Dive4Photos Underwater Photography Workshop - Crystal Blue Dive Resort, Anilao, Philippines
Anilao is located on the island of Luzon, a two-hour drive from the country’s capital Manila, and is the birthplace of diving in the Philippines. The proximity of Anilao, at the heart of the 'Coral Triangle’, has made the area famous for the extremely high biodiversity of marine life. Ranging from colourful coral reef systems that are teaming with life, through to the dark volcanic sand that is home to a myriad of weird and wonderful critters. Anilao has world class reef diving, as well as some of the best muck-diving in the Indo-Pacific region, making the area a 'mecca' for underwater photographers looking to capture memorable images of schooling fish swimming over pristine corals, all the way down to the tiny creatures that inhabit the sandy environment of the muck sites. For the underwater photographer, Anilao has it all!
So, why not join Alex Tyrrell, Mike Bartick & Ties Lahlali at Crystal Blue Dive Resort, Anilao, Philippines, from the 26th February to 7th Match 2014, to participate in the Dive4Photos 2014 Underwater Photography Workshop?
There are two dive-package options available:
6-Nights Deluxe Accommodation - 5 Days of diving - 15 Guided Boat Dives on Nitrox
9-Nights Deluxe Accommodation - 8 Days of diving - 24 Guided Boat Dives on Nitrox
6-Nights Deluxe Accommodation - 5 Days of diving - 15 Guided Boat Dives on Nitrox
9-Nights Deluxe Accommodation - 8 Days of diving - 24 Guided Boat Dives on Nitrox
Crystal Blue Dive Resort
Crystal Blue Resort offers sheer quality without formality, in a tropical setting with a variety of choices of leisure activities. Located on prime land in Anilao, Batangas, this low-rise resort embraces beautiful architecture, while blending-in with the local landscape and culture. The area is a beautifully landscaped crescent beach, which fronts the Anilao Sea. Offering the peaceful, relaxed atmosphere desired of an Island resort, you can enjoy the open space, warm sun, and clear, blue water.Accommodation:
Crystal Blue Resort offers sheer quality without formality, in a tropical setting with a variety of choices of leisure activities. Located on prime land in Anilao, Batangas, this low-rise resort embraces beautiful architecture, while blending-in with the local landscape and culture. The area is a beautifully landscaped crescent beach, which fronts the Anilao Sea. Offering the peaceful, relaxed atmosphere desired of an Island resort, you can enjoy the open space, warm sun, and clear, blue water.Accommodation:
Type A: Deluxe Rooms have one special queen-sized bed, private baths, hot and cold shower, dining table, closets, and is fully air-conditioned. The rooms have balcony/lobby that offers spectacular views of the property, blue ocean and wonderful sunset. There are four rooms available for single person occupancy.
Type B: Deluxe Rooms have two special single beds in one room, private bath, hot and cold shower, dining table, closets, and is fully air-conditioned. The rooms have balcony/lobby that offers spectacular views of the property, blue ocean and wonderful sunset.
Crystal Blue Dive Resort do not apply any Single Person Supplement when staying in any of the four Type-A Deluxe Rooms, so there is no need to share a room and no additional expenses to incur for your privacy.
Seafood, Continental, Oriental and Filipino Cuisine are what you will find on the menu. Feast in the delightful delicacies in a cozy ambience and an open air atmosphere. The area has ceiling fans and a sound system fit for occasions and special activities along with dining. The restaurant offers sumptuous food that your taste buds will surely love and enjoy.
The resort bar is open night and day and is fully air-conditioned, as well as having ceiling fans. The bar offers alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks and beverages, as well as great-tasting snacks and side dishes.
If you want to unwind at the end of the days diving, then you can enjoy the Jacuzzi for relaxation for the body, mind, and spirit. Seated in a wonderful spot of the resort where you can have a magnificent view of the bay as you relax and unwind yourself.
Crystal Blue’s Dive Locker is second to none and the dive deck can accommodate large groups in an organised fashion. Fresh-water showers, large rinse tanks for dive gear and separate camera rinse tanks all help to move things along quickly and efficiently. Valet style diving has never been easier, as the dive crew will carry your gear from the office to the dive deck and, once your gear is set, the crew will handle the rest, loading and unloading the boats, carrying tanks, cameras and anything else needed to make the dives complete.
The compressor room turns out either Nitrox or regular air and always has tanks at the ready. A map of the dive sites helps to familiarise the guests with respect to dive site location and travel time.
