I really don’t know what happened to 2015, but what a great years it’s been! There have been lots of amazing expeditions, creatures and publications to my name. I hope you’ve all had a brilliant 2015 and looking forward to 2016 and beyond. Here’s is a little run down of what I’ve been up to over the past 6 months:
Completed Trips
Apart from some non-group expeditions, in the six months since my last blog I’ve run trips to Atlantis Dumaguete Resort and aboard Atlantis’ Azores liveaboard around Cebu Island in the Philippines. Most of the guests joined us for the entire 18 days and we saw such amazing creatures as 18 seahorses on one dive, 11 frogfishes on another, thresher sharks, whale sharks, Lembeh seadragons (Kyonemichthys rumengani) plus many more. As always, we donated some of the proceeds from the trip to a conservation organisation. In this case we chose the Marine Megafauna Foundation, who strive to protect the world’s biggest marine fishes.
Just recently also I completed a trip aboard the Bilikiki in the Solomon Islands. I am always blown away by the remoteness of the Solomons. The reefs are pristine and full of life, whilst on land, we went to a village that had never been visited by foreigners in the 60 years since it was founded. I can’t imagine that’s true of many places in the world these days. My underwater highlight was certainly Lynne’s pipefish (Festucalex rufus), which I have been looking for for sometime but had never seen before.
Upcoming Trips
I have recently added four brand new expeditions to the 2018 roster. I know this seems terribly far away, but time flies! Our 2016 is basically full and 2017 is going the same way, so we figured it was time. There are more details about trips below, alternatively keep an eye on my website, which I keep up to date: OceanRealmImages.com/Expeditions
2016 | I’ve been very fortunate with my trips filling up very quickly and there are only a couple of spots remaining to join my expeditions in 2016. These last spaces are on the trip I’m leading for Dive Worldwide to Atmosphere Resort, Dumaguete in the Philippines. To read more about this expert led ‘Dumaguete Dive Festival‘ please follow the link above or contact Reservations@DiveWorldwide.com
2017
2-12th March 2017 (10 nights) | All of Raja Ampat, West Papua, Indonesia. Indo-Siren Liveaboard. ‘Four Kings Expedition‘ as an expert led group tour for Dive Worldwide. For more information please follow the link
above or contact Reservations@DiveWorldwide.com
23rd June – 3rd July 2017 (10 nights) | Underwater Photography Workshop at Siladen Resort, North Sulawesi, Indonesia. For more information please follow the link above or contact Ana@Siladen.com
NEW | 22 – 31st August 2017 (9 nights) | Muck Magic Trip 1 – Sangeang Island & Bima Bay aboard Damai II (Labuan Bajo to Bima). This ‘Our Beloved Seas’ trip is a joint trip between Wendy Brown and myself. We have recently added this and the trip directly following it, but the second trip filled in minutes! If you’d like to join us in these exceedingly rich and rarely visited areas for critter hunting please contact Wendy or myself(Richard@OceanRealmImages.com) for more information. We expect space to fill fast.
2018
NEW | Galapagos Islands aboard Galapagos Sky
25th February – 4th March 2018 (7 nights) | Trip 1
4-11th March 2018 (7 nights) | Trip 2
Wendy and I have repeatedly been asked by our guests to plan some trips to destinations outside the Coral Triangle. However, knowing how our regular guests love that area’s warm waters we have planned back to back trips to the Galapagos Islands in February/March when the waters of these mystical and historic islands tends to be warmer and clearer – whilst maintaining their renowned bounty. As always, I’ll be giving talks and this will be the perfect place to share my passion for evolutionary biology, which was the subject of my Master’s degree.
NEW | 23rd July – 1st August 2018 (9 nights) | North Cenderawasih Bay & Mapia Island aboard Dewi Nusantara(Manokwari to Manokwari). This first trip aboard Dewi Nusantara will take us to new ground. Whilst we will start and end the trip in Cenderawasih Bay, we will take this opportunity to visit Mapia and its surrounding islands 100NM north of the bay, and the equator. Here the remote and very rarely visited reefs are bustling with life and ripe to be explored.
NEW | 3 – 13th August 2018 (10 nights) | Classic Cenderawasih Bay aboard Dewi Nusantara (Manokwari to Sorong). Starting in Manokwari, we will sail to the southern reaches of the bay in search of the area’s world renowned whale sharks. We plan to spend a couple of mornings face to face with the sharks before continuing our search for other amazing fishes found only in the bay. It is well know for the high numbers of endemics, which you’ll learn all about in my talks!
Publications
I haven’t only been underwater since my last update; I’ve been busy writing too. I’ve continued with my regular series in both American and British Sport Diver Magazines, with ‘Get More from your Diving: Critter Hunting’ and ‘Species’ respectively. I’ve also written the following stand-alone features:
‘Titillating Twilight – The Lure of North Sulawesi’ – Asian Diver
‘A Japanese Spin on the Night Dive – Hot Ke Night’ – Asian Diver
‘Changing Seas: Evolution in the Ocean’ – Scuba Diver AustralAsia
‘Solomon Islands: Reefs at the Edge of the World’ – Scuba Diver – Ocean Planet
‘Shooting for Science’ – Scuba Diver – Ocean Planet
‘Diving Mini Breaks: Australia’ – Sport Diving
‘Diving Mini Breaks: South Pacific’ – Sport Diving
‘Bird’s Head Natural History Notes part 1: In Appreciation of Damsels’ – Bird’s Head Seascape website. A new series about my adventures in the BHS.
I’ve also had a couple of cover shots for Asian Diver and Sport Diving magazines as well as having my shot ‘Whip Gobies and Eggs’ judged as a finalist in the ANZANG Nature Photographer of the Year.
Thinking ahead, I will also be speaking at the ADEX dive show in Singapore from 15-17 April 2016, so come along if you can!
Five Favourite Firsts of 2015
– I am always on the hunt for new and exciting beasties under the sea, so I thought as a final whimsy I would share my top five new finds of 2015. After 3,000 plus dives there’s still so much to see. This is why I keep diving and we always donate what we can to help preserve the amazing oceans.
1. Leopard Anemone Shrimp (Izucaris masudai) – Raja Ampat
2. Giant Clam Shrimps (Anchistus demani and Conchodytes tridacnae) – Wakatobi Dive Resort & Raja Ampat
3. Lynne’s Pipefish (Festucalex rufus) – Solomon Islands
4. Red Sea Longnose Filefish (Oxymonacanthus halli) – Egyptian Red Sea
5. John Dory (Zeus faber) – Izu Peninsula, Japan
Finally, if you’d like to hear what I’m up to on a more regular basis, I suggest you check out my FaceBook page | www.facebook.com/OceanRealmImages