All images below, are uncropped frame grabs from our 6K and 4K film stock footage, unless otherwise noted.

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2020 and COVID-19, a year of unprecedented change.

While this 'Pandemic' has had many negative effects on life as we knew it, the positive spin-off of the huge reduction in numbers of global travelers, seems to be that nature has had a chance to take a breath, to regain a little silence and possibly even recover, just a little. Once again, COVID-19 and the strict social and health protocols, that the world has put in place, has resulted in there being no better time for the exploration of our oceans, COVID risk aside, naturally.

Diving in the Red Sea has not been this tranquil since the 1970's, with so few people traveling and a 50% occupancy restriction on resorts and liveaboards, there were fewer divers and bubbles in the water than we could ever have thought possible. Divers, this is the time to get to the Red Sea.

We had three main objectives for this expedition:

The first, was to get some alone time on the 1941 wreck of SS Thistlegorm, with no other divers, torches or bubbles in the shot, to film, what is arguably one of the most dived wreck in the world.

The second, was to find and film one of the oceans most intriguing vegetarian mammals, currently vulnerable to Extinction, the Dugong.
The third and final objective was to dive with and film the Carcharhinus Longimanus or Oceanic Whitetip Shark.

Filming with our 6K RED and 4K Black Magic Cameras in their Nauticam dive housings, our Dive and Sea monitors and, of course, our robust Keldan lights, we decided, considering all the travel issues and restrictions, to incorporate three separate legs to the journey so that we had 22 days of almost unlimited diving to achieving our goals.

Our journey started from Hurghada, on the Emperor divers liveaboard named 'Emperor Superior', with only 11 other divers. We were so fortunate to have our dear friend, Sonia as our dive guide. Yahooo! The itinerary was called “The Famous Five” and included our first objective, the SS Thistlegorm.

(These are Cellphone images)

We saw very few other boats on the water and almost no day boats at all. In stark contrast to reports over the past few years, of 35+ boats, being moored on this wreck at one time, 35 boats, with an average of 20 divers on each, can you imagine? However, due to COVID-19, we were the only ones there. How lucky were we? In all this tranquility, we managed 4 dives on this magnificent wreck, one of which was a night dive, with only our handful of divers in the water.

With a small amount of planning, we had almost 4 hours of filming opportunity, around and inside the wreck, making the most of this unheard of opportunity, to get 'The Shot'.

Being the only two divers in the lower sections of the ships holds, surrounded by trucks, motorbikes, aircraft parts, all frozen in time for the last 75 years, we could almost hear the horrific explosions, sounds of tearing and buckling steel, screaming from crew members, the smell of discharging explosives, the scalding heat and blinding light from raging fires, the roar of cascading sea water rushing through passages, doorways and chambers, as the ship heaved and sank below the surface, in the dark of night and then just bubbles, until the thud of her 128 meter body landed on the sea bed 30 meters below. Quite surreal.

First objective Achieved, two to go.....

Our next step was onto 'Emperor Skye' another boat in the Emperor Divers fleet, but not a safari boat. 'Emperor Skye' is a day dive boat with 4 cabins and she is moored in Marsa Ghalib, about 60 km north of Marsa Alam. We were the only divers living on the boat and were treated like King and Queen.

(These are Cellphone images)

From this location we did shore and boat entry diving, looking for the allusive Dugongs. While 'Emperor Skye' is able to get out to a number of famous dive sites in the region, we were content with spending our 6 days just searching for Dugongs in the shallow sea grass beds of the region.

Our fantastic guide, Paul, patiently indulged our obsession, dive after dive, Green sea turtle after Green sea turtle, day after day and it all paid off.

DUGONG's!! Eating, sleeping, fighting off remoras, what a delight!

On one dive, while filming yet another Green sea turtle, we were approached by a large male Dugong called Dyson, who proceeded to swim through between us and grabbed the turtle that we had been filming, by the back of its shell. The turtle, startled by the sudden physical contact, tried to get away, but Dyson held on tight and carried the turtle off into the distance and all the way up to the surface. Why?........ No idea! (see below sequence)

This portion of the expedition was also a great success, with over 60 minutes of 6K and 4K Dugong footage now in our library.

