Thursday, November 30, 2006

Dive Pics Southern Thailand: Hin Daeng Hin Muang Part III

This was our final dive off Hin Daeng and our final chance to spot the manta ray. So far it has proven elusive and all fingers were crossed as we jumped into the blue....

One of the divers said that sometimes, the more eager we are to find something (while diving) the less the chance that we will actually see it. So with that idea in mind, most of us set out to NOT see the manta ray. Clarke's Anemonefish? Check! ...Threespot Dascyllus? Check! ...Manta Ray? Not going to even bother to check!

This shy moray eel seems so at home amongst the spiny corals. No amount of fish could lure it out of its lair.

This pic is courtesy of my roomate, Joseph. My pic turned out really overexposed. For all the equipment and technology employed, I still couldn't compete with sheer competency of an avid photographer using only a Canon Ixus A600 set to Auto mode. Sigh. Btw, this is a whip coral partner shrimp doing his thing on a, what else, whip coral lah.

"Love...... is a many splendoured thing...." We stumbled onto a pair of octopuses doing their thang. I can just imagine their indignation having a whole bunch of divers snapping pics along with sudden bursts of the flash as they are getting it on.

At the local cleaning station, a lone White-banded cleaner shrimp waits for its next customer to clean and feed on. It's amazing to see big fishes and eels open up their mouth and let these little critters go in and just poke around the area, cleaning them up while getting little morsels of food for themselves.

These little critters are Durban hinge-beak shrimps. Don't they look like the army of vicious aliens from Starship Troopers? Hehehe they're actually less violent than those otherworldly creatures as they act as a laundromat for their masters, the moray eels.

The obligatory nudi pic of the day: Je vous presente Phyllidia ocellata. Looks like he had a bad case of neurofribomatosa and jaundice combined! Hehehehe

I couldn't resist taking this pic of these cute little black dascyllus hovering above their colourful anemone homes; playing and having fun without a care in the world. What a life!

The redtooth triggerfish can be found in mostly tropical waters in the Indo-Pacific region including Hin Daeng. I like its tail, reminds me of the malaysian kite, the Wau.

It took me about five minutes of just floating there just to take this shot of the Blue-ringed Anglefish. Well, actually I took more than twenty pics but only this one turned out good. Sigh, the things we do to get a good shot.

FINALLY! The pièce de résistance! A close encounter with a Manta ray as it floated above our heads! The 15ft-wingspan glider was accompanied by his lesser companion , a small reef shark. Ok, I am satisfied. Back to the boat, everybody. Thanks to Joseph too for this pic as I was too enthralled by the ray to remember to snap a pic of it.

1 comment:

Asther said...

Hahaha... funny lar d way u wrote bout dat manta.