My Deep, Blue View: Two Birds, One Stone

(Dive Map For Today: Resort=Red, Dives=Yellow)

So I killed two birds today, and only threw one stone, figuratively that is. I got two animals today that I have been waiting to shoot. Our first dive was at Wofoh, a spot at which we always see Pygmy Seahorses, these are minuscule little guys about the size of of 4 grains of rice, today we saw Bargibanti Pygmy, a white bodied little guy with red bumps, and big red lips. I was using Leon and Claudia's macro set up again,which allowed me to get right up close and get some shots. At first he was sitting in a really inconvenient position, but as we shot, he swam across the sea fan and re positioned, making it much easier to get a good shot of him. After 15 minutes of shooting away at 90 feet, I got enough that I was satisfied, and I went up shallower and watched as Leon and Claudia got some shots as well.

(Bargibanti Pygmy Seahorse)

While waiting for them to finish up, I saw a lizard fish sitting on the ground. They are very jumpy fish and run away erratically, so I had to approach very slowly. I slowly moved around him and took shots from several angles. I slowly pushed more closely towards his face, taking shots as I moved in, and eventually he shot off and I gave up. Soon after my lizard fish ran away, Leon came over and we headed along the wall towards the crevice in it.

(Lizard Fish)

When we got to the crack in the wall, there were millions of little glass fish everywhere, so many that when someone went in the opening and the fish moved back into place, you could not see them. When we went into the crack, there was the typical wobbegong sitting in there, but as I was shooting macro, I wasn't terribly interested, but claudia gave me her wide angle camera so I could get some shots. Unfortunately, Leon forgot to check and see if the auto focus had been switched on, so none of the shots were In focus. After the crack, I was low on air, so we went to the surface and got ready for the next dive.

(Millions Of Little Glass Fish)

We left Wofoh and headed Manare, where we went for our second dive of the day. This is one of my favourite dives in Raja Ampat. It was a great dive, good visibility. I hopped in the water, waiting to see some cool macro shots, but at first I couldn't find anything. Just before I gave up, I was called over by Claudia to shoot a Hawk Fish. A small fish that does not swim, but rather hops around in one area, making them fairly easy to shoot. The colour of the fish and it's fan were amazing, they really came out nicely. While at the hawk fish, Danci, one of the Papuan dive guides came over and took me to see something, and little did I know it was exactly what I had asked him to look for while we were on the boat.

(Hawk Fish on A Sea Fan)

(Hawk Fish On The Coral)

Before going down on the second dive, I tried to communicate to Danci that I wanted a mantis shrimp, but we were all convinced he didn't understand, but who were the idiots there. Only a few minutes into the dive, Danci had found me a Peacock Mantis shrimp. These little guys are awesome, they look like little aliens, and their eyes move very mechanically. They have little claw like things that they can flick out and break glass with. They are incredibly strong, but still very timid. Claudia helped me coax him out and get shots of before he ran out of sight.

(Mantis Shrimp In His Hole

(Slowly Coming Out)

The last shot I got on this dive was of a Tail spot blenny, a very small fish that hangs around the coral. They are small, but incredibly colourful, making them worth the effort of shooting. It was hopping around it's coral head making me really move around to get him into the frame, but after a few attempts, I managed to get it all the way in the shot. We proceeded to the back side of the reef, finished up our tanks, and headed to the surface.

(Tail Spot Blenny on a coral Head)

While I was writing this, Leon came into the Photo studio, and said that there were four baby black tip sharks swimming around trying to catch fish, so I grabbed my camera and went out to take some shots. While I was out there, we threw some small fish into the water and watched them eat. I put my camera on av mode, and set the f stop down to 3.8 and the ISO up to 400. I shot on continuous to get some good shots of appropriate moments. Baby sharks never quite look real, but very cool to see.

Two more good dives, filled with cool stuff, and some more great shots. My time here is running out so be sure to keep looking for updates this week so you don't miss out. I am going to miss the diving here, but I am looking forward to getting back home.

(Mantis Shrimp In its Hole)