My right big toe has been numb since Tuesday, after my last dive. It's getting worse and I'm thinking I should maybe get it checked out. I called the DAN (Divers Alert Network) hotline and they didn't seem terribly concerned, but said it could be a compressed nerve. I wonder if that insurance I bought from them covers compression chamber visits for numb toes? Hopefully it'll go away and I won't have to find out!
Anyhow, it's for the last set of photos and videos from my liveaboard trip! The videos are all super short and totally worth watching, I promise. :)
Another Glorious Flatworm!
Melon butterflyfish!
Orangespine surgeonfish! This fish can change colours very rapidly depending on its mood. It's also known as a
Naso tang, redlip surgeonfish, and orange spine unicornfish.
Parrotfish!
I regret to say that the most exciting dive of my trip was one of the two dives I failed to take my camera on. It was the morning of my second day on-board, and I was still feeling horribly seasick and tired from not sleeping all night. Reuben, one of the chefs, convinced me to get in the water because it would make me feel better. I was dubious, but willing to try anything, so I suited up and jumped in. I immediately felt better--literally, within a minute the nausea was gone--but didn't think to grab my camera. Which was a shame, because on this dive I saw dolphins! A mom and baby came up to check out our group of divers, and while they only stuck around for about 30 seconds, it was still magical.
We also saw a hairy ghost pipe fish, which I'd never heard of but Reuben was excited about. He kept pointing to something that looked like a tiny chunk of red algae. I knew that seahorses sometimes covered themselves in algae as a disguise, so I mimed 'seahorse?' to him by making a "C" shape with my hands followed by pretending to ride a horse. (Communicating underwater is challenging but fun.) They're related to seahorses, so I was close!
Photo by Dave Harasti.
We also saw two green sea turtles, a shark, a peacock flounder, and three beautiful nudibranches, which are colourful sea slugs. Nudibranches are types of sea slugs, but not all sea slugs are nudibranches. They're really gorgeous and diverse, and really fun to find. They're also good to photograph because they move so slowly. I love them!
This is similar to one of the nudibranches we saw.Photo by John Johnstone.
Here's a nudibranch photo that I took:
Isn't it pretty? I love nudibranches!
We also saw a gigantic stingray, called a "botched fantail ray," one of the largest species of rays. They can grow to 6 feet wide, 11 feet long, and 330 pounds! (That's 1.8m wide, 3.3m long, and 150kg for metric folks.) I wanted to ride it but I couldn't catch it. Good thing, too, because there's been at least one recorded human fatality from--you guessed it--a diver stabbed while trying to ride it. We saw it on a night dive and it was too large to get the whole thing in a frame with flash, but here's what I got:
It was HUGE. If you look close, you can see the eye and spiracle (breathing hole) on one side!
Don't you just want to ride it though? It looks like the perfect size.
And a few more photos from various dives:
Crowned puffers only get to be a few inches long. They're so cute!
Pink anemonefish in an anemone.
Sailfin surgeonfish.
Another Napoleon wrasse!
This here is (what I think is) a juvenile rockmover wrasse. