In July, during my stay in Sipadan (Borneo, Malaysia), I had prepared two short underwater videos. Here they are !
I'm reconciled with Lovina Beach! Thanks to two very nice dives, a traditional ceremony facing the sea and a splendid sunset.
I'm not done with Raja Ampat! Let me introduce you to a bizarre monster, very common in these waters: bearded carpet shark or "wobbegong".
What is convenient when traveling to the Philippines is that everyone speaks English. Fishermen and peasants, villagers and townspeople, children and adults ...
I'm tired of the Breton winter dreariness. I want to go back to Thailand! Bathing in the translucent blue of the Andaman....
Raja Ampat is where I've done some of the best diving of my life. But tourism is booming on these remote Indonesian islands, endangering the seabed and the region's exceptional biodiversity.
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).
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.
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.
Off Borneo, Indonesia, the island of Derawan and its archipelago are an incredible place to observe turtles.
There are dives that make the heart beat a little faster. I'm taking you to the south-west of Lombok, Indonesia, discovering The Magnet video and Gili Sarang, in Belongas Bay.
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!
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.
These words are already a journey. Before discovering Polynesia in 2012, I thought it was mostly folklore for tourists in search of exoticism. Not at all. These are really strong cultural symbols, rooted in the everyday life of Polynesians.
Indonesia : Bali - July 2008 Some more pictures brought back from my last stay in Bali. Unusual images,...
The Indonesian company Lion Air has a unique trick. With the safety instructions, there is a special prayer booklet for the plane.
Dive without getting wet in Batee Tokong (Pulau Weh, Sumatra, Indonesia), thanks to this little underwater film shot with my Canon Eos 7D.
This is a rare event that I witnessed between two dives during my last trip to Indonesia. The rendezvous of the Sun with the Moon!
Thailand : Southern islands - January 2007 Today, mini-expedition in the jungle to go to the waterfall, in the...
The coral-eating acanthaster starfish is called "crown of thorns" in English ... or COT. This Sunday, it's COT's party!
Thailand : islands - February 2009 Three days I've been in Koh Lipe, a tiny island in the south...
The Caribbean Sea, it changes Asia! In Mexico, I could not miss the island of Cozumel, renowned diving spot.
I was (still) gone. A short trip of 15 days in Indonesia. On the program: rest and dives at Halmahera (North Maluku) and Bangka in North Sulawesi.
If you are visiting Tahiti, it is essential to eat at the popular "roulottes" of Papeete, on the seafront. The atmosphere is nice, family. It's good and cheap.
Philippines : Visayas - February 2008 Since my arrival in Dumaguete-Dauin on Monday, the weather remains sad, between light gray and dark grey...
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.
Thailand : islands - February 2009 No camera, no underwater pictures... Back to my photographic setbacks with...
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.
The big day is here. Today, finally, I plunge to Sipadan. The site does not usurp its reputation. It's spectacular. Sharks and turtles galore. Fish everywhere. All along a vertiginous "wall" where the corals abound, which sinks into the blue.
These first two days in Bunaken have been going at full speed. The dives are up to my expectations: drop-offs covered with a variety of incredible coral. Side fauna, all the tropical panoply colorful is there.
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.
Did you like fish pedicure? You will love the manicure shrimp! A cleanser shrimp care for underwater travelers.
Info found on Plongeur.com. Read the full description here on Wetpixel. To summarize, a barge loaded with materials...
Alor and Raja Ampat: two distant archipelagos in Indonesia. I am back from it. I reconstructed in video my itinerary ... Total: 13 planes!
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!
Here, cliffs covered with jungle strangling the sea. This is one of the mythical sites of Raja Ampat: The Passage.
Nothing is more annoying to photograph than a seahorse-pygmy. Too small. Too much camouflaged. Too shy. But his delicate plastic is worth a few efforts.
I had a very nice dive expedition to Redang, about an hour and a half from the Perhentian boat. There, the visibility is exceptional and the three dives that we chained in real decors of postcards are a treat.
"Do not stay under the coconut trees," I am told when I arrive at Triton Bay. Yes, the biggest danger here is to get a coconut on your head!
