Dive Adventure

Incredible dive adventure articles, dive stories and marine life encounters from oceans around the world.

A tale of exploring Fiji after a devastating cyclone to find happy locals, great scuba diving and beautiful reefs
By Gareth Bellamy

Diving Fiji after Cyclone Winston

Gareth Bellamy
A tale of exploring Fiji after a devastating cyclone to find happy locals, great scuba diving and beautiful reefs

Last fall, my local diving season got canned by the start of a cold El Niño wet winter, begging for an escape to the tropics. Fiji is a short hop from my home in New Zealand and the numerous flights throughout the day make travel quick and easy.

Article: 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gareth Bellamy:  My passion for diving spans 33 years, being underwater is home. I liken the experience to starring in the matrix – connected, as one, with everything in the ocean. I have been privileged to have dived at some of the world’s beautiful places. I am based in Raglan North Island NZ and love the Poor Knights Islands.

Facebook.com/dj.Gareth.B

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Ancient Underwater City or Natural Formation? Scuba Divers are baffled by this dive site in Japan
By Chino Mendoza

Mystery of the Yonaguni Formation

Chino Mendoza
Ancient Underwater City or Natural Formation? Scuba Divers are baffled by this dive site in Japan

A unique dive site off the coast of Yonaguni has been intriguing both archeologists and divers.  It is located on a remote island west of Naha (Okinawa's Capital), Japan.  It is known for schools of hammerhead sharks, but especially for the mysterious underwater formation that has long been a subject of debate. Is this massive linear rock formation a natural geological feature or an ancient city that is now underwater?

Article: 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Chino Mendoza , is an avid diver and underwater photographer and tries to go everytime he can.  He is based in Manila which is a few hours Anilao which is the “critter capital of the Philippines”  He likes to shoot macro and his favorite subjects are nudibranchs and frogfishes.

Get in touch with him via email at lorenzo@bluewaterphotostore.com

View Chino's work:  Facebook     |     Instagram

ALSO BY CHINO MENDOZA

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Visit Bluewater Photo & Video for all your underwater photography and video gear. Click, or call the team at (310) 633-5052 for expert advice!

 


The Best Pricing, Service & Expert Advice to Book your Dive Trips

 

Bluewater Travel is your full-service scuba travel agency. Let our expert advisers plan and book your next dive vacation. Run by divers, for divers.

 


A Canon G15 photo essay exploring iconic and remote Indonesian reefs after sunset
By Janice Nigro

Raja Ampat After Dark

Janice Nigro
A Canon G15 photo essay exploring iconic and remote Indonesian reefs after sunset

I felt guilty once as the only guest out of eighteen on a 12 day liveaboard who wanted to go on a night dive one evening. The dive guide said, “Let’s go!” and after that 90-minute one-on-one experience, I became hooked on night dives. It seems tough to beat the day dives on such trips, but night dives are an opportunity to do some serious critter hunting without a lot of effort. Simply put, things come out at night.

Article: 

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The Best Pricing, Service & Expert Advice to Book your Dive Trips

 

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Analyzing depth, light and camera angles for Caribbean reef sharks based on a digital dive profile
By Brent Durand

Anatomy of a Shark Dive

Brent Durand
Analyzing depth, light and camera angles for Caribbean reef sharks based on a digital dive profile

Shark diving attracts bubble blowers from all over the world. These seasonally timed dives can almost guarantee seeing at least one or two sharks in close proximity - a far more exhillarating experience (albeit less natural) than crossing a shark during a traditional dive.

Article: 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brent Durand is a weekend wanderer and story teller from California.

Brent is an avid diver and adventure photographer, and shoots underwater any time he can get hands on a camera system. He can be reached at brent@uwphotographyguide.com.

Follow Underwater Photography Guide on Facebook or Instagram.

SUPPORT THE UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE:

The Best Service & Prices on u/w Photo Gear

 

Visit Bluewater Photo & Video for all your underwater photography and video gear. Click, or call the team at (310) 633-5052 for expert advice!

 


The Best Pricing, Service & Expert Advice to Book your Dive Trips

 

Bluewater Travel is your full-service scuba travel agency. Let our expert advisers plan and book your next dive vacation. Run by divers, for divers.

