We've recently returned from our first trip to Indonesia where we spent 4 nights in Tulamben, 2 nights in Ubud and 11 nights at the Wakatobi Dive Resort. The trip was amazing!

After booking our airfare on Singapore Airlines, routing from San Francisco through Singapore to Bali, and reading trip reports on WP and on-line, I booked the Bali portion of our holiday. We would then meet up with our Under Exposures group - http://www.underexposures.com/ - and proceed to Wakatobi. I should mention that Singapore Airlines was very strict in having all their passengers leaving from SFO adhere to the baggage limitations. Should you decide to book your flights with them, double check their web site for their policies on check-in baggage, carry-on baggage and overage fees, or send me a PM and I'll happily detail our pre-flight process.

In Tulamben, we stayed with Tulamben Wreck Divers: http://www.tulambenwreckdivers.com/Dive-Bali.asp I booked a 4 night, 10 dive package staying at one of their villas, which included breakfast, all transportation and porter fees for a very reasonable rate. The accommodations were spacious and nicely appointed. We found the staff warm, gracious and professional at all times. Made, our dive guide, expertly found endless critters for us to photograph. Our expectations were far exceeded and we will definitely return to TWD the next time we're in Tulamben. Diving in Tulamben is all shore diving with a private guide. The Liberty Wreck is the star of all the local dive sites with many wide angle set-ups and endless macro critters to shoot. Some other local sites are very good for muck diving, and Seraya Secret is a 10 minute ride away with a plethora of colorful critters indigenous to this area. Unfortunately, we missed mola-mola season, but that will be one reason of many to return.

Ubud is a charming, artistic and cultural area of Bali. Quaint boutique hotels overlooking the rice fields, temples, shops featuring wares from local artisans and restaurants heavily dot all of the streets in Ubud. Our hotel, Tegal Sari, is centrally located near the Monkey Forest and offers very comfortable, moderately priced accommodations. http://www.tegalsari-ubud.com/enhanced/index.php

What sets Wakatobi apart from other land-based scuba diving operations in Indonesia is the level of service they provide. http://www.wakatobi.com/home.php A representative will meet you in Bali just after you leave the jetway and literally whisk you through immigration and customs. What a welcome! Especially for those who haven't traveled to Asia before! The entire operation is expertly managed by a team of professionals from around the globe with nicely appointed bungalows and villas, spacious dive boats with instructor-level staff and pristine, thriving reefs for nearly limitless diving. Did I mention the food? All meals, served buffet style, are made with fresh, quality ingredients and varied daily from local cuisine to more continental selections. Nobody went hungry, and I think some guests even gained a few pounds despite all the diving! The reefs around Wakatobi are lush with soft corals, hard corals, fans, sponges and a variety of sea life from the super macro to the schooling fish. Prior to taking this trip, many people I'd spoken with said it was a location geared more toward macro and super-macro shooters, but there are many wide angle opportunities to be found. And videographers will be thrilled with the abundant schools of fish and their colorful habitats! Our dive guides, Ben, Kirman, Cornelius and Kaori - all instructors - are excellent spotters in finding interesting critters so that we could capture their images, and truly made our diving a most memorable experience. If you have specific questions, PM me.

We hope you enjoy our images from Tulamben and Wakatobi.

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Cheers!
Jen & Joel

I'm heading off to Wakatobi in April next year, and really enjoyed your report to pictures. Sounds like you had a great time and got some wonderful images!

Dave

Thanks, Dave! You'll have a great time! I forgot to mention that Wakatobi also has an air conditioned room dedicated to underwater photographers and videographers. We were self-sufficient in our bungalow for recharging batteries etc., but the folks who did use the room thought it was great.

Here's a few previews from Tulamben:

And a couple from Wakatobi:

We do precisely the same think-land on Bali, out to tulamben wreck divers, then off to Wakatobi for 11 nights. This shot made the front page of the website.

Jen,

Great write up! It was such a great trip and it was great to have all of the logistics go so smoothly.

Just a quick write up addition to this about ScotteVest.

After hearing on WetPixel about the increased issues with the 15 LBS carry-on limitation and the luggage fee opportunists working the check-in counters, I had to come up with a plan to get the fragile "can't live without technology items" in my carry-on/person.

We were flying Economy on Singapore, and that left us with a "by the books limit of one carry on piece of 15lbs per person".

Jen carried a small backpack with most of the overnight items and other important items. (~2 days travel to get over to Bali)

I used a Lowepro Computrecker, and the ScotteVest Travel Vest and the ScotteVest Cargo Pants.

