11 night dive trip to West Papua Indonesia, Aug 2012

I have chartered the Indonesian Boutique live-aboard dive vessel Damai, for an 11 night adventure to Cendarawasi Bay, Monokwari, and Mapia Atoll. The dates are Aug 10-21, 2012 The boat takes 8 passengers plus group leader. Each cabin will have king size bed or two double beds, private bath tub, shower and toilet. Each diver will have their own camera rinse tank. The boat has 4 dive masters and three dive tenders. There will be a dive guide for every 2-3 divers. The boat offers unlimited diving and includes nitrox fills of 32 and 36 percent. For those that get sore after travel and diving, the boat features a spa with a trained masseuse. Everything is included including spa treatments, harbor fees, & alcohol. The price is $465 per night.

These areas are considered part of West Papua Indonesia. The whole area around Cenderwarawshi Bay is under dived. The two reasons to go are the wrecks and the atolls on the north. The wrecks around Manokwari are the best in Indonesia and are teaming with life and full of soft coral. Mapia and other remote atolls are places where big schools of fish can be found.

This will be world class diving that offers the wide angle photographer the chance to create dramatic portraits of shipwrecks, as well as macro photographers because of all the marine life growing on the wrecks and biodiversity of the reefs.

MANOKWARI has amazing WWII wreck diving and includes a P-40 Tomahawk fighter, Cross Wreck, and the Japanese freighter Shinwa Maru. Living on the wrecks is an entire marine ecosystem that while impressive during the day is off the charts during night dives. Divers will not get bored looking at vibrant soft coral plus the incredible variety of species of life. Dive profiles extend down to the 30 meter range.

Mapia and other Atolls

The atolls will provide a lot of excitement and action as we dive sites with large schools of barracuda, jacks, rainbow runners, tuna, bumphead parrot fish, Napoleon Wrasse, big Groupers, Grey sharks, and endless streams of fusiliers. The atolls are not dived often because they are remote and few if any boats go there. Macro life includes hundreds of species of fish, nudibranchs, crabs, and shrimps. This area is the next place to explode on the diving scene.

The cost of the trip is $5,125 per person (DBL)

The dates are Aug 10-21, 2012

To see more go to www.douglasjhoffman.com or www.dive-damai.com

Email questions to Douglas at dhimages@maui.net

Swimming with Whales Sept 10-20th on the Naia

Whale Swimming in Tonga on the Naia 2011

Well known professional marine photographer Mark Strickland and I will be co-hosting an exclusive 10-night trip in Tonga aboard the renowned live-aboard vessel Nai’a, in late August 2011. This special, limited-load trip will be dedicated to observing, photographing and especially swimming with the large population of Humpback Whales that visit these islands every year to mate and give birth.

The itinerary is designed to provide the best possible opportunities for quality in-water time with these magnificent animals, Of course the whales themselves decide when it’s playtime, but we’ll be employing some special tactics to tilt the odds in our favor as much as possible. For one thing, instead of competing with the growing number of day trip vessels operating out of Vava’u, our trip will concentrate on the little- visited island group of Ha’apai. There are lots of whales in these waters, but almost no other boats.

Another key strategy will be to limit the number of guests to 12 instead of the usual 16. This approach does make the trip more expensive, but I firmly believe it is worth it to make the most of our time. Both Mark and I have spent many hours among marine mammals in various conditions and locales, and we keep coming to the same conclusion: the fewer people in the water, the better the encounters.

The Nai’a has two 30 ft. tenders, providing ample space for 6 passengers plus guides in each boat. This way we can rotate two small groups in and out of the water from each boat, to ensure the most time in the water for every participant.

Other than a lunch break on the big boat, we’ll spend most of each day patrolling in the tenders, scouting for the whales’ telltale spouts and flukes. We’ll mainly be looking for mothers and their calves, but will likely come across heat runs, singing whales, romantic displays and dramatic breaches. Mostly, though, we’ll be looking for curious, playful calves and their mothers, since such encounters can sometimes last for hours.

The main focus of this special trip is in-water whale encounters, where we’ll be using snorkel gear only. If you’re a diehard diver and can’t resist bringing scuba gear that’s fine, but please realize

that diving opportunities will be limited to dusk and night night dives beneath the boat. In my opinion it’s not worth dragging your dive gear along, especially considering today’s restrictive baggage policies.

Swimming with humpback whales requires patience. If you swim straight at the whale, it will swim away and everyone on the boat will look at you with angry eyes. If you float in a small group and stay still, the baby whale will get curious and come to check you out. In order to ensure good encounters for everyone we have prepared guidelines for behavior in the water and will forward them after the deposits are received.

