Stella Chiu-Freund's latest posts

23 October 2009 N1 45.136 E124 31.782 – Rakit This day was a walk down memory lane. Eight years ago, when we were finalizing our shoot for our book Sulu Sulawesi Seas for WWF, we spent five midnights to mornings with the funae fishermen of Bunaken Island. Their hard work started when they bought live […]

20 – 24 October 2009 N1 35.560 E124 46.199 – Bunaken Island N1 34.532 E124 48.592 – Thalassa Dive Center Off we went with the tireless Simone Gerritsen of Thalassa Dive Center in Manado to explore  Bunaken and the surrounding islands as well as the under-appreciated mainland Manado. We knew to expect the steep wall […]

18 October 2009 N1 27.604 E124 45.671 – Murex Dve Resort About 15 years ago, Yogi dove and dove and dove for two straight months with Murex Dive Resort and Liveaboard in North Sulawesi. During this period, he contracted dengue fever and got a special visit from Murex’s very owner, the gentle, soft-spoken Dr. Batuna. […]

15 – 17 October 2009 N0 50.831 E124 42.464 A relatively unknown dive destination not far from Lembeh is slowly getting its share of the limelight. Buyat Bay is about five hours from Manado located south of Lembeh. It used to be a gold mining operation that shut down recently. Now the mining facility’s skeleton […]

If you happen to be in Singapore on October 27 with nothing to do at 7 pm, join us at the Botanical Gardens, as we shall be presenting our expedition so far through a 40-minute slideshow. Here’s WWF Singapore’s leaflet-invitation to announce the event!

10 October 2009 This is the day Yogi turns 50! Happy half-a-century, Yogibear! It is also the day we learned about the circle hook and de-hooking tuna longline vessels’ by-catch. Hafizh Adyas of WWF Indonesia oversees the By-catch Programme, and Rudy Masuswo Purwoko, a Bitung fisheries teacher and former WWF onboard observer, trains the Nutrindo […]

5 – 10 October 2009 N1 26.636 E125 10.854 – Bitung After intensive diving in Lembeh, it was again time to shift gears and swing to the other extreme of photographing fisheries. This time it was all about tuna. We met the young Hafizh Adyas of WWF Indonesia in Bitung. With Hafizh’s guidance, excellent English, […]

23 September – 4 October 2009 N1 27.384 E125 14.556s As much as we appreciate the diversity of creatures crawling about Lembeh Strait, we appreciated more our guides who led us to them. Visiting divers will never get to see critters without the help of our Indonesian dive guides from Lembeh Divers Resort. They see […]

23 September – 4 October 2009 N1 27.384 E125 14.556 An insanely fantastic artist friend of ours by the name of Robert Strachan has, for years, barked out an order everytime we went on a dive journey. “Will you photograph fish faces for me? Not side view. Not quarter view. I want full frontal in-your-face […]

23 September – 4 October 2009 N1 27.384 E125 14.556 What the heck is muck? We have been diving in the Lembeh muck for the past 12 days and finding it so interesting we could hardly tear ourselves away from it. We must be mad, you’d think.  How can diving silt and sand be interesting? […]