Travel Bloggers – Indahs: Dive, Travel and Photography

Today I am very excited to feature on my Sunday Travel Bloggers segment Indah whose amazing blog features the best underwater photography I have seen on the web. Do take the time to visit her blog because her photos are simply out of this world!

Hello from Minneapolis (USA)! My name is Indah, I am an Indonesian, from Jakarta. I have been living overseas in two different continents outside of Asia for more than 10 years now. My travel blog is indahs.com and it is about travel, scuba diving trip and marine life.

What made you decide to start a blog?

I have travel journals – the handwritten ones. It’s more like writing down the itinerary, the thing that I did, new things or terms that I had never heard before. I thought then, why not writing the information down into a blog, sharing to the world of what I have experienced and I have seen. I also include travel information as addition. Of course, we can do search engine for specific travel information, but I treat my blog like my personal database too, it’s not just about memory but also information how did I get there or as reference about specific marine animals that I saw during my travel.

Additionally, I feel incomplete when traveling without my camera. I bring my camera everywhere including when scuba diving. I have plenty images from the travel and scuba diving to share too. Blogging is a perfect media to introduce my photography work in addition to my image submission to IStockPhoto by Getty Images.

What have your favourite experiences been away from home/the place where you were born?

I have always favourite and unforgettable experience from every travel I made. I can share three of them:

First, the three weeks of backpacking in India. My traveling partner and I faced a handful of the trip obstacles from dealing with scammers to storms then flooding. India is a country that rich with culture, delicious food, friendly people, and impressive heritage architectures. Plus, India is a country that still struggle to combat poverty and injustice to cast system. I experienced all emotion that you can think of: angry, sad, frustrated, but also happy, grateful and awestruck. I was emotional from the beginning of the travel until the end of the travel. It’s an unforgettable trip.

Second, my first experience of scuba diving with tens of nurse sharks in Belize. The experience has changed our travel choice: to make at least one scuba diving holiday annually. I never regret this decision, after that, we have been experienced incredible encounters with Manta Rays in Indonesia, Sharks in Cuba, Whale Sharks in the Philippines and many more amazing marine animals.

Third, sailing for ten days around Raja Ampat archipelago in Indonesia (almost all islands we passed are uninhabited). We had no internet and our boat’s engine broke for two days in the middle of ocean, surrounded by the limestone mountains. We had no electricity on the boat and almost ran out of freshwater, but I still had a grand time just because the surrounding was amazingly beautiful and peaceful. At that point, I just realized, how untouched nature could hypnotize us and help us to reduce our worries.

When you write your blog, who are you writing for?

Readers who love traveling, photography and curious about the underwater world.

What advice would you give to anyone wanting to start their own travel blog?

– Have your own materials. Start to take good pictures during travel, pay attention to the locals as they usually have unique habits and interesting stories, learn about the culture of places that you visited and if you were visiting wildlife sanctuary or national park, then check the native animals too. The more you have materials from a direct source, the more confident you are in writing.

– Don’t be shy to express your thoughts in writing. A good article usually the ones that comes directly from your heart and you feel attached to. Your readers will feel it.

– Your readers are your most valuable asset, treat them kindly and with respect.