Ocean Jet Ferry was an hour late, this meant I arrived after sunset. My tricycle driver, Allen, was there to pick me up, thankfully. It's a crazy zoo at those terminals. He mentioned it was an HOUR trip to the Resort. I thought he was kidding, but he was not. I looked at the map, but had no idea it would take an hour. Tricycle rides are ok, it's a motorcycle with a 'side-car' for passenger and bags. It's mountainous, with lots of hills and twists and turns, and it was dark, so I could see nothing. When I arrived, I scheduled my return trip in a van, I am getting 'soft' in my old age.
My room was great, lots of room... flush toilet, hot shower, and a small frig.
and right on the water, right next to the Dive Shop: roll out of bed and I'm there.
You really are very secluded here. There is nothing else around. So they have a full restaurant/bar, pool, etc. Food was very good, people friendly and happy to please. I was ONLY here for the diving, so not being able to go 'out' to dinner wasn't an issue for me. They only had 4 nights available, that would fit into my 'non-schedule'. So, dive, dive, dive, I did ! 2 dives for 3 days, plus 1 night dive. That is 'marathon' for me, but I only had 3 days, so... I was here to find the critters.
The first day was a mistake on my part. Rachel said they were doing a 'boat dive' out to the Reef to find the Pygmy SeaHorse. That is always on the top of everyone's list. I debated, and finally agreed. I knew it wouldn't be Muck Diving, and I actually thought I probably would NOT be able to see the SeaHorse, much less photograph it. And, I was right.
First dive at a new Dive Shop, is a bit intimidating for me. Lots of people, activity, I know no one, and know nothing of the process and procedures. But I got on the boat with a lot of happy excited divers, it's crowded.
Three guys from Sicily, Italy were also new. One of them picked me to be their 'buddy', the guy on the right. Everyone looks the same underwater, so I didn't really know who my 'buddy' was during the dive. But he obviously knew me, and stuck close by. Italian compadre, right ?
The Pygmy SeaHorse is the ENTIRE reason for this dive. They are generally in deep water: 100ft, and a diver cannot stay very long at 100ft. so the Dive Master goes down to find the Pygmy SeaHorse first, while the divers stay shallower and wait for the 'sign' to come on down. I was first to take a photo of the SeaHorse...I couldn't see it, and finally exited, feeling guilty for taking up too much time. After everyone had their chance, they 'beaconed' me to come back and try again. So frustrating. They want you to see it so bad, they don't want to give up. I just pointed my camera at his 'pointer-stick' ... about 1/4"...
Finally got this much:
Ok, also ... I mentioned that my light died in Indonesia...so I didn't even have a light to help. My story and I'm sticking with it. Just to let you all know that it is NOT easy to get a good photo of tiny tiny critters.
The rest of the dive was spent just 'hanging' out over some really nice big healthy coral, not colorful. One of the girls pointed this out to me... I recognized it, an Orangutan Crab
At the end of the dive you have to do a Safety Stop: 3min at 15', to release the nitrogen from your body. When you are floating 'out in the blue', it's difficult to stay in one placeat 15', for 3min. So, you hang on to the anchor rope. My 'buddy' took this photo of me. Do I look happy?
Back in the boat with some hot tea to warm up, and then off to the Muck Diving site. Now, this is what I came for. This is an Anemone Shrimp, pretty common siting
Here is another one, lost in the dark ... kind of how I felt.
I know that when I see a round green 'leaf' in shallow sand, that it could be the home of Shaun the Sheep, so I started looking at a leaf. The leaf is on a stalk and sways back and forth in the current, and it's difficult to get a photo. Mark assisted me by holding it down with his stick. By the way.... his stick is 1/4" wide ....The white spiral are the eggs.
I found another one, Costasiella kuroshimae, is classified as a 'solar powered nudi'. These sap-sucking-slugs eat the leaf and harness the chloroplasts in their bodies so they can photosynthesis! WoW Nature !
Another tiny one, again with the 'stick'
After the dives, I talked with Russ, he and Rachel own Bahura Dive Shop. I told him about my light problem, and asked him if he had something that I could use. Yes he did, and fixed me up with a Weefine dive light, and mounted it on my camera. He also said he would set me up with Mark for Muck Diving. Ok, now I'm on my way. From then on, it was Mark and Donna; again I was blessed with a very nice young local guy that would be my eyes and guide.
What did Mark find for me ? Lots ! He is another one of those guys that see things that aren't there. Hairy Shrimp are about 1/4". I've seen a few of them before, they were just sitting, not moving. The ones here like to fly around! He was finding so many of them. If I lost track of one, he would immediately point to another one. It's so hard to take a photo of something that is flying.
Let's start with this Red Hairy Shrimp that has 'something'... maybe a parasite. Whatever it is, it's bigger than the shrimp. The eye, upper right side, has a star around it.
This is a Green Hairy Shrimp .. make it out ? ...neither can I
And a yellow one
and finally a transparent one
This is a Brooks Urchin Shrimp, I've never seen one before. It lives on that Fire Coral. Notice the eggs where the legs come out of the body.
I have often talked about how these critters like the dark sand/soil of volcanos. Well, it appears that is not always the case. All of the terrain where Mark was searching was white white sand. With lots of mounds maybe 8-10" high. It was very unusual for me. You can see the color here. This is a Armina Sempir, which is quite large, maybe 2", and i found it myself ! Here's lookin at ya!
The white sand also made it harder to photograph, because there wasn't much contrast. Several times the auto focus on my camera could not focus. This is a Skeleton Shrimp with tons of babies.
There was an entire area that had tiny tiny half of shells ...there were thousands of them. It looked like Quaker Oats. This is a Goby living among them.
Another cute little Goby with a bright blue spot, no doubt to warn me off.
A really special one to me, a Melibe. This video shows how it throws out it's 'net' and scrapes the surface looking for food. Pretty cool you can see inside the mouth ! Also on You Tube: https://youtu.be/_yUOfH9PvMQ
Mark found a LOT of tiny FrogFish. No matter how many of these I see, they are always special and so fun to watch. This is a Clown FrogFish. That is his finger
A Painted FrogFish
Another tiny one with Mark's finger
This one is actively 'fishing' with a tiny white lure. Watch the first part of the video closely, you will see him grab some food. Later in the video you can catch a glimpse of the little white lure. Also on YouTube: https://youtu.be/PkRkerksdZ8
On our last dive Mark found something really special.... that no one had seen before (not here). It is a teeny tiny translucent FrogFish. We were hoping it was a new species and we could name it after us; but it appears it is a Juvenile Cryptic FrogFish. It is so cute. You can see it's little stomach.
Even smaller than the others
And it can 'fly' ... and I caught it ... so cute
Another pretty Nudi
And we found these two kissing ... Costasiella ?
This is a type of PipeFish, which is related to the SeaHorse
And finish with a 'reef fishy' video. Also on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87_8_L2Ro3Q
And this is a very slow moving Conch ... until it decides to 'move' ... wait for it. It was as large as a football... Also on YouTube: https://youtu.be/n-vmNIdcWNQ?si=kt7QjykY9VewNRo8
Next I will post photos from my Night Dive with Mark. We were in the water for over 1.5hrs .... that's a long time, and I was cold !
If you are not able to pull the videos up with the link, you can go to
youtube.com and in the search area type "donna27p" ... and it should
bring up all my videos.
dp
No comments:
Post a Comment