Narcissus and the mirror


Almost everyone knows the original Greek story about Narcissus: a beautiful boy who would go every day to contemplate his own face in the waters of a pool. He was so fascinated by himself that, one morning, when he was trying to get still closer to his reflection, he fell into the water and was drowned. In that place a flower sprang up, and we call that flower narcissus.

The writer Oscar Wilde, however, gives the story a rather different ending.

He says that when Narcissus died, the Oreads, who were goddesses of the woods, came and saw that the sweet waters of the pool had changed into salt tears.

‘Why are you crying?’ asked the Oreads.

‘I’m weeping for Narcissus.’

‘We do not wonder that you should mourn for Narcissus in this way,’ they said. ‘After all, we could only run after him through the forest, but you could gaze on his beauty from close to.’

‘But was Narcissus beautiful?’ asked the pool.

‘Who better than you to know?’ the Oreads replied, somewhat taken aback. ‘It was, after all, on your banks that he would lie each day.’

The pool was still for a moment. Then it said:

‘I weep for Narcissus, but I never noticed that he was beautiful. I weep for him because whenever he lay on my banks and looked into my waters, I could see my own beauty reflected in his eyes.’      (By Paulo Coelho)

Which one is your favourite?

Chose your favourite picture :-)


Lately I started to play and experiment a bit with black&white underwater photography. Here you can find a selection. Let me know which are your 3 faves! Nothing to win here ;)

I’m just interested in your opinion and open to all comments, suggestions and critics :)

Click on the photos to get a large view!

Wallpaper April 2012


Some memories from our recent trip to Selayar. Enjoy the wallpaper of an old seafan.

click on the image  and then on 1754 × 1240 to download

Indonesia-Pulau Selayar 2012


on the top!this sponge is mine!beautiful marioniaYellow vs BlueAnthias kingdomge-ckooooo
tree folkson the netyou don't see me!do we know each other?Mirror, mirror,...that's a confortable place
something left for dinner?twinshanging breakfast

Indonesia-Pulau Selayar 2012, a set on Flickr.

The new set of picture is starting to grow… Enjoy

One last perfect day on Selayar!


After a couple of “wet” and cloudy days we were happy to see the sun rise on our last diving day! Some of us were up at 6 AM for an early morning dive.

It was just amazing to see the sun getting gradually higher up in the sky during the dive!! It was definitely the dive where I took most pleasure to shoot wide angle. (Pictures coming soon)

At the end of the dive the sun was up high…

During our whole stay workers were busy building the sunset deck at the end of the jetty. As you face East and witness amazing sunrises, and  jetty enables guests to sunbathe longer in the afternoons and have a refreshing drink in the evenings. There will never be sunsets BUT if you are there on the right moment you can witness a full moon rise over the sea…

So yesterday on our last evening all the guests gathered with their Bintang beer on the half finished sun deck and watched the moon rise .

It was just the perfect last evening…

 

 

Ready for Selayar


D-3!

On Saturday morning we will board the plane to Amsterdam and then onwards to Jakarta. After a short night we take an early morning flight to Makassar. Almost done then :) . Only 4 more hours by van and 2,5 by speedboat before settling down at the Selayar Dive Resort!  I can hear some of you already say: No way, too long !

Well, let me tell you then …

That this will be our room view for 2weeks…

or well this one on the left hand side…

…and this will be the daily passage

to some amazing wall diving

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and an infintiy of tiny jewels

It will also be 2 weeks with no internet nor cell phone network, no radio nor TV!
There will be plenty of time to meet new people, real faces with smiles and wrinkles! No interference with Google, Facebook or Twitter :)
Even though I love my “virtual” friends on the web, I’ll be happy to leave you behind…

Paradise wrapped in plastic


I spent 2 wonderful weeks diving the reefs in Raja Ampat last November. West Papua has since long been high up on my wish list. I love travelling to remote places, leave every day comfort behind and get in touch with Nature and the people living in these places.

It’s pure magic to witness the first glimpse of light in the wee hours of the morning and the golden sunbeams in the afternoon…

Cruising through the labyrinth of small islands, entering the famous Passage is pure food for all our senses !

Fam islands

The Passage

Mirrors

Having a coffee or/and lunch break on a white sandy beach comes sooner or later into your mind. The boat gets closer to the beach and you disembark the food..

You look forward to a perfect moment in this perfect picture…but then reality gets you, right away, without a warning! You stand on the beach and you rub your eyes as if you still can’t believe what you see…

The whole beach is covered in rubbish, plastic sandals, bottles, brushes, scatters and boxes of any kind. You are miles away from the next village, hours away from the next city…

My appetite for the delicious food faded away instantly