Open your eyes: in the Lembeh Strait in Sulawesi (Indonesia), strange creatures populate the seabed. A treasure of biodiversity, which attracts divers from all over the world.
Here is a pretty "hairy frogfish" photographed in Lembeh to wait for the next ticket.
Rantepao, finally! Ideal base for shining in the villages and rice paddies of the country Toraja, called here Tana Toraja. We are almost in the center of the island of Sulawesi.
The country Toraja, it deserves! From Manado (North Sulawesi), you must first reach Makassar to the south, an hour and a half by plane. Then it's 8 to 10 hours bus ride to Rantepao.
In Indonesia, the word "biodiversity" makes sense. Here in the Sea of Celebes, the underwater world teems with bizarre and fascinating creatures, often tiny.
At Bangka Island (Sulawesi, Indonesia), on the cute beach of Murex Resort, it's total relaxation: diving, eating, sleeping. Happiness !
A new start, very soon ... Three years after my first trip to Sulawesi, I return. On the program: Bangka Island, Lembeh and the Toraja country.
I'll take you back to Pulau Weh, under the surface, again. More than a month after my return from Indonesia, I continue to sort my photos: huge coral platters, delicate fans of gorgonians, multicolored clouds of fish in the blue ...
Dive without getting wet in Batee Tokong (Pulau Weh, Sumatra, Indonesia), thanks to this little underwater film shot with my Canon Eos 7D.
The place is called "Kilometer Nol". Zero Kilometer. This is where Indonesia begins. It is the most westerly and northernmost point in the archipelago, just north of Pulau Weh, near Sumatra.
If you have ever been to Southeast Asia, you will recognize it. The little music of the ice cream shop is the most famous melody and the best peddle in this region of the world ... From Indonesia to Vietnam, from Thailand to Malaysia, we hear it everywhere!
At Pulau Weh, most divers come for the "big", the deep, the current. And I, who never do anything like the others, I'm having fun in a few meters of water on the beach, tracking down the little animals.
Surprise, last Sunday, returning from diving ... There is a crowd on the beach of Gapang, usually almost deserted.
I take you diving among the underwater volcanic bubbles of Pulau Weh (Sumatra, Indonesia). These hot springs are a real underwater jacuzzi!
I finally passed under the surface, with delight, in the waters of Pulau Weh. The underwater fauna is dense, varied. The two short weeks of my stay here will not be enough to explore everything!
I dreamed, I'm there! Pulau Weh is a small Indonesian island located on the northern tip of Sumatra. The region is known: it is that of Banda Aceh, devastated during the tsunami of December 2004. Pulau Weh is little tourist and famous for its underwater world.
My short stay on the small Indonesian island of Derawan last July allowed me to attend no less than two weddings! Two almost identical weddings, with kitschy decor and pop-marshmallow orchestra.
A new little film, for lovers of mantas rays ... I finally got down to editing my videos, brought back from Sangalaki! This small Indonesian island, located off Borneo, is part of the archipelago of Derawan, where I stayed for ten days last July.
Guilhem, my dive buddy in Derawan (Borneo), was kind enough to send me two underwater videos he made this summer in the sea of Celebes.
Derawan's kids are mischievous kids. They love to take the pose and then look into the screen of digital devices. "Photo, photo! "
In July, during my stay in Sipadan (Borneo, Malaysia), I had prepared two short underwater videos. Here they are !
Back to Derawan ... under the surface. The reef of the island, even if it is not the most spectacular of the sites of the corner, deserves some dives. The little creatures that I adore abound. But watch out for diving safety ...
Pantai Songean is the perfect beach. A beautiful cove of black sand, discovered a year ago, in Bali.
During the day, turtles from Derawan Island (Borneo, Indonesia) swim under the jetties. At night, they lay their eggs in the still-warm sand.
Flashback. July 13, 2009. My stay in Mabul is coming to an end. Ultimate and fabulous dives, again, in Sipadan. On the way back, between the two islands, a school of dolphins accompanies for a moment the race of our speedboat ... Ultimate happiness.
It is a desert island in Indonesia near Borneo. In his mangrove necklace, Kakaban holds the water jade of a huge lake, filled with jellyfish ... which do not sting! The proof in video and in photos.
I left Derawan and its archipelago today. I realized this dream that I had since the beginning of this Indonesian trip to Borneo: swim with rays-mantas, in the waters of Sangalaki!
Do you dream of tropical beaches? Do not go to Tawau! People are nice, but this Malaysian city in northeastern Borneo is a mochissime. Its only attraction is to be the entry point to Indonesia ...
