Picture perfect...spectacular sunsets from Asia Divers & El Galleon Beach Resort during this time of the year...
The image below is looking towards the Batangas area click on the image or this LINK for more images from the Philippine - Micronesia Alliance Destinations. The Divers Choice.

© Gunther Deichmann - www.deichmann-photo.com
National Geographic Traveler: Amazing Photos of Sailfish a great article not only for Underwater Photographers.
Thanks Marilyn for sharing this with us.
Gunther
Hi Gunther, I thought you might like these photos of a large group of sailfish off Isla Mujeres in the Gulf of Mexico, attacking a huge bait ball of sardines. The sailfish work together to reduce the size of the baitball, and Nicklen shows them sticking their long noses into the swirling mass of sardines, then suddenly shooting up their sails and flashing wild colors to scare the bait fish:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/09/sailfish/nicklen-photography
The video shows the sailfish in action:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/video/player#/?titleID=1579853604&catID=1
And the Winner is...Layang Layang, 27 July 2008 - Congratulations to the winners of the Layang Layang Underwater Digital Photo Shootout 2008!
Layang Layang, 27
July 2008 - Congratulations to the winners of the
Layang Layang Underwater Digital Photo Shootout
2008!
After six
days of friendly competition among 34 competitors from 10
countries, a panel of three internationally acclaimed underwater
photographers (Settimio Ciprianni, Stephen Wong and Rod Klein)
selected winning images from entries submitted by contest
participants.
Each of the participating divers undertook the challenge of
creating beautiful and creative images during their dives around
Layang Layang, with contest rules permitting everyone to submit up
to three images in each of two categories — macro and
wide-angle.
Given the world-renowned, rich waters around Layang Layang, as well
as the determination and skill of the contest participants,
it’s no surprise that Read more…
Letter from Fins
Magazine...
Hi Alan, Tommy, Dermot
and Bill
The Layang Layang Underwater Shootout 2008 has already finished.
The results have been announced in FiNS Blog already. The feedback
about PMA from the event was very good. Most of the participants
feel like the three prizes from you are the most attractive. Some
of them have just heard of Puerto Galera, Truk and Palau, but never
considered to visit there. During the event, divers talked about
the prizes, and talked about diving in Philippines and
Micronesia a lot. In
my opinion it was quite effective.
And here are the winners of your three prizes:
Puerto Galera by Asia
Divers with El Gallean Beach Resort
and Blue Horizon
Travel
Ms. Leander Maree Wiseman (Australia)
Palau with Sam's
Tours
Mr George Russel Childress (USA)
Truk Lagoon with
Truk Lagoon Dive Center
Mr Adam Daniel Butler (UK)


More News for our Underwater Photographers...Sam's Tours running very soon on the new Aperture 2...plus iPod magic

The
Reflection of Excellence continues...
Great
NEWS! Soon to arrive...Aperture 2
at Sam's Tours Palau
Micronesia...stay tuned for more updates from Sam's Tours Digital
Photo Center.
Surviving for our underwater photographers has just become a lot
easier in Palau, Aperture 2
is on it's way, ready for YOU
to use.
Sam's Tours Digital Photo Center is the only one of it's kind in Palau, Micronesia
and in the Pacific, check out my previous blogs or go direct to
Sam's Tours DPC site click this link Sam's Tours DPC.

© Gunther Deichmann - that is how it looks on my personal
iPOD
But we offer a lot more at Sam's, now you can
upload all your holiday/vacation photos on your iPod, the staff at
the DPC will be happy to assist you with all your requirements, the
only thing you have to do... bring your iPod, but then who doesn't these days and once back
home show your friends and family members on TV how great your last
vacation has been. We take away all your hassles, you be organized
back home, no more looking for hours on end where you stored these
great shots... just switch
on your TV and enjoy the show.
We can do the same with your video footage, at Sam's Tours you
connected and can concentrate on your diving, we take care of the
rest, surviving for all our underwater photographers has just
become a lot more realistic and fun.
Now enjoy your vacation, dive the great dive sites of Palau like,
Blue Corner and Blue Hole, dont feel like diving...no problem, join
Sam's Tours on one of their great land tours by road or take a
Kayak trip for a day or two, explore and discover Palau...
"The Pearls of
the Pacific." and a founding member of the Philippine -
Micronesia Alliance.
The Divers
Choice.
For all the latest info and tips on Aperture 2 please visit Gunther
Deichmann's Blog @ http://www.deichmann-photo.com/blog.html
GD
Part two (2) of Sam's Tours Digital Photo Center, Palau Micronesia
I am now in Chuuk Micronesia, but where is Chuuk? More very interesting news from this remote part of the world in a few days, we are having a real problem now with our connection, sending a Blog out from here is just about impossible, but don't worry after the 27th of January I get it out.
Before I give you some more details on the setup at Sam's Tours, you'll be amazed what I have come across in Chuuk, totally surreal and unique, sorry, for this story you have to wait until the 27th.

