Tag Archives: Mona

Paradise wrapped in plastic

Posted on February 19, 2012 | 1 Comment

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

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Posted in My Point of View

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Out for an ice dive!

Posted on February 12, 2012 | Leave a comment

Hello all.

Let me introduce myself! My name is Play. I’m Mona’s dive buddy. I was really excited as she promised me a dive under the ice. I know quite a few spots in Asia so far but she never took me under the ice!

Mobil was excited too! He is Chris’ dive buddy and we spend a lot of good moments together. So this morning we were both geared up and ready to dive!

Unfortunately the dive got cancelled this morning :(
They didn’t tell us why but they spent the whole evening with other human friends. They ended up around some strange liquid they call Zacapa Ron

We don’t know what this liquid contains but they looked desperately tired this morning and decided all to cancel the dive…Well at least they accompanied us to the spot where we could watch some other human divers get under the ice.

Well maybe some other time soon! My human friends are strange!!!

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Posted in Photo of the day

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Perfect moment – Galapagos Islands

Posted on January 26, 2012 | Leave a comment

The Galapagos Islands have always been  a  mythic place to me. Back in 1999, we were travelling Ecuador up and down and we managed to get a 8 day trip to the famous islands in the Pacific. I had seen numerous documentaries and was excited to set foot on the islands.

What impressed me most was the fact that all these wild animals showed no fear. You could get really close to watch them. No tele lens needed.They checked us with one eye and accepted us in their world. The only place where I have a similar feeling is underwater. I love diving for a lot of different reasons but the fact that you can get face to face within  touching distance with wild animals in their habitat is one of the main reasons.

Some of the habitants of  the Galapagos islands seemed to have skipped several stages during the evolution. Oh yes, Darwin was here and put up his famous theory!

Well, watch for yourself!

As we entered the year of the dragon…here are some of them

Iguana

 crawling

meeting up with friends…

This huge old turtle is the king of the island : Lonsome George

Here one of my favourite encounters. A young Galapagos albatross. He still has to wait a bit to get rid of his teenager face and to be able to fly :-

I can’t but think that it is a huge privilege to witness nature that way : close up but with respect. The balance is fragile…

I will never forget the look in these eyes…

These animals never had a reason to fear men . Let’s hope we don’t prove them wrong!

More pics : Ecuador&Galapagos 1999

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Posted in perfect moments, Travels

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Interview Radio 100,7

Posted on January 20, 2012 | Leave a comment

Here is yesterday’s interview. I had the pleasure to talk about diving and photography during 7 minutes on radio 100,7in order to promote tonight’s multi-media show “Indonesia: Maumere to Komodo”

Where : Prabbeli Wiltz   When : 8pm tonight

Hier j’avais le plaisir de parler de plongée et de photo sous-marine lors d’une interview à radio 100,7 afin de promouvoir la soirée photo de ce soir “Indonésie: Maumere à Komodo”

Où : Prabbeli Wiltz    Quand : ce soir à 20.00h

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Posted in Exhibitions, Travels

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Perfect moment – Torres del Paine (Chile)

Posted on January 16, 2012 | Leave a comment

In 1999 Chris and I decided to travel down south from Santiago de Chile to the Strait of Magellan. During this trip we had planned a 7 day trek of the “circuit” in the Torres del Paine NP.

The hike circles around the famous Torres del Paine . At this time there were a few “campamentos” along the trail to put up a tent and you had to bring all your food supply as nothing was available while on the road.

Weather was another issue. It could change from winter snow storm to summer sun at cyber speed and most of the time the temperatures were close to freezing at breakfast.

Halfway was the John Garner Pass at 1200m above sea level. For most of us the highlight of the trek. After an altitude difference of 800m you were supposed to have a view on the Grey glacier.

We started early in the day and the weather was nice. Arriving close to the top of the pass was exciting. We were walking up and I had lots of images in my head… how would it look like?

Then finally I can see the flag and slowly the glacier comes into sight, partially…a bit more and then!

All the exhaustion disappears. I watch from my right to the left and all I see is GLACIER GREY!

What a panorama! Ice all over as far as your eyes can see!

Unfortunately we cannot stay for too long up there. There is no protection from the strong winds and there are still 5-6 hours down to the camping. (Actually the camping is situated at Lago Grey, lake Grey which you can see on the 3rd photo of the glacier.) :-)

There is only one way to earn this view : 2-3 days hiking (either way round)

After the one week trek all our bones were aching, our feet were full of blisters. We didn’t have a shower at all. But we were happy. And the view of the Grey Glacier never got out of my mind…

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Indonésie(Flores) – de Maumere à Komodo

Posted on January 16, 2012 | Leave a comment

Next Friday will be held a multi media show @ Prabbeli in Wiltz. I’ll have the pleasure to present our photos from last year’s trip to Flores. You will discover colourful reefs and amazing country sides through the island of Flores and of course the famous Komodo dragons.

Come and spend some time with us in the cosy setting of the Prabbeli, a drink in your hand!

Beginning : 8 pm

Vendredi 20 janvier, j’aurai le plaisir de présenter nos photos du voyage à travers l’île de Flores. Vous allez découvrir des récifs coralliens colorés ainsi que des paysages enchantés et bien entendu les fameux dragons de Komodo!

Venez passer un moment agréable avec nous dans le cadre détendu du Prabbeli, une boisson à porté de main!

Début : 20h00

Infos


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Posted in Exhibitions, my slideshows, Travels, underwater

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Perfect moments…

Posted on January 10, 2012 | Leave a comment

When I’m scrolling through the photos I took over the years many fond memories are coming back into my mind. Perfect moments…

Some really stand out and it’s almost impossible to describe the feelings I had at that moment even though the feelings are still as strong as they were at the moment I took the picture. The word which I like a lot and comes closest to it in English is the word bliss : a state of profound satisfaction, happiness and joy, a constant state of mind, undisturbed by gain or loss (Wikipedia).

I decided to upload a picture and its story on a regular basis here.

This week’s perfect moment is from our trip to Myanmar (Burma) in 2003. Our guide did his best to find the perfect place for a sunset around the ancient city of Bagan southwest of Mandalay. He first chose one of the guidebooks’ favourites and we climbed up. The view was breathtaking but the number of tourists wandering around in order to find the perfect spot for the perfect shot made my hair stand on end. There was no way to enjoy that moment to the full. When we told our guide about our feelings he gave some thought about the situation and smiled : “I might have a place for you but I’m not sure. Come quick!”

We went down as fast as possible through the still growing crowd and jumped in his car as the sun started its descent. He drove us to another smaller ruin with no people around. The place didn’t catch the eye, but it was not the place itself which was important but the view we would have…in peace and silence.

As we arrived on top only a handful people were sitting there contemplating the view… Yes, that’s it!

Our guide was relieved! Why? The sun only appears at a certain time of the year in that constellation, that close to the ruins, almost “rolling” down. Sometimes it’s far away and sometimes the ruin (the one we were standing on minutes earlier) completely hides the sun. But it was our lucky day…and a perfect moment!

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2011 in review

Posted on January 2, 2012 | Leave a comment

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 3,800 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 3 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

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Posted in Photo of the day

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Carnival in Nuweiba

Posted on March 20, 2011 | Leave a comment

Beginning of March we spent two fantastic weeks diving in Nuweiba. It was carnival time !

Mona

Mona

Have you ever thought about celebrating Carnival underwater while diving???
Well we did and Sarah and Daniel from African Divers tried to get most of it on video while Chris shot the pics.
Here’s the result ! Enjoy and don’t forget to put up the sound :)

Carnival in Nuweiba aka. Photographers in Action from AFRICAN Divers Nuweiba on Vimeo.

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Posted in diving, funny stuff, Travels

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Diving is way too cool!!!

Posted on March 5, 2011 | Leave a comment

Here’s the proof!
Sarah from African Divers and I show you how cool diving can be here in Nuweiba.

Mona

Mona


Sarah

Sarah

…what’s really cool on the dive site Myserique is this huge brain coral called Brian’s brain. It is called so for more than 20 years now. Usually these corals collapse under their weight but this one has resisted so far.
it is more than 7 m high.
Here a fish eye view from the top of it

Brian's brain

Brian's brain

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Posted in diving, Travels, underwater

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