I am happy to share the publication of our article "Dolphins of the Bahamas" in magazine DUIKEN.

Pick up your hard copy in stores now!

The article tells the story of two different species of dolphins in these warm and clear waters.

Having visited the Bahamas and Bimini in particular multiple times now I can honestly say it is high, high up my list of favorite places in the world.

Usually my dives on one breath are not deeper than 15 meter. 

I encounter most of the big marine life that I photograph in that region.

There have been cases however that I regretted to not be able to dive deeper comfortably and safely.

That's why I decided to attend the the deep dive specialty of Enker freedive experts.

Dear Charles,

When you set foot on the Galapagos islands in September 1835 you noticed the interesting wildlife and the diversity amongst the animals.

The differences between the at-first-sight identical animals on various islands would later lead to your book and Naturalists bible named "The Origin of Species".

Many people hold you in high regard because of it.

From your diaries though it seems you were appalled by the appearance of the Marine Iguanas that lived on isla Isabella. 

The Galapagos islands are a dream destination for many people for obvious reasons.

The island's history and its (for the biggest part) well protected nature reserve have attracted many holidaymakers and naturalists over time.

This year we finally managed to visit the place for the first time.

"For the first time", because for sure we need to return once to the archipelago with its abundant marine life.

Recently we've been in the far North west of Peru hosted by Planeta Oceano. This NGO is working with the local communities to protect and research the biggest Manta rays in the world; the Manta Birostris.

After the discovery of a population of giant mantas off the coast of Tumbes the manta got national attention in Peru, which in turn led indirectly to its nationwide protection starting from 2016.

While summer arrived and the next big trip was still months away some extra dives in the Netherlands were on schedule.

Even before I joined the NorthSea expedition we planned some NorthSea dives with Dive Post Zoetermeer. Together with my dad I'd go out on our first NorthSea trips.

Later I learned though that I could join the SDDNZS expedition as a photographer, which meant that my maiden dive in the NorthSea would take place a lot earlier in the year.

Spring is in the air.

Lots of new life is born and temperatures will be warm again in the Netherlands.

We took the opportunity to explore a small nature reserve behind the Dutch dunes close to home and spotted lots of new life too.

On april 2015 Elio Canestri, a 13 year old French surfing talent, lost his life due to a tragic shark incident on Reunion Island.

Before we embarked on our trip to Reunion island I contacted Aurélien Meynieux, one of the top surfing talents of Reunion. Auri is a longboarding champion. He represents France and Reunion in particular in the international longboarding competitions. Longboarding is a much underestimated form of surfing compared to the popular shortboard or big wave surfing, if you ask me. We checked out Auri ride his board in the waves off St. Gilles and Sandy took this picture. He makes surf look easy. Trust me, it is not...

Travelling all over the world to see and photograph sharks and other big marine life sometimes makes me a bit blind to our Dutch wildlife.

Making up for that I signed up for the SharkaTag event (pronounced like sharkattack, but different :-) ) joining the boat organized by the Dutch Shark Society.

SharkaTag has been introduced in the Netherlands after its first research projects were held in the past years in the UK.