The first time I came to the remote Kangean Archipelago—NNE of Bali—in Indonesia I yearned to take a peak at the untouched coral reefs & other underwater life there. 

The place is far enough away from Indonesia’s high population islands that only the rare domestic tourist ever goes there.  And when the ferry crew realized that I actually intended to stay there a few days, they were astonished. They had very occasionally see a foreign yacht or sailboat anchored off of Kangean, but they couldn’t agree if they’d ever heard of any foreigner actually staying overnight on the island. Finally one said he’d heard rumors of some foreign researcher into traditional native perahu boats visiting once, but that’s it.

So, I knew, unlike all the touristy spots where you’re shown coral that looks like the 7^th  Marine division invaded the island across it last week, this place may hold some amazing dive spots.

So, before my last visit I got a Canon WP-DC38 underwater enclosure for my S95 pocket camera.  I tested it out while kayaking off of Penang Island’s Muka Head in Malaysia. The underwater enclosure passed.

So, one day my some friends, including water solutions genius Glen Eitemiller, & I hired a native boat & went snorkeling just west of Kangean’s main island.

We shot a lot of images. But we learned some things doing it.  You’re not going to get many great images when aiming down at coral & other underwater life. The lower you get the better the results. It’s not only shooting close, but the light effect when you are shooting somewhat upwards that makes your subjects pop. 

Confession time. I’m not as skilled a snorkeler as Glen Eitemiller—especially when one of my hands is filled with a camera. So, these underwater images are courtesy of Glen. 

I told you before he’s not a bad photographer!

We found a number of quality snorkeling spots—all of them not more than a few kilometers from the main ferry pier of Kangean. There’s got to be amazing finds to those who schedule the time to look further afield & off the Kangean Archipelago’s smaller islands. 

None the less, we relished the moment & decided we’d love explore further another day.

Like what you see of Indonesia?  Join us this 14-21 September for our Java-Bali Photo Tour with Matt Brandon of thedigitaltrekker.com. Opt in for the extension tour through 25 September & you’ll add Borobudur & the Javanese batik artists to your portfolio.    

Once you see the details, buy your spot here at this one-time introductory price & save several hundred dollars over joining us later.