Capturing the Moment

Whale Shark heading my way   When the call came in that a whale shark had been spotted by some fishermen friends way offshore of Kona, Hawaii I didn't hesitate to make the call to head in that direction. If there was even a small chance of the shark still being there I wanted to see it. Since Jan. 2011 I have only seen 2 other whale sharks out here in Hawaiian waters, both being in Molokini Crater, Maui. As we raced out almost four miles offshore I crossed my fingers and hoped that this would be my third.   When we arrived at the FAD, or fish aggregating device, we saw multiple fishing boats milling about the area...a good sign. We all kept our eyes on the water for a dark shadow. I was the first to spot it. As we all watch the shark rise towards the surface its detailed spot pattern came into view. Researchers use these spots to identify individual whale sharks. Tail End of a Whale Shark  As everyone else watched the whale shark calmly swimming around the boa...

 Muck Diving in Amed, Bali  We had always heard about the muck diving possibilities in Amed, Bali. For the past three trips we had traveled just north of this community to stay and dive in Tulamben, where the big shipwreck is as well as good muck diving. It would be possible to drive between the two but since we had a few extra days at the end of our Indonesia time we decided to give Amed the go-ahead and really dive into what it has to offer. Tiger Shrimp Elusive, Tiny, Tiger Shrimp  We stayed at a place just outside of town called Puri Wirata, because it had a pool and its own dive shop. We flew into Bali in the middle of rush hour but managed to do some weaving in and out driving to get through it rather quickly. It was getting dark by the time we were making our way up the coastal road. I wouldn't want to drive in Bali in the daytime, so I found myself glad that Heidi had nodded off and wasn't watching our driver continue to bob and weave even in the dar...

  Today was the last day of our six day scuba liveaboard in the Komodo Islands. The crew of the Amalia and the boat itself took very good care of us. Usually on the last day of the liveaboard you just chug towards harbor to unload, but I was pleasantly surprised that we were going to have two more dive before lunch and then head back to Labuan Bajo to disembark. Cristina and Nelwan asked us what we would like to see and if we had a preference of dive sites and we all agreed...more mantas! Rhinopias! First Dive Site: Mauan This turned into a really fun sandy muck dive with nudibranchs, mantis shrimps and a very rare rhinopias scorpionfish. These scorpionfish take camouflage to a whole new level, with wild filaments adorning their entire body. They are considered to be the 'holy grail' of fish for aquarium specialist as well as underwater photographers. Nelwan had gotten word that there was one in the area so we were quite pleased when we were able to find it. Pe...

 I can't believe that Day 5 of our 6 day liveaboard trip has already come. We have covered some distance and seen a lot already. Today the Amalia headed back North a bit to central Komodo for a bit of muck/macro diving with some beautiful underwater reefscapes thrown in.  We were still on a nudibranch kick from south Rinca so we kept the good nudi vibes going with some fun new finds. Our first dive was a site called Pil'arsteen. We checked out the beautiful 3 sisters dive site next where hunting blue fin trevallys scoured the reef. But it was our third site of the day that really blew us away. Under the waves lapping up against a small island was a muck divers dream. We found robust pipefish, ribbon eels, nudibranchs, relative of mandarinfish, and the ultimate find, thanks to Heidi's keen eyes, the cute, yet deadly blue-ringed octopus. This was a dive site called Wainilu, and would be another to add to your 'must dive' list while in Komodo.  The diversi...