC) campsites, which are positioned in scenic locations along the drive in (doc.govt.nz).

Best time to dive: October-April.

Gear: it’s cold and dark, so drysuit, gloves, hood, socks, thick undergarments and a good light.

Photography tip: Showcasing the landscape both above and below the surface was my main focus, so I felt that shooting wide was the best option. I used an 11-24mm zoo,m which yielded good results of both marine life and divers among Milford’s cold-water reefs. Ensure your strobes are reliable, as even though visibility can be good, it gets dark real fast.

SS COOLIDGE, ESPIRITU SANTO, VANUATU

Dive deep into an underwater museum of WWII relics mixed with 1940s opulence

Whether you’re a relative newbie to deep water diving or a seasoned deep-sea technical diving adventurer, the SS President Coolidge on Vanuatu’s stunning Espiritu Santo Island offers a fantastic wreck diving experience.

The SS Coolidge isn’t just any shipwreck, at 198m (650ft) long and roughly 22,000 tons (24,000 tonnes), it’s arguably one of the best wreck dives in the world, and you can walk straight off the beach to access it.

Once a luxury passenger liner with elegant cabins and plush restaurants and bars for more than 1,000 people, it was transformed into a troop carrier during World War II when 40,000 troops were stationed on the rapidly converted Espiritu Santo, making it the second largest American base in the Pacific.

It was here in 1942, while entering Santo’s harbour, that Coolidge collided with its own US mines. The ship’s sailing orders had omitted vital information about safe entry into the harbour, and with fears of Japanese submarines looming large, the captain attempted to navigate through the most obvious of channels.

A mine struck her in the engine room, followed by another near her stern. Over the next 90 minutes, 5,340 men from the ship got safely ashore, with only two lives lost. However, the captain’s attempts to beach and save the ship were shortlived.

Coolidge listed heavily on her port side, sank stern first, and slid down the slope into the channel. Today her stern sits in 72m of water and her bow in 20m, creating a sanctuary for deep wreck diving and one of the most unbelievable shore dives imaginable.

Gearing up on the beach, divers take a short walk to the tide line, and after swimming only 40-odd metres, the bow comes into view, marking the beginning of the colossal structure that is the wreck of the Coolidge.

Diving Coolidge is like entering a time capsule. Back in 1980, when Vanuatu gained independence from its French and British colonisers, it was declared that no artefacts would be allowed to be salvaged from the wreck. So today, with the ship still largely intact, divers can swim through its holds and decks, encountering an array of relics from guns, cannons and Jeeps, to helmets and personal supplies left behind by the troops.

Then there’s relics like ‘The Lady’ (a porcelain bas-relief and divers’ favourite), chandeliers, a mosaic tile fountain, elegant baths and grand staircases, which all add to the charm.

While Coolidge is a labyrinth of corridors, rooms and cargo holds, this shouldn’t deter new divers. To truly appreciate the ship’s magnitude and majesty, I recommend at least 10 to 15 dives. After all, she stretches almost 200m in length. But even with just a few dives you can get a taste of her grandeur.

For me, a return to Santo 20 years after I lived here allowed me to see how the wreck has fared over the years (particularly since Vanuatu gets its fair share of cyclones and earthquakes). While a few structures have collapsed (the promenade deck, mainly, and the swimming pool which popped out and fell to the ocean’s floor), overall, the wreck hadn’t changed much. It’s still solid and safe to explore, with the right guides.

Diving in Luganville was pioneered by the legendary Allan Power back in the ’80s. Allan operated a dive centre here right up to his death in 2018. He had made over 15,000 dives on the Coolidge and had taken more than 20,000 divers to the Lady alone.

His legacy is carried forward by Pacific Dive, situated within Luganville’s Espiritu Hotel, which runs daily dives. Its local Ni-Van staff take great pride in the Coolidge. They are incredible guides, accruing tens of thousands of dives between them on the wreck over the years (pacificdive.net).

Best time to dive: year-round, but the May-October dry season is best for sea conditions, temperature and visibility.

Gear: 3mm wetsuit over summer and 5 mm over the colder winter months.

Photography tip: Pack your favourite wide-angle lens and dive Coolidge several times to capture the bow and the full length of the ship when shooting her from outside. Inside, strobes are turned on to focus on the many different chambers and artefacts within.

