Regal Guest wins Photo of the Month

Congratulations to Regaldive Guest Andrew Green on winning Sport Diver Photo of the Month with this incredible photo of a Mantis Shrimp taken on a Regaldive holiday to Siladen Island, Manado, North Sulawesi.

We met up with Andrew and his wife Jane at LIDS in February and they shared some of the incredible images of their diving holidays. Take a look at just a few of Andrew's amazing shots on the Regaldive Facebook page.

Andrew and Jane Green have been diving for 10 years and travel all over the world in pursuit of new diving experiences. Andrew first became interested in photography five years ago when he bought a Canon G9 which was great fun but he soon realised that he wanted to make the leap to an SLR. Andrew acquired a Nikon D7000 and Nauticam enclosure and Jane treated him to a days' one-to-one tuition with Martin Edge in Bournemouth and that took his picture quality and composition to another level.

Well he never looked back and now seeks diving holidays with the potential for the best photo opportunities! If you're a budding photographer, Andrew and Jane really recommend two centre holidays. They tend to select a location with bigger subjects for the first week and smaller the second week. A few words from Andrew:

"It's difficult to single out the most memorable sites because they have all been so wonderful - we are so privileged.  For pure photo opportunities, I think the Siladen Island Resort and Spa combination with Kungkungan Bay Resort in North Sulawesi is difficult to beat. In fact the fantastic location of Siladen Island gives a great mix of wide angle and close up on its own. Within at most 20 minutes you can be on the wonderful sheer walls of Bunaken Island or the muck dives on the Shores of Manado. However you just can't beat the Lembeh Straits for wonderful macro opportunities. During the first dive of our last visit we plunged into what looked like an uninteresting dive at TK III, only to be literally surrounded by Mimic and Wonderpuss Octopus everywhere you looked. They seemed to be fighting amongst themselves to give the best photo opportunity to us!

The Philippines was fantastic, with Malapascua having wonderful macro opportunities for Sea Horses, Mandarin Fish and giant Nudibranchs - a slight contradiction - along with the illusive Thresher Sharks of course. Alona Vida with its easy access to Balicasag was a great combination of close focus wide angle and macro photography. Similarly Dumaguete with its macro along the shore and wide angle at Apo Island was a super combination, with the added bonus of an off-gassing last day at Oslob to snorkel with the Whale Sharks. Couldn't wish for more really..."

So what's next for Andrew and Jane?

"Although we favour diving for macro opportunities, we would love to have the opportunity to dive with the giant oceanic mantas."

We can't wait to see the photos!!