From left to right:
Rhea Richardson newly trained and now in charge of operation,
Arnold Munoz, Sam Scott, Dermot Keane and Gunther Deichmann the
first day of operation.
All Photos: Hermes
Singson
When we arrived we had to
unpack, install and fine tune all the six iMac's including the
installation of the additional RAM, oh boy... we though all of it
had been done prior shipment but to our surprise well... we had to
do it.
Installation of the RAM was easy and went through without a glitch,
then we upgraded all the iMac's to Leopard since the operating
system was all on Tiger, now that was fine too, however we
encountered some real problems in upgrading all six(6) iMac's due
to the internet connection, that took us about 3 days to
finish.
Then we setup all the external hard drives for a perfect back-up
system, not to forgot upgrading Aperture to 1.5.6 which was a
little cumbersome, the latest update does not work via the
'Software Update', due to a glitch, we had to get it direct from
the Aperture site, and after hours of downloading we were finally
up and running.
Sam's Tours made available two staff for the training, Rhea a
Filipina and Alex a Polish divemaster are now running the Digital
Photo Center, after receiving a crash course on the operating
system we went straight to Aperture
for the
remaining days.
The system at Sam's Tours was set up in such a way that customers
can give the Compact Flash (CF) cards after the dive to the DPC and
the staff will import the images direct into the database of
Aperture.

Setting
up time-
left : GM Dermot Keane, Sam Scott
and Arnold Munoz,
right: Gunther Deichmann and Sam
Scott
All
photos Hermes Singson, thanks Hermes
Since most of the diver photographers come to Palau for about a
week or two, the images are uploaded every day and by the end of
the week the staff will prepare a CD/DVD for them to take
home.
But now comes the good part, if for what ever reason the customer
looses his or her CD/DVD up on returning home, they only have to
send an email and request a copy.
This is where Aperture
comes in very
handy, all images are stored as a project (the project name in this
case is the name of the Customer/Diver) as reference files and
further backed up again to another drive which is
independent.
Customer files are usually kept for about 60 to 90 days, but upon
request special arrangements can be made for longer storage, in the
DPC two iMac's are set aside for photographer who like to use
Aperture themselves, a similar back up and storage system is in
place.
All six (6) iMac's are connected in the same network via the
Airport Extreme Base Station for file sharing, perfect for photo
workshops, we put a lot of emphasis on the back up system, so no
matter what happens to your great underwater shots they'll be safe
even after you leave Palau.

Aperture
installed
including your own back up X2
All Photos Hermes
Singson, thanks Hermes.
All iMac's are wi-fi connected and have dedicated access to the
internet, thanks to Arnold our I.T. guy making the DPC a virtual
internet Cafe as well, a Video station is soon to be implemented as
well, separate printing via an Epson printer is also available plus
external CD/DVD burner with labeling ability.
But there is a lot more... small Canon digital cameras with
underwater housings are for rent and some new video cam's are
available also, there you have it, diving with Sam's Tours has just
gotten a lot better, thanks to the new Digital Photo Center, now
you can leave your laptop at home, you are in good hands at Sam's
Tours.
To round it up, this is the most complex and efficient Digital
Photo Center in Palau, Micronesia, the Pacific and I believe a
first in the diving industry, in this part of the world.
Stay tuned for this real great news and info, you won't believe the
one from Chuuk Micronesia, the things I came across during my
travels....
the title will be
"The forgotten ones"
related to our partner
Truk Stop Hotel and Dive Center, Chuuk
Micronesia.
GD
________________________________
Sam's Tours...Palau Micronesia… the curtain has been lifted...
We
all know the slogan from Sam's Tours...
A reflection of Excellence... now it is...
a
Reflection of Excellence continues. (Part
1)
15/01/2008
Sam’s Tours Palau,
Micronesia

Photo:
Hermes Singson -
Finally...
it is done! Gunther Deichmann and
Sam Scott,
we did have a few glasses of wine afterwards, celebrating
another
mile stone at Sam's Tours.
I know I kept everybody in
suspense for about a week, as of tonight it is no longer a secret.
It is late, I am very tired but it is done and official,
a first
for Palau, Micronesia and probably in the Pacific and I guess in
the diving industry. Sam’s Tours is open
for business, a complete Photography-Internet-Digital workstation
entirely run on the latest iMac’s loaded with RAM for our
photographers and Aperture users.
It doesn't matter if you an amateur or professional Sam’s
Tours is catering for all your needs, like to rent a camera for
underwater or above, or a small video cam is not a problem.
Our trained staff can assist you after the ‘dive
workflow’, show your images to your friends while still on
location with a impressive slide show, burn you images on CD/DVD
for you to take home. We offer you all the options, do it yourself
or let our staff take care of all your images while you wait and
enjoy a cold beer at our Bottom Time Bar.

