Reader Comments

Hello, readers. Please leave me a comment! I'd love to hear from you. :)

-- posted by Eric Cheng @ Tuesday, August 26 2003, 06:13 am

great pictures as usual eric. especially the whale sharks, and the huge land turtles!

i just came back from 10 days of diving in koh tao, using a small digital elph canon s230, and i found even shooting only with available light, that it seemed to pick up lots of particles in the water unless you were shooting very close. maybe its the quality of the CCD? video taken by others seemed to be much better.

also most people enjoy looking at all the images without realizing how much work it is to continually document. i definitely felt a little fatigued of documenting this time out. (have you reached that point yet of fatigue from carrying around all that equipment?) its this constant struggle to document or to really live, experience, and travel light

-- posted by paul @ Tuesday, August 26 2003, 11:47 am

Hey, Paul! Video always looks better than still because they use red filters and white balance. It cuts right through the visibility because red is what usually makes the subject stand out from the blue.

A for backscatter, it it usually because of the strobes that still shooters are forced to use -- especially if you are using the flash on your camera itself. That lights up the particles from the front; they will certainly show up in your resulting image.

Thanks for catching the link problem. I'm always looking for people to catch broken links, typos, and brain farts. A friend is sitting next to me right now, and he has caught four so far! :) (notification over e-mail is best)

-- posted by Eric Cheng @ Tuesday, August 26 2003, 12:18 pm

Wow... great pictures. I've been following your journal for quite sometime now. And you've inspired me to use my digital camera more often.

Eric... I am looking to buy a SLR camera and I have no clue of what to get. Any suggestions? My budget is around $400.

-- posted by Jungho @ Tuesday, August 26 2003, 06:10 pm

Hey Eric! I thought you were lost somewhere or disappeared... while now I now that you are diving with whale sharks... lucky you!!! I'm in Milan and I'm leaving for England in one week... AAAAHHHH!!! Read my e-mails! Enjoy yourself, say hello to the lobsters and take care of you. I hope to hear from you soon. Ciao! Marta

-- posted by marta @ Wednesday, August 27 2003, 08:48 am

It's me again! I just realize that I wrote "now" instead of "know" ... ops!!! But it's not a problem... I just have to do a master in english.... AAAAHHHHHHH!!!! Ciao! Marta

-- posted by marta @ Wednesday, August 27 2003, 08:51 am

Eric, Awesome journal and photos. We were very lucky to have you in our group. What an adventure for Anderson and me. Thanks for making this trip even better. I would like to purchase several prints so let me know what I need to do. Take care and Thanks again for the memories. Freddy

-- posted by Fred McLaughlin @ Wednesday, August 27 2003, 09:53 am

Hey Eric. I have a couple of things to say: 1) I'm jealous. I have been looking for these whale sharks somewhat since the Seychelles. Grrrr ! 2) Really really cool pictures (I'm jealous as well) 3) Tell us a little bit more about your fins and Darrens's one, this might be where to look for.

Just got from the Perhentian (Malaysia) a few hours ago. I'm killing some time in Kota Bahru while waiting the train to Singapore.

Cheers.

-- posted by stephane @ Thursday, August 28 2003, 02:18 am

Hi, Stephane! Darren wears the least stiff of the long Cressi free-diving fins. I wear an old pair of Mares Avanti Quattro fins, but I'm not that efficient in the water with them (I saw video footage of me pacing that whale shark, and my kicks don't follow through properly). I'll have to practice. :)

-- posted by Eric Cheng @ Thursday, August 28 2003, 02:24 am

Hi Eric,

Anderson McLaughlin is my nephew. (Fred is married to my sister Laura). Anderson was telling my mother how difficult it was to describe the beauty and variety of animals. Through your photos, I can catch a glimpse of what it must have been like on Galapagos. Thank you so much for this website. I will continue to follow your work.

Susan Goldberg

-- posted by Susan Goldberg @ Thursday, August 28 2003, 03:48 pm

wow, what a great time you must be having !! please tell me what your carrying "load wise" and what your expenses have been like .. I heard you say "trying to travel light and document simultaniasly was getting tiring".

I worked North Pacific Ocean for a few years....see the whale sharks ....now imagine waking with them for several months at a time ....or traveling in the middle of the night in 30 ft. seas and always being guided by the sea porpoises....enjoy yourself ....aprreciate what this great earth has to offer and you will find yourself in it!

drop me a line when you get time...Be safe!

