Solstice from Sydney - French Polynesia - Hawaii pictures report (Apr 8-25, 2013)

[thamanrp]

Local kids , very friendly. They saw my camera and the big lens and aked me to take their picture. We chatted with them for a while. When the tour boat was leaving the pier they waved us a good bye and gave us a diving show. Too bad I didn't bring any chocolate or candy with me to shore. They would have loved it. Very nice kids.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[thamanrp]

 

 

Leaving Vaitape for the Shark Encounter

 

 

 

 

Private Motu - There's a tour that you can come and spend a night here

 

[thamanrp]

 

Outside of the Bora Bora surrounding reef

 

 

The little hut in the middle of no where, someone stopped by and took a nap there

 

 

Arriving at the spot for Shark Encounter

 

[thamanrp]

First glimps of the shark

 

 

 

The birds would fly by and scoop up the baits (tuna). You can see a piece of tuna there

 

 

 

I let these people get in the water first

 

 

One of the last people to get in the water. I figured I let the sharks eat all the food first :-)

 

[thamanrp]

Again, thank you everyone for your kind words. I'm glad to hear that you find the pictures so beautiful that you booked the next cruise or afraid to show to your significant other (or even inspired you!). I will post the rest from Bora Bora tomorrow. But I must warn you that there are probably no more nice scenery from Bora Bora since most of the pics were from our (underwater) excursion.

 

Here are some of the answers to your questions...

thamanrp: First, let me say that your picture really look incredible. Wish to see them in higher resolution!

 

But i also wonder concerning how much you used Photoshop/Lightroom on them. I didnt read every single posting, but what i found is:

 

 

 

Esp. the night shots in sydney look like you did more than just a few "auto adjustments"?

 

My work flow in Lightroom is normally, after import, to apply my preset. The preset is just what I prefer. It has shadow +100 (to pull the details in the shadow), highlight -100 (to drop the highlight specially the sky would look nicer) and apply the lens correction. Then depending on the picture I would fix the white (holding alt or option in Mac and increase until I see a white spot) and black (holding alt while decreasing until I see some shadows). That's all I normally do. It takes like 10 seconds. I think some of the pics you find them not "normal" were probably because of the long exposure. For the " silky water" look I had the camera on a tripod for 10 plus seconds. So I get all the lights in on those shots where you can even see the stars!.

 

Amazing! Ansel Adams part deux!

 

What size did you shoot and were you using any filters?

 

Funny you said that. I was just watching Google I/O keynotes the other day and they were quoting Ansel Adams "You don't take a photograph...you make it". So true. The jpeg out of my camera is normally 20-30 Meg in file size (Nikon D600 is 24 megapixel). So, when I uploaded to FB or Picasa I would have to resize for their allow max size 2048 pixel. And those are still too large for CC so I have to resize again to something like 1024 pixel so CC can show it nicely.

 

I didn't use any filter since my lens, 14-24, doesn't really take a normal filter.

[MicCanberra]

More excellent pictures, I didn't realise the sharks were baited before you entered the water. I am now thinking my wife may skip this bit of the tour.:D

[chamima]

Again, great pictures!

It's too bad the weather was so bad for you in Bora Bora. It's really beautiful there but I also like Moorea more (and the weather was perfect for us in both places all 3 or 4 times we've been there).

I think the best part of Bora Bora are the Coral Gardens and it sounds like you got to go there.

Mic - I'm the biggest chicken in the world and I got in the water with the sharks. They put the food in first to attract them. These aren't man-eating sharks, but a different type and it's totally safe.

[StLucia]

Thank you for more of your amazing photos. I love the way you are 'drip feeding us'! It's as though we are travelling across the pacific with you.

[POPDISPLAY]

Outstanding photograph. Excellent cloud structure.

Very unsettling composition.

 

Soltice docked in the bay

 

Edited May 20, 2013 by POPDISPLAY

[MicCanberra]

Mic - I'm the biggest chicken in the world and I got in the water with the sharks. They put the food in first to attract them. These aren't man-eating sharks, but a different type and it's totally safe.

I realise that and I will be in the water, I have swam with other types of sharks when spear fishing as a lad. On the otherhand, my wife may wish to watch rather than participate in the swim.:D

[thamanrp]

My wife was the same way. She did not want to get into water with the sharks. These are reef sharks. We did the research and were also told that it's safe. Even if they bite it would probably feel like a cut since they have such a small mouth. But still...we were told to not try to pet or touch them. The guide said normally there would also be a lemon shark at the location but they didn't show up when we were there.

 

You should ask her if she would prefer to get in the water when they are hungry or when they are full? In the end my wife went in the water but stayed right next to the boat and the ladder.

[thamanrp]

Black tip reef shark

 

 

 

They swim pretty fast so most of the pics are kind of blurry. I have a good video of the exceursion and will post some once I edited them.

