Ambon, Banda Sea and Triton Bay trip report and video

[surgeonfish1]

We spent two weeks diving in Indonesia with 4 days of diving at the Maluku Divers in Ambon.After that we crossed the Banda Sea to Triton Bay, Papua with the Damai 2.
The diving at the Maluku divers was well organized with a spacious camera room and a very helpfull crew, Fred Dion did a great job and helped us a lot by setting our camera gear.
The cruise with the Damai was great, a nice ship with wonderful cruise directors. Due to El Nino we had a limeted visibility with cold water (23C), but a lot of hammerheads even in the shallows.
The diving in Triton Bay is realy word class, the soft corals better than Misool or Fiji.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxkqTCluczc

 

[WetPup]

Nice

Just wondering, what was the water temp like in Ambon? A few people have intimated that it's been colder than normal, but was starting to warm up? Trying to make a call on which wetsuit to pack in a couple of weeks.

 

[large_diver]

The macro footage and the colors of some of the soft corals towards the end - wow...just WOW!

You are a very talented videographer. Can you share the details of what you used to shoot this footage with?

Chris

 

[Pearlman]

Awesome videography! Did you use a drone or was that a helicopter for the top shot of the boat?

 

[surgeonfish1]

I shoot with a Panasonic GH4 ,for wide angle Panasonic 7-14 mm in a Sealux housing with dome port, no red filter used.
For the macro shots I use a special planport from sealux for the Panasonic 12-35mm 2.8 lens with a wet diopter.
Aerial views with DJ Phantom 3.
Postproduction with Grassvalley Edius

---------- Post added November 25th, 2015 at 07:36 PM ----------

Nice

Just wondering, what was the water temp like in Ambon? A few people have intimated that it's been colder than normal, but was starting to warm up? Trying to make a call on which wetsuit to pack in a couple of weeks.

Water temperatures were around 24C, we dove with a 5mm and a hood. Hopefully increasing

 

[Cali_diver]

Nice

Just wondering, what was the water temp like in Ambon? A few people have intimated that it's been colder than normal, but was starting to warm up? Trying to make a call on which wetsuit to pack in a couple of weeks.

Talked to Maluku today and they said it was warming up a bit, but they said it is 25c on some sites.

 

[WetPup]

Talked to Maluku today and they said it was warming up a bit, but they said it is 25c on some sites.

*sigh* Ok. I'm leaving it until the last minute to make a decision then

 

[Pearlman]

I shoot with a Panasonic GH4 ,for wide angle Panasonic 7-14 mm in a Sealux housing with dome port, no red filter used.
For the macro shots I use a special planport from sealux for the Panasonic 12-35mm 2.8 lens with a wet diopter.
Aerial views with DJ Phantom 3.
Postproduction with Grassvalley Edius

---------- Post added November 25th, 2015 at 07:36 PM ----------


Water temperatures were around 24C, we dove with a 5mm and a hood. Hopefully increasing

No red filter?!! How did you manage the WB and lack of color? Video lights?

 

[surgeonfish1]

No red filter?!! How did you manage the WB and lack of color? Video lights?

I shoot with AWB,for wide angle I use a modified preset of a flat profile (Cinelike D), in postproduction I have selfmade YUV curves. For macro I use a single Sola 3000 videolight.

 

[KC-nat]

Hi
Can you tell me a little more about the hammerheads encounters? Can they be expected in Banda Sea all year round or seasonally? How deep were they?