Payment will be based on Naia’s standard rates, which for 16 passengers would be $4895 p/p. However, for our trip with only 12 passengers, it works out to about $6530 p/p, not including airfare, alcohol or tips. Nai’a does apply a fuel surcharge, which is currently $14/person/day. If it changes, we’ll be given three month’s notice before our trip. Happily, there are no port fees, local taxes or other hidden charges. For more about Nai’a, visit http://www.naia.com.fj/tonga/index.html

If you wish to come, please don’t delay - DEPOSITs are being accepted.

As many people will purchase 2 week tickets in and out of Fiji, there is an option to add a few days of shark diving in Pacific Harbor Fiji before or after the live aboard. Participants will be met at either Nadi or Suva airports and driven to Pacific Harbor where they will spend 3 nights at the Uprising resort. Two days of shark diving with Beqa Adventure Divers and transportation to Suva or Nadi airport is provided. The cost will be around $750. Scuba gear can be rented.

Whale Swimming in Vavau Tonga Sept 21-30, 2010

Tonga – Sept 21-30, 2010

For the fifth year in a row, I am organizing a nine day adventure in Vavau, Tonga to swim with and photograph Southern Hemisphere Humpback Whales. This experience is limited to a small group, so each person gets the experience of a lifetime.

Just because its legal does not mean swimming with whales is easy. The fact is whales are wild and not on anyone's time schedule. They can come or go as they see fit, and all encounters are on their terms. For the safety of the whales, and fairness to others, several protocols need to be followed.

That means we won't just motor up to the humpbacks and jump in the water. The standard is to watch the whales to observe their behavior and let them get used to our presence. If they feel we are not a threat, they will relax and that's when good interaction happens. There will be a maximum of four people plus guide in the water at any time.

I have found that with the exception of a heat run and really relaxed mother and calf, that most encounters are best when swimmers float motionless or swim together in a parallel course not an intersecting course with the whales. Imagine how you would feel if several large fish were swimming at you from multiple directions. I would feel threatened, so it only makes sense that the whales do too. By swimming and floating in a group, the whales are better able to become comfortable with our presence.

When it comes to nature photography, the daily plan is to hurry up and wait. A lot of time is spent looking at the horizon for whale sign. When whales are sighted, many factors have to come together before we get in the water. These include the demeanor of the whales, good visibility, low winds, and flat seas.

Just getting to Tonga can be an adventure as it is a remote location. From most places it takes 2 days to get to, and one long day to return. The airlines in this part of the world are safe, but follow a logic not many people understand. I tell people to bring along their sense of humor and two extra books, as the flights don't always operate as advertised. Please make sure you purchase trip insurance and be prepared for excess baggage fees.

Continental Airlines and Pacific Airlines are the best airlines to use to get to Tonga. If you don't have a travel agent McCoy travel in Hawaii will be happy to take care of all your travel arrangements. They specialize in Fiji and the pacific.

This trip we will be staying in the Puatake Hotel right on the water, in the center of town. The rooms are large, and have a/c and internet hook ups. Each room has an incredible harbor view. The boat will meet us up at 8AM and drop us off after 4PM each day. A catered lunch will be provided.

The cost is $4,740 per per person and includes 10 nights hotel ( double occupancy), 9 boat days with catered lunch featuring some fruit, veggies, salad, fish or chicken, muffins, cookies, coffee and cocoa, as well as bottled water on the boat. If traveling alone, add an $800 single room adjustment. The cost of the trip can be split up into 2 or 3 payments depending on when you commit to the trip. The cost of the trip must be paid in full by July 1st, 2010.

In Vavau, there are two good cafes for breakfast, and ½ dozen good restaurants for dinner. One place has the best Italian food I have ever eaten. There places that serve meat, fish, indian food, mexican food, spanish food, pizza, and lobster. The prices are very reasonable.

Shark Dive

Depending on the length of your vacation plans, there is an option to add a few days of shark diving in Pacific Harbor Fiji before or after the Vavau trip. Participants will be met at either the Nadi or Suva airports and driven to Pacific Harbor where they will spend 3 nights at the Uprising resort and two days of shark diving with Beqa Adventure Divers. Roundtrip transportation to the Suva or Nadi airport is provided. The cost will be around $750. Scuba gear can be rented.

Custom art for Hokulani tower at Honua Kai Resort & Spa

Last year, I was commissioned to create 12 limited editions of marine art to be room decor in guest suites of the Hokulani Tower which is part of the new Honua Kai Resort and spa in Kaanapali Maui. The project entailed everything from creating the concept to hanging the finished pieces on the wall. It was a great experience working with designers, engineers, and developers.

Lehua Rock & Niihau Hawaii

In the state of Hawaii, their are a lot of great scuba diving locations. One of my favorites is Lehua Rock. This a huge volcanic tuft cone located a few miles off the forbidden island of Niihau. The entire area is beacon for marine life and one can see schools of small plankton eating fish feeding in the water column, majestic mantas, white tip, grey reef, occasional Galapagos sharks, green sea turtles, and endangered Monk Seals.