I packed all the Camera equipment, Lenses, Hard drives, memory, Computer stuff, etc. in the Computrecker.

The plan was if they asked they asked to weigh our carry ons, I would unload everything into my ScotteVest apparel.

Thank God I had this configuration, because at SFO, sure thing, they asked to weigh our carry-ons.

We asked for a few minutes to pull out our computers, cameras, etc. and then got our bags weighed.

On Singapore you're allowed a computer in a sleeve outside of the Bag. (sneak your additional laptop battery or power supply/charger in the neoprene)

You are also allowed a "small camera". We outfitted each of our SLR's with a small Lens and had the Carry straps on them.

The photos attached are what I was able to comfortably unload out of my bag for the weigh-in without looking like the Unibomber.
(Photos attached were of a trial run a week before the trip)





When we approached the counter to get the weigh-in, we both had computers in one hand, Camera over the right shoulder and I had pretty much everything you see in the photos inside my cargo pants and vest.

The remaining items in my Computrecker weighed in at 15 LBS. We had the Balanza in Jen's bag, so we did a quick weigh-in before returning to the counter.

In summary, I'm so glad we planned for the worst, because it seems that most ticket counters are now going after the additional income, and it's sad but a fact of life as underwater photographers that we have to live with it.


Thanks again to UnderExposures and the Wakatobi staff for making it such a painless and awesome trip!


Cheers!


Joel
Newmediasoup, LLC

Great stuff Joel.
How did you get your housings, strobes, ports, etc. over there?
Really enjoyed the write up, we're heading over in July. Do you or Jen have any "can't miss" spots in Ubud or surrounds? I'll be taking my underwater model with me this time. She's already planning for hyper shopping mode. Any recommendations?

Thanks guys,
Steve

PS. Looks like Jen really likes her new 5D, nicely done to both of you.

Steve,

This is the first trip we haven't been able to sneak on 50lbs each in a discreet "carry-on" suitcase.

For Domestic travel, we'll still carry on both rigs in plain suitcases and check in at the counter one at a time to avoid getting them weighed.

Because of the International nature of this flight and Singapore's strict guidelines, we knew we were going to have to check both rigs.

Oh... I failed to mention that with the ScotteVest apparel, I was able to offload approximately 15-20 lbs of camera and electronics gear.
Even with this additional carry-on technique, there was no way I would be able to get a housing in the carry-on.

On advisement of friends, we separated our underwater rigs into two cases. Mine went into a Pelican 1620 and Jen's went into the PorterCase that I usually use as a carryon.
We used ZipTies and not TSA locks. All Checked luggage was inspected on the way out of the USA! ZipTies were cut but the additional ties left inside the cases, were used to close the cases back up securely again. (to my surprise)

FYI: The Portcase doesn't have a way to be locked with TSA or ZipTies, but I modded the case using some steel wire and crimps to make two nice lockable loops. They're simply theft deterrents, but did the job really well on this last trip! (see image) I put this on each side of the case next to the latches drilling through the metal.



Both cases proved to be durable enough to be checked and there was no damage on either portion of the flights. We were also very thankful/grateful that no cases were grabbed by luggage monkeys. (-no San Juan connector!)

The weight issue on each bag is tricky. I actually couldn't have my YS250 batteries in my strobes, as the weight was too much with my housing/ports etc.
I decided that if my case made it and not Jen's I would just shoot available light or try and borrow batteries from Berkley or whoever else was on the trip with spare YS batteries.

Both of our Scuba Regs. BCDs and Wetsuits were fit into a Medium Duffle. We used one standard Travel Pro Suitcase for all of our clothing and misc. Dive Equipment like lights, travel hangers, Safety sausage, multitools, etc.

Hope that helps!

Cheers!

Joel
Newmediasoup, LLC

Thanks, Steve! I'm having a blast with the 5D. I really got comfortable with it over the summer, and it's pretty well dialed. Although when I have the 100mm on, I could definitely use a few more floaties! Another lighting class would do nicely now, as I would get more out of it then I did back in January. Oh well...