Second objective Achieved, one to go.....

(This is a Cellphone image)

….. and so we moved onto our third and final objective, finding and filming the Oceanic Whitetip shark. For this we joined the 'Emperor Elite', yet another magnificent boat in the Emperor Divers fleet.

BUT! Before we proceed with the story, we wish to Congratulate Emperor Divers on their Safari boat 'Emperor Elite', winning the “BEST LIVEABOARDS” 2020 category in the UK Dive Magazine annual competition.

Well done guys!

(Image courtesy of Divemagazine.co.uk)

We boarded 'Emperor Elite' directly from 'Emperor Skye' in Marsa Ghalib and proceeded out to Brothers, Elphinstone and Deadalus, amongst others. Here again, we were grateful for the reduced number of boats in the water, which made it so much easier to film, without getting divers, fins and bubbles in the shot.

Mother nature was holding back a little here though, as the cold water, that brings the sharks, was not welling up from below as expected and the shark encounters had dropped from the previous week, but as we all know, there are no guarantees when you are out in the wild. This being said, we had a number of superb encounters with Thresher Shark, Scalloped Hamerheads, Whaleshark ….. AND..... LONGIMANUS, our intrepid and extremely inquisitive Oceanic Whitetip Shark

That's a wrap, all tree objectives Achieved.

Although, that being said, one must not forget all the other amazing creatures, corals and sights of the Red Sea. There are world class reefs, plenty of fish and majestic Dolphins.

What an incredible expedition this was, with Emperor Divers, ticking every box, not only from the filming and sighting perspective, but in absolutely every respect.

From the very first email to Emperor Divers, to all of our transfers and specific requirements, being vegetarian and traveling with so much camera and charging gear, (120kg+) and even helping with our exit COVID-19 testing in Hurghada on leaving Egypt, to finally stepping into the airport on our return home. Amazing service. Emperor Divers performed like a well oiled machine. Even in these very hard times, the office staff and boat crews eagerly performed their duties with competence, efficiency and a big smile. Thank you Sonia, for encouraging us to visit and dive the Red Sea again. THANK YOU SO MUCH to ALL the employees of Emperor divers, you exceeded all our expectations and made the trip a resounding success.

We look forward to our return to Emperor Divers, if not in the Red Sea, then to one of your other fleet vessels in the Maldives or Indonesia.

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This is a personal blog. Any views or opinions represented in this blog are personal and belong solely to the blog owner and do not represent those of people, institutions or organizations that the owner may or may not be associated with in professional or personal capacity, unless explicitly stated. Any views or opinions are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, or individual.

All content provided on this blog is for informational purposes only. The owner of this blog makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link on this site. The owner will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information nor for the availability of this information. The owner will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of this information.

All images below, are uncropped frame grabs from our 6K & 4K film stock footage.

(Please note: Active words are linked to more information and trip adviser/other reviews.)

**Updated December 2020 - We can regrettably no longer endorse this Liveaboard**

Oh..... Raja Ampat...... with the Barker Friends & Co, on our Favourite Liveaboard, the Seven Seas and all the fabulous staff........we waited for Two years for this magical trip and boy, was it fantastic! How very fortunate have we been to be able to join the Barker Friends and Co. group once again! Yahooo! AND, we also added a few days, on land, at the stunning Papua Explores Resort

Flying with our favourite airline, Singapore Air from Cape Town to Manado and then the final domestic leg with the very competent Garuda Indonesia from Manado to Sorong, we could not wait to be reunited with our Barker friends and all the Seven Seas friendly staff.

Arriving in Manado, too late to catch a connecting flight to Sorong, we stayed overnight at Novotel Manado Golf Resort and convention centre and then flew off early the next morning to Sorong where the friendly Seven Seas staff picked us up and transferred us to the liveaboard boat. We spent 12 nights on the Magical Seven Seas. Do read a few independent reviews from our co divers Sonia Google, Sandy Kelly and a wonderful poem by Rob Barker.