I belong to this category of divers who can stay for long minutes to be ecstatic on a nudibranch. These...
I released my last bubbles in Sipadan, this Monday. Ultimate and intense underwater emotions in the middle of sharks, turtles and...
When I'm not posing with the sharks of Sipadan, I stay in Mabul, the neighboring island. I live in a "longhouse",...
I had a dazzling memory of my dives in Sipadan three years ago. Today's ones amaze me just as much. Turtles, sharks and barracudas are still there. It's spectacular!
The Perhentian, it's over. Heading for Sipadan! I take two flights on Air Asia, this Monday, to reach Borneo. Finally !
Last evening on Perhentian Besar. I am not the only "geekette" to take a computer... Around me, some...
Excellent choice, the Perhentian, for a gentle "return to fins". Shallow dives, generally without too much current. And...
And here I am, on my island in Malaysia! Perhentian Besar, "the big one". Which faces Perhentian Kecil,...
If, like me, you love islands, here or elsewhere, dive into this book: Besoin d'îles, by the geographer Louis...
Reef Seen Dive Center in Pemuteran hosts children's dance classes. Adorable little girls Balinese dancers ...
I finally decided the stages for my Malaysian-Indonesian trip of July: Perhentian, Mabul (Sipadan), Derawan. Nothing but islands! These holidays will be insular and aquatic.
I dream of it, I want to see them, the mantas of Sangalaki. Will they be there? Will I have the chance to meet them, to admire the graceful underwater ballet of these harmless giant?
I'm leaving for Malaysia in July, and I still do not know what my route will be. Only certainty: I go back to Borneo, dive to Sipadan.
I will leave again. At the end of June, I fly again towards the Orient. It was enough for me to receive the e-ticket on my mail to feel wings.
Thailand : islands - February 2009 No camera, no underwater pictures... Back to my photographic setbacks with...
Thailand : islands - February 2009 It was during this so beautiful dive-cruise in Similan. Our meeting with a woman who was...
Thailand : islands - February 2009 Here I am, sorting out the pictures...
Thailand: Islands - February 2009 To forget the grey sky, the crisis and the conflicts, here is a small...
Thailand : islands - February 2009 I don't have much time to myself, since I'm back home......
It has been more than a week since I came back from Thailand. But I propose to return to the fabulous bay of Phang Nga, with this small video. A long-tail boat ride from island to island, what do you think?
I do not like Patong. But it is still there that I chose to ask for this final night in Phuket.
Farewell Koh Lipe! I left the island and my bamboo bungalow on Sunrise Beach this morning, reluctantly. Despite a few disappointing dives, Koh Lipe is really pretty and deserves a relaxing stay of a few days.
Thailand : islands - February 2009 Three days I've been in Koh Lipe, a tiny island in the south...
Thailand : islands - February 2009 Just for fun, a first picture of Koh Lipe...
I have just returned from a four-day dive cruise to the fabulous Similan Islands in the Andaman Sea, Thailand. Here are some pictures, above and underwater.
Here are new pictures of the peaceful little island of Koh Yao Noi, in the bay of Phang Nga, Thailand. Authentic atmosphere, nothing to do with Phuket.
In the heart of Thailand's Phang Nga Bay, Koh Yao Noi is an unknown, peaceful island. Remains authentic despite the proximity of Phuket an hour by boat.
Thailand: Islands - February 2009 Are you the kind of person who plans everything before you leave, or who improvises at the...
I do not know which end to start this new ticket. We were made to do so many things in ...
This press trip to the Dominican Republic starts strong. The days are so dense, that I haven't found yet...
I'm a lucky girl. I'm going on another trip soon! Not to Asia this time. I'm flying to the West,...
Island is called "koh" in Thai. As I'm currently doing on the web a lot of...
I'm tired of the Breton winter dreariness. I want to go back to Thailand! Bathing in the translucent blue of the Andaman....
Indonesia : Bali - July 2008 Some more pictures brought back from my last stay in Bali. Unusual images,...
In Bali, all people seem to have the same name. You cross three Nyoman and five Wayan during the day. Bizarre. A joke made to tourists? But no !
This is one of the strangest dives I've done. Feel the earth tremble ... under water, it's really a funny thing. It was in Indonesia, in Sulawesi, in July 2007. In the Togian Islands, exactly.
The globe-trotters of Lagrandeaventure.fr, Benoît Bringer and Alexandre Franceschi, are in Thailand. Four years after the tsunami, they ...
