New Toy

I'm back in Bangkok after a week or so diving in Koh Tao. It was nice to be back there after so long.

For this first Koh Tao post, I'm posting pictures taken with the new external stobe I bought this year. The vast majority of the underwater pictures I took last year were taken without a flash since the internal ones on compact cameras are almost useless. I'm still learning how to use the external stobe effectively, but here are a few of my early attempts. The first and third of these are even presented without any enhancement or cleanup on the computer.

In other news, Whale Sharks are still awesome. I'll post a few pictures of the one I saw on Friday in a day or so.

Tomorrow I head to Indonesia. My first stop will be Bali where I have about 10 days before heading up to Bunaken and Lembeh in Sulawesi. Can't wait...

That time again.

I suppose it's about time to spin this thing back up, since I leave the US tomorrow for my next adventure. This trip is mostly going to be centered around diving in Indonesia and Malaysia however my first stop (as usual) is Bangkok.  While I'm waiting for my Indonesia visa I'll probably spend a week or so in Koh Tao since I haven't been there in nearly 3 years.  Although the diving isn't the greatest I'm looking forward to going back and I should be there for the end of whale shark season so that's something to look forward to.

For those who are hoping for more pictures of things on the surface I'm afraid you're going to be sorely disappointed this year. I made the difficult decision to leave my D-SLR camera at home and only carry the Cannon G-12 I use for underwater photography so it's pretty much going to be all fish pictures all the time.

To get things rolling, here's something from the Turks and Caicos Islands where I just spent a week diving with my Dad,  These are my two favorite pictures from the trip and I think each of these is the best shot I've ever taken of the critter it shows.

For me, the best part about the diving in TCI was all the sharks. Of the 14 dives I did there was only one where I didn't see at least one grey reef shark.  Sadly I don't think any of the pictures I took of them are worth posting next to the pictures above.

In addition to all the normal sharks I saw my first hammerhead on the second day, thus satisfying my number one goal for the trip.  Unfortunately it was pretty far away and moved off before I could get a picture

Crabs, Crabs, and More Crabs

I'm back in Khao Lak between my Similan Islands liveaboards. I really enjoyed the last trip - it was probably the best of the 4 I've done here even though it rained the whole time. We even saw a whale shark at Richelieu rock, something that is quite rare for the Similans and was only the second I've seen.

Anyway, here are some pictures of crabs I took on this trip. Most of them are species who's names I haven't gotten around to learning yet.

Andaman Nudis

For my last post from the Andamans here are some of the better shots of Nudibranchs that I've taken over the course of the trip.



I'm currently in Port Blair. I'll be heading for the airport shortly to catch my flight to Kolkata where I have a 12 hour layover before heading back to Thailand.

More Miscellaneous Aquatic Critters

And here's another photo dump. These are a pretty much random collection of images taken over the past 2 weeks that I've been meaning to post.




In other news I have less than a week left in the Andamans before I head back to Thailand for a bit more diving in the Similans. After that I start the process of heading home in early April (although there will, of course, be more diving in the Caribbean before returning to Portland).

Update and Photo Catch-Up

I'm still not sick of the diving on the Andamans - in fact, with the exception of today, the past week has seen some of the best diving I've done the whole trip. Since I'm enjoying it so much I've extended my permit and will be staying here for another two weeks.

Yesterday I did my first ever 'proper' dawn dive, beginning the dive about 20 minutes before sunrise. I was dubious about a dive that required setting my alarm for 3 AM but it was more than worth it. The pre-dawn light and crystal clear water made for a surreal dive in a high-contrast black-and-white landscape. It was simply amazing and I'm already signed up for another one in a few days. Unfortunately there are no decent pictures because of the dim light.

Anyway, on to the pictures. I've been meaning to post most of these for a while but they didn't fit with any of the recent theme posts. The last few are more recent pictures that I couldn't resist posting (the Moray shot, which I love, in particular).




The past week has been very good for photography so I should have a bunch more to post once I finish sorting though them.

Gobies And Other Bottom-Dwelling Fish

It's another theme post, this time featuring fish that you find living on the bottom, either in the sand, under pieces of coral, or in small cracks or holes in the reef.

Not Your Everyday Fish

This post is a grab-bag of some of the more interesting things I've seen over the past week or so.

First up, some pictures featuring critters with particularly cool eyes. Both of these are from a site near Havelock called simply 'The Wall'. I've only dived it once but am eagerly looking forward to more dives there as it is absolutely loaded with cool stuff.




Next, some small things. Both of these are things that I've seen a number of but never managed to take decent pictures of before.




And finally, some fish that aren't all that uncommon but that I want to include in this post. I've seen so many Scorpion fish that I rarely take pictures anymore but this one was posed perfectly and the picture is probably the best I've ever taken of one. Batfish are also relatively common but I've never seen a school of them anywhere near this large.



That's all for now. I'm falling behind on pictures I want to post though so expect another post in the next day or so.

Oh no, it's a theme post.

Mantis Shrimps, like the one in the first picture, are currently one of my favorite critters. If you want to see something cool, search for 'Mantis Shrimp' on YouTube and watch some of the videos.

Small World

Even though the guys I've been diving with (Dive India) have been great, tomorrow I'm switching to a different dive shop starting tomorrow. The other day I ran into one of the people I traveled through southern Laos with in 2003 and it turns out he's now part owner of one of the dive resorts (Andaman Bubbles) on Havelock. I'd known he that he had worked as a dive instructor for a while in the Andamans in 2005 but it was a pleasant surprise to run into him. Also, he and his former girlfriend were in fact the people who originally put the idea of getting re-certified in my head so he's at least partly responsible for the excess of fish pictures on this blog.

And, speaking of fish pictures...