Capturing the Moment

Blue Dragon Red Spotted Nudibranch  Over the course of three dives Heidi and I found ourselves in nudibranch heaven. We didn't even have to go to some far off land, just right off our own coast here in Hawaii. We scoured the waters of the Big Island and a couple of spots on Lanai, but it seems that Maui is the hotspot for nudibranch hunters. Many of these nudibranchs are the 'usual suspects' which we often look for. These pictures are from Wailea Point, Turtle Town, and Dai Mar&Heidi's Reef (a site which Heidi stumbled across while researching old nudibranch surveys and we explored together.)     Over the years we have seen many rare and unusual species of nudibranchs around the world. Just the other day we spotted some of first Atlantic Ocean nudibranchs so the search continues. The bright coloration and amazing patterns never cease to amaze me. Orange Blob Tom Smith's Nudibranch Trembling Nudibranch Imperial Nudibranchs Imperi...

       Nudibranchs  Sea slugs have always been one of my favorite creatures to search for underwater. They are colorful and slow moving which makes them a perfect subject for underwater photography. Indonesia is one of the best nudibranch hot spots. Our first dive at Tulumben was a muck dive during which we actively sought out nudis and other small and bizarre creatures. The next three dives on the wreck were not focused on small things but we still kept finding them.  I noticed one nudibranch that we have in Hawaii and one that we saw on the Great Barrier Reef, but so many were new and different. The amount of hydroids and soft coral that these nudibranchs feed on is plentiful here in the warm waters around Bali. I love diving on beautiful coral reefs but muck diving can be so exciting and surprising. Decorator Crab           Wild Crustaceans Hairy Squat Lobster (Look Hard) ...

  Best of Maui: Scuba Dives While trying to put together a review of my time here in Maui it quickly became clear that it could not be contained in one post. All the great memories, hikes, dives, animal encounters, and other adventures all deserved their own post so what I am going to do instead is a series of "best of" posts.  I will start off with the best of Maui scuba diving. In my opinion these are the can't miss dive sites for the advanced scuba divers when you come to Maui. Some made the list for big wildlife encounters, others for tiny nudibranch encounters, and others still for incredible underwater topography. Read on to find 'the Big Three' scuba sites as well as a couple of my other favorites. First and Second Cathedrals, Lanai First Cathedrals Second Cathedrals  These two sites both boast enormous underwater caverns. Most dive companies depart from Lahaina harbor but Maui Dive Shop does leave from Ma'alaea harbor on select days. T...

  Woah! The nocturnal delights keep on coming. So excited after our last night muck dive Heidi and I decided to try it again. We saw octopus out on the hunt, its cute cousin, the bobtail squid trying to eat a shrimp almost as big as it was. Then it was a nudibranch bonanza after that with sightings of imperial nudibranch, trembling, white bump, white margin, kangaroo, gloomy, black dendrodoris, snow goddess, lilac spotted, orange gumdrop, tiled pleurobranch, and a couple of rare nudibranch spottings like the Carminodoris bifurcata, Aldisa pikokai, and the Tambja amakusana . These last three don't have common names since they are seen so rarely. This bobtail squid was about the same size as my thumb. The shrimp he is trying to chomp down was slightly smaller than my pinky. They both held this pose for awhile until the squid finally spit out the empty shell of the shrimp. Shortly after the squid buried itself into the sand, leaving only its eyes above to relax and digest its ha...