We truly love being on the Seven Seas Liveaboard and can highly recommend it to anyone wishing to dive in Indonesia. The chef's, food was fantastic, thanks Totok Sugiharto for going out of your way to ensure that we always had a vegetarian alternative meal.

The Diving was unbelievable, as usual and with the added knowledgeable assistance of Karl, Irwan and Jefry we once again were shown so many wonderful Marine life treasures. It was lovely seeing Karl Klingeler, Captain Mr. Wahyudin Ismail and Mr. Abdul Rifai H. Djudje, and all the friendly, highly competent cruise and office staff, Candra and Guteri again.

From the time we were picked up at the airport to the time we were safely handed over to our transfer to Papua Explores Resort, we were so well looked after, it felt as though every step was taken to ensure a smooth, happy, magical time.

Thank You to you ALL! We did find that the Dive sites are much busier than they were two years ago and we congratulate Karl and his team for always booking dive sites whenever possible, choosing and sometimes changing sites to ensure we had great dives.

We hope that Raja Ampat will be closely controlled, so that it does not turn out to be another Red Sea, with far too many boats and divers in the water. This precious environment needs to be protected at all costs. We thank the Seven Seas for another mind blowing trip and have booked our next one already. Roll on the Forgotten Islands. We can not wait to share time with you all again!

Our hard working camera gear supported us all the way. Prepping, charging, filming, rinsing, data retrieval and then all over again, 4 to 5 dives a day. Our RED Dragon and Blackmagic Production camera’s, Keldan underwater lights and Dive and See monitors never skipped a beat. Not to mention their respective Nauticam underwater housings that protected the camera’s under hard working conditions, strong currents and at depths of down to 40m.

…………..We then transferred over to Papua Explores Resort for 9 nights in a tastefully decorated water bungalow, where we so enjoyed 7 days of fantastic diving and met the truly dedicated team of Raja Ampat SEA Centre, lead by co-founders Tunc Yavuzdogan, Selen Yavuzdogan, Lynn Lawrance, Arnaud Brival, Tresye Marlessy and by the well trained Coral Gardeners Tomy Kumanireng and Yermi Mambrasar. They have been incredibly successful in Coral Rehabilitation, including rehab on unstable coral rubble. We were blown away by their success and have been so privileged to film their work. We wish them everything of the very best. Related Blog Post.

A HUGE THANKS to Arnuad and his team for such a magical dive experience!!

It was so encouraging to see how Papua Explores have embraced the local community and are continually working with them in so many wonderful ways to uplift, protect and conserve. Their use of Eco Safe shampoos, sunscreen etc. is encouraging to note and we hope that many other resorts and liveaboards in all marine areas will follow suite soon. Papua Explores also hosts two members of staff from MMF, so that they can continue to do their ongoing scientific research. Just another reason to support Papua Explores. Congratulations, we were so impressed that we will share your good vibe and encourage everyone to support you, in all your great efforts. We can not wait to return!

Too soon and it was time to head back home again.

Raja Ampat you hold a special place in our hearts and we do hope that your future will be protected at all costs.

Tips for Raja Ampat:

Do not forget your Insect repellent
Use ONLY Eco safe detergents and sunblock.
Pick up any litter you may come across and get it disposed of correctly. Lets start making a difference...every single one of us!
Booking Garuda Indonesia Flights online, even from South Africa was super easy and we received all flight changes via email promptly.
Indonesian people are so warm and friendly, learn some words in their language and make a connection.
Your Raja Ampat Marine park fee gives you a years access, so if you are moving around Raja you can use the same paper work and disk and there is no need to buy a new one at each resort/Liveaboard etc.

Until next time……..

This is a personal blog. Any views or opinions represented in this blog are personal and belong solely to the blog owner and do not represent those of people, institutions or organizations that the owner may or may not be associated with in professional or personal capacity, unless explicitly stated. Any views or opinions are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, or individual.