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Ken Bondy
Ultra Nomad
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Registered: 12-13-2002
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Back from New Guinea
I have been in Papua New Guinea and Australia for a month, missed wandering around the Nomad Board. Anyway back home now from a great trip (43 dives
in 12 days on board). This photo could have been from Baja, but honestly it was taken in PNG:
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Diver
Ultra Nomad
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WOW ! Really nice shot Ken !!
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elgatoloco
Ultra Nomad
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Incredible photo, again! Thanks for sharing. You are a lucky guy.
A great shot of the symbiotic relationship between the animals.
Please describe what is going on for the viewers at home who may be wondering. 
Someday we may make it to PNG. 
MAGA
Making Attorneys Get Attorneys
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Ken Bondy
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elgatoloco
Thanks so much for your kind words. Cleaning behavior is fascinating. I have observed it many times but never quite captured it like this.
This is a symbiotic behavior (both species benefit) between the eel and the shrimp. The shrimp is cleaning the mouth of the eel from parasites and
other crud that gets in there. Lacking fingers and toothbrushes, the eel offers up his/her mouth to the shrimp for cleaning. The shrimp gets food
(yuck) and the eel gets his teeth cleaned. One of nature's wonders.
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Pompano
Elite Nomad
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Location: Bay of Conception and Up North
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Great photo of the cleaning/eating relationship!
Did the boat you were on give you a chance to dive any of the many WWII wrecks west of Loloata - Port Moresby? Hundreds all over that area covered
now with coral must make for excellent diving?
Please post any more dive (or whatever) photos of Papau New Guinea. The modern world living next to stone-age cultures of that still remote and
fairly undiscovered island is a marvel of diversity. Truly an unique place on earth. I remember hearing that a certain stone-age tribe only had
contact with the modern world in 1989!
As you know, we have good diving here in Baja, too, but I doubt anything in the world compares to the Coral Sea.
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
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Ken Bondy
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Pompano
I was in Milne Bay, which is at the very eastern tip of the island of New Guinea. The boat I was on (the Febrina) operates out of the little town of
Alotau. We didn't dive any wrecks, not sure if there are any military wrecks in Milne Bay. I think most of the WWII battles were in the north. But
I know firsthand that there sure are some great wrecks (ships and planes) in the islands off the north coast. This was my fifth trip to PNG (first in
1988), four for diving and one topside-only trip (Highlands villages and the Sepik River). Two of my dive trips were to Milne Bay, two out of Kavieng
on the island of New Ireland, diving of of the adjacent smaller island of New Hanover. On the Kaveing trips we dove some outstanding wrecks, I
particularly remember a very large Japanese freighter and a well-preserved Zero in about 30 fsw. You could sit in the c-ckpit.
PNG and Baja are my two favorite places on earth, for very different reasons. Arguably the best diving destination in the world, going to PNG is like
stepping back 10,000 years into the stone age. There is simply nothing else like it. Many people still wear traditional dress, bones through the
nose, body paint, grass skirts, giant hair wigs with feathers, seashells, etc, and of course, magnificent penis decorations on the men (greatly
exaggerated in size, I hope). There are people there alive today who lived undiscovered in the Highlands villages, unaware of the outside world
until they were discovered by Australians seeking gold in the fifties.
I don't want to clutter up the board with non-Baja photos, but here is a unique PNG critter:
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Ken Bondy
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And another. I have some topside PNG photos at www.kenbondy.com/png.htm.
[Edited on 3-18-2006 by Ken Bondy]
[Edited on 3-18-2006 by Ken Bondy]
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Pompano
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Another great underwater photo. I see with my cursor that it is an 'ornate pipefish'? I take it that it is unique to that area..very beautiful and
more so when you are within inches of it, I am sure.
And...WOW...that bait school is fantastic! Reminds me of a dive we made down at ZeeWhatAnejo...(fun spelling) in winter of 1963.
Congratulations on what looks like a remarkable diving trip!
[Edited on 3-18-2006 by Pompano]
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
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Diver
Ultra Nomad
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Ken,
You are a fantastic photographer !
Your color, clarity and composition are excellent !
Having tried for many years to capture some of nature's underwater wonders, I know it's not easy.