 


Go behind the scenes on our Philippine Siren liveaboard workshop
By Ron Watkins

Inside Look at a Philippines Liveaboard Photo Workshop

Inside Look at a Liveaboard Photo Workshop
Ron Watkins
Go behind the scenes on our Philippine Siren liveaboard workshop

After several land-based dive trips to the Philippines, it was exciting to be leading the Bluewater Photo Workshop aboard the Philippine Siren on a 12-day special itinerary designed to dive the best the Visayas Sea has to offer and maximize photography opportunities.  Prior to this trip, I received numerous questions from p

Article: 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ron Watkins is an international award winning photographer and writer. He has been passionate about underwater photography since 1996 and his photography has appeared in magazines, websites, juried art displays, national aquariums, libraries and private collections.

SUPPORT THE UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE:

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Visit Bluewater Photo & Video for all your underwater photography and video gear. Click, or call the team at (310) 633-5052 for expert advice!

 


The Best Pricing, Service & Expert Advice to Book your Dive Trips

 

Bluewater Travel is your full-service scuba travel agency. Let our expert advisers plan and book your next dive vacation. Run by divers, for divers.

 


Find out why the Galapagos Islands should be your #1 destination for underwater photography and videography
By Scott Gietler

5 Amazing UW Photo Encounters in the Galapagos

5 Amazing Underwater Photo Encounters in the Galapagos
Scott Gietler
Find out why the Galapagos Islands should be your #1 destination for underwater photography and videography

When I visited the Galapagos Islands in late January 2016, I was unaware that I was about to have a trip of a lifetime. I was hoping to see some big animals underwater, but I was unaware how extraordinary these encounters would be. Please allow me to share them with you, along with some tips on how to capture these types of underwater photos.

Article: 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Scott Gietler is the owner of Bluewater Photo, Bluewater Travel, and the Underwater Photography Guide. Bluewater Photo, based in Culver City, CA is one of the world’s largest and most prestigious underwater camera stores, serving many thousands of customers each year, where nothing is more important than customer service. The Underwater Photography Guide is the world’s first website to feature free tutorials on underwater photography, and has become the most trafficked resource on underwater photography worldwide. Bluewater Travel is a full-service dive travel wholesaler sending groups and individuals on the world’s best dive vacations. 

Scott is also an avid diver, underwater photographer, and budding marine biologist, having created the online guide to the underwater flora and fauna of Southern California. He is the past vice-president of the Los Angeles Underwater Photographic Society, has volunteered extensively at the Santa Monica aquarium, and is the creator of the Ocean Art underwater photo competition, one of the largest underwater international photo competitions ever held in terms of value of prizes. He lives in California with his wife, newborn girl and scuba-diving, photo taking 4 year old son.

Follow Scott on Facebook or Instagram.

SUPPORT THE UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE:

The Best Service & Prices on u/w Photo Gear

 

Visit Bluewater Photo & Video for all your underwater photography and video gear. Click, or call the team at (310) 633-5052 for expert advice!

 


The Best Pricing, Service & Expert Advice to Book your Dive Trips

 

Bluewater Travel is your full-service scuba travel agency. Let our expert advisers plan and book your next dive vacation. Run by divers, for divers.

 


Photo adventure through the Mexico cenotes, including the best cenotes for photography, photo tips, travel advice, natural history and more
By Brent Durand

Diving the Mexico Cenotes

Scuba Diving and Photography in the Mexico Cenotes
Brent Durand
Photo adventure through the Mexico cenotes, including the best cenotes for photography, photo tips, travel advice, natural history and more

The Mayans believed that the cenotes where entryways into a sacred underground world. The dwellings of the rain god, Chaak, cenotes openings were used in special rituals and sacrificial events that coincide with a complicated celestial calendar.

Today there are still communities practicing rain ceremonies, however many more have learned just how special the cenotes really are. Divers from all over the world descend into the cool blue waters to explore the expansive system of caverns, tunnels and secret rooms lit by stunning sun rays under the jungle canopy.

Article: 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brent Durand is a weekend wanderer and story teller from California.

Brent is an avid diver and adventure photographer, and shoots underwater any time he can get hands on a camera system. He can be reached at brent@uwphotographyguide.com.

Follow Underwater Photography Guide on Facebook or Instagram.

SUPPORT THE UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE:

The Best Service & Prices on u/w Photo Gear

 

Visit Bluewater Photo & Video for all your underwater photography and video gear. Click, or call the team at (310) 633-5052 for expert advice!

