Diving in Asia is always good, don't matter where you go.  I specially like diving in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippines.  All are my favorite dive destinations.  Each place offers different species for underwater photography.  Each time I visit there, I see something different.  Be aware some of the places charging a higher fee if you a non-residents or dealing with with some tour-guide.  Reach a little can save you some serious dollars.

My 1.5 months trip to Asia was very fun.  In addition to dives in Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines.  I was able to visit some remote places where visitors usually do not go.  Some concerned about the safety of traveling in Asia.  Well, all I can say is that it is just as safe as traveling in anywhere in the US.  People there are very friendly and helpful most of the time. Festivals are one of the activities everyone should see...

It was just another great weekend in Monterey, diving of course.  The difference about this past weekend was that I met up with many familiar faces at the Break Water.  That was so nice to them diving.

This past weekend was a special weekend.  First of all, this was my first time back in California water in over two months.  Secondly, a friend from the Philippines (John D) did his first dive in California.  Thirdly, there a few divers from LA joined the dives.  Despite the undesirable water condition, water visibility less than 1 foot, all did well.  Art's macro lens worked very well.  And of course, all did a "night" dive in the middle of a day...that was fun to dive in red tide...:)

During the FAM tour, many divers had cameras.  The underwater pictures were taken by some awesome underwater photographers Art, Dave, Chris and Tim.  These are only a few samples of what dives are like in Anilao and Purto Galera area.  If you like underwater photography and love to shoot macro, then this is a great place to visit. For more information on diving in the Philippines please visit: www.sctiventurespi.com for more details.

FAM tour lead by ActiVentures and sponsored by PDOT (Philippines Department of Tourism) was another successful trip to the Philippines.  A total of 20 divers participated in this grand tour and had a great time.  JR, the president of the ActiVentures Philippines, did a great job organizing and leading the tour.  I was able to break off from the group a couple of days before and after the group tour, guided by a dear friend, and visited a few cities such as Makati, Cubao, Manila and etc.  Here are some of the topside pictures.  Wish I could have stayed longer...

Representing ActiVentures and PDOT (Philippines Department of Tourism) I went to the Philippines in September and attended one of the most prestigious and biggest underwater photography competition in the world, the 6th Celebrate the Sea.  Despite the unusual weather condition we did well in the competition.  Also, it was a great honor to meet Philippines president Madam Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Secretary of Tourism Mr. Joseph H. Durano during the Award Ceremony.  Thanks to the fully support of ActiVentures and PDOT of SF.

Here are some of the photos taken by Tom and Art on their diving trip to Cozumel.  The main goal is to take underwater pictures.  So far we have captured some images of very friendly fish and creatures...; the most interesting picture was the spotted cleaner shrimp.  It was so small only the macro lens can pick up the shape and detail, all I could see was a little particle was moving at the base of the anemone.  If you know how small the tip of the anemone is, it is not too difficult to figure out just how tiny the shrimp is. We will add more photos each day...

Well, there were a few hardcore dive PROs went to diving with cameras in their hand.  JR, Jose, Leon, Chris Martinez, Tim Keeler, and Mark were teaching and diving.  Between training dives, we were able to take some pictures.  There is a baby otter (was born a week ago), we were very lucky to see the mom and the baby...most of the time the baby was sleeping. We were told the baby can sleep up to 20 hours a day and would start to swim 3 weeks after birth...

Some shots from the local Zoo...

Macro shots from Monterey...

More topside pictures...close-up and macro.

These pictures were taken with Canon Rebel XT and a Macro lens.  These were test shots.

These photos were taken in July by Tom, JR and Kevin.  All pictures were taken in Monterey using Canon Point-N-Shoot cameras, PS S50, 70 and A540 with Sea & Sea YS25 or YS90 strobes.  All photos were taken in water with visibility less than 10 feet (California Standard, or 1 foot tropical water standard).  Keep shooting gentlmen.

This was the first trip to Cozumel for both of us.  The purpose of this trip was to test Art's new camera setup and to take a lot of pictures.  We managed to take over 500 underwater images in five days of diving and 95% of the shots are keepers.  Art took some very nice images! The water conditions: 85F and visibility to 150+ feet.  We even found a very nice Chinese restaurant and a well established dive shop near our hotel. A 3-tank dive day costs about $60 - $70.

Per Art's invitation, I had an opportunity to revisit the Big Island (Kona).  A few others (Leon Jung, Vivian Jung and Wesley Joe) joined us for a few dives during our stay there.  Here are some of the pictures taken by Art and I.  We also were able to capture some underwater footages using a small underwater camera. Here I want to thank Art and his wife Mrs. Ferman for the wonderful trip to Kona.

My buddy Chris and his wife Mary had invited me to an Orchids show in Redwood City, which was hosted by the Peninsula Orchids Society.  This was the first time I attended this type of show.  I really enjoyed the show, as you can see I was quite busy with my camera.  See if you can identify some of them.  Thanks Chris and Mary.

About 14 of us went to Asia for a one-month dive tour between March 4th to April 1st.  Only the very experienced divers were invited to this four week long dive tour.  They are Shawn Parker, Nancy Kwan, Bill Oakes, Steve, Bill Oppenlander, Robert field, Elisabeth Jacob, Great White, Leon and Vivian Jung, Janet, Chris Jensen, Art Ferman and Richard B.  Everyone had a great time.  We visited Thailand, and some of us visited Malaysia, China and Taiwan.  Next Feb we are going to visit Sipadan in Malaysia.  Photos taken by the Great White!

About 14 of us went to Asia for a one-month dive tour between March 4th to April 1st.  These are some of the pictures Chris and Tom took during our trip.  The topside scenery was just as beautiful as the underwater world. 

A couple of times out of a year the dive professionals of Scuba For Everyone want to get together for some long dives.  The average bottom time for each dive is usually over one hour.  From time to time we would like to invite Advanced Divers and Rescue Divers as well.  Keep an eye on our schedule.

Tom, Kevin and Chris did two dives at the Break Water in Monterey.  The water visibility was about 15 feet with clear and warm sky to 75 F.  Kevin and Tom were taking pictures with their new cameras (Canon PS and SLR) in manual mode, while Chris was practicing skills to get ready for his coming up dive trip in Asia.  Longest dive is 75 minutes on the second dive.  Tom has discovered what decorated crab eats and where...

Tom, Burrill and Rusty did two dives at the Hapkin Reef (75 feet) and the Anchors (95 feet) off Rusty's boat.  The visibility was about 30+ feet all directions.  Rusty and Tom were taking pictures with Olympus and Canon Rebel XT.  Two of the best dives in Monterey area so far this year.

Tom, Chris J, Tim F and Dave K were diving at the Metridium field.  This was a great weekend to dive.  The water condition was great all around (30+ feet viz).  We could see the Metridium at the surface!  To top it off, we saw two things that we had never seen in the past; we saw a whale and a sturgeon in the middle of our dive at 45+ feet ! For Tom's 20+ year of diving this is the second time!  We truly had a whale of a time!

Additional photos:  Set two