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Matt Weiss: An Update From Southeast Asia
By Jason Heller, June 19, 2008 @ 02:00 AM (EST)
Note from Jason: Matt Weiss has been trotting around Southeast Asia on an extended assignment for DPG, visiting some of the most bio-diverse areas in Indonesia, Philppines and Malaysia. Internet access has been an issue but he finally as had a chance to check in from a quick stop in Singapore...
Regards from Singapore!
I finally have a pretty good internet connection so here's an update on my experiences so far. As Jason has mentioned, I am producing a series of stories for DPG covering the coral triangle's marine biodiversity-with a focus on the ocean's smaller majority. So far, not only has the trip been
excellent for the small critters I have been searching for, but also for beautiful coral reefs and some of the larger stuff. Not only will I be writing a comprehensive piece on the coral triangle, but I am also really excited about reporting back about the all the individual resorts, destinations, dive operators and new friends I've made. So far I have been to Indoensia, on an expedition with Fathoms Magazine in Northern Sulawesi (Andy Salmon was on that one with me), then on a dive safari with Aquamarine in Bali. I then moved on to the Philippines to dive with some of the Philippine-Micronesia Alliance’s represnted centers -- Asia Diver's/El Galleon Resort in Puerto Galera and Dugong Dive Center/Club Paradise. I have nothing but the highest praise about the service and professionalism on every stop so far.
I finally have a pretty good internet connection so here's an update on my experiences so far. As Jason has mentioned, I am producing a series of stories for DPG covering the coral triangle's marine biodiversity-with a focus on the ocean's smaller majority. So far, not only has the trip been
excellent for the small critters I have been searching for, but also for beautiful coral reefs and some of the larger stuff. Not only will I be writing a comprehensive piece on the coral triangle, but I am also really excited about reporting back about the all the individual resorts, destinations, dive operators and new friends I've made. So far I have been to Indoensia, on an expedition with Fathoms Magazine in Northern Sulawesi (Andy Salmon was on that one with me), then on a dive safari with Aquamarine in Bali. I then moved on to the Philippines to dive with some of the Philippine-Micronesia Alliance’s represnted centers -- Asia Diver's/El Galleon Resort in Puerto Galera and Dugong Dive Center/Club Paradise. I have nothing but the highest praise about the service and professionalism on every stop so far.
The diving itself has been everything you would expect and more from the world's richest marine diversity areas. I didn't get enough of Indonesia on the first go around, so I will be heading to Lembeh Resort and Minahasa Lagoon in Sulawesi next. From there I head to the Malaysian Dive Expo (MIDE) before I do some diving in Palua Redang and Borneo. As you can imagine I can't wait to continue this exciting journey as I am sure the next stops are going to be as good as the ones I have already had. Many, many thanks go out to Woody Mayhew of Nexus America, Lee Peterson of Marine Camera Distributors, and Mike Luzansky of H2O Photo Pros, for helping me through some technical issues, Gunther Diechmann for his arrangements and excellent photographic mentoring, Jeff Mullins for his technical prowess and Aaron Wong for being the absolute nicest guy in helping me arrange some tricky organization issues.
Indonesia
Indonesia is a tried and true diving paradise. The volcanic black sands of many dive spots allow for unrivaled productivity in photographing colorful critters. During the Fathom's Expedition I was able to explore amazing dive sites in North Sulawesi, some of which had never been dived before. I was able to get a taste of Bunaken and Lembeh, where I visit later this week, but also dive some unspoiled coral reefs that everyone agreed were among the finest they had ever seen. I then headed over to Bali to do a dive safari with Aquamarine. Just because Bali is one of the best topside places in the world doesn't mean the diving can't be just as good. Ketut, my dive guide for the trip, showed me amazing critters and a few sites that were recently discovered where I photographed stuff I had never seen before!
Philippines
Coming from the black volcanic sand of Sulawesi and Bali, it was interesting to contrast the underwater landscape and fauna to that of Puerto Galera and Palawan in the Philippines. Puerto Galera, known for its tech diving and beautiful reefs also happens to be an amazing place to find critters in the area’s sandy places and sea grass beds. For nudibranch lovers, this spot certainly wins for slug abundance so far. I was able to do 4 dives a day with Asia Divers and it was extremely productive for critters. While not your typical muck dives (no garbage, mud or black sand) the biodiversity of odd animals was incredible. Palawan was my next stop, staying at Club Paradise and diving with Dugong Dive Center. The house reef is awesome, I rarely exceeded 10 meters and the amount of critters in the sea grass areas is really amazing. By the time I was finished with one subject, my dive guide and photo partner had already moved on to the next one. On one very extended dive I managed to fill up an entire 4 gig card!
When I return, very detailed reports on every destination will be provided. I will also chronicle my own adventurous journey through the entire coral triangle with observations on the macro life. It’s already been a wild ride … and I have only just reached the half way mark!
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