Well this morning as we approached the dive shop to get into our suits, the coast guard guys were already there, so that was a good sign. Rob had been told to pack wide angle, because we were going to go to some specific site (since it was our boat mates’ last day of diving). But it looked like a storm was brewing and the wind was definitely picking up in the morning, so at the last minute we changed plans and Rob switched to macro. We went to Dari Laut, a wreck that we went to last time. It consists mostly of a steel grid structure that was corals and encrusting life all over it. Further down the slope there is part of the hull, which isn’t quite as interestingly encrusted. The spot is about 25 minutes away, across the channel and in the little channel between Maricaban and Caban islands. It was pretty sporty on the ride over, but the dive site was in a protected spot.
A lot of the good finds on the dive, which were mostly tiny nudibranchs, were found in the rubble area outside of the super structure, between it and the hull. On the structure itself, I think the highlights were two frogfish. One was yellow and brown and was sitting right on top of part of the superstructure, in a not particularly well hidden spot. But yet well hidden at the same time, since he blended in with everything pretty well. I’m sure there were lots more that we didn’t see! The one other notable find on the dive was an electric clam. I was excited to see this, since it was the other thing I told Rob the day before that I still wanted to see. Oh one last thing on this dive… another sea snake! It just kind of swam by at the beginning of the dive.
When we surfaced, the conditions had laid down a lot. We moved down to the next site, which was just past Olympic Point, and hung out there for the surface interval. The site had a slope with patches of coral. There were plenty of critters but nothing particularly notable. I guess most notable was that I managed to find some small slugs all by myself :)
For the afternoon dive, we switched boats (but still had Joemar as our guide) since between both boats, we were only 5 people. We went to Mainit West, the spot at the point super close to the resort, so that Rob could get more Pygmy seahorse pics. This time I believe there was only one seahorse found on that gorgonian. I think Rob spent like 15 minutes with it. This was the highlight of the dive. Other than that, we saw the usual assortment of slugs and such, but nothing particularly notable. We did find a surprising number of hairy crabs in those bulbous anemones.
For the night dive, it was just me and Rob (and Joemar). We went to a sandy slope site around the point, in front of the resort where we took the boat from when we arrived. Joemar said we’d look for nudis and probably find more Shauns the sheep for Rob. So I was prepared for an amazing(ly boring) dive watching Rob take pictures of little green leaves. It turned out to be quite a bit more exciting though. There were some Shaun the sheep sightings, but in addition, we found tons of tiny slugs, including quite a few that I found myself on hydroids. Mmmm, tiny slugs on hydroids, my favorite. But definitely the best find of all was a tiny baby frogfish. It was bright yellow and less than an inch long. When Joemar first showed it to us, I could tell it was a tiny adorable fish but it took me a moment to see its webbed paws and realize what I was looking at. So cute! Other than that, we saw the usual assortment of neat little crabs, shrimps, and fish.
Tonight I learned from my mistakes and had a mango colada.
Well this morning as we approached the dive shop to get into our suits, the coast guard guys were already there, so that was a good sign. Rob had been told to pack wide angle, because we were going to go to some specific site (since it was our boat mates’ last day of diving). But it looked like a storm was brewing and the wind was definitely picking up in the morning, so at the last minute we changed plans and Rob switched to macro. We went to Dari Laut, a wreck that we went to last time. It consists mostly of a steel grid structure that was corals and encrusting life all over it. Further down the slope there is part of the hull, which isn’t quite as interestingly encrusted. The spot is about 25 minutes away, across the channel and in the little channel between Maricaban and Caban islands. It was pretty sporty on the ride over, but the dive site was in a protected spot.
A lot of the good finds on the dive, which were mostly tiny nudibranchs, were found in the rubble area outside of the super structure, between it and the hull. On the structure itself, I think the highlights were two frogfish. One was yellow and brown and was sitting right on top of part of the superstructure, in a not particularly well hidden spot. But yet well hidden at the same time, since he blended in with everything pretty well. I’m sure there were lots more that we didn’t see! The one other notable find on the dive was an electric clam. I was excited to see this, since it was the other thing I told Rob the day before that I still wanted to see. Oh one last thing on this dive… another sea snake! It just kind of swam by at the beginning of the dive.
When we surfaced, the conditions had laid down a lot. We moved down to the next site, which was just past Olympic Point, and hung out there for the surface interval. The site had a slope with patches of coral. There were plenty of critters but nothing particularly notable. I guess most notable was that I managed to find some small slugs all by myself :)
For the afternoon dive, we switched boats (but still had Joemar as our guide) since between both boats, we were only 5 people. We went to Mainit West, the spot at the point super close to the resort, so that Rob could get more Pygmy seahorse pics. This time I believe there was only one seahorse found on that gorgonian. I think Rob spent like 15 minutes with it. This was the highlight of the dive. Other than that, we saw the usual assortment of slugs and such, but nothing particularly notable. We did find a surprising number of hairy crabs in those bulbous anemones.
For the night dive, it was just me and Rob (and Joemar). We went to a sandy slope site around the point, in front of the resort where we took the boat from when we arrived. Joemar said we’d look for nudis and probably find more Shauns the sheep for Rob. So I was prepared for an amazing(ly boring) dive watching Rob take pictures of little green leaves. It turned out to be quite a bit more exciting though. There were some Shaun the sheep sightings, but in addition, we found tons of tiny slugs, including quite a few that I found myself on hydroids. Mmmm, tiny slugs on hydroids, my favorite. But definitely the best find of all was a tiny baby frogfish. It was bright yellow and less than an inch long. When Joemar first showed it to us, I could tell it was a tiny adorable fish but it took me a moment to see its webbed paws and realize what I was looking at. So cute! Other than that, we saw the usual assortment of neat little crabs, shrimps, and fish.
Tonight I learned from my mistakes and had a mango colada.
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