Raja Ampat

stphnmartin · Post by **stphnmartin** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 9:54 pm

I was fortunate to take a trip to Raja Ampat Indonesia last month. Stop what you're doing and go there now!

It was a 12 day voyage aboard the MV Amabi from Wallacea dive cruises. I signed up via Bluewater Travel with a buddy and we got in 35 dives despite sinking one of the tender boats the first day. Dropping down for the first dive had me confused by the color explosion and the abundance of marine life. Truly astounding. It took a bit to try and figure out how to do video in that environment as it's the complete opposite of diving the puget sound.

I added a gopro to my normal macro setup and it proved a good idea as I was able to capture macro and wide angle on each dive. On one dive in particular I managed to video a pygmy seahorse then turn around and capture some footage of a oceanic manta. The gopro footage does require a lot of tweaking though, but it was worthwhile.

Anyway, a big check mark on this bucket list item. If the wallet wasn't suffering a concussion, I'd be heading back there next week!

Less words, more video:

phpBB [video]

H20doctor · Post by **H20doctor** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 10:28 pm

WOW .... incredible diving there , i think I would be caught up in filming a cuddle fish for at least 2 days ... that frog fish was crazy Camouflaged, no wonder they are so hard to spot on dives.... Drone footage was cool also , did you have any issues with GPS or signal Loss while drone flying ..?
I think after doing dives like that i would never want to dive here ...HA HA HA HA ...

Jan K · Post by **Jan K** » Sat Apr 30, 2016 6:49 am

Masterpiece. WOW !

Linedog · Post by **Linedog** » Sat Apr 30, 2016 8:04 am

The Imodium AD reference made me chuckle.

Gdog · Post by **Gdog** » Sat Apr 30, 2016 12:16 pm

Stephen, that is simply incredible. Fantastic Work! I. Want. To. Go. There. End of story.

stphnmartin · Post by **stphnmartin** » Sat Apr 30, 2016 2:38 pm

H20doctor wrote:WOW .... incredible diving there , i think I would be caught up in filming a cuddle fish for at least 2 days ... that frog fish was crazy Camouflaged, no wonder they are so hard to spot on dives.... Drone footage was cool also , did you have any issues with GPS or signal Loss while drone flying ..?
I think after doing dives like that i would never want to dive here ...HA HA HA HA ...

Thanks doc. That was one of the drawbacks to the trip is I felt a little rushed. I could have stayed in one spot for the entire dive.

Oddly enough I had a lot of problems with the drone despite being in the middle of nowhere. I kept losing contact with it. Only once did I fly it while the boat was underway because I was afraid I might lose it.

And, I knew it was going to be tough coming back to the puget sound, so I signed up ahead of time for a bandito trip to get back into the zen of cold water.

stphnmartin · Post by **stphnmartin** » Sat Apr 30, 2016 2:39 pm

Jan K wrote:Masterpiece. WOW !

Thanks! It was a lot of fun putting together, beyond the actual experience.

stphnmartin · Post by **stphnmartin** » Sat Apr 30, 2016 2:40 pm

Linedog wrote:The Imodium AD reference made me chuckle.

Yeah, Indonesian food and water didn't agree with me. But, it was only a problem for the first week! D'oh!

stphnmartin · Post by **stphnmartin** » Sat Apr 30, 2016 2:42 pm

Gdog wrote:Stephen, that is simply incredible. Fantastic Work! I. Want. To. Go. There. End of story.

Thanks gdog. Its a worthy adventure. I'd go again. I've been trying to figure out how to live on one of those islands.

dlh · Post by **dlh** » Sat Apr 30, 2016 2:46 pm

I am blown away! Great footage of course, but also the multi-media variety and quality of it all is great. Shooting, editing, composition is all great.

Raja Ampat is amazing and it was great to see your point of view on this magically destination.

Cheers,
Dave

Grateful Diver · Post by **Grateful Diver** » Sat Apr 30, 2016 6:04 pm

I was there three years ago, stayed at a resort (Raja4Divers), and it was amazing. Until I went to the Red Sea the following year I had it rated as my all-time best destination ... and it's still a close second. One of the few places left with pristine reefs ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Bric Martin · Post by **Bric Martin** » Sat Apr 30, 2016 7:39 pm

Really well done! The diving looks spectacular!!!!!!

Scubie Doo · Post by **Scubie Doo** » Sat Apr 30, 2016 8:47 pm

Incredible footage. Awesome work Stephen and great diving with you today!

Penopolypants · Post by **Penopolypants** » Sat Apr 30, 2016 9:09 pm

My very first warm water dive trip was to Papua New Guinea, just south of there. It was truly an underwater technicolor acid trip sans acid, and your video captured that beautifully. What a wonderful experience! I am dying to go back to that part of the world.

stphnmartin · Post by **stphnmartin** » Sun May 01, 2016 8:29 pm

dlh wrote:I am blown away! Great footage of course, but also the multi-media variety and quality of it all is great. Shooting, editing, composition is all great.

Raja Ampat is amazing and it was great to see your point of view on this magically destination.

Cheers,
Dave

Really appreciate it Dave. Also amazing to run into you in Sorong! I enjoyed your photos on FB as well!

deep diver · Post by **deep diver** » Mon May 02, 2016 11:08 am

Wow! Just Wow! I'm boarding the plane now... in my mind

Thanks for sharing!

YellowEye · Post by **YellowEye** » Mon May 02, 2016 5:49 pm

Epic!!

ScubaJess · Post by **ScubaJess** » Mon May 02, 2016 6:05 pm

Crazy awesome!
I want to go see all those amazing shrimp!
We should have ThThTh Insonesia event!
I had a blast diving with you guys this weekend! It was really cool to watch your drone in action.

stphnmartin · Post by **stphnmartin** » Sat May 07, 2016 9:51 pm

The mantis shrimp is amazingly awesome. We should really start a gofundme campaign to bring them to the puget sound!

ScubaJess · Post by **ScubaJess** » Sun May 08, 2016 8:41 am

stphnmartin wrote:The mantis shrimp is amazingly awesome. We should really start a gofundme campaign to bring them to the puget sound!

Yes let's!!!! I'll help with the campaign! It will be a shrimp party!

Northwest Dive Club

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