Eventually other customers arrived and i had to share my good fortune. We traveled across the bay to a private island; some people have lots of money.
Obviously there is a huge rock formation under this 'home' ... so we were on a wall with lots of pretty corals. One of the guests, Alex, had a wide angle lens and 'professional' camera and took many photos of the beauty. Normally i cannot share this scenery with you because of my camera. But ... since he downloaded the photos to me and said i could use them; it's your good fortune also. The 'white spot' in the sky in some of the photos, is actually the SUN !
It was beautiful down there, much prettier to look at than my normal Muck Diving, which is usually just a sandy bottom. But Oliver and Gina had no trouble finding tiny things to photograph.
They called this one Medusa
I've shown these Chromodoris before, but I learned something from these 2 photos. Nudibranchs have the ability to withdraw their Rhinophores, the gold colored spikes in the front ... now you see them ...
now you don't ... obviously a defense move
This is called a Blue Dragon Nudi and is quite common, but usually they are brown-gold in color, like this
But this one truly lives up to it's name. They can be 3-4" long.
It seemed like Oliver was trying to find the tinest critters for me to photograph. This one was nothing but a speck of dust. That is a pen point in the photo. It's head is white.
And this Mushroom Coral Crab ... with a white head, red body, and long purple dotted legs.
another Crab, a tiny blue one with no name :)
A couple of Nudi's that I could actually see.
There are actually 2 Nudis here
This one was larger and so beautiful
This is a video of a Thecacera .......an unusual Nudi that is better seen in a video
It's' just impossible sometimes if you don't know what you're looking for ...this was a small whispy fern-like thing, so i photographed it ... but what i was supposed to be seeing is circled in red. ... a miss for me :(
A couple more tiny creatures that I could not see ... but my 'auto focus' camera did :)
I am proud of this one, however, .... you can see it's little eye. The professional's tell you to focus on the eye, or the rhinophores. I got both in this one, even though i couldn't see it. Of course, this is just one of 11 photos i took :)
Let's take a break from the tiny stuff, and show you some 'action' shots, that Alex took of us, Just to give you an idea of what we're doing down there. We've just jumped out of the boat and we are descending.
Me, looking, and finding nothing ....
More cool stuff for coral go grow on
A group effort to get Donna to see something ...by a cross and a group of gnomes, or ...
More efforts on the part of Oliver ... so patient !!!!!!!
I did take this photo, ... it was a MASSIVE group of Barrel Sponges... nice huh?
Gina came and got me to see this Electric Clam. It can't be captured in a photo, and impossible to understand exactly 'how-what' is going on here. Only a video can show you. You'll be amazed !
and i can't explain this one either ... it was kinda creepy ... about 3-4" in diameter. Oliver thought maybe it getting ready to spawn... ?
I have tried NOT to show you duplicates of critters that I've already shown.... but i just can't resist these little Shaun the Sheeps
We saw a couple of Flat Worms, which are always interesting to watch, because they move so fluidly.
On one of our dives we really hit the Nudibranch JackPot. There were so many, ....on several occasions, they pointed to 3 in a small triangle. They were all so small, it was really difficult for me.
A couple more examples of size perspective.
Another tiny one that looks like a bunny jumping through the falling snow.
I really like the ones with little bunny ears.
and more tiny ones
Some kind of a snail that had eggs cooked on his back, making it's way through some thick algae.
A couple long skinny Nudi's
At the end of our dives we usually see 'fish' ... this is a Juvenile, Many Spotted Sweet Lips. You have to take a video, no way can you catch a photo of this one. Why is it 'wasting' so much energy ? But oh so cute !
and of course Nemo
And lastly, the group the day that i left. Oliver in front, from L to R: Alex the photographer, Adam that i met at Aivy Maes, Anna from Borneo, Sharla our Dive Master, Gina, and myself. .... and please notice Rambo, a Belgian Malinois, the very gentle and lovable, well behaved, ...but formidable watch dog, that loved belly rubs.
That wraps up 10 days, 13 dives, and lots of fun and great reunion with Gina and Oliver at Anilao Scuba Dive Center.
On to Indonesia ....
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