Crystal Blue is one of the few resorts in Anilao that is focused on accommodating photographers. This spacious facility means there is no need to continually carry your camera equipment to and from your room. The Camera Room is custom built and features:
- 18 double-width camera bays
- 4 large video camera bays
- Dual socket 220v power points in each bay for charging
- Great lighting
- Storage space for camera cases
- Computer and downloading station
- Restrooms
- Wi-Fi
- Overnight security guard
Diving & Photo Workshop:
The diving will be conducted in small, photography-friendly groups of 4-divers per dive guide, in a private local-style ‘Bangka’ dive boat. The guides are hand picked and trained to provide the best in assistance, while maintaining a healthy green-fin approach. There are three long boat-dives scheduled each day, which are included in the dive-package. After breakfast there will be two morning dives, which will be followed by sumptuous lunchtime meal. After lunch, Alex will present Photo Technique seminars, covering different topics each day. Also, Mike will give Natural History presentations covering the behaviour of different creatures to assist you in understanding your subjects, leading to better photographs and a higher probability of capturing images of marine life behaviour.
The workshop will have an emphasis on capturing great images, in a fun, relaxed environment to promote learning. Alex is experienced in providing underwater photography tuition using all common formats of digital cameras, so this workshop will cover compact cameras systems, micro-four third systems (EVIL) and DSLR’s. Alex will also dedicate some of the dives during the Photo Workshop to in-water tuition, providing assistance with camera settings, strobe positions, composition, etc., while you are actually photographing a subject, to fast-track your understanding of the techniques employed.
Optional sunset dives (to photograph the daily mating ritual of the Mandarinfish) and night-dives (to capture images of the nocturnal creatures like Stargazers & Bobbit Worms) will be available every evening, for a small additional fee.Fluo-Diving & Photography:
Ties will give presentations on the basics of fluo-diving, so you know what to expect to help you maximise the enjoyment of your experience, as well as essential safety considerations. Alex will give presentations on fluo-photography techniques and you will then be able to put this information into practice, using the provided complimentary equipment. Light & Motion will supply Sola Nightsea lights, simply the best fluorescent light available. Nightsea will be providing Excitation Filters for a variety of different strobes, together with Barrier Filters for you camera lens. The equipment will be available for participants use free of charge, you just have to cover the cost of the night dive.
Alex and Ties are two of the most experienced fluo-divers in the Asia Pacific Region, having logged many hundreds of fluo-dives between them and have had fluorescent images published in dive magazines in both the UK & US. With the two leading fluo-diving equipment suppliers in Light & Motion Industries and Nightsea, you can be assured of both high quality instructions and equipment to use.
Dive Package Options
Dive4Photos and Crystal Blue Dive Resort are offering two different dive package options for the Photo Workshop to cater for divers that have limited time, as well as those traveling from further afield that wish to dedicate a few more days to the trip:
6-Nights Deluxe Room with 5-days of diving, including 15-boat dives for only $1170
9-Nights Deluxe Room with 8-days of diving, including 24-boat-dives for only $1750
Includes:
Dive4Photos and Crystal Blue Dive Resort are offering two different dive package options for the Photo Workshop to cater for divers that have limited time, as well as those traveling from further afield that wish to dedicate a few more days to the trip:
6-Nights Deluxe Room with 5-days of diving, including 15-boat dives for only $1170
9-Nights Deluxe Room with 8-days of diving, including 24-boat-dives for only $1750
Includes:
- Accommodation in Deluxe Room
- Breakfast, lunch, dinner & snacks
- Unlimited tea, coffee and drinking water
- Free Wi-Fi in Restaurant & Media areas
- 3-Boat dives each day with a ratio of 4-divers per Dive Guide in a private boat
- Discounted Nitrox - use of Nitrox on all dives for extended NDL’s (if Nitrox Certified*)
- Daily Photo Technique Seminars and Natural History Presentations
- Dives dedicated to in-water photo tuition
- Complementary use of Light & Motion and Nightsea fluo-diving & photography equipment
Excludes:
- Night & Mandarinfish dives ($35 per person per dive)
- Airport Transfers from Manila ($75 per person return based on group of 4 persons or more)
- Alcohol & soft drinks
- Massage
- Land excursions
- Gratuities
Anilao is located on the island of Luzon, approx. 2 hours drive south from Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Manila, Philippines.
Dive4Photos would like to thank the official event sponsors, Light & Motion Industries and Nightsea, who will provide fluorescent dive and photography equipment for the duration of the workshop.
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