We regularly post photos and videos from our many different tours on our website or other social media platforms which are taken by our Snorkel Venture Snorkel Guides, and quite often this content prompts quite a few questions from our guests. The bulk of these questions centers around video lights or strobes/flashes. “I just saw the latest video on Facebook. What kind of lights were used for these shots? I don't have an underwater light but maybe I should get one. What would you recommend?” “I have a question about my Olympus TG 6 camera. Would it make sense to add a Backscatter TTL mini flash? I thought it might help on cloudy days or for dark settings and maybe murky waters if close enough to the subject. I would appreciate your advice.” A lot of people think, and rightfully so, that adding a video light or an external flash to their current camera setup that it will yield photos or videos with more true-to-life colors. In the simplest of terms, they are not wrong. More light underwater does equal more color. However, light doesn't work the same way underwater as it does on land and there are quite a few variables we need to take into account for this to be true. First of all, water is significantly more dense than air is, around 840 times more to be roughly precise. What does this mean? Well, it basically means that your light, whether it's a strobe or a constant video light, just won't travel very far. Second, we need to take consider the sun's power versus the power of our light. If you walk around your garden or a park on a bright sunny day and shine a flashlight on the different flowers, you're really not going to
We regularly post photos and videos from our many different tours on our website or other social media platforms which are taken by our Snorkel Venture Snorkel Guides, and quite often this content prompts quite a few questions from our guests. The bulk of these questions centers around video lights or strobes/flashes. “I just saw
Traveling to Indonesia—especially from the U.S. & Canada—is the opposite of a quick trip. As an American who lives in Indonesia and travels back to the states several times a year to visit family and also to lead snorkeling safaris in places like Cuba, Belize, and Mexico, this is something we are very familiar with. In light of the significant travel time from the Americas to Indonesia, we've started running a variety of combo snorkel safaris that are not only longer but make stops in at least two different snorkeling destinations! Our Alor-Komodo snorkel safari is arguably our most popular tour and we run a ton each year. Other popular two-stop tours include Misool-Wakatobi (18 nights), North Sulawesi-Raja Ampat (14 nights), and Triton Bay-Raja Ampat (12 nights). If you want something longer that includes more destinations, we also offer the newly launched North Indonesia Snorkeling Safari (20 nights), which makes stops in Bunaken National Park, Halmahera, and finishes in Raja Ampat. If that's still not enough snorkeling for you, then you might want to check out our nearly month-long Epic Indonesia Snorkeling Safari (27 nights) which pretty much stops in every major snorkeling destination Indonesia offers! Something else we've just started doing by request from a number of our die-hard snorkeling guests is combining several trips that have dates that line up well together. Here are just a few tour combinations we've put together for clients recently for the upcoming 2024 snorkeling season. April: North Sulawesi - Raja Ampat + 14 Night Misool Resort Snorkel Safari April: North Sulawesi - Raja Ampat + Alor - Komodo Safari September: Alor - Komodo Safari + Wakatobi Snorkel Week October: North Sulawesi - Raja Ampat + Coralia Liveaboard in Raja Ampat October: North Sulawesi - Raja Ampat + 11 Night Misool Resort Snorkel Safari
Traveling to Indonesia—especially from the U.S. & Canada—is the opposite of a quick trip. As an American who lives in Indonesia and travels back to the states several times a year to visit family and also to lead snorkeling safaris in places like Cuba, Belize, and Mexico, this is something we are very familiar with.
Twenty-twenty-two was a big year for a lot of reasons. It marked the end of the global lockdown that plagued us all and allowed countries like Indonesia, Egypt, The Philippines, Palau, Honduras, French Polynesia, Fiji, and Cuba to once again welcome visitors into their beautiful oceans! Twenty-twenty-two was also our biggest year since we launched in 2018. Even though many of the countries we run snorkeling safaris to were not open at the beginning of the year, we still managed to successfully run 31 tours with 520 snorkeling guests, in 10 different countries! I believe we've said this before, but we can't thank you enough for sticking by us as we all bushwhacked our way through that rough patch. It's only a few more weeks before our 2023 tours begin in February, and we can't wait to welcome you all back as we kick the new year off with a big splash in Belize, Raja Ampat, and Halmahera! Here are Just Some of the Best Moments of 2o22 With all the tours wrapped up for 2022 and the next ones starting in February, our Video and Photo Pro Alex Lindbloom has finally had a minute to go through the hundreds of gigabytes of footage he captured while on tour and has edited a quick little recap of just some of the snorkeling highlights from the last year.