 


The Best Pricing, Service & Expert Advice to Book your Dive Trips

 

Bluewater Travel is your full-service scuba travel agency. Let our expert advisers plan and book your next dive vacation. Run by divers, for divers.

 


Schooling Silky Sharks are rarely seen - except in the waters surrounding a secluded rock in Columbian waters, known among regulars as "The Rock"
By Mikhail Kisin

Silky Sharks of Malpelo Island

Mikhail Kisin
Schooling Silky Sharks are rarely seen - except in the waters surrounding a secluded rock in Columbian waters, known among regulars as "The Rock"

Located in the tropical region of Eastern Pacific, three hundred miles due West of the Colombian coast, the Island of Malpelo sits well off the beaten path. Only recently has it evolved from a “what's that” curiosity into a bucket-list dive destination offering unique opportunities for big-fish encounters (see our Malpelo Dive Guide). “The Rock” is a marvel of nature in itself.

Article: 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mikhail Kisin is a Russian physicist struggling to match his tightfisted vacation time to the generous travel opportunities of the New World. He writes for two Russian dive magazines. If your liveaboard is booked by Russians, blame him.

SUPPORT THE UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE:

The Best Service & Prices on u/w Photo Gear

 

Visit Bluewater Photo & Video for all your underwater photography and video gear. Click, or call the team at (310) 633-5052 for expert advice!

 


The Best Pricing, Service & Expert Advice to Book your Dive Trips

 

Bluewater Travel is your full-service scuba travel agency. Let our expert advisers plan and book your next dive vacation. Run by divers, for divers.

 


Discovering a world of macro photo possibilities in a wide angle photography hot spot
By Mark Hatter

Never Leave Your Macro Gear at Home

Mark Hatter
Discovering a world of macro photo possibilities in a wide angle photography hot spot

At 96 feet I crept sideways to the incoming current, completely prone against the rubble bottom.  Like a starfish, I splayed arms and legs and used my critter probe like an ice pick in my left hand to hold position.  I was glad to have swapped my dome port for my macro rig; less buoyant and more streamlined, it was far less of a sail in the pushing tide.  My chin to the rubble, I scanned for my target in excellent visibility.  Then, there they were, a small colony of them scattered about over a square meter of bottom, perched and vigilant at the entrance

Article: 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mark Hatter is an accomplished photojournalist who has had over one hundred feature articles with many hundreds of images published in more than two dozen diving and fly fishing publications and related books, on-line media and commercial advertising champagnes over the last three decades.  His most recent photo essays have appeared in Ocean Geographic, Alert Diver and Silent World magazines as well as the UWPG. Click here to view more of his photography at his website

SUPPORT THE UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE:

The Best Service & Prices on u/w Photo Gear

 

Visit Bluewater Photo & Video for all your underwater photography and video gear. Click, or call the team at (310) 633-5052 for expert advice!

 


The Best Pricing, Service & Expert Advice to Book your Dive Trips

 

Bluewater Travel is your full-service scuba travel agency. Let our expert advisers plan and book your next dive vacation. Run by divers, for divers.

 


An inside look at the diving, safety, photo gear and planning involved for American Crocodile photos
By Ken Kiefer

Photographing Crocs: Behind the Scenes

Ken Kiefer
An inside look at the diving, safety, photo gear and planning involved for American Crocodile photos

About a year ago, I started seeing pictures of saltwater crocodiles pop up every once in a while on social media.  And these pictures differed from the ones that I had seen in the past because they were from underwater.  Immediately I had another item added to my ‘Bucket List’.  The idea of being in the water with these toothy dinosaurs greatly appealed to me. 

Article: 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ken Kiefer is an underwater photographer that specializes in big animals and fashion/fitness shoots.  He uses his images of sharks to educate children about the realities of sharks –vs- media portrayal.  

View more of Ken's work at: www.kenkiefer.com.

SUPPORT THE UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE:

The Best Service & Prices on u/w Photo Gear

 

Visit Bluewater Photo & Video for all your underwater photography and video gear. Click, or call the team at (310) 633-5052 for expert advice!

 


The Best Pricing, Service & Expert Advice to Book your Dive Trips

 

Bluewater Travel is your full-service scuba travel agency. Let our expert advisers plan and book your next dive vacation. Run by divers, for divers.

 


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