Welcome to Indopacificimages, the website of Bali based Australian underwater photographer and storyteller Don Silcock.
Don is a SEACAM Ambassador and specialises in exploring and documenting the remote frontiers of our oceans. Through his images and narratives he connects history, conservation, and personal experience to inspire appreciation and protection of the marine world.
There is nothing for sale and no adverts on this site – simply Don openly sharing experiences from his many journeys.
NEW… Blackwater Diving in Anilao
Blackwater diving is truly one of the most unique, almost otherworldly experiences you can have underwater.
It’s not a night dive in the traditional sense, which are typically conducted in sheltered and relatively shallow locations with no current.
Instead, blackwater diving takes place far from shore, in open oceans or large bays, over deep water, often hundreds of metres deep.
What makes this experience so unique is that it opens a brief but extraordinary window into a realm few people even know exists.
Every night, billions of planktonic organisms and juvenile pelagic creatures ascend towards the surface in what scientists call the diel vertical migration (DMV).
The DVM is the largest mass movement of life on Earth. Those organisms and creatures rise up, under the cover of darkness, to feed in the nutrient-rich upper layers, then retreat back into the depths with the dawn.
Blackwater diving first gained popularity in the USA, initially in Hawaii and then in Florida. In the Asia-Pacific, Anilao in the Philippines has become the place for blackwater diving and in February 2024 I made my first trip there.
It took some getting used to but by the third night I had got my head around it and was truly hooked, as the underwater photography potential of the encounters that are possible is truly amazing!
One year later I went back for a second round..
It’s not for everyone as it challenges both your comfort zone and your perception. But if you are looking to capture different images, you really do need to try it.
I documented what I learned on both trips to Anilao in articles that were published in X-Ray magazine and you can read more on this link to Blackwater Diving – Truly Unique.
Latest Articles
Diving Papatura – A Real Gem!
Diving Papatura – a Solomon Island’s Gem… It’s a romantic notion most of us have, but very few realise. Find an island paradise, far from the modern world. And then transform it into a desert island dream and live off the grid, surrounded by nature. But where would you do it? And, …
Diving Misool in Raja Ampat
Misool Scuba Diving… The second king – Misool, the large, remote, and sparsely populated island that is the second biggest of Raja Ampat’s “four kings”. It is said that the name Raja Ampat derives from the local folklore story of a woman who finds seven eggs. Four of which hatched and the …
Diving Bikini Atoll – It’s Complicated
Diving Bikini Atoll… How do you tell 167 men, women, and children that their island home, which had always provided for all their basic needs, is going to be destroyed by a nuclear bomb? In the case of Navy Commodore Ben Wyatt, the US military governor of the Marshall Islands, he turned to the Bible. …
Diving Baja California
Diving Baja California… Bounded to the north by the US state of California, to the west by the Pacific Ocean. And to the east by the Sea of Cortez, the long and narrow Baja California peninsula is one of Mexico’s most visually spectacular and intriguing locations. Despite its arid climate, Baja California boasts some …
Diving the Banda Sea
Diving the Banda Sea… It seems almost beyond belief that some 360 years ago, one of a cluster of ten small and very isolated volcanic islands at the remote eastern end of what was then called the Malay Archipelago, was so valuable that it was exchanged for New York’s Manhattan Island. Those …
Blackwater Diving – The Anilao Night Shift
Getting into Blackwater Diving… The images are what first grab your attention! Seemingly alien creatures floating in the dark of night, long after most people have called it a day. These strange forms, illuminated by light against the blackness of open ocean, seem otherworldly. What are …
Diving Uepi Island in the Marovo Lagoon
Diving Uepi Island… The journey to Uepi is a truly wonderful introduction to the Solomon Islands. The short, one-hour flight from Honiara takes you northwest over the scenic Russell Islands and onwards to the large island of New Georgia. From the air, you’ll glimpse rainforest-clad islands encircled by …
Southern Right Whales of Peninsula Valdés
Southern Right Whales of Peninsula Valdés – The key lies in how you enter the water… Slip ever so gently over the side and swim quietly toward them, always approaching from the front so that the mother can see you coming and assess the level of threat. The mother, ever vigilant for potential orca attacks …
Technical Diving – A Late in Life Guide…
CCR Training – Crossing the Rubicon
CCR Training… After decades of diving open circuit and thousands of hours underwater with scuba tanks, I finally decided to cross the line that divides recreational diving from full-on technical diving: rebreathers. Closed-Circuit Rebreathers (CCRs) have always kind of intrigued me, with their …
Try CCR – Should You Go There?
Try CCR… If you had asked me just three years ago whether I would ever consider spending five figures on a rebreather, my response would have been a resounding no. Back then, I had no idea how they worked, saw no need for one. And frankly considered them glorified death traps. And yet, just …
Diving on Air at Bikini Atoll
Diving on Air at Bikini Atoll… With any adventure, there’s almost always a pivotal moment when the hypothetical meets the reality. And the full magnitude of what you are trying to do becomes apparent. At Bikini Atoll that moment was during my first dive on the “nuclear fleet”. When, as I …
Diving Technically in the Solomon Islands
2024 was my first full year of diving technically and it involved a lot of learning. Some not insignificant “investment” (expenditure…) in new equipment and a whole new mindset around the preparation for a trip! I had planned the year carefully around three key objectives: Match Fitness For me, this …
Technical Diving Match Fitness
Technical Diving Match Fitness… As the end of 2023 approached, I made a decision to approach technical diving from a different perspective. Instead of merely hoping to engage in occasional tech dives. I decided to commit to dedicated trips where there was no option but to dive technically. I …
Getting into Technical Diving
Getting into Technical Diving… If you are into scuba diving, you will no doubt have noticed the growth of what is generally referred to as “Tech”. I certainly have and my attitude towards it evolved from somewhat dubious, to quite interested, as it became more and more mainstream. I was …