MERGUI ARCHIPELAGO, MYANMAR

For decades sea gypsies have had this region all to themselves… until now

Off limits since World War II, the Mergui (pronounced mer-gwee) Archipelago in southern Myanmar (formerly Burma) opened to liveaboard dive boats in 1997 and, since then, word-of-mouth about the region has started to spread through the diving world.

Their relative isolation and history of being closed to tourists due to Burma’s military regime have helped them maintain their pristine and undeveloped state.

Known to the outside world by their British colonial name of Mergui (the indigenous name is Myeik), these 800-plus islands are scattered across 400km (248 miles) of the Andaman Sea, down the coastline of Myanmar.

Devoid of hotels and beach front bars, the jungle-clad islands, some of them still unnamed, are inhabited only by a few thousand Moken ‘sea gypsies’, the indigenous people of the Mergui Archipelago.

These semi-nomadic people have traditionally spent their days fishing or boat-building and are known for their incredible freediving abilities. For the Moken, the only tourists that they see are a small number of divers or adventure cruise ship passengers, passing through.

On our expedition, we set sail from Kawthaung (Myanmar’s southern gateway to the archipelago), though commercial liveaboards also depart from Ranong across the Thai border. Most of our trip was based around several well-known sites, with the rest of our trip visiting unknown sites for exploratory dives.

Our captain’s favourite dive was Black Rock, one of the Mergui’s most westerly islands. Standing solitary in the sea with a steep wall dropping down to over 100m (328ft), this pinnacle is a magnet for marine life, giant mantas, vast schools of barracuda, trevally, snapper and fusiliers clouding the waters.

Underwater, this limestone rock is covered in soft corals and anemones; the reef’s crannies and crevasses a haven for scorpionfish and other benthic critters.

At night, the dive site transforms as colourful corals bloom and nocturnal creatures emerge to feed in the nutrient-rich waters.

Another favourite spot was Western Rocky. The island is known for its sharks, including whitetips and blacktips, grey reef sharks and some large nurse sharks, which can be spotted inside a tunnel dive that cuts through the island’s core.

Just north of Western Rocky, a dive site aptly named Shark Cave is also good for spotting nurse sharks, plus whip rays, blotched stingrays and the odd whale shark, and then there are smaller cuties such as seahorses and anemonefish.

Perhaps the highlight of the trip, for me, was the huge gorgonian sea fans found in numerous locations, with a dive site named Fan Forest Pinnacle (also known as Rocky Peaks) being especially populous with wonderful gorgonians. To this day, I would say that the largest and most impressive gorgonian fans I’ve ever seen were in the Mergui Archipelago.

While the Mergui Archipelago has many amazing dive sites to explore, the visibility can be a bit all over the place. Cold-water currents bringing nutrients (commonly called ‘the green monster’) can rush through dive sites unexpectedly.

Some areas have been fished hard, while others have been decimated by dynamite fishing. Then, on some dive sites, ghost nets litter the reefs.

While the archipelago is just beginning to find its feet as a world-class destination for divers, it’s crucial that the government protects the region, not just for the future enjoyment of divers, but also for the Moken people who call it home and depend on these waters for their food, lifestyle and income.

The MV Smiling Seahorse has been running liveaboard dive trips to Mergui since 2012 and offers several scientific and exploratory itineraries. Trips on this small boat, which takes only 16 divers, depart from Ranong in Thailand (thesmilingseahorse.com).

Best time to dive: late October to mid-May for calm seas, blue skies, better visibility and a steady water temperature of 27°C (80°F), which aligns with the migratory patterns of large pelagics, including mantas and whale sharks (Feb–May is prime season for the big stuff).

Gear: 3mm wetsuit for water temperatures around 27°C (80°F) from late Oct to mid-May.

Photography tip: Mergui has a bit of everything: megafauna that needs a wide-angle lens, coral garden seascapes that suit a wide-angle zoom and incredible critters for your macro lens. If possible, pack it all, particularly your wide-angle.

More great reads from our magazine

• Painting with light – an interview with Catherine Holmes
• Artificial Intelligence – good or bad for underwater photography?
• Liveaboard safety – how divers can change it and when to walk away
• Luxury resort versus budget homestay in Raja Ampat
• DIVE’s Big Shot Portraits – THE WINNERS!

Click here to take out a regular yearly subscription

The post Searching for the best – an extract from Todd Thimios’ Ultimate Dive Sites appeared first on DIVE Magazine.

