Diving the Banda Sea on the Samambaia in 2022 (4K) 

Thank you! Appreciate that 🙏🏽 Hope you had a great trip and looking forward to the next one 🤙🏽 keep those long surface intervals as short as possible

Thank you for that! it’s really nice to hear. Every video is a labor of love and the fact that they are being watched and enjoyed is everything to me 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

Thank you Paul! Really appreciate that.🙏🏽 I will never stop!!

@@DiveHard if you're ever down by cairns to dive the GBR, would be great to dive together. Keep on diving hard!

@@GeoPaulTV 🤙🏽🤙🏽🤙🏽

Thanks Mike! and also for lending me your lease every night. It definitely came in handy 🙏🏽

Thank you! 🙏🏽 the bucket list does always grow faster than we can keep up with. But don’t stop ticking through it 🙃

Hey man! I do remember you!! Thanks for checking out the channel 🙏🏽 now you know what all the cameras and batteries are for🙃🤣

@@DiveHard absolutely yes sir 😂😂😂

Sounds like you had a similar trip! I always figured the hammerheads would be a bonus. I was super duper happy about the snakes 😄amazing coral reefs as well. Thanks for watching! 🤙🏽🙏🏽

Thank you Ryan! 🙏🏽 🙏🏽 🙏🏽

Thank you for the continued support!🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

Thanks Janos, it was a pleasure diving with you! Hope raja was an equally good time, and that our paths cross again one day

@@DiveHard Poor viz in Raja, so the solution was muck, most enjoyable. Dive hard we will, somewhere, someday!

Thank you Daniel! Hope to see / dive with you again one day, best of luck with everything 🤙🏽

Thank you Leo! See you in Cocos and/or Malpelo 🙃

Thank you Shane I appreciate that!! 🙏🏽 🤙🏽

Thank you sir! 🙏🏽

Thank you!! 🙏🏽 🤙🏽

i think you would enjoy it 😉

Thank you!! 🙏🏽

Thank you! Glad you’re liking the new format 🙃

Thank you! A lot of effort and always happy when it’s appreciated 🙏🏽

Thank you, appreciate that! 🙏🏽 it’s a beautiful boat, and it does kind of look / sound like the Samba 🙃 cheers

Thank you! 🙏🏽 for me the sea snakes were a once in a lifetime highlight. Very unique and very lucky 🍀 🤙🏽

Thank you! 🙏🏽 appreciate that, it is made with love

Yeah, you can feel it. . . Blessings. . .

Thank you thank you!!! 🙏🏽

Thank you! 🙏🏽

Thank you! 🙏🏽

Thank you Koki Massi! 🙏🏽

Thank you!! 🙏🏽 I will never forget those snakes!! 🐍 🤙🏽

Thank you! 🙏🏽 it’s very unique and beautiful place. Sea snakes can be creepy but they really are quite docile and not aggressive. But you’re right, one bite is all it takes 😬

Tank u Tank u 🙏🏽

Thank you! 🙏🏽 massive school of hammerheads sounds pretty awesome… I think it’s a fair trade! And I’m sure you had some nice sea snake encounters as well. Love those guys 🤙🏽

Thank you! 🙏🏽 It seems like no / few hammerheads is the more common experience. But yes, it’s still an amazing trip! Never know what the ocean will give you

Same here on the Jaya this October with only two hammerheads. There was an el nido event this year in raja ampat and the bandas with warmer than usual water which was probably the reason for the lack of hammerheads. Hopefully next year the big schools will return

🙏🏽 thank you!!!

🤙🏽

Thank you! 🙏🏽 it’s a really special itinerary. Did you get lucky with the hammerheads?

@@DiveHard Well, on one dive we had a very short aquaintance. Was down at 34m on Nx and couldnt stay there for long 😂

@@bubffm yeaaaa that’s oftens how it goes with those guys 🦈 😛

Thank you Chris! 🙏🏽 I do put a lot of effort into color grading, etc. I generally avoid video lights with big animals so do often just shoot with ambient light (which means certain shots / angles I don’t even attempt). On a lot of dives you’ll generally find me where the light is 😉 cheers!

Interesting! I figured that the current profile / overlap of the indian and pacific oceans probably contributed to the biodiversity, but never considered the PO4 from all that volcanic activity (or bird poo) as extra juice for growth

Thank you!! 🙏🏽 Lembeh is also one of my favorites, hope you spotted all the crazy critters. I usually stay with NAD, who’d you go with? I actually live in Delray Beach at the moment, so sounds like not so far from you! The shark diving and blackwater out of Jupiter is just 👌🏽🤌🏽🤙🏽

🙏🏽 Thank you!! So you have experienced some of this awesomeness 🤙🏽 Manuk is different from Gunang Api, which is another snake hot spot in the Banda Sea. Unfortunately our itinerary skipped it (not sure why) but I would love to go back for a dedicated snake itinerary where we just do Manuk and Gunang Api over and over again. It’s just so good

@@DiveHard i have visited several spots in Indonesia, but not the Snake Islands, unfortunately (check your Insta messages)

Thank you! 🙏🏽 I do dim down the lights a bit but not a ton since I like to shoot at higher frame rates / low ISO. Focusing close to the lens / lights so they don’t have to be that bright

Thank you! 🙏🏽 diving took a bit of a pause for a while as life got in the way, but finally working on a new video 😇

Thank you! 🙏🏽 the banded sea snakes are definitely super poisonous, but they are pretty docile if you don’t bother them, and importantly, have tiny mouths that can’t effectively bite you. Unless they get something like your ear, or webbing of your fingers, etc. Thats why I kind of freaked out when they were licking my toes 😂I love seeing hammerheads but they are like a bonus - the snakes and the reefs alone make Banda worth it imo. Maybe next time! Cheers 🤙🏽🙏🏽

Thanks Doug! Hope you had a good time in Alor 🤙🏽

Thank you! 🙏🏽 that track is ‘the best I never had’ by victoriya. Cheers 🤙🏽

I think I know... After effects, right?

Thank you man! The animated map was a new process for me… I had to clean up a stock footage map using illustrator and then pretty much animated the rest in Final Cut Pro. I’m sure there are more efficient ways but in the end it took about 1-2 hours of work (did quite a bit of keyframing and nested compound clips to make it work). I call it the indiana jones effect 🙂

I’m not sure it’s a squirrelfish…I should know but I don’t have the indopacific reef fish ID book on hand! 😆 🤦🏽‍♂️

Hey Rodrigo - I used to use the A7S and A7S2 underwater and have played with an A7SIII topside so am generally familiar with the system. I actually thought the A7SIII autofocus was incredible (especially compared to older cameras), especially the subject tracking in video. That being said, I didn't play with it underwater and I know that blackwater comes with its own challenges (many of them!). Blackwater focus is always tough, and techniques change with the size of the subject, backscatter, etc. In general, for 'coin- sized' critters and smaller, I tend to turn off autofocus and rely on manual focus (focusing super close to the element so focus is going to be very sensitive and likely to hunt). If you don't have a manual focus ring for your lens (I recommend a 60mm or something similar), you can always set / lock the focus point close to the element (appropriate for the critter / situation), and then drift into (and out of) focus rather than relying on the camera's AF system. I use this technique 50%+ of the time for blackwater. It takes practice but ultimately is (in my opinion) the most effective way to autofocus on macro subject in 'drifty' blackwater situations. For now, despite how good the AF systems have gotten, they likely will still struggle in blackwater given (i) the backscatter / particles in the water plus (ii) the random movements of the camera in and out slightly on a subject that is extremely close to the lens element. But you never know! AI is getting really good so I wouldn't be surprised if this changes in the future. A lot of it is getting super familiar with the AF systems and creating a workflow that works for you (e.g. do you switch the physical focus limiter switch on the macro lens before you close your housing, are you using an appropriate subject lock / switching sensitivity, etc.). A lot of gibberish, hope its helpful! Cheers

Thank you! My set up changes a lot depending on what / where I’m shooting but it’s usually a rotation of 16-35mm f4 behind a dome, more recently wacp-1 with and old 28-80 kit lens, and the 100mm macro. Generally avoid lights when I can but have two sola 2100s that I use for macro. 1DX2 has been my workhorse forever but also recently got an r5 which produces great sharp images. Thinking about making a video on setups and how I shoot if there would be interest in it. Cheers! 🤙🏽

I would love this. I’m considering getting back to photography as I start to dive. Your content is top notch sir!

@@daxsiplin noted! And thank you! 🙏🏽

Thank you!! I agree that the Mike/Luca/Miho tribe are always a pleasure to dive with. Wasn’t my first time our paths crossed and certainly won’t be the last! Cheers 🤙🏽

Thank you Berthold! 🙏🏽 really appreciate that. always trying to improve a bit each trip. Hope that we can dive together again soon, keep in touch! 🤙🏽

It was awesome! Haven’t done those two yet but they are high on the list! 🤙🏽

Hey Rod - I love the HECS wetsuit, its super warm and easy to don yourself. The one negative for me is that is restricts thoracic extension / opening up of the arms backwards since the zipper is in front. Other than that I 100% recommend. However, for the whole 'stealth suit' technology bit, I candidly haven't noticed a real difference. I find that breathing technique, awareness and how you approach animals has a much bigger effect. I feel like there are too many variables to accurately conclude that it makes a significant difference vs. a regular wetsuit. It might, but I think its definitely on the margin. As for the snakes - they were most attracted to my fins, but they were honestly pretty chill dudes

For the most part yes - but the biggest change has been the drop in price for high end sensor / camera tech. Some of the $50-100k cinema cameras being used in 2014 would still hold up really well today (albeit at lower resolutions), but now cameras in the $3k - $5k price range can easily compete with or even slightly outperform those older expensive cinema cameras (great dynamic range, internal raw recording, high resolution etc). At the high end they haven’t gotten THAT much better. But the image quality gap between the high end cinema cameras and ‘consumer’ cameras today is now quite small

@@DiveHard Thank you and more power to you!

It’s a great island (topside and underwater) with a mix of macro and coral reefs nearby. The history is also super interesting and unique. My favorite diving was actually the small islands surrounding Banda Neira. I personally wouldn’t spend 2 weeks just diving Banda Neira, I’d maybe do 2-3 days in a land based itinerary. Still an amazing place / area! If you have time, it’s a not a bad place to hang out at for a week or two!

Totally bananas 🍌 🤙🏽

While the snakes can technically bite, they are very docile and also have tiny mouths so they aren't able to effectively bite and deliver venom to anything bigger than your finger. But they are still super venomous so it's a good idea to not mess with them to avoid a potential accident. I've never dived in Mynamar but I would also love to check it out. Cheers!