 

 

Tour guide went down to feed the fish

 

 

 

[thamanrp]

Leaving the shark encounter location

 

 

The sun came out a little so the water look nicer

 

 

Reaching shallow water area

 

 

Arriving at the Stingray location

 

 

I guess most tours also come to this location

 

[thamanrp]

Stingray close up - they are not shy and will swim right next to you

 

 

 

 

 

[thamanrp]

Me trying to chase those stingrays

 

 

Can you count how many are in this pictures? 13!

 

 

Wife normally stays away from the stingray but she didn't realize one was swimming right under her

 

 

Heading to Coral Garden location - Hilton Bora Bora

 

[thamanrp]

Hilton Bora Bora

 

 

The two-story Presidential Villa - it cost like $3K per night!

 

 

 

 

Arriving at the Coral Graden location. The boat you see is the glass bottom boat tour.

 

 

Docking for the coral garden - the water current was so strong we didn't swim too far from the boat. The boat you see is for the aqua (under-water) walk with the helmet with oxygen

 

Edited May 20, 2013 by thamanrp

[thamanrp]

Coral Garden - it's actually pretty deep here

 

 

A lot of fish!

 

 

 

 

 

[thamanrp]

The excursion's over, heading back to the pier and the ship

 

 

 

 

Heading back to the ship

 

 

Local canoe-ing next to the boat

 

 

[thamanrp]

Back on the ship - Sailing out

 

 

 

 

 

 

[thamanrp]

 

Private Motu - view from the ship, you can see all the coral/reef around the motu

 

 

 

 

 

Good bye Bora Bora, we will be back one day

 

[MicCanberra]

Fantastic photos again, just lovely. My wife will probably do a similar thing to yours ands just hover near the ladder.

Can you please tell me what type of camera you used underwater ? The camera I used last time (for the QLD Great barrier Reef) was quite difficult to use and I may upgrade.:D

[thamanrp]

I have the Nikon J1 camera and I bought the underwater housing for the trip. The J1 has better picture quality than most underwater camera so I figured that was a good combo. But the problem with this setup is that the housing is very big. It's kinda hard to take picture with one hand. Also, after I left a camera on for a very long time it started to get overheat.

 

Knowing what I know now, if I was to suggest someone an underwater camera I would tell them to get Canon D20 (specially if you are looking for an easy to operate camera under the water).

[MicCanberra]

I have the Nikon J1 camera and I bought the underwater housing for the trip. The J1 has better picture quality than most underwater camera so I figured that was a good combo. But the problem with this setup is that the housing is very big. It's kinda hard to take picture with one hand. Also, after I left a camera on for a very long time it started to get overheat.

 

Knowing what I know now, if I was to suggest someone an underwater camera I would tell them to get Canon D20 (specially if you are looking for an easy to operate camera under the water).

Thanks, I have a cheap type (a gift) but you cannot see what you are taking a picture of as the view finder with googles is really weird. I just pointed the camera in the general direction and clicked, but it was a bit hit and miss (half the fish out of the shot).:D

[ChazR]

I agree, your pictures are better than those on the Celebrity web site.

 

Can you describe your equipment and the settings, especially for the Sidney night ones? They are very impressive.

 

 

 

Wow....I echo the comments of others....these are soooo sharp and vivid. What camera and lens do you use...I only dream of getting pix like these and I thought I had a good outfit. We boarded that cruise in Hawaii and sailed to Ensenada.

Charles

[thamanrp]

After Bora Bora and 5 sea days we arrived at Maui. There was a delay due to immigration officers missing their flight. I think it was around 11-ish when the ship announced that it was ready for people to get off. We went down to the main dining room for the immigration process around noon. The line was already long so we figured to grab lunch then go back down. That was a big mistake! Apparently everyone had the same idea. The lunch buffet was fully packed. By the time we head down again all the lunch crowds were also there. The line was from the main dining room all the way through the casino and right by the front elevator. A few people were yelling/screaming at one another for the allegedly “line cutting”. We waited from 1pm and finished the immigration (only 4 officers) at 1:45pm. Then there’s another line to get on the boat. There was no line organized here so once they were ready for the people to board the boat there were a few of pushing and shoving to get on the boat. We didn’t reach the shore until 2:30pm and by the time I got the rental car it was 3pm. I thought the walk from Lahaina pier to the Hertz office was easy but it was so hot that day. It actually kicked my butt! I had to stop and get some Jamba Juice to cool off.

 

So, as a warning, if you are doing similar itinerary and Maui is your first US port, don’t book any tour in the morning. You will probably miss it. Since we have been to Maui a couple years ago we opted for Iao Valley (we didn’t visit last time) and a Sunset watch from Haleakala (we loved Haleakala from the last visit). If you’d like to see some of the old pics from our last Maui trip please let me know. We did the road to Hana on day 1 and Haleakala and Lahaina on day 2. Enjoy!

 

 

Arrived at Maui

 

 

Maui - view from the lookout

 

 

Iao Valley State Park - the view was actually very nice, worth visiting if you are on the way to Road to Hana.