Yes, I bring you (again) under the surface ... To finish with the wreck of the Liberty in Bali, I propose below a small series of underwater photos.
The Liberty is Bali's best-known (and most popular) wreck. It is located in Tulamben, near Amed, on the northeastern coast of the island.
I'll take you back a few weeks in July 2008. Not quite in Bali, but right next door. A little further southeast, on the small island of Nusa Lembongan. A place I loved, where almost all the inhabitants are seaweed growers.
I can not resist the pleasure of showing you on video the dance of the mola-mola (and, of course, the mola-mola), after having (finally) met this big moon fish in the waters of Nusa Penida.
I'm taking you back to Bali, Indonesia. Amed, exactly, on the northeast coast of the island. Despite the development of tourism in the region, there are still some salt marshes and saunas here.
Among my most beautiful memories of Bali: the sunsets on the Agung volcano in Amed and the molas-molas, gigantic moon-fishes crossed off Nusa Penida ...
To fight the spleen of the return, I walk on the beach again. The one in Kuta-Legian-Seminyak, known as Kuta Beach. An immense and splendid tongue of grey sand, well packed as it should be, which I love to walk in one direction, then in the other, until the time of the fabulous sunset.
I'm in a melancholy mood tonight. I leave Nusa Lembongan to return to Kuta, Bali. The return is approaching. I console myself with a beautiful sunset on the bay of Jungut Batu ...
Yes, yes, I swear! It's exhausting to walk up and down this beach. From the losmen (small hotel) to the dive-shop (dive shop), then the dive-shop to the restaurant, the restaurant to the bar, then the bar to the losmen ... Crevant, I tell you!
Eh yes ! I am a little lucky. I saw a mola-mola today at Crystal Bay again. One time is not customary this morning: excellent visibility and little current, both for this beautiful first dive, and for the second, Toyah Pakeh Bay.
That's it !!! Finally ! I met him! Today in Crystal Bay. I'm happy, happy, happy! My new friend is called mola-mola, or moon fish.
Four days already, I'm in Nusa Lembongan, a small island southeast of Bali. Atmosphere very peaceful, as I like, not too crowded with tourists ...
Oh dear ! Not yet had the time to tell all my dives in Amed, that already, I attack those of Nusa Lembongan. And no half measure: I take you directly to Manta Point !!!
My stay in Amed, in north-east Bali, ends (sigh). I like this place !!! Here are two souvenir images: a sunset over the Agung volcano and a toad fish photographed in Tulamben.
Let's go for a little motorcycle tour in the Amed region, in the north-east of Bali. On the program: rice fields, temples, markets and... cockfighting!
The Liberty wreck in Tulamben (about 15 km west of Amed) is Bali's most popular dive site in Indonesia. I returned with happiness ... Here are new pictures (photos and video).
Here I am in Amed, all east of Bali. The coast is hemmed in by a series of cute coves of sand and black pebbles, where the bright colors of the junkungs, the small fishing boats with pendulums of the corner, line up.
I remain under the spell of Pemuteran, in northwestern Bali. Between two dives, I even attended dance rehearsals and preparations for a wedding ceremony.
I have been in Pemuteran, a small village in western Bali, since Tuesday. I love it! Here, the entire population is focused on the conservation of the coral reef.
I arrived on Tuesday in Pemuteran, a village on the north coast, just west of Bali. In this area of arid mountains, bordered by black sand beaches, all the activity of the village is turned towards the protection of the coral reef.
This tiny sea horse is hidden in the branches of the sea fans. In Pemuteran (Bali), we see each dive! I do not get tired of photographing them.
I'm reconciled with Lovina Beach! Thanks to two very nice dives, a traditional ceremony facing the sea and a splendid sunset.
Lovina Beach ... The name is nice, but I'm a little mixed about the place. Here, the tourist pressure is certainly less than in Kuta-Legian-Seminyak. Yet I feel to have been more solicited than elsewhere by the indefatigable sellers of sarongs and other trinkets!
I had not been back in Bali for a few years. And here there are a lot of little details that I have great pleasure to find.
Kuta Beach, finally! First and short stage of my Balinese journey. But I run fast on a scooter a little further north, where it's quieter ...
At the moment when you discover this message, I will be in the clouds, towards Asia ... The trip will be a bit long, since I had to juggle the specials of air fares, connections , availability and companies, to fly to Bali at a lower cost.