The topography is dramatic too with steep drop offs, caves, crevices, walls, and canyons. For those that don't dive the closest way I can explain how it looks is to look at pictures by Ansel Adams of the rugged mountain ranges and canyons of the American west.

The site is only dive-able during summer months, and then it is at the mercy of weather. I think it is about a 17 mile journey depending upon the harbor, charter company and boat. There are three operators that go to Lehua Rock. They are Bubbles Below, Fathom Five, and Sea Sport Divers.

Over the years I have gone with each company. I usually prefer small dive boats following the thinking that less is more when it comes to underwater photography. However, when it comes to diving Lehua Rock, I prefer a larger boat. For me, its all about being comfortable on a 2.5 hour crossing in open ocean. As the seas can get rough, being able to sit back and relax rather than take a beating is priceless. Thats why I go with Sea Sport Divers. Their dive boat is very spacious, has a toilet, hot water showers, and plenty of space to store cameras dive gear, and dry gear. http://www.seasportdivers.com

In my gear bag

As a working professional, I get asked frequently by divers I meet what kind of gear do I use and why.

I will start with dive equipment. For at least 10 years I have used Sea Quest BCD's and been quite happy with the quality, construction, and durability. Five years ago or so I got an Atomic Titanium regulator. It was expensive and worth every penny. It is by far the best breathing regulator I have used. I have an oceanic wetsuit and set of split fins that are 4 years old, and while the fins still work great the wet suit is ready to be replaced. I also use a pair of Cressi free diving fins when doing blue water snorkeling with whales. I love the power.

For topside images, I use the Nikon D3 , D2X, D700 bodies. For underwater photography, I use the Nikon D300. As I do a lot of scuba diving & blue water snorkeling I found that I need a housing specific to each purpose. The Ikelite features ttl flash exposure compensation which is very cool and allows me to concentrate on composition. I can adjust the ttl exposure by 1/3 f-stops by rotating a dial, rather than reaching out and changing strobe settings. The only negative with the housing is the way ports attach. The system relies on pressure to seat the o -ring. When using the housing while scuba diving the pressure seats the port and there are no issues. I cant say the same when snorkeling with the Ikelite housing.

That why I also use the Nexus housing. Simply put its small and built like a tank. The quality of the 10-17 optical glass port cant be beat. The negative of this system is that to take advantage pf the glass optics, you need a port specific to each lens and that is expensive. The 10-17 port cost just under a thousand bucks. The system has 2 sync ports for traditional strobes and 2 fibre optic ports for high tech digital strobes.

I use the following lenses. The 10-17 fisheye zoom Tokina, 10.5 mm fisheye, 16 mm fish eye, 60 & 105 macro Nikon lenses. For strobes I use three Ikelite DS160's. The strobes have ttl and manual power settings. They are 5000 degree kelvin in temperature which produces lovely blues and requires less time spent in photoshop. I also use two Sea and Sea YS 300 strobes from the film days that only work on manual settings. I love using them as slaves, set 1-2 stops lower than the main light to create rations and dimension in my images. Too many times a ttl exposure will result in flat lighting. This is when there is an equal amount of light throughout the scene. When creating light ratios underwater the light is not even so there is more shadow detail and depth to the image.

When I travel, I use Tamrac back backs, Velocity 9x camera bag, and Rolling Studio case featuring plastic armor. These products are light weight yet heavy duty. The amount of equipment they accommodate is impressive as is the style and appearance. I bring a Mac lap top, 3 external hard drives for back up, 3 - 16 gig cards, 8- 8 gig cards, 3 - 4 gig cards.I bring an I-phone loaded with 2 movies and Skype .

Other bits include a small glass reflector for the BCD pocket, as well as a safety sausage and a whistle. These are items I hope not to use, but am glad to have with me. I use the Aladin Nitrox computer, but tend to keep it set on air for added safety.

The last thing I pack is a sense of humor and a bit of patience. The wonderful thing about traveling is that there is a lot of time spent waiting. Rather than get frustrated, I just go with the flow.

Tamrac Rolling Studio case for travel

Underwater photographers frequently ask what I use to transport my housings when flying to exotic destinations around the world. Back in the days when airlines were generous and gave divers large baggage allowances I used the industry standard pelican case.  It was both big and heavy duty.  The bummer if any is that it weighed a lot.

Over the last 3-4 years airlines around the world have dramatically decreased the number of bags and weight allowed. As spending hundreds of dollars on excess baggage is not something I want to do on each leg of a journey, I did some research and looked for heavy duty cases that were light weight.   In the end I selected the Rolling Studio case made by Tamrac, the leader manufacturer of bags & cases for professional photographers.  It is large and reinforced with light weight plastic armor.  Empty the case weighs about 20 pounds.

