(Map For Today: Resort=Red, Dives=Yellow, and Surface Stops=Green
Today was short, sweet, and to the point. We only did two dives, but both were very cool, but nothing out of the ordinary for here. A lot of little fish, and amazing coral. Our first dive was at Yasbekar (broken boat in Papuan), it was a very good dive, but the water was a little chilly compared to the rest of the trip. On the first dive, we saw tons of little fish and amazing coral formations. As we went down I landed on a soft coral with a little red banded coral shrimp in it, and took some shots as he crawled around. It blended in well with the corals.
(Red Banded Coral Shrimp)
We continued along on the dive, and saw tons of bommies with sea fans and thousands of little fish buzzing around like insects. They made for some very cool shots. I love how many fish you see here,it really shows you what a healthy ocean should look like. Full of colour and life. It was an awesome dive. After the dive we went to anisland that had hundreds of abandoned flip-flops on it and had a coffee break, with a bit of clowning about, of course.
(Sea Star near a Fan)
Claudia began to collect the abandoned shoes, she wanted to see how many were on the beach, but Nikson and I started to mess around making it rain shoes. After that the boat drifted a bit off shore, so I went and pulled it back in. When I came out of the water, my wet suit was filled with water and bulged up, which gave all of the Papuans a good laugh, so this immediately made Nikson set up some pictures. After that Leon and I took some pictures with the boat crew, we were sighing the whole time, I think they all had fun kidding around with us.
(Pile Of Flip Flops)
(We Made It Rain Footwear)
We left flipflop cay and went to Marcus reef, which was stunning, loaded with fish, and tons of cool stuff. We dropped down to about 20 meters and spent most pf the dive down there. Leon being as clumsy as I brushed two crinoids and ended. Up with them stuck to his wetsuit making for some funny shots, especially since he pulled funny faces along with it. We had a great dive, Nikson found tons of little things, and made sure each photographer had something interesting to shoot.
He first positioned me at a rock with a small crevice under it, and hidden deep beneath it was a crawfish. I had to wedge my camera under the rocks, which always makes me a little nervous, as I am paranoid about scratching the dome, but it was worth it as the crawfish was sitting upside-down under the little ledge. I had tom fire off a few shots as the little fish surrounding it kept blocking my view, but eventually I got a good shot of him. Shortly after I got my camera out of the crevice, I heard ting ting on Nikson's tank, and was taken off to see something else. I do my best to insure that I never ignore Nikson when he calls, as it is usually for something very worthwhile.
(Upside Down Crawfish)
We swam against the current for a few seconds before he pointed me to a ribbon eel sticking out of the sand. These are very small blue and yellow eels, and are very timid making them extremely difficult to shoot. I was as patient as I know how to be, waiting with my camera ready for him to come out of his hole enough to get a shot. As I was snping away, Jake came above me and was going nuts summoning me to see something. I had no clue what he was saying so I kept shooting the eel, but eventually his persistence won. I followed him down current a bit, and we came to a small hole in a rock where a mantis shrimp was sitting.
(Ribbon Eel)
I have been desperate to see a mantis shrimp this whole trip, bit because I was too transfixed on the ribbon eel, I did not have enough air to wait for it to come out for a picture. A little upsetting, but Nikson told me he will not let me leave without seeing one. We continued up into the shallows after seeing the mantis shrimp, and went into a massive field of stag horn coral, it is not very photogenic, but absolutely stunning to see so much coral spread out over hundreds of meters.
(Beautiful Bommie)
Right as Leon and I began to ascend from the dive, we came across some really amazing red, orang and yellow sea fans. I stopped the ascent and returned to the shallows, making Leon go behind the fans as I took some shots. They were such an amazing blend of colour that I had to shoot them, and the diver in the background just adds some perspective and action into the photo.
(Amazing Sea Fans)
By now I feel really repetitive when I say it was a spectacular day. The water was glass, sun shining, and dives incredible. Jake and Pat leave us tomorrow, bit we have traded contact information as they ,ought visit the Bahamas to dive. I can safely say that so far all of the other guests have been really low key, cool, and very fun people, hopefully next week will bring the same thing. I am sitting out on the deck of my bungalow right now, and judging by the way the sun is coming down the sunset should be amazing. I hope younger all having good weather, and enjoying life as much as I am now. Check back tomorrow for more photos and experiences.
(Me And Nikson)
(Lots Of Fish)
(Lots Of Little Fish)
(Claudia And Fish)
(Me Shooting Ribbon Eel Left, And Clown Fish Right)
(Leon and Me With the boat crew)
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