The Togian dives seemed less spectacular than those of Bunaken or Lembeh, during this July 2007 trip: coral more damaged, life less abundant. Yet, taking his time, we discover a lot of treasures.
Remember: during my stay on the island of Bunaken (north-Sulawesi) in July 2007, I had dive with the Froggies center, directed by the amazing Christiane Muller, who had been there for about fifteen years .
The rest of my trip to Sulawesi (Indonesia) during the summer of 2007 ... On the program: the Togian Islands. A little paradise at the end of the world!
The huge island of Sulawesi (Indonesia) amazed me. I take you to cool off at the Saluopa waterfall buried in the jungle, near Tentena and Lake Poso.
The rest of my trip to Sulawesi !!! We are Saturday, July 14, 2007. Departure from Rantepao, in the heart of the country Toraja at 7am, under a bright sun. Arriving twelve hours later, at night, in heavy rain, at Siuri Beach Cottages, on the west bank of the huge Poso Lake.
Atmosphere of madness, in an arena of cockfighting, in the Philippines! This video was shot in 2008 on the small island of Siquijor, in the Visayas. Sensitive souls refrain.
I continue the story of my trip to Sulawesi, a trip in July 2007. I will take you back to the Toraja country for a motorcycle ride in the beautiful rice paddies around the village of Batutumonga, north of Rantepao.
I'll take you back to Sulawesi, in the Toraja country, where I spent a few days in the summer of 2007. On the program: a scooter ride from Rantepao, to discover the sites of Ket'e Kesu, Londa and Tilanga.
Continuation of my trip to Sulawesi (Indonesia) in July 2007. Lemo is one of the most famous sites in Toraja country, for its tombs in the cliffs, guarded by the tau-tau, wooden statues representing the deceased.
What is convenient when traveling to the Philippines is that everyone speaks English. Fishermen and peasants, villagers and townspeople, children and adults ...
The wealth of submarine sites in Dauin (Negros) and Apo made a strong impression. Life abounds there and the beauty of the coral, hard and soft, farting with health, is properly stunning.
Cebu City is a big city not very beautiful, of which I saw only a few streets and malls ... The kind of city where we just pass.
Spectacular dives at Dauin and Apo Island! The corner is teeming with life and sites allow you to alternate dive-muck, drop offs, reefs ...
Philippines : Visayas - February 2008 Since my arrival in Dumaguete-Dauin on Monday, the weather remains sad, between light gray and dark grey...
In the Philippines, cockfighting is very popular. Neal, our dive guide in Siquijor, and Raul, who manages the Kiwi Resort, suggested us to go and see these bloody bird fights, at the nearest cockfighting arena, in the village of Enrique Villanueva.
It was in Siquijor, Philippines, that I had the pleasure of photographing my first Mandarin fish. What good memories, on this island!
Philippines : Visayas - February 2008 Since I'm in Siquijor, I dive and dive again every day. Yesterday,...
I am under the spell of the island of Siquijor, in the Philippines ... I continue to discover it, a little random, according to my walks after the dives.
Filipinos have a way of greeting you. To point out that they have seen you, noticed, seen, to say hello fast by the way, instead of a small nod, or a smile like in Thailand, they raise their eyebrows.
Come on, a little article just to help you see the tiny and very shy seahorse-pygmy that I had photographed in Sogod Bay, since many of you didn't manage to find it.
For lack of whale shark, in Sogod Bay (Leyte), I turned to the little people of the reef... And there's plenty to do and observe!
I did a good job of leaving for Siquijor without waiting. On arrival, I find an almost deserted beach, the beautiful Sandugan Beach.
Turquoise water and white sand. The beach of Alona, in the Philippines, is certainly very beautiful. But upon arrival, I have only one desire: to flee as soon as possible.
Philippines : Visayas - February 2008 The good thing about the Philippines is that you can find a lot of...
First stage of my Philippine journey: the southern tip of the island of Leyte. For some dives in Sogod Bay, in the hope of crossing the path of a whale shark .
The Philippines, do you see where it is ? That's where I'll be soon, very soon... In 23 days ! ...
Today I am back in Manado, where I find the civilization and comfort of the modern world: air conditioning and hot water, shopping malls and club-sandwiches, mobile phone that captures and high-speed internet connections ...
Last day in Lembeh. Time definitely goes too fast! With its rusty freighters and its black sand bottom littered with sediment and rubbish, this strait is really a singular dive spot, far from clichés.
In the Lembeh Strait (Sulawesi, Indonesia), live underwater monsters that delight divers-photographers!