A Brief Bio:
Mark Strickland’s life-long interest in the sea has included over 10,000 dives and careers as a lifeguard, boat captain, and scuba instructor. His passion for underwater photography has led him to many top dive locales, including the Virgin Islands, Australia, and Thailand, where he spent 17 years as Cruise Director on a series of liveaboards. Mark now resides in Ventura County, California.
An avid marine naturalist, Mark has discovered several nudibranch species. He is co-author and principal photographer for Lonely Planet’s award-winning book, “Diving and Snorkeling Thailand”, and his work appears in many magazines, books, and displays around the world. Currently, Mark leads several dive trips each year to his favorite destinations, while working on a career-spanning large-format pictorial book.
Mark's photos and articles have appeared in magazines and books around the world, including Action Asia, BBC Wildlife, National Geographic World, Natural History, Scuba Diving, Skin Diver, Sport Diver, Sportdiving, Unterwasser, and many others.
Upcoming Trips:
- Supreme Luxury Raja Ampat Peak Season Liveaboard 2025
- Feb 16 - 27, 2025
- Discover why our Raja trips are the pinnacle of diving with insane biodiversity
- Raja is considered by many to be their #1 top bucket list dive destination in the world
- 11-night route dives the absolute best of Raja, including top north & south dive sites
- With only 12 guests, the Damai II delivers the top luxury liveaboard experience in the world
- Manta rays, wobbegong sharks, mind-blowing corals and schooling fish, highest marine diversity in the world
- Includes FREE optional photo worksho
- 11N from only $7,645
- Ultimate Luxury Philippine Resort Group Trip 2025
- Jun 29 - Jul 6, 2025
- Ultra-luxury dive resort in Dumaguete, Philippines. This place will WOW anyone you bring. The suites with private pools are to die for, as is the food, service, lodging and amazing infinity pools right in front of the ocean.
- The diving trifecta - one of the world’s best whale shark encounters, Some of SE asia’s best macro and critter diving, plus great coral reefs, walls packaged with turtles, jacks and info-pacific reef life.
- Amazing snorkeling literally 15 feet from the resort in calm shallow water.
- 25% off rental photo gear from Bluewater Photo
- 7N from $2,414
- Fiji Ultimate 10-night Soft Coral & Shark Liveaboard Trip Oct 2025
- Oct 4 - 14, 2025
- Experience the absolute best of Fiji’s huge soft corals, sharks, and giant schools of fish on one of the world’s best liveaboards, the Naia
- 10 nights at the best of the best dive sites including Bligh Waters
- Learn from one of Bluewater’s most experienced photo instructors, Erik Lukas
- Easy direct flights from the USA
- 10N from $6,858
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Testimonials:
- " What an amazing trip! Mark made it for us, and I so much appreciate that. I can't thank him enough. We really enjoyed meeting him and spending time with him, and learning from him. He is a wonderful instructor and his sessions were great. You can be assured that we will cross paths again on another workshop." - Greg Clifton, Fiji October 2018 photo workshop guest
- "Thanks to Mark for a great trip. It was a lot of fun sharing the Naia and all the diving with him. His workshop presentations are incredible, I cannot believe the scope and depth he presents. He's really good at it, I’m impressed." - Phillip Colla, Fiji October 2018 photo workshop Guest
- "Over many decades of diving, I've gone on a number of photo workshops on liveaboard trips, but none come close to the standard set by Mark Strickland! Every day we had an hour or more discussion about some aspect of underwater photography, including some specialized topics that helped a lot, plus an image review of three or four shots each diver had taken that day. Mark's critiques were always constructive and our photos got steadily better. Mark is also a great guy, fun to travel with, fun to dive with. He never minded being asked for help, either! All in all one of the best trips ever! And we for sure will go on another of his trips soon!" - Tom Baker
- "I'm a better shooter as a result of Mark's instruction." - Mark Hatter
- "Mark was patient, knowledgeable, organized, and friendly. He had a concern for all of us--travel-wise and photography-wise. He was one of the best." and "Mark and Adam made me tremendous fan of Blue Water Travel and will absolutely guarantee that I will book another trip with them again. You guys more than rock." - Dr. Ray T