Twenty-twenty-two was a big year for a lot of reasons. It marked the end of the global lockdown that plagued us all and allowed countries like Indonesia, Egypt, The Philippines, Palau, Honduras, French Polynesia, Fiji, and Cuba to once again welcome visitors into their beautiful oceans! Twenty-twenty-two was also our biggest year since we launched
As snorkelers, we spend a great deal of time floating around on the surface completely exposed to the intense tropical sun, and there's no quicker way to ruin a sunset cocktail than a full body burn from that day's snorkeling sessions. While the water may be bath-water warm and you may feel inclined to just wear your bikini or bathing suit, we strongly suggest covering up as much as possible (backs of the legs, top of the head, ankles, and hands) with some form of an exposure suite. This not only guarantees you won't get sunburnt but also solves those prolonged and annoying sunscreen lathering and re-lather sessions. If you do insist on showing some skin, we strongly suggest that you at the very least give your exposed skin a solid coat of reef-safe sun cream, and use a neck-gaiter. How a Professional Snorkel Guide Covers Up Unless you want to look like a cross between a lobster and a leather bag at the end of a snorkeling safari, we strongly suggest you cover up as much of your body as possible, as we said before. It may seem like a simple thing, just wear a rashguard or a wetsuit and that's that. Not quite. Our snorkeling guides spend about six months a year bobbing around in the world's tropical seas, here are a few different examples of how they cover themselves up. Other Coverage Combos: Full body snorkel skin + neck gaiter to protect the head and neck Hooded vest (thermal or neoprene) with a long sleeve rashguard over the top + shorts & leggings + socks & gloves Thermal top + thermal bottoms + socks & gloves + neck gaiter to protect the head and neck Magical Neck Gaiters Neck gaiters have become massively popular in the last
As snorkelers, we spend a great deal of time floating around on the surface completely exposed to the intense tropical sun, and there’s no quicker way to ruin a sunset cocktail than a full body burn from that day’s snorkeling sessions. While the water may be bath-water warm and you may feel inclined to just
Indonesia is a massive country, and as a result of being broken up into tens of thousands of islands, Indonesia is the world's largest archipelagic country, and the 14th-largest country by area. The country occupies the area between the Pacific Ocean and the Indian and consists of some of the most dynamic islands on earth, like Sulawesi, Borneo, Papua, and Halmahera. These are not only some of the largest island in Indonesia, but also some of the most biodiverse above and below the waterline. So, since Indonesia is so enormous and has so many different islands each offering a very unique snorkeling experience, we like to break it up into a few different regions, like North, South, East, and West as this is the only real way to accurately describe snorkeling in Indonesia. North Indonesia generally tends to represent the global image of Indonesia with its lush tropical islands, white sandy beaches, and stunning shallow coral reefs. North Indo is where you'll find Bunaken National Park, Raja Ampat, and Halmahera, among many other fantastic snorkeling areas. Again, each of these areas has its own unique characteristics that make them completely different from one another, but in general, these North Indonesian snorkeling destinations offer snorkelers more of a quintessential tropical snorkeling experience. White sand beaches are prevalent if not right in front of the resort, the islands are covered in dense tropical jungles, the climate is as predictable as it gets in the tropics with blue skies and the occasional afternoon rain storm that quickly passes through, and of course, the reefs are stunning and come right up to the surface. With the exception of Raja Ampat which has a more strict snorkeling season, North Indonesia can be snorkeled year round. That's North Indonesia in general, but again, we're talking about
Indonesia is a massive country, and as a result of being broken up into tens of thousands of islands, Indonesia is the world’s largest archipelagic country, and the 14th-largest country by area. The country occupies the area between the Pacific Ocean and the Indian and consists of some of the most dynamic islands on earth,