Catherine Holmes talks to DIVE’s Mark ‘Crowley’ Russell about her journey from amateur snapper to award-winning underwater photographer – and being bitten by a giant American crocodile!

Catherine Holmes, originally from Australia and now a dental surgeon resident in England, is a multi-award-winning photographer.

Among her outstanding achievements is being the first woman to win the GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year Underwater Category in 2023.

Her photograph of a tarpon hunting amid a school of silversides was also voted DIVE’s best Big Shot of 2024.

Where did it all begin and how did you make the transition from enthusiast to serious underwater photographer?

I started diving when I was about 17 in Australia and for many years used one of the little Sony waterproof cameras (a Cybershot with the now famous Marine pack), and then I went onto the Sea&Sea Motormarine 1 (the yellow box once virtually ubiquitous in dive shops), which I flooded loads of times.

But really it was just a hobby on a week or two a year. I’d manage to get away for a week and come back with rolls and rolls of film and hardly anything would come out.

I’ve always been interested in composition and painting – I’ve painted all my life – and my photographs were getting better but I was frustrated. I’d go to dive shows and hear Alex Mustard talk and think: I want to take pictures like that.

I kept hearing that if you want to improve your photography, you need to get away on photo trips with other photographers, because divers and photographers don’t always mix – we just spend too long taking pictures – and doing that changed my outlook.

I took advice from lots of people and started with an Olympus EM-5 Micro Four Thirds mirrorless camera in 2016, then I progressed to an EM1 MkII [on which the pink and yellow goby shot towards the end of this article was taken], but eventually my friend Nick Moore got frustrated with me and said, ‘Take my Nikon D500; get an SLR!’ So, I took his D500 away for a week, and when I came back I went and bought one!

I’m feeling some pressure from other photographers with their newer cameras but I’m sticking with the D500 for now because it’s working for me – what you see and how you see it is far more important to the photograph than the kit.

What do you enjoy most about being an underwater photographer and do you have a favourite style?

I’m passionate about just being underwater and being with the fish, so just being there is incredible.

Creating the image is all about getting the feel of the place, finding something that’s inspiring, and then working out how to take the picture – waiting for ages, getting the creatures comfortable with you and at the same time thinking: where’s my light coming from? What have I got to frame this to make it look an attractive picture?

It’s exactly the same as painting because when you paint, you’re looking for a subject; you’ve got nice light, you’ve got nice colour, and so my photographs are generally very painterly.

Henley [award-winning photographer Henley Spiers] thinks my images have too much colour, but you look at different photographers’ pictures and see everybody’s got a very personal style – some are more focused on macro; others are interested in more technical stuff, but I think mine is very much colourist.

When it comes to macro or wide-angle, I can’t say I love one more than the other, because they’re both fabulous. I have really enjoyed trying new techniques like bokeh and shallow depth of field, and I really like reverse lenses and the effects you can get with that – I spent a lot of time in Indonesia last year doing reverse lenses and stuff, trying out new techniques for more interesting backgrounds.

Where are your favourite places to dive and do you have any special underwater memories?

Raja Ampat is really amazing and so is the Red Sea – the colour is incredible – and I went to Mexico to dive with the sea lions and I was just in heaven.

I could barely compose a picture because I was so excited, because they’re just so amazing, these beautiful creatures.

But my most memorable photograph was snorkelling with the crocodile [see the previous page] when I actually got bitten, which has become folklore within the underwater photography community. I was so shocked I didn’t even really realise!

Fortunately, I survived, I’ve just got three big teeth marks on either side of my thigh. That was a bit exciting, but the picture looks great in my surgery waiting room. People love it, and there’s a good story to tell.

What advice would you give to beginners looking to follow in your footsteps?

Firstly, you have to be really, really comfortable in the water with good buoyancy control to stay where you want without impacting the reef or the ambience of the fish. If you really love it then it becomes quite easy, but good diving is super important before the photography.

Get into the community. Go and join something like BSoUP (British Society of Underwater Photographers) – and read a lot. Alex Mustard and Martin Edge’s books are both bibles for someone who wants to learn about how to compose and work their cameras.

Go on dedicated photo trips if you can, just to be with other photographers, because photographers are actually very keen to share knowledge – the BSoUP monthly meetings have breakout rooms for beginners to chat with other photographers, and really good lectures.

