JULY 5, 2009: WING BEACH DIVE
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Two Moorish idols (Zanclus cornutus) look on as their realm is invaded by the bubbling aliens.
John and Dawn float above the whip coral. Does sound kinky, doesn't it!?
Look closely and you can see some Cornetfish (Fistularia commersonnii) in front of Ron.
"Anyone want to do some bowling?"
John and Dawn approach an anemone with a pair of Clark's anemonefish (Amphiprion clarksi).
John DouglasDawn HammermeisterAnemonefishClarksAmphiprion clarksi
Gee, Mary: You MUST be getting close to deco! Maybe if we become creative enough when 'narked we can do some ART DECO!
Twinspot snapper (Lutjanus bohar). Gee, Ron: That almost looks like it HURT!
As I was all engrossed in attempting to get a great shot of this Banded cleaner shrimp (Stenopus hispidus, also called Banded coral shrimp), I noticed some movement just to my right.....
...and right there in the shadows (he is illuminated here by my flash) was this Giant moray (Gymnothorax javanicus)!
Here you see the shrimp from 2 photos back (to your left) and the moray from the last photo. There was a third shrimp to your right from the furthest right shrimp you can see here. These are among the many shots which make a photographer wish for a dome port. Even with my 28mm wide angle, a flat port just did not allow me to be close enough to get the dramatic lighting that this scene needs.
The landscape at Wing is, I think, totally cool!
Looking straight up at John and Dawn, with the "sky" in the background.
The video of my current camera is of quite poor quality. Still, I do enjoy placing some in among the stills. If you decide to watch this, please make sure that your sound is on.
Sharing the ocean with some Teardrop butterflyfish (Chaetodon unimaculatus).
We now start our second dive of the day. I guess this is my present favorite "dive destination." For lack of a better name, I call it "Twin Sunroof Cave."
You can see the light coming in through the sunroofs behind Mary. As you can see, it is a very shallow formation. Surge can be quite rough here. When it's calm, however, it is really a cool sight.
There are also MANY interesting, fairly shallow crevices near the Twin Sunroofs Cave.
Crinoid, probably of genus Comantheria. Closely related to sea stars and cushion stars. Many divers are surprised to find out that these are critters. Also, they have tiny suction cups in their appendages which can strongly grip a diver's finger.
After most everyone else had left the water, Mary spent some time cleaning up some of the fishing trash which was choking the coral.
A Red-speckled blenny (Cirripectes variolosus) comes up to say "Thanks, Mary!"