BrotherBrian

-- posted by Brian Allred @ Friday, August 29 2003, 01:48 am

It is always a treat to look through your pictures after you have been away. Looks like fantastic diving and you certainly nailed some quality pix. I particularly like the whale shark shots, which are imnpressive because it was clearly pretty dark and murky. I really like the two shots of whale shark and diver. Excellent for giving that being there feeling. Alex

-- posted by Alex Mustard @ Friday, August 29 2003, 04:58 am

Nice to see such youthful enthusiasm! Look forward to crossing paths with you some day.

-- posted by John Brooks @ Friday, August 29 2003, 11:09 am

IMHO eric, look no further than the fins. I have the Mares Quattro myself (new model) and find them ok for slow kicking and a quick extra boost (so basically scuba diving) but you burn a lot of energy for fast kicking as they are very heavy and you need to move a lot of water.

For doing a long run chasing a whale shark, IMHO forget it. We have to look somewhere else and more than certainly into free-diving fins

For the record, I cannot do a fast 800m (the snorkel test for divemaster or level 4 cmas) with them without my feet screaming of pain while I achieve the top mark with basic Cressi Rondine light snorkeling fins (very nervous). Of course the kick frequency is very different but I'm not exhausted trying to push all the ocean water ;)

-- posted by stephane @ Friday, August 29 2003, 08:37 pm

Your pictures are great and I know it must have been a fantastic trip

-- posted by Howard's @ Friday, August 29 2003, 09:35 pm

Your family looks miserable in the San Jose, CR airport. I've been in that airport and I felt the same way...you can't get any decent food and there's absolutely nothing interesting to look at.

-- posted by Mike @ Sunday, August 31 2003, 12:51 am

Jeez Eric those are some sweet pics. Makes me really wish I'd had a camera when I did the whole whale shark thing. Very jealous since I'm back in Scotland now. xx Lezzles

-- posted by Lezzles @ Tuesday, September 2 2003, 04:53 am

Haven't been able to see pictures--all I get is the writing

-- posted by Sallye Bayer @ Wednesday, September 3 2003, 01:27 pm

you are a very lucky man!!!! amazing images as usual. -drew

-- posted by drew lynford @ Friday, September 5 2003, 07:37 am

Eric,

Great photos! My thanks also to Darren for the "loan". I just finished reviewing your trip notes and photos with my grandsons. They definitely enjoyed that last photo. I hope your time with the great whites was filled with great experiences. Gene

-- posted by gene @ Friday, September 5 2003, 05:37 pm

Hey man - your pics are great. I was on the skydancer a couple of weeks before and saw the shark that was caught by the fisherman. He was a bit testy. Unfortunately, I only saw one whale shark the whole time - I think we ran into bad luck. Anyways, again..great photos...look forward to seeing more of them.

-- posted by Andy Begal @ Thursday, September 11 2003, 03:54 pm

Wow, Eric. What an amazing trip! I am envious of your picture taking ability. Great collection and deffinitely inspiring. Enjoy the pictures underwater very much. What an encounter with the whale shark and thank you for sharing with us.

Max

-- posted by Max Lappin @ Friday, September 12 2003, 01:04 pm

Again Eric, you continue to inspire with your great photos and travel journal. . . keep it up, you have an avid follower here (!) JOHN T.

-- posted by John Teng @ Thursday, October 30 2003, 12:13 pm

thank you for job well don

-- posted by mike muka @ Wednesday, December 3 2003, 05:06 pm

good site. I am planning a trip to Ecuador and the Galapagos soon and I am soaking up everything I can find.

-- posted by Bob Finney @ Monday, February 9 2004, 02:54 pm

Thank you Eric, for going to the trouble to document (both in words and pictures) your trip. We just returned from the Galapagos, and were fortunate enough to have zillions of hammerheads and a few whale sharks too at Darwin Island. Since I didn't have a camera, I could do little more than wave my hands, hold them as far apart as I could, point to opposite ends of a room, and make my eyes as wild as I could - all in a vain attempt to describe the experience.

Your pictures help immensely.

Best regards, Lee Jones "Lammer Law" - June 13-23, 2004

-- posted by Lee Jones @ Tuesday, July 13 2004, 01:35 pm

Do you have any pictures of the huts you stayed in. I couldn't find one.

-- posted by Denisa @ Thursday, January 6 2005, 09:11 am

it very interesting... i had a homework to do for my tourism class and thx alot for all the information

-- posted by cindy @ Wednesday, November 29 2006, 01:22 pm

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