The Final Dives: 26-27 February 2011

These are pictures from the final dives in Timor-Leste. The visibility was mixed and only Sunday at Bob's Rock produced anything of photographic note. But the results were special.

A glorious Leaf Scorpion Fish, West a Bob's Rock, Coral Outcrop at 13m. Wayne told me where he would be and I swam directly to him. Note that this is a colour variation of the 'gold' version that I photographed at Tasi Tolu and posted here a few months ago. There is also a suggestion that they change colour. Wayne believes that the colour variation mimics the colour of the Sergent Major eggs that are prevalent now.

Thank you Nudi-Gods for delivering this fabulous Nembrotha kubaryana ("Christmas Tree Nudi" to some) to me. Here it is snacking.

19-20 February: Break Out the Snoot...and Run for Your Lives!

This was a weekend of experiments; in particular, the "Snoot" (a conical cover of the strobe limiting the direction of the light beam). Well, the results were mixed...

12-13 February 2011

It was a busy weekend of diving with Wayne, Marcus, Gerardo and me with the cameras. Sadly, I didn't follow my own advice and ran out of batteries on the first dive on Sunday. Still, there was plenty to see with the high points being Marble Rock and K41 West for Nudis.

Nembrotha lineolata appears again at Dirt Track

Marcus finds a Star Fish at Dirt Track on Saturday

True to his word, Wayne finds Dermatobranchus ornatus (or more commonly known as the "Vomit with Carrots Nudi") at Marble Rock...

...and then he finds Chromodoris willani. This is the first time I have seen this Nudi. It was perfect for photography and pleased us all by not moving an inch!

Sunday was a dive with a huge team of "the girls" (not including Marcus, Wayne, Gerard or me) including Sara - whose last dive in TL it was and the rest of her Disco Divers. K41 and Bob's Rock set the scene.

K41 West got off to a slow start with this Chinese dragon but the pace picked up (just as my camera batteries ran out!)

A small Ragged Scorpion Fish was lurking in the murk. Look closely behind his eyes to see a collar of translucent poisonous spines.

K41 West always seems to present these Flabelina rubrolineolata ("Fireworks Nudi"). This was a biggy (by their standards), perhaps 35mm

Here is another closeup

And finally, and for the 3rd time on this blog, Flabelina bicolor (probably, but not certain). This guy was tiny tiny tiny - perhaps 15mm. Unfortunately, I missed out on the tailing Risbecia tryoni that had Marcus cornered. Ah! Next time...

Attack of the Killer Pipefish! 5-6 February 2011

A few days of rain may have slightly dampened our view of the diving potential this weekend but our visit to K41, Secret Garden (Saturday) and Tasi Tolu (Sunday) didn't disappoint. The visibility was variable and there was not a huge load of nudis in store but there were many things of interest, as usual. The Sunday dive at Tasi Tolu was a first for me - I never troubled my strobe. So there was not one picture to show. The visibility was extremely poor at times (less than 1 metre) but there were still the seahorses, the Joruna rubescens (huge nudi) that I hadn't photographed before and this time missed my opportunity for operational reasons. For me, the best part of this dive was actually after we surfaced. Marcus and I were last out. Shortly thereafter, a crocodile leisurely passed the spot where we were noodling around as a safety stop. We watched as the croc (about 2m in length) passed by as it headed up the beach to Dili Rock. Wayne saw that there were possibly divers about to get in the water and we went to warn them. But we were too late and they were both eaten. OKOKOKOK...so they weren't really eaten, I think (actually I don't know what happened. The croc was spooked by a boat and disappeared and we left the area where by now a largish crowd had gathered to witness the event. Incredibly and perhaps improbably, as we were watching the croc spectacle, who should arrive but the elusive Dugong! "Do crocodiles eat dugongs?" said one person. "Alien versus predator" said another. Actually, their paths did not cross but it was amazing to see them in the same place at the same time. I wonder how those divers went....

But the dive of the day was on Saturday at K41 where Marcus found the Robust Ghost Pipefish. What an amazing creature! I managed to get a couple of shots of it before Marcus annoyed it so much with his Signorey Weaver Alien Photography setup that it literally chased him down the decline with its teeth gnashing...(I think that is how Marcus described it. Although I'm not sure that there are many teeth to gnash in a Robust Ghost Pipefish. Suffice it to say that the Pipey looked a little upset.)

Always a favourite, Chromodoris coi was there. This is he in full frame (no crop, all thanks to the marco lens)

The hugely dangerous Robust Ghost Pipefish. At about 6cm in length, he is quite a handful. Well, at least he is difficult to photograph because he was continually on the move. Check out his eye. Now that is the quintessential "fisheye lens"

Here is Pipey in all his glory! How Marcus spotted him in the murk, I have no idea.

