Wakatobi recently welcomed Dive Photo Guide’s Field Editors Anita Verde and Peter Marshall to the resort. Images created by this award-winning husband-and-wife team are often featured in publications such as Asian Diver, Scuba Diver, Asian Geographic, BBC Travel, Underwater Photography Magazine, Oceanographic Magazine, and Fodor’s Travel. After spending ten days exploring and documenting the reefs of Wakatobi, Anita and Peter sat in for a quick question and answer session to share their thoughts and impressions of the resort’s diving and photographic opportunities.

Anita Verde and Peter Marshall at Wakatobi.

Q: What are your thoughts on Wakatobi as a destination for underwater photography?

A: Wakatobi Resort offers photographers an ideal environment for underwater imaging. The reefs surrounding the resort show excellent coral health and harbor a wide variety of marine life. The opportunities begin right on the resort’s doorstep at the House Reef, and the short boat trips to other dive sites make for a very relaxed, convenient, and extremely productive experience.

With so many dive sites close to the resort, boats can often return to the dock after each dive. That is a real plus for those times when you need to come back to get something you forgot or change camera equipment.

The Wakatobi House Reef is “one of the top three sites we experienced during our stay,” said Anita and Peter. Photo by Anita Verde and Peter Marshall

The House Reef is a treasure trove of splendor and one of the top three sites we experienced during our stay. The ability to dive or snorkel the House Reef at any time (tides depending) means you can spend as much time in the water as you like without restriction.

Wakatobi’s camera center provides ample and organized space for photographers. Photo by Adrienne Gittus

Q: What infrastructure elements and services make Wakatobi a good choice for photographers?

A: The generous baggage allowance on the flight from Bali was a big plus for us as photographers, as we have a lot of underwater camera equipment. The resort’s spacious dive and snorkel boats gave us room to move about freely and plenty of space to manage our equipment. The large rinse tanks were appreciated, and we never felt crowded or rushed to enter the water. The water-level mid-boat entry points made it easy to enter and exit the water.

The dive staff on the boats and ashore offer a high level of service to photographers. It was apparent that they were very well-trained to handle our equipment with care, and we appreciated their assistance in carrying equipment to and from the camera room. The camera room is well-equipped with universal charging stations and ample workspaces.

Wakatobi has a fleet of nine dive and snorkel boats. Each provides full coverage from the sun, large camera table, bathrooms with full showers and plenty of extra space for comfort. Photo by Walt Stearns

Our dive guide was very good at finding macro subjects. We appreciated that our guide did not touch or reposition our subjects. This meant that patience was required to wait for a subject to move to a better photographic position and he was always happy to wait.

Guests have access to underwater photography courses and advice from the resort’s resident photo pro, and we saw many guests taking up this opportunity. So if you are a beginner photographer or someone with a few questions, the staff is on hand to help and provide advice. The availability of camera rental equipment was also great; particularly if you have an equipment failure.

The Wakatobi restaurant and patio offers tables inside the open-air dining room or on the outdoor terraces. Either way, guests enjoy relaxing views of the beach and ocean. Photo by Didi Lotze

The dining experiences aboard and ashore were both nutritious and delicious. Snacks during surface intervals were fresh, varied, and tasty and catered to many different preferences. This is a must when you are spending so much time in the water. The restaurant and dining at the resort works very well with the diving program. Meals are well scheduled to allow plenty of time to relax and enjoy a proper meal without feeling rushed to return to the boat.

The rose coral at Roma makes for some excellent wide angle image opportunities. Photo by Anita Verde and Peter Marshall

Q: What unique underwater photography opportunities does Wakatobi provide?

A: We enjoyed the diversity of available photo subjects. The health of the coral reef was excellent and on most dives the visibility was very good, which made for high-quality imaging opportunities. The reef topographies were varied and had a good diversity of hard and soft coral species and sponges. Turtles and cuttlefish were guaranteed sightings and we enjoyed photographing these personalities. For wide-angle photography, we like to dive when there is current as it gives the best opportunity for dramatic scenes with soft corals open and schooling fish.

A Pontoh’s pygmy seahorse (Hippocampus pontohi) strikes a pose on a reef at Wakatobi. Pontoh’s can reach a max length of about 1.7cm, making it one of the smallest representatives of seahorses. Photo by Anita Verde and Peter Marshall

Q: Do you have any favorite subjects found at Wakatobi?

A: Pygmy seahorses are always a favorite for macro photography and there were many different species to be found. We appreciated the care the resort has for the pygmy seahorse and the policy that the resort adopts for shooting these precious tiny creatures.

Green and hawksbill turtles are a common sight on Wakatobi’s House Reef. Photo by Anita Verde and Peter Marshall

We also loved the resident turtles on the House Reef, the vibrant reef scenes and marine life subjects at the dive site Roma, and the friendly and sentient cuttlefish at The Zoo. The giant Gorgonian fans and rose corals were stunning for wide-angle photography.

For underwater photography and a top-notch dive resort experience, Wakatobi has it all.

More of Anita and Peter’s work can be viewed on their Summits to Seas website.

Ready to get your own shots? Plan your visit with us.

Enquire  or Email our team: office@wakatobi.com

Visit us on Facebook  and Instagram

Great Wakatobi videos on YouTube