Photo: Hermes
Singson-
A very happy Sam Scott from Sam's Tours
with the newly arrived iMac's
All of this is now possible
at Sam’s Tours Digital Photoshop, DSL wi-fi internet
connection using Airport Extreme, but most impressive is the photo
workstations, not only one but six high end iMac computers with all
the software you ever going to need.
We have also installed high-end backups so we can always guarantee
that your images will be safe and secure with us after each dive or
adventure trip in Palau.
In case you loose your CD/DVD, we backup your images for up to 60
days just send us an email and we will burn another copy of your
CD/DVD and post it to you.

Photo:
Hermes Singson - Gunther Deichmann
training Sam's Tours
staff on Aperture and the digital workflow after the
shoot.
For our professional
photographers
Aperture is installed and if you not
familiar with
Aperture, you can always use Bridge
or Photoshop Elements.
That’s about it for
now, I am very tired and need to get some rest, we follow up with
part two in a couple of days, and explain in more details of this
unique setup in Palau.
Congratulation to
Sam’s Tours!
Please stay tuned for more in depths details in my next blog, by
the way our commercial shoot at the Palau Pacific Resort is also
completed, some more training in the next few days for the staff at
Sam’s Tours on the Leopard operating system and of
course
Aperture, we should be all sweet by
the weekend before we proceed to Chuuk (Truk
Lagoon)

Photo:
Hermes Singson
Five
of the six workstations at Sam's Tours
Palau
Special thanks to
Apple Singapore and the Power Mac Center Manila, for the support in
this project, thanks to my staff Hermes and Arnold for the very
long working hours in completing this job. Thanks to Dermot Keane
the GM from Sam's Tours for all his help and assistance.
Gunther Deichmann is an Apple Certified Pro Trainer and has been on
site with his Manila staff in Palau as a consultant, training the
staff on the operating system including Aperture, Dermot Keane the
GM of Sam's Tours and Gunther have been responsible for the concept
and initial set up of the Digital Photoshop Center a first in
Micronesia, even Photographers have a better survival rate in
Micronesia now, thanks to Sam's
Tours.
GD
Stay
tuned for part two. (2) or subscribe to our Blog at:
http://www.alliancediving.com/blog/
Sam's
Tours is a founding member of the Philippine-Micronesia
Alliance: http://www.alliancediving.com/
For
Photography and Photo Worshop related matters please visit
Gunther's website at: www.deichmann-photo.com
The very first Photo Workshop utilizing Sam's Tours new facilities
will be held together with Tony Wu and Gunther Deichmann in April
2008, for inquiries please contact Sam's Tours
at:
info@samstours.com

Photo: Hermes Singson
- From left:
Dermot Keane, Gunther Deichmann,
Rhea Richardson and Sam Scott in the new
total Mac/Aperture Photography-Digital- Internet Center
__________________________________
Survivor fever? Palau Micronesia, great News.
Direct from Palau
Micronesia… more great News!
No it is not the Survivor show, but never less very cool news from
Sam's Tours.
A major event is just about
to go down at Sam's Tours Palau... great News for... find out on
the 15th of January.
If you can guess what is going to happen on the
15th of January at Sam's
Tours... the first email with the right answer can
win...
...3
days of free diving at
Sam’s Tours, Palau.

© Gunther Deichmann
-
for more images from the
Philippine-Micronesia Alliance destinations please
click the image above.
Clue: It's Simply Digital!
You have 3 days to figure this one out, please send your email
to: info@samstours.com
Note:
Sam’s Tours
staff, Gunther Deichmann and Team, family members and close
associates are not allowed to participate. Sorry
guys.
Next week starting on the
13th I be reporting direct from
Sam’s Tours from where we will fire up our big surprise. At
the moment we are still tied up at the Palau Pacific Resort. After
the 15th things will be very different at Sam’s concerning
… opps… I almost slipped and let the cat out of the
bag, and after Palau around the 18th of this month I am leaving
with my web master for Truk Lagoon to prepare for some major work
for our Alliance Partner Truk Stop Hotel and Dive Center.
January
2008 is a real Micronesia month for us.
Our next blog with the announcement re. Palau will be in the
evening on the 15th.
01. 2008
GD
__________________________________________