That's the Pascha. Well named boat, on which I lived like a princess, during the six days of my dive cruise in Komodo, in July 2011. Six fantastic days out of time.
After Cambodia and the temples of Angkor, we headed for the south of Thailand. So much for...
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.
Hop, we go to Malaysia to dive to Sipadan ... As a mouthing, I made it simple: a video, a shark, a minute.
I often go back to Bali while traveling in Indonesia. The island always brings me back to her. The more I go back, the more I love it.
In lack of salt water, I'm nostalgically looking back these days to my last underwater images brought back from the Philippines... It was a year ago, early 2020. Before the Covid-19 pandemic and border closures.
Manta Sandy is the most famous dive site of Raja Ampat. Normal, it's a real "spa" with manta rays! The proof in photos and video.
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 do not know which end to start this new ticket. We were made to do so many things in ...
Thailand : Southern islands - January 2007 Grrr... Two days in a row that I dive, hoping to see the...
Nature, calm and pleasure ... In North Sulawesi, Indonesia, I headed for a dream island. His name: Bangka.
At Bangka Island (Sulawesi, Indonesia), on the cute beach of Murex Resort, it's total relaxation: diving, eating, sleeping. Happiness !
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.
The Kelimutu volcano in Flores (Indonesia) is spectacular. Three craters form giant basins for three lakes with strange colors.
I had to show you this video, of a manta ray and his girlfriends, met while diving in the archipelago of Komodo, ultimate goal of my crossing of Flores ...
Reef Seen Dive Center in Pemuteran hosts children's dance classes. Adorable little girls Balinese dancers ...
His name: Melibe colemani. This small sea animal is the star of Romblon, Philippines. Divers are ready to travel thousands of miles to admire this strange sea slug!
During my stay in the archipelago of Alor, in Indonesia, my place of walk, between two dives, is the splendid beach of the island of Pantar.
Here I am at Perhentian Kecil, in the south of Peninsular Malaysia. I explore the island, rather touristy, but very friendly ...
I do not like Patong. But it is still there that I chose to ask for this final night in Phuket.
I did a good job of leaving for Siquijor without waiting. On arrival, I find an almost deserted beach, the beautiful Sandugan Beach.
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.
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.
March 2013. Bangka Island, North Sulawesi, Indonesia. My new home, for a few days, is called Coral Eye. What a beautiful name!
Shrek's cat tenderizes you? Do you fall for wet eye pups? This cute little couscous from Indonesia should melt you.
The Indonesian archipelago of Raja Ampat sometimes has an air of Jurassic Park. The pretty little island of Mioskon is home to thousands of bats.
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 !
After my malaise trip from summer 2006 to the northeastern tip of Borneo (Sipadan Island), I feel the urge to return to soak my palms in the sea of Celebes. A little further east, this time: on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.
I revised my Malaysia itinerary for July 2006. It is necessary to make choices... Here is a new map of the route that I will take...
Maz and Alex are a couple of English eco-lovers and diving enthusiasts, whom I had the pleasure to meet again in Tioman. They are on a humanitarian trip (18 months, 65,000 km and 26 countries) for the Care organization.
Here is a pretty "hairy frogfish" photographed in Lembeh to wait for the next ticket.
At the approach of Tioman Island, I feel that the place will please me. It's big, huge! In the maritime haze of the early morning, a steep profile, covered with a dense and humid vegetation, arises, still clinging with shreds of clouds.
Going to a tropical island far from everything is good. But to immerse yourself in a tropical sea is better ... For me, happiness is under water! This time, it's happening in Lombok, Indonesia, near Bali ...
Thailand : islands - February 2009 Here I am, sorting out the pictures...
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.
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.
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!
The bay of Maumere, in the east of the Indonesian island of Flores, is full of beautiful underwater sites. My favorite dive site is Fish Soup. Here, the fish soup is at sea, to be savored under water!
Thailand: Southern Islands - January 2007 Koh Phi Phi has been transformed since my last visit in July 2005 (about a year ago), and I've...
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?
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!
I am finally arrived at Semporna, the gateway to Sipadan in Borneo, with my companions Helena and Paul, a couple from Guernsey.