Today I did a dry run just to see how much I could put in and I was amazed.  I packed two u/w camera housings, 4 ports, 4 large strobes, 5 sets of sync cords, 2 extra strobe batteries, 2 strobe chargers, 2 camera battery chargers, tools, and spare parts.  The total weight was 55 pounds.  If I had to take 5 pounds of gear out, I could and put in my other suitcase.  

Cover of WDCS Spring 2009 Magazine

This image created in 2008 in Pico Azores, was selected while on an assignment for the WDCS and on a permit issued by the portuguese government. I provided a selection of several of species of dolphin, Southern Hemisphere Humpback Whales and Sperm Whale images to the portuguese government and to the WDCS for educational and scientific purposes.  One image from that trip is being used a the campaign called art for conservation and can be seen at douglasjhoffman.com   What a privilege it is to support such a dedicated organization.

Swimming with Humpback Whales in 2009

Tonga - 2009

For the fourth year in a row, I am organizing small expeditions to Tonga to observe, document, and photograph Southern Hemisphere Humpback Whales above and below the surface. This expereince is limited to a small group, so each person gets the experience of a lifetime.

Participants will be taught how to enter the water making as little noise as possible, When to float & when to swim, and how to swim properly in the presence of whales. Our goal is to observe the whales without changing their behavior.
I will do everything possible to help make the trip a success, but when in the water all participants must be self-sufficient. The waters are deep and those interested in coming must be good swimmers and be in good shape.
The boat chartered is small, and fast. The captains are extremely knowledgeable, have decades of experience, and uncanny intuition that helps them recognize which cetaceans are on the move, and which are curious and playful.
Just because its legal does not mean swimming with whales is easy. The fact is whales are wild and not on anyone's time schedule. They can come or go as they see fit, and all encounters are on their terms. For the safety of the whales, and fairness to others, several protocols need to be followed.

That means we wont just motor up to the humpbacks and jump in the water. The standard is to watch the whales to observe their behavior and let them get used to our presence. If they feel we are not a threat, they will relax and that's when good interaction happens. There will be a maximum of four people plus captain and myself.

The rules state there can be no more than four swimmers plus a guide in the water at a time. I have found that with the exception of a heat run and really relaxed mother and calf, that most encounters are best with two or three swimmers and a guide in the water. A small group of people swimming together in a parallel course not an intersecting course will have better interaction as the whales will be curious not defensive. Imagine how you would feel if large fish were swimming at you at full speed from multiple directions. I would feel threatened, so it only makes sense that the whales do too. By swimming in a group, the whales are better able to become comfortable with our presence.

When it comes to nature photography, the daily plan is to hurry up and wait. A lot of time is spent looking at the horizon for whale sign. When whales are sighted, many factors have to come together before we get in the water. These include the demeanor of the whales, good visibility, low winds, and flat seas.

In nature there are days when the sun is out, seas are calm, and whales are present but the underwater visibility is terrible. And, there are days the sky is cloudy but the water is clear. As Mother Nature doesn't always cooperate, I am planning to two back-to-back 6-day trips. Weather can be a factor so don't be surprised if out of seven days the boat stays in for one or two. The first group starts Sept 14th, 2008 and the second group starts on September 24th, 2008 and goes till Oct 1st.

Just getting to Tonga can be an adventure as it is a remote location. From most places it takes 2 days to get to, and one long day to return. The airlines in this part of the world are safe, but follow a logic not many people understand. I tell people to bring along their sense of humor and two extra books, as the flights don't always operate as advertised. Please make sure you purchase trip insurance and if there is any chance at all you might want to extend your vacation, be prepared to spend a day taking care of the details, and to pay change fees. Excess baggage is a reality. Tell everyone at the airline you're a diver and ask for it to be noted on your ticket. If lucky you may get an allowance of 20 extra pounds.
The boat fee includes pick up and drop off at closest dock to hotel, lunch, bottle of water, and fuel. The price is $400 per day. Final cost is subject to change as fuel costs may increase. Hotel, and airplane tickets are additional. On average it costs about $1,600 to fly to Vavau' Tonga.

There are three standard of hotels. 
The finest accommodations is at the residence. It is one of the princesses' homes. There are only two rooms and they are luxurious. The rooms are $250-300 per night.
The Pua International and Paradise hotels cost about $150. The Pua is in town, while the Paradise is a 12 minute walk from town. The paradise includes breakfast, the Pua does not. I have stayed in both. The bottom line is the Pua is more convenient, but the Paradise includes breakfast and is a bit nicer. The back packer hotel is about $60 per night. It is nice, clean, and in town. There ather lodging options and those interested should call 808 879 0260 or send me an email at dhimage@maui.net

A 50% retainer is required to hold space.
-This fee is non refundable.
-The final payment is due 60 days before the trip.
-Trip insurance is required.