We really didn't have enough time in Ubud to see and do all that we wanted. Another reason to go back! Balinese massage at our hotel was 75,000 rupiah for an hour (about $7.50 USD). We both got massages every day we were there! You could find them for less, but we were more comfortable booking it through our hotel. Generally, prices were less the farther away you traveled from the city. The Monkey Forest is a "can't miss" for some good photos and interaction with the primates if you feed them (careful, some do have rabies). We were told we had to try the coffee Kopi Luwak (did you see The Bucket List?), and while it was good, I don't prefer it to my current favorite coffee. Joel drank alot of Bintang beer, but another brand to try is Storm, their "microbrew" beers. Believe it or not, I really didn't buy anything. We literally had no room to spare in our bags, which meant I would have had to either bring an empty, extra bag or buy a bag there to fill with souvenirs and get charged the extra bag fee both ways. If it was not a dive-photo trip, I'm sure I would have come home with jewelry, tabletop items (placemats, coasters, bowls, plates etc.), sarongs, handbags...

We had a fantastic time and can't wait to return for another (maybe longer) visit.

Thanks a bunch Jenn,
Carmen has discovered she can ship goodies home to avoid the luggage problem. And a extra weight bag would never deter her shopping experience. Glad you had such a great time!

Image #2206 is seriously cool by the way.

Have fun,
Steve

I can add some experiences and tips to this as I also go out of SFO to Indo.

First tip is if you can put your gear/housing in a backpack, a photo type backpack for example, you may avoid weighing the carry-on. Not a monster one, but one similar to a standard backpack. Make certain to wear it to the check-in counter and appear "unencumbered". I did that and carried a reg bag separately. When asked about the carry-on, I said, oh just a backpack and they didn't bother to weigh it. It actually weighed about 20 lbs with the video housing, video camera, still camera, and dive computer as well as a book for the flight and other essentials. In prep, trim it down to the essentials and have a plan for if it gets weighed. I was going to put cameras in the reg bag if necessary and the regs in the luggage if necessary.

Once you get through security, don't go to the gate until the last moment as there can be roving "patrols" at the gate area looking for overweights. Again, if it's just a backpack, it is generally overlooked. Then show up at the gate and carry your bag the whole time to again appear "light". Straight to the line and on. Once on the plane, you're good because there is tons of room in the overheads.

We were weighed on our first trip because my wife and I showed up with multiple bags on a cart.

Second is that I bring a dive bag with all the dive gear, and then a small hard shell poly carbonate suitcase, which is light but could protect anything that had to be stuffed in there. Note that you need to have it simply filled like with clothes so it handles the weight of the other bags on it.

Last is that a third suitcase is much cheaper than an overweight charge. Coming back from Bali, overweight charge on Singapore Air for any amount over was $330 flat rate! Bringing a third bag was $130 flat rate. We brought the third bag and was upfront about having it and willing to pay. They didn't care how much weight we had in each bag then. For the peace of mind, it was worth it. Charges vary by the specific route you're on, so check.

Last tip is unrelated: don't work all day and then take a 14 hour flight at midnight unless you are good at sleeping on a plane. I'm not. 43 hours of consciousness later, I was in Jakarta.

Indonesia is great isn't it?

Yes, Indonesia is great and I can't wait to return... hopefully soon! Thanks for adding your tips, very helpful. What I didn't mention was that going out of SFO, our carry-ons were weighed. Singapore Airlines is being very strict about their baggage policies (now with the added security alerts from the terrorist incident in December, I'm sure it's worse); for our flight, we were allowed one carry-on max 15 lbs. Your DSLR camera body with modest size lens and laptop do not count toward the 15 lbs. limit; however, with a change of clothes, personal items and some electronics in your bag, you get up to 15 lbs. pretty quick. What saved us was the ScotteVest clothing - see earlier post with photos. When the counter agent asked to weigh our carry-ons, we politely asked for a moment to organize our belongings and did so out of her line of sight. Joel then loaded up the pockets of his pants and vest with multiple lenses, hard drives, backup laptop batteries etc. - see photos from earlier post showing detailed items "worn" in the ScotteVest clothing. After the counter agent weighed our carry-ons, we went around the corner and unloaded everything from his pockets back into the back packs. I should also mention that we travel with a Balanza weight scale in our carry-on... super convenient and well worth the cost.

Another one from the Liberty Wreck in Tulamben, Bali

One more from Wakatobi

I too have dived with TWD. Tony, the owner, is a great guy, goes out of his way to help you with anything.

The guides are safe, knowledgeable, and keen to please. They are pretty well set up for photogs, as evidenced by the large number of DSLRs I saw (I had a compact with twin strobes).

Sean

Hey I got video of that exact same anemone and clown fish...

Your recent video is superb! And prompted me to post these recent pics as I was remembering our great trip! That clown fish was the largest one I'd seen the entire time we were in Indonesia... huge!