At night, the reefs are not gray. A blue light and an orange mask reveal the fluorescence of corals and underwater creatures.
Maldives for not (too) expensive? It's possible. There is an alternative to luxury hotel-islands: the guesthouses of inhabited islands.
Last day of diving in Tioman, peninsular Malaysia side. A day dedicated to the dreaded acanthaster, coral starfish ...
Ah! I like the Liberty wreck in Bali. I go back regularly dive, never tired. She is so beautiful...
The Philippines, do you see where it is ? That's where I'll be soon, very soon... In 23 days ! ...
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 ...
The way to Tekek, on the island of Tioman, is punctuated by small houses, which range from the rickety hut to the dapper chalet. Cafés-restaurants-grocery stores sell bags of instant noodles, fishing line and laundry packs, serve plates of fried rice and coffee ...
Malaysia : Peninsula and Borneo - July 2006 I went back to Jansom Bay, in the...
A drone over Raja Ampat, it gives stunning images! Small video south of Misool Island, among the cliffs that plunge into the turquoise water ...
Raja Ampat, West Papua, Indonesia. I'm there !!! A real end of the world, still virgin, wild and beautiful, on land and under water.
The Perhentian, it's over. Heading for Sipadan! I take two flights on Air Asia, this Monday, to reach Borneo. Finally !
This press trip to the Dominican Republic starts strong. The days are so dense, that I haven't found yet...
Philippines : Visayas - February 2008 Since I'm in Siquijor, I dive and dive again every day. Yesterday,...
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.
In the Lembeh Strait (Sulawesi, Indonesia), live underwater monsters that delight divers-photographers!
I remain under the spell of Pemuteran, in northwestern Bali. Between two dives, I even attended dance rehearsals and preparations for a wedding ceremony.
It was last summer, in July 2018. I was back diving in the waters of the Alor archipelago in Indonesia, to explore its gorgeous coral reefs... often swept by crazy currents!
I leave Kota Bahru, his stuffed women and his concrete for the Perhentian Islands. Perhentian Besar the Great, and Perhentian Kecil the Small, renowned for their crystal clear waters and coral reefs ...
This shell is a monster. It is not for nothing that it is called "giant holy water". I have never seen one as big as Raja Ampat.
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.
Making bubbles along coral drop-offs overflowing with life and colour, what a delight! In the Philippines, Cabilao Island is a real little underwater gem.
In Indonesia, in the Papuan archipelago of Raja Ampat, coral grows at the foot of mangroves. Unpublished mixture of terrestrial and underwater life.
A beach in the Maldives. Blinding sand, turquoise water. The whole village is there for an amazing fishing trip. Small preview in video.
Philippines : Visayas - February 2008 The good thing about the Philippines is that you can find a lot of...
Thailand : islands - February 2009 I don't have much time to myself, since I'm back home......
In 2012, I discovered Rangiroa and its spectacular shark gathering. My dream: to go back there and also to dive in Fakarava, another legendary Polynesian spot to observe the sharks.
Spectacular dives at Dauin and Apo Island! The corner is teeming with life and sites allow you to alternate dive-muck, drop offs, reefs ...
Thailand: Islands - February 2009 To forget the grey sky, the crisis and the conflicts, here is a small...
Thailand: Islands - February 2009 Are you the kind of person who plans everything before you leave, or who improvises at the...
I continue my journey in the south of Thailand. After the very pretty, but very crowded and very expensive Koh Phi Phi, here I am in Koh Lanta, much more peaceful.
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.
Hop! To the water! We return under the surface. On the program: a small cruise to the Similan Islands, with...
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!
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.
Sipadan. Three mythical syllables for divers in Asia! Sharks, turtles, barracudas and trevallies ...
Otdima is a beautiful dive site, teeming with life, swept by a current of madness. One of my favorites in Raja Ampat, Indonesia.
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 Dutchman Max Ammer is the "pioneer" of diving in Raja Ampat. A sacred character. He is an eco-adventurer, an enthusiastic explorer and a fabulous storyteller.
Indonesia and Komodo are far away. I rediscover my underwater photos with a new, astonished eye. I saw all that, me? It's crazy.
