Underwater photography is quite challenging and is one of the most favored pastimes for a great number of photographers. Several dive destinations provide opportunities to capture different life forms and captivating surroundings. Southeast Asia offers several dive locations in the world for underwater photography and is a photographer’s dream. The golden triangle offers some of the best dive locations as it connects Bali, Borneo, Philippines and the Solomon Islands.
Underwater photography can include capturing marine life, shipwrecks, silhouettes, coral reefs, barracudas, sharks, large ferns and many more. Anilao, Lembeh, Bunaken and Bali are the major places in Southeast Asia that offer many dive destinations for underwater photography.
- Anilao – It is a haven for underwater photography and is just 3 hours drive from Manila. The place is ideal for capturing nudibranches, reefs and rare underwater creatures. It offers opportunities for exploration of new species and harbors extremely healthy reefs at both shallow and immense depths.
Twin Rocks, Bethlehem, Mainit Muck, Kirby’s and Basura are rich locations for underwater photography. Beatrice is great for wide angle photography of schooling anthias. Mainit point offers sharks, barracudas and pelagic shots. Secret Bay (Mainit Muck) is famous for muck-diving and offers mantis shrimp, gobies, nudibranches, wonderpus octopus, squids and cuttlefish. Other attractions include seahorses, ambon scorpionfish, ghost pipefish, frogfish and bobbit worms. - Lembeh – Lembeh is located in Indonesia near Manado and is famous for corals, large fishes, sponges, anemones, crinoid shrimps, small frogfishes, nudibranches, clownfish and seahorses. Nudie Retreat, TK3, Nudie falls and Police pier are the rich environments for underwater photography.
- unaken – Bunaken islands are located north of Manado in Indonesia. This offers great opportunities for wide-angle and macro underwater photography. The famous dive sites in the islands include Barracuda point, Manado dua, Sachiko, Lechuan and Mandolin.
- Bali – This offers a great range of critters, walls, wrecks, corals, muck-diving, schooling fishes and pelagics. Manta Rays, schooling jacks, bumphead parrotfishes and reef sharks are the other offers. The dive sites in Bali include Tulamben, Nusa penida, Manta point, Puri jati, Padang bai, Secret bay and Menjangan Island.