Learn from a teacher for a while, or even just one trip with a camera pro, because you will have a problem, and you won’t know why, and they will point out you’ve got it on the wrong setting.

You can often be stopped at the first hurdle by something small, so it’s really helpful to be with other people that are knowledgeable, not just other photographers.

The most important thing with underwater photography is getting the light right, so learning where to position your strobes is paramount, and another photographer will see immediately if they’re in the wrong place.

You can take great pictures with natural light, so start simple in shallow water, snorkelling with a camera.

The most important thing is just to be passionate and keep trying and to be open to sharing, because we’ve got a really great community.

While on the surface it can look quite competitive, actually everybody wants people to get the best and see the best and share the best, because we all want to protect what we’re seeing.

To see more of Cathy’s fantastic pictures visit her website at catherineholmesunderwaterphotography.com or find her on Instagram @catherineholmes.photography

More great reads from our magazine

• Artificial Intelligence – good or bad for underwater photography?
• Liveaboard safety – how divers can change it and when to walk away
• Luxury resort versus budget homestay in Raja Ampat
• DIVE’s Big Shot Portraits – THE WINNERS!
• The National Lobster Hatchery – giving lobsters a helping hand

Click here to take out a regular yearly subscription

The post Painting with light – an interview with Catherine Holmes appeared first on DIVE Magazine.

Writer and photographer Todd Aki compares back-to-back week-long dive trips to Raja Ampat, staying in a humble homestay, then at a luxury resort

Words and photographs by Todd Aki

Raja Ampat is unquestionably one of the best dive destinations in the world. It is also a very expensive place to dive, either by liveaboard or from a resort. But there is a third option: a homestay.

This little-known alternative can cost as little as a quarter of the price of the standard Raja accommodation options. It’s therefore a mighty tempting proposition. But does paying a budget price risk getting a budget experience?

To find out, I booked back-to-back stays in Raja, first in a resort and then at a homestay. Here’s what I discovered.

THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED

The first glaring difference is getting to the accommodation. At Papua Explorers, the resort where I stayed, a resort representative met me at the airport and whisked me off to a hotel where I had a tasty breakfast buffet while waiting for other guests.

At noon, I was driven to the pier, where a nice resort boat took me directly to the resort, a little over an hour away. The whole transfer was effortless and relaxing.

This was not the case with the homestay. Upon exiting the airport, you need to find a taxi to take you to the public ferry. Next, you wait in line for a ferry ticket, then for some unexplained reason, wait in another line to redeem your ticket to get another ticket.

You then lug your luggage 50 metres to the ferry. If you are lucky, you will find a seat on the lower deck. If not, you’ll need to carry your luggage upstairs with you. I cheated and spent $3 (£2.30) for a porter as I was carrying nearly 50kg (110lbs) of dive and photo gear. It was the best three dollars I have ever spent.

After a two-hour ferry ride, you arrive on the island of Waisai and walk another 50m to get a permit to enter Raja. Your homestay boat will hopefully be waiting for you. It’s usually open top, narrow and loud. If there are any waves, it will be a bumpy ride. And bring a poncho, because if it rains or the ocean is rough, you will get soaked by ocean spray.

Depending on the location of your homestay, the boat ride could take 60-90 minutes.

CREATURE COMFORTS

Most resorts in Raja are well furnished and Papua Explorers was no exception. My spacious room had a hot water shower, a western flush toilet, a table and chair, and a covered veranda with a sofa. Air conditioning kept everything comfortable.

Right off the veranda were steps into the ocean, where on higher tides you could swim out to the dive centre or snorkel on the house reef.

The resort’s dining area was spacious, offering amazing food with plentiful choices for each meal, as well as delicious desserts.

My homestay, on the island of Arborek, was a very different affair. The room was tiny and very basic, with only a mattress on the floor and a small table with a fan, rather than air conditioning.

I paid a bit more than average for my homestay, so it was new and very clean, but the cracks between the wooden floorboards led straight to the ocean, so caution was required if I didn’t want my things to end up in the sea.

There was a plus side of this proximity to the water: from my bungalow, I could see baby sharks putting on a show at night, as well as a large school of bigeye scad and batfish.

Electricity is often only available at night. Once during my stay, the power went off for over a day, but luckily, my homestay had a generator. It was a mystery what hours they ran it, but fortunately, I was never caught without power.

In my homestay, there was no hot water. In fact, many Indonesian homestays have no running water at all. There is typically a communal shower or bathroom, in which you wash by dipping a ladle in a tub of water and pouring it over yourself.

Given the lack of air conditioning, the cold water was actually quite welcome. Toilets in many homestays are just as rudimentary: you flush by pouring water from a ladle into the pan.

As the owners of homestays often speak very limited English, there is no orientation, so you pick up what you need to know – meal times and the like – from fellow guests.

Food tends to be very basic: pastries for breakfast; for lunch and dinner it was either chicken or fish with rice and vegetables.

RESORT OR HOMESTAY: THE DIVING

Now for the most important thing: the diving. Upon arrival at Papua Explorers, the dive manager (just one of a plethora of managers looking after all aspects of the place) gave us a long briefing. They asked for dive certificates, we filled in several liability forms, and we were given an explanation of the logistics of diving at the resort.

We could do up to three dives each day, plus a twilight or night dive. We were told how to enter the water from the dive boat and how to get back on. If separated, we were to do a one-minute search and, if still separated, everyone would stop the dive and meet at the surface.

We were also told not to use strobes when shooting pygmy seahorses and manta rays – presumably in order not to cause them undue stress.

As you’d imagine with such good processes in place, the dive day ran like clockwork. I was fortunate to dive with the best guide I’ve ever had: she was always aware of her divers, was a great spotter and had such an infectious, happy personality you could not help but smile when you were around her.

My dive company on Arborek had a less rigorous approach. They did not offer an orientation, ask for certification cards, or give me any forms to fill out.

They did two morning dives a day and sometimes an afternoon dive, and offered a night dive only once during my six-day trip.

We were told to meet at 7:30 am, but the dive boat almost never left until 8:30 am. When it was time to leave, the boat’s engine caused problems every single day.

On one occasion, they did an engine swap from another boat, but as we headed out, that engine stopped working too so we went back to shore to get it fixed.

To be fair to the company, even with all these issues, all the scheduled dives took place.

One day I lost the group while shooting a particularly beautiful subject – I just continued my dive solo, surfacing at the agreed-upon time with no one seemingly concerned.

Maybe they recognised that I was a competent diver and decided it was safe to let me do my own thing.

Ultimately, my experience of diving at the resort and homestay were pretty similar. I dived all the famous dive sites and had a great time.

Both places have fantastic house reefs, with different strengths depending on your preferences. Papua Explorers has great macro critters – my fabulous guide found me a blue-ringed octopus on almost every night dive.

But Arborek was my personal favourite, boasting glorious hard and soft coral gardens, schools of fish, big and small, as well as rarer treasures such as flasher wrasses and even a regal tang.

A MATTER OF TASTE

Arborek is a very small island, meaning you can’t help but bump into kids playing with homemade toys or adults doing daily chores. After a day or two, I felt like a part of the community, and really valued this element of my trip.

A special mention needs to be made of Githa, the owner of the dive shop on Arborek, along with her husband. She is a driving force in protecting Arborek’s reefs, involved in conservation efforts such as restoring the hard coral, as well as helping improve the lives of local residents, especially women.

Papua Explorers, on the other hand, is similar to other resorts, where guests are expected to stay on resort property. You can hike to a nearby village, but you’ll need to make special arrangements to do so.

The booking process was easy for both trips. With Papua Explorers, you make a deposit by wiring money, and then pay the balance before arrival – $3,152 all-inclusive for seven days’ diving in my case.

You’ll also fill out some forms and send over pictures of your passport and dive certifications ahead of your trip.

Organising the homestay was actually even easier – stayrajaampat.com is an amazingly comprehensive website.

It lists homestays by location and includes thorough descriptions and helpful, accurate reviews. It has a great FAQ section explaining everything you need to know.

Most importantly, the website handles payments. You pay the entire amount upfront – $1,070 for my week’s stay and
diving on Arborek – and can use a credit card.

Typically, your only correspondence with the owners of the homestay is an exchange of WhatsApp messages when you have boarded the ferry so they can meet you at Waisai.

What is the final verdict– homestay or resort? As with most things in life, you get what you pay for. If you want to be pampered and have a smoothly oiled scuba diving experience, go with a resort.

If you want to save money, are happy to be flexible, value getting to know the local people, and don’t mind roughing it a bit, a homestay might just be your ideal next dive trip.

Todd stayed at Papua Explorers Resort and Raja Ampat Sunset Homestay

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