Samarai Island, Papua New Guinea

This morning we have an early 5am wakeup call for a dawn photography session, organised by Nick and Peter, on the island of Samarai  It’s a bit like being back in Africa and getting up for the 5am Safari. We head for deck 6 to grab our cameras. [The reason the cameras are on deck 6 is that the ship is air-conditioned and outside it’s very humid. If you keep your camera and lens in your cabin it’s going to take about 30 – 45 minutes for the camera and lens to acclimatise, in the mean time you cant see anything because your camera is all fogged up.]

Once we have all our gear it’s down to the swim deck, jump into the zodiacs and head for the island, just visible in the early morning light, not too far away.
Pre Dawn Orion viewed from the Zodiac
Approaching Samarai Island

During the night we’ve been backtracking a bit and come back south into the China Strait Islands.
Map of the region showing our heading - Google map link

Nick and Peter, in their presentations, have been discussing the best time to shoot and dawn is a favourite time of theirs and they are keen to get set up before the sun is too high in the sky.

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