Saturday, April 05, 2008

Pulau Weh 2008: Part 5

Here are some more dive pics from the amazing clear blue waters of Weh. It was so clear (and therefore bright) that a lot of us didn't realise we had dived to almost beyond the recreational depth limit of 40m!

These are live anchovies. You know, the stuff you put on your pizza? Getting kinda hungry now.

They call this the day octopus because, you guessed it, it comes out during the day (most other octopuses are noctournal). Personally I would rather it come out in bite-sized rings, deep fried in batter with tartar sauce on the side. With a hint of lemon juice, thanks.

This star fish is called the Noduled Sea Star. And alas, it is not edible. At least not by me.

Another inedible critter, the zebra lionfish, unless you want to have swollen lips and puffed up cheeks from being stung by its poisonous back fins as you chomp down on it lah.

This is a really long trumpet fish.... about 5 feet long. If you don't believe me, go fly to Weh, and measure it for yourself!

The sea fans here are huge! And perfectly beautiful!

My first impression of this was of a huge hippo yawning in my face. However, since hippos can't live underwater (they can swim and submerge to hunt for food in rivers, but only for minutes at a time), I had to settle for just a sea sponge trying its best to look like a hippo's gaping mouth.

A close-up of some of the pretty flower-blooms-like soft corals aptly called flower corals. Really! I didn't make it up.

Ah, here's another one of those attention hungry lionfish. Why else would they be strutting around in the open sea with their stripes and lacey but poisonous fins all decked out like a proud peacock?

Oohh... a family of clown fish having a picnic at the local hard coral. Quick! How many clown fish can you spot? Uno.... dos.... tres.... catorce!

Kesian! This coral octopus is trying his best to tahan the onslaught of attack from the fishes while posing for us. So sporting one!

This colourful bushy outcrop is called a Feather Star. Believe it or not, it is an ANIMAL, related to starfish and sea urchin.

This of course is not an animal... No wait, it is! It is a type of hard coral. And corals, hard or soft, are classified as animals.

Meanwhile, this is a very green... erm... angelfish? I couldn't find its name in my fish book. Have I discovered a new species???

This cutie shyster is a hermit crab that has hijacked a snail shell and used it for its own protection.

Ok, after all that fun playing Superman underwater and taking pics, we were all herded back up to the surface....

Then I noticed Vincent, one of our divemasters gesturing to Su about something.... from what I could gather, it was about Su having lost sight of her dive buddy, Azura. Oh no!

Ah, here she is! Je vous presente Azura aka Remora (aka suckerfish).

3 comments:

tsar said...

i simply love these pictures. camera problem or not, they still turned out great. thanks for sharing them bro... :)

snowy said...

it aint vincent la dear rick, tht is Nazri signalling me to descend as there is boat up there... hehheh. Beside, at that point of time 'Remora' alredy surface due to lack of air... (dia tu habis cepat sangat, less air in tank kot...) ;)

Amazonman said...

Thanks guys for your comments. Hope you've enjoyed the other posts as well.

Su, Remora still doing the frog + mantaray style dance on land ah? Hehehe