Wobbegong Day

            Monday was another long and eventful one, I started at 5:30, before my alarm clock even went off. It was a beautiful morning, the wind had died down quite a bit, but there was still quite a bit of cloud cover. We left the dock somewhere around 8:15, and headed out for our first dive, which was quite spectacular, so much life in this water, the coral all has such vivid colours. The first dive was about 15 minutes from the resort on the small dive boat, located on the one of the points in an area called  Yembraimuk. I took some photos, but I am still learning how to properly use all of my camera gear from Leon and Claudia, so they     are not perfect, but I will put some of the better ones up anyway.

                                                (Leon behind a big fan on the dive)

            After the first dive, we headed into the Yembraimuk mangroves, stopping on a small island n the way, on which we found a load of rubbish, presumed to be off of one of the live aboard boats that dive in the area. While on the island, we looked intone inland mangroves and spotted a ton of archer fish (they get their name, because they spit through the water to catch insects) we discovered that they also liked cake, they darted for large chunks of it, and gobbled it down quickly. We then stopped at a point where mangroves meet the ocean, and Claudia taught me how to take over/under shots, meaning that we would get coral heads, mangrove roots, and the vegetation in the same shot, containing Both above and below water subjects. I got a few good shots, but we will go back as I get better with my gear.

            Our second dive was awesome, on another of Yembraimuk I encountered my first indonesian sharks here. They are strange looking things, like nurse sharks with beards, they are known as Wobbegong or carpet sharks. Very docile creatures, don't care that you are there, they don't even flinch, making them great photo subjects, because you can get inches away from their faces, allowing for great wide angle shots. We came across 3 of them on this dive, along with some baby pipe fish, and lots of technicolor coral. After this we headed back to the resort, where Claudia and I looked at my photos, and she told me how to improve my shooting, along with some editing lessons, which are very helpful, as I am a complete ammeter, and need all the help I can get.

                                                   (A Wobbegong shark hidden in the reef)

            As usual, dinner was incredible very spicy, and delicious. We had fried chicken that is then beaten with a hammer and covered in green and red chilis, grilled mackerel, onion fritters, steamed salad, white rice, and soursop ice-cream for desert. Fifteen minutes after dinner, around 8:30, we were back in the water, diving what they call "house reef", which is located right off the dock of the island, and it teaming with life. The water wastes no time getting deep, though not sheer drop offs like we have in the Bahamas, they are sandy slope. I didn't take my camera with me on this dive, as shooting at night is extremely difficult, and I am still in training. It was a cool dive, we came across another Wobbegong, tons of bat fish, crabs, and a blue crawfish, amongst numerous others.

                                                            (Map of Dive Day 1)

             (Red pin is the resort, yellow are dive spots, and green are surface stops.)

            I know this is not a terribly detailed post, but I am feeling the jet lag now, and writing while sleepy does not work terribly well. The plan for tomorrow is to meet Leon at 6 in front of the photo studio so we can go into the mangroves behind the resort and shoot photos of the amazing birds that live in the trees here. Hopefully I will have some cool bird photos later today, provided it isn't raining in the morning.