And this is a close up of the almost ubiquitous Chromodoris annae.

And this guy I noted a few weeks ago (but his brother was blue, not white) Perhaps it is Phylidiopsis annae; tiny at about 5mm.

There were not a lot of nudis on our dive at Secret Garden but it was my second 100 minute+ dive with Marcus (105 minutes to be precise). But a lack of nudis makes one review the other amazing things around us, like these coral polyps. They are very nice and I hope to practice on these guys with my "snoot" next weekend. More on the snoot later...

And these series of soft corals are very pretty. There are so many beautiful patterns that are easy to overlook down there.

More patterns and colours

And a tiny clam wedged in a rock crevasse to finish the dive.

Wait a minute...this isn't Timor-Leste!

Right. It's Bali. I had a vacation with my son, Raeph, and his mother (I think that I am entitled). We had a great time exploring the water worlds along the Bali coast (for those who may not know, Bali is part of Indonesia).


I went diving with a good group of people at Crystal Dive in Sanur. I can recommend them to anyone heading here. I went diving at some very cool places: Suraya (muck dive with VERY cool critters - see below), Tulamben (USS Liberty Wreck - totally awesome) and 2 dives at areas in and around "Blue Lagoon" 1 hour up the East Coast from Sanur. Raeph and Christie had a great snorkel at the USS Liberty wreck and saw a school of perhaps1000 Big-eye Trevally (I was diving at 4m at the time and had the entire school above me - Amazing!) Sadly for Raephy, when we tried to take him on an "Intro to Scuda" dive, some medication questions derailed the idea. Sorry Raephy! Next time.


Here is what I saw...

Hypselodoris whitei (I think). There were many of these at my first dive site, Suraya (about 2 hours up the coast from Sanur)

And these glorious Harlequin Shrimp were perfect for those with cameras! They are the weirdest crustaceans I have seen. I'm not sure what these were doing (there were 2 of them and this is the smallest) but he seems to be munching on a starfish limb. Possible?

And another from the genus Hypselodoris. In this case, I think that it is Hypselodoris zephyra.  

And this very cool little shrimp had lots of shrimpy friends. But he was the only one hanging around for a photo.

Still working on the name of this one. Any ideas? Professor? Chromodoris aureopurpurea?

And there were a bunch of these guys at Suraya too. Mexichromis multituberculata.

I have no idea what this is. Dive Master Tony found this 5mm piece of fluff.

And here is an odd trio: 2 Hypselordoris whitei with a lone Mexichromis multituberculata. In fact, at the time of the photo, I thought the Mexi was a piece of coral!

Chromodoris aureopurpurea?

Glossodoris atromarginata

At Tulamben, Amin found this Ornate Ghost Pipefish. See how he matches the soft coral next to him. This is a fantastic little critter. Pity I didn't get a good shot. He must have been only about 20mm long. Simply beautiful!

Large Hermit crab on my dive at Padangbai

And the irrepressible Chromodoris annae made an appearance too. Compare him with the Nudi below.

Not Chromodoris annae. More likely Chromodoris  elisabethina (no black spots in the blue)

And if Harlequin Shrimp were photogenic, this guy was the opposite. It took 2 dives finally to capture this enormous frog fish (as far as frog fish go) at about 22m. He was about the size of a football and was determined to stay inside his artificial cage away from prying divers' eyes. Luckily I managed to get him..sort of.

When I get a program to remove backscatter, I'll be happy. Here is a small ragged scorpion fish perched nicely on the top of some coral. The dark background makes a nice contrast.

Not sure what sort of Pipefish this is. There were a couple and they must have been between 30-60 cm. But they simply refused to remain still for a decent shot.

And this was a surprise at Blue Lagoon (Padangbai) - a large Octopus out in the middle of the day.

On my last dive, I managed to get this Crocodile fish. He is an awesome predator and so well camouflaged. Even his eyes have the camo treatment!

K41 & Secret Garden Revisited

It was a gentle couple of dives today with the newbies, Sarah and Ange. For a change, we had Pam, a photographic student, shooting macro for the first time (I think). Shooting in macro, I finally managed to get a decent short of Chromodoris kuniei. What a beautiful little nudi this is. And so easy to fill the frame with my macro alone!

And thanks so much for lifting your skirt for the camera, Sir...or is that, Madam... Nudis!

And we finished at Secret Garden with this wacky little Blenny. I would have missed it completely if Wayne had not spotted it.

Peek-a-boo!

This guy was hiding in his little hole, poking his head out every now and then. Actually, he was reasonably easy to photograph (in the sense that he was not particularly shy). If you expand the photo, you can see his tiny teeth.