Anemones

Apologies for the lack of posts lately. I've been taking a series of technical diving courses, which has kept me pretty busy (and tired) for the past week or so. On top of that the internet has been down at my dive resort for the past week which has made it too easy for me to skip the posting. I haven't been carrying my camera on the courses but my instructor has posted some pictures and info about my training on their blog.

Anyway, on to the pictures of sea anemones. Some of these are pretty old and I don't remember where all of them were taken.



I have another class tomorrow and, assuming I don't screw up too badly, on Tuesday I leave for three days diving on the wreck of the HTMS Pangan from a live-aboard (the MV Trident) that runs out of Koh Tao. Should be a blast. I'm going to try to get another post out before I leave on Tuesday, otherwise it'll be a while.

White Eyes

Morays are probably my favorite of the common-but-not-too-common wildlife in the reefs off Koh Tao. They're lots of fun to watch, particularly on the rare occasions when you see one swimming free instead of hiding under a ledge or poking it's head out of a crack in the rock. I'm still working on getting a good picture of a swimming Moray (or better yet a video), but in the meantime here are some pictures from more typical sightings.

Mmm, Shellfish

Small Crawling Critters

Starfish

A few pictures of starfish from around Koh Tao...

These first two are Walking Feather Stars, which are all over the place during night dives but rarely out during the day (both shots are from the same night dive). They don't like light and when you shine a flashlight on them they curl up.



This next one is a Crown Of Thorns Starfish. These guys are cool to look at but not nice to see as they are pests that destroy the coral.

Calling this post "School's Out" would be way too cheesy.

Some pictures of schools of fish from some of my dives over the past two weeks...

Fish Aggro

About the most exciting thing that happens diving off Koh Tao is the occasional attack by a Trigger fish. Triggers are territorial fish that can grow up to about 3 feet long and can be very aggressive. Everyone tries to give them a wide berth but sometimes you can't get out of their area quickly enough. The picture below shows a Trigger attacking my dive master during a dive at 'The Twins' from about a week ago.



Anyway, if you dive around here enough there's a pretty good chance of getting 'triggered' and it I finally happened to me yesterday. Ironically enough it was during the emergency scenarios certification dive for my rescue diver course. Although it's kind of a tense situation, once things were under control (i.e. backing away with my fins between me and the obnoxious fish) I was cautiously amused by the whole thing.

Colorful Clams

Koh Tao Sunset

So far it's been overcast almost every afternoon for this whole trip, which is not too surprising given the time of year. However, a few days ago the weather was nice enough that there was an approximation of a sunset.



Tomorrow I start my rescue diver certification course which means I won't be carrying my camera on the few dives. Not that anyone can tell the difference what with the stellar job I've been doing keeping this blog updated. I do have a whole bunch of pictures that I want to post from my recent dives that I haven't gotten around to sorting through yet.

In other news it looks like I'm going to spend the rest of my time in Thailand on Koh Tao. My original plan was to leave in a week or so and dive the west coast, however I've been asking around and it sounds like it's not worth it during the monsoon.

Koh Tao Dives - May 30 / May 31

May 30'th - Chumphon Pinnacle


May 30'th - 'The Twins'


May 31'st - Southwest Pinnacle


May 31'st - Chumphon Pinnacle