Thanks again for sharing !
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Ken Bondy
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Pompano and Diver
I really appreciate your kind words. Thanks 
++Ken++
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Natalie Ann
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Outstanding photos, as always, Ken. Now I'm off to your site to enjoy the rest of your trip pix. Thank you so much for posting these.  
Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.
.....Oscar Wilde
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oladulce
Super Nomad
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Wow, THAT'S what photos are supposed to look like ?!
I forget, here in amateur-world, that images like yours are possible. Boy Ken, you may be costing me alot in equipment upgrades. Then again, I reckon
the skill of the "operator" plays a big part in the beauty of your photos.
Enjoyed your website too. The yellow-faced, muscular PNG local really grabbed me.
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David K
Honored Nomad
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Good having you back Ken and muchas gracias for sharing your fantastic photos!
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elgatoloco
Ultra Nomad
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http://www.kenbondy.com/photo.htm
Ken, WOW! The wife and I just got done checking out all your photos. The eye shot of the Baja gray whale, did you just stick your camera down in the
water off the boat? Great view! The face on shot of the dolphin in Cozumel is a rare one and a great perspective. How was it being underwater with the
humpbacks? Barb wants to know if the silvertip shark is dangerous? The nautilus photo, do you recall how deep you were to see that? The nudibranch is
an amazing animal and we did not know there were so many variations. We were particulary interested in the Red Sea shots, we leave next Thursday for
that part of the world and we will get a chance to do some diving there.
Thanks again for letting us view your fantastic photography. If your day job doesn't work out you have a fall back, for sure!
Matt & Barb
MAGA
Making Attorneys Get Attorneys
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Cardon
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Ken, You have a nice web site with great photos -both wet and dry.
Thanks so much for sharing. Craig
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Ken Bondy
Ultra Nomad
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All of you have made my day! Mil gracias for the flattering comments.
elgatoloco, I'll try to answer your questions:
1) Yes, that's exactly how I got the eyeball shot of the gray whale. It was in San Ignacio lagoon and I just hung over the edge of the panga and
fired away with a Nikonos V, 15mm lens, no strobe. It was a low batting average endeavor, mostly I got just water or a few square feet of whale skin,
but a few frames worked.
2) Being underwater with humpbacks was incredible, life-changing. That was from the Silverbanks area north of the Dominican Republic, one of the few
places that, under strict control, you are allowed to get in the water with them.
3) Silvertips are not considered dangerous, the few times I have seen them they have been pretty spooky. That photo was from a location in PNG where
they are regularly seen. You sit still on the reef and hope one comes close. I think they are the most beautiful species of shark I have seen.
4) The nautilus photo was made at about 60 fsw but that is misleading. As a regular feature on the boat I was on, a baited trap is dropped down to
about 800 fsw at the edge of a reef known to have a big nautilus population, and left overnight. The next morning it comes up with usually 4-6
nautilus (nautili??). The photographers have their way with them for awhile at 40-80fsw, and then wave them goodbye to wobble down to 800 fsw again.
I am told, by reliable sources, that because of their unique chambered architecture, the huge change in pressure does them no harm. They are
occasionally seen naturally at 80-100fsw so they don't spend all their time at great depths. Some have been marked and individuals have been trapped
and photographed on numerous occasions.
Have a great time in the Red Sea!
++Ken++
[Edited on 3-19-2006 by Ken Bondy]
[Edited on 3-19-2006 by Ken Bondy]
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eetdrt88
Senior Nomad
Posts: 986
Registered: 2-20-2005
Location: Az/Ca/Baja
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that top picture...
is one of the most unbelivable photos I have ever laid my eyes on,great work Ken.......what a world they have down there in the sea
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The squarecircle
Nomad
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Registered: 11-28-2004
Location: El Cajon
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Greetings Ken; >>>> Maestro ----Clutter away, I say! >>>> Fantastico e mil gracias. sq.
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Pompano
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8194
Registered: 11-14-2004
Location: Bay of Conception and Up North
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Si, como no? Send us some more photos of your diving trip!
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Ken Bondy
Ultra Nomad
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OK anybody in the mood for shrimp?
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