Hi All, well I’ve recently returned from another trip to Indonesia. I met a friend in Jakarta, and we spent a week on Lombok, chilling, swimming and snorkelling at Sengiggi, Gili Air and Kuta Lombok beach. I then travelled by bus across Sumbawa, and caught the ferry from Sape to Labuanbajo. An interesting journey, but I think I’d fly this leg next time!

In Labuanbajo I stayed at Chez Felix hotel, a very pleasant family run place higher up on the hill, and in the evenings I enjoyed some very good meals at Persona restaurant, and a few beers and socialising at Gardena, overlooking the bay.

I spent 12 days diving with Reefseekers, great fun and excellent diving! Mostly alternating between the central part of the National Park (Batu Balong, Tatawa Kecil and Besar, Mauan, Siaba, Penga) and the northern part of the National Park (various dive sites around Gili Lawa Laut, including Full Moon, Crystal Rock, Lighthouse, Coral Garden). We also did a trip to the south, to Cannibal Rock which is a really special dive site. And here are a few photos taken during my holiday:











I also had fun using the video function on my Canon A570IS camera, and put together this YouTube film from the various clips I took:



Happy diving all

Very nice! I am amazed at what you were able to do with a $200 camera. Did you have any battery issues with all the video you took? The manta cleaning station sequence is very cool. Thanks for putting this up and sharing with us! Looks like you had a great trip.

Cheers,
Steve

Cheers! No real battery issues normally, at the start of each day I'd load a fresh set of charged NiMH batteries, these would last 2 dives plus looking at my pics, etc.

I did encounter one problem at the manta cleaning station though - because I took quite a lot of video footage there (maybe 8-10 minutes worth or something) this resulted in the camera getting pretty hot, and I was gutted to see my lens had fogged as I was surfacing! I did change my batteries after that dive, and that's when I felt the temp of the camera - nice and warm! Something I'll be more careful about in future, LOL!