London Dive Show, Excel 2011

So it was all nerves for the London Dive Show as I picked up my Diver Award for Best Publication of the Year on the Friday night. I really was so scared at turning up! It was definitely one of the most amazing things that has happened and it was even more fabulous to share the moment with so many lovely colleagues and guests who visited me at the show. Thank you to everyone who came along to visit me and attended my talks. I'm even more exciting about helping you with your underwater photography than ever before.

Back to Raja Ampat with Papua Diving

And so it was back to the place that I had fallen in love with and back to Raja Ampat in early March to do some preparation work for the London Dive Show, this time staying at a beautiful peaceful paradise island called Kri. I was lucky enough to be with Max Ammer, the pioneer of diving in Raja Ampat and he told me lots of incredible stories of this area.

The team were friendly and extremely helpful, there was even a British dive guide, Ross Pooley who is growing corals at Kri Eco Resort with the hope of helping the locals to grow their own and make an income, protecting the local reefs at the same time.

The dive sites of Sardines and Blue Magic completely blew me away with the quantities of fish that almost clouded the sunlight. It was macro heaven too with gorgeous pygmy seahorses being seen in Blue Magic also.

The beauty of Kri Island is that the endemic Epaulette Shark can be seen just off the pier, as well as a friendly resident turtle. Mandarin fish are on the jetty at Sorido Bay, making it the perfect place for a night dive.

If you are thinking of planning a trip to Raja Ampat, I definitely recommend a stay at this resort to take in the numerous wonderful dive sites that it offers.

Underwater Photography trip to Raja Ampat, Indonesia with Worldwide Dive and Sail

What an amazing trip with 4 lovely guests from New York, DivePhotoGuide's Mr. Turtle, the cutest puppy called Max for 10 days of adventure with Pygmy SeaHorses, over 15 Wobblegong Sharks, Blacktip Reef Sharks and Magical Manta Rays! Worldwide Dive and Sail's Mandarin Siren proved to be a beautiful personal vessel taking just six people to experience the magic that Raja Ampat offers and the crew went over and beyond to offer a superb, personal service.

Special dive sites visited included the breathtaking area of Misool, the area of Dampier Strait to experience Cape Kri and the area of Miskon, as well as Citrus Ridge which blew me away! Night-dives included experiences with a Blue-Ringed Octopus and the range of both macro and wide-angle subjects were amazing. With so many species of fish and invertebrates and many of them unidentified still, it was extremely difficult to know exactly where to point a camera. One of my cameras in fact, passed out on Day Two at the shock of seeing so much marine life there to photograph!

Raja Ampat is definitely a top and well-deserved hot-spot for underwater photographers and I simply can't wait to get back there to capture more underwater magic.

So many thanks again to Worldwide Dive and Sail and all the crew for the most amazing time. Can't wait to see you all again!

Where on Earth Has the Time Gone Too!

Hello everyone,

If you are still reading my blog, thank you so much! I am so sorry that I haven't posted for so long, I honestly don't know where the past few months has gone too, well almost half a year in fact! So much has been happening that I am going to post the key events in the next few days to give you all an idea as to what I have been up too! Book signing, giving talks for clubs, grabbing a hot new venue to teach underwater photography in Leeds and my dream came true to go to DEMA, America's largest trade show for divers, and was so proud to be on DivePhotoGuide's stand along with Wetpixel. A huge thank you to all of them for making me feel so welcome. Photos and guest news coming very, very soon.

Scuba Show - Long Beach, California

So it was time for me to finally be a complete tourist at a Dive Show and head off to see my very much missed Sunny Friends in the Sunshine State of California in Long Beach to coincide with the Dive Show there at the same time. What an event! It was great to see so many people there despite the clouds. I felt really honoured to finally meet two huge inspirations of mine at the event, Stan Waterman and Annie Crawley. Stan looked absolutely amazing and felt very humbled to see and hear of his experiences filming the oceans. Annie too has achieved an incredible amount and has so much drive and enthusiasm which is completely infectious. She has launched a range of DVDs in conjunction with Save Our Seas Foundation to help children understand and appreciate the ocean. Vist her website at www.diveintoyourimagination.com to buy them yourselves and to see her incredible work. I left feeling re-energised and even more inspired than ever before ........

Amazing what a Canon Ixus can do!

So here I am finally catching up on all my news from the past couple of months. What a hugely busy month it has been. Debbie Rayne and her friend George came on a course and another great day was had by them. It was Debbie's first time taking a camera underwater and she had a Canon Ixus 100 with just the Canon housing itself. Simply using the built-in flash achieved this picture! Absolutely incredible and just goes to show what just the camera in the housing can do by itself .....

Day out at the Blue Reef Aquarium

Patrick Shier, the writer for Above 18 metres from Sport Diver magazine, kindly invited me and David and Stephen along to the Blue Reef Aquarium for a different day out of photography. David and Stephen took to the aquarium like ducks to water and struggled to get them out of the tank! The weather was really good to us as well making a fantastic day out for everyone. Patrick also teaches scuba diving when he is not writing for the magazines, so visit his website at www.exclusivelyscuba.co.uk for more information.