This post shares some of our favorite pictures taken while scuba diving in Fiji and Indonesia.We have the ability to dive off our own boat or dinghy, but most of the time we dive with local operators or resorts. This is because they have local knowledge of the best spots, and it is much safer than the two of us venturing into unknown places with current and other risks. Dive masters that are on these trips know what they are looking for so we see more sea life than we would on our own. Neither Val nor I spend a lot of time trying to learn the names of everything we see. (Val is correcting me here: we DO learn the names of everything we see, often many times. Then we promptly forget them despite our best efforts.) We enjoy the incredible diversity of shape and color and the constant realization that it is so fragile, and in some cases very much at risk in our current global environment.
Fiji is a known destination to many of you, but we found Indonesia an incredible surprise. Places like Raja Ampat, Komodo National Park, Wakatobi and the Spice Islands are the best diving we’ve ever done. When we were in Palau we snorkeled, but did not dive. Palau is mainly wreck diving onto WWII planes and ships and somehow it just did not seem interesting to me to look at sites where others had died. I guess we are just weird because it is a very popular world destination.
We hope you enjoy our favorite underwater pictures. By the way, no fancy photo equipment was used for any of these, and we are decidedly inexpert photographers. They are all taken with a GoPro camera and a red snap-on filter. Viewing time is 4 minutes.
buffalonickelblog.com 
gorgeous.
Wow… thank you for capturing what an amazingly beautiful universe we live in… from the sea and it’s creatures to the sky, and the stars!
We are sitting at dinner and raising a glass to you and Val – all the best,
T&T
Thanks for sharing Stan, beautiful.
Steve Parsons was telling me how much he loves your new boat.
She sounds great!
Absolutely amazing pictures……More please…
Y’all are so amazing. Great pics, great music. Again, and always, thank you for all that you go thru to generate these — You and they are so very much appreciated !!!! : )
Enjoy so much reading about your adventures. My adventures over the past 40 years are aviation related. Military and airline flying: Middle East, Europe, Central America, Iceland, Canada, and all throughout the USA.
I read about going for a swim while on passage to look at the bottom and prop. How often have you needed to do that? I can’t imagine me getting in the water while on passage.
Cheers, Dale
Hi Dale,
Many cruisers, including us, routinely check the boat bottom and prop, but always when at a dock or anchored. The engine is shut down and the boat is not moving around. If “on passage” means underway and not at anchor or in a marina, then diving the boat bottom is only done in an emergency. For example, if something gets caught in the prop (fishing net, etc) or after running aground. We do know people who have gone swimming while on passage and I have been very tempted to jump in the water each time we have crossed the equator: it just seems cool to say that I swam from one hemisphere to the other, but I’ve never had the nerve to jump into the middle of the ocean. Stan
Stan,
I very much agree going for a swim in the middle of the ocean is unsettling. I was wondering about the following blog article on setsail.com where a woman is happily doing the breath stroke around a FPB64 during a passage with a caption that says she is checking the bottom and prop during a calm period.
https://setsail.com/fpb-64-6-how-to-make-a-winter-crossing-of-the-atlantic-in-a-difficult-year/#more-46986
Happy voyages,
Dale
Dale, on that passage I suspect that those guys just stopped the boat in calm water and took a swim in the middle of the ocean because they thought it was a fun thing to do, and while doing that they checked the prop and bottom. There is nothing wrong with any of the above but it’s not standard procedure to stop the boat JUST to check the prop and bottom unless you suspect a problem. Stan
You mentioned being able to dive from your boat. Do you have an air compressor on board? If so is it one for straight air, or do you have a mixer for nitrox? When my sweetie and I get our “around the world” boat, we are planning to be able to dive from it and this part is something we have yet to figure out.
Hi Geri, sorry this took so long, clearly several comments got past us while we were distracted with moving homes. We did have a compressor on board our 64, and used it several times in remote areas of Fiji (always with at least one other couple, we trade off one couple diving while the other follows the bubbles in the dinghy.) But we found our preference was to find a local dive operator if possible, because going with a local divemaster is more rewarding, they know the sites so well and the local critters. So on our 70, we are pre-wired for a compressor if we decide to install one later, and carry our 4 tanks full of air. It’s usually not difficult to find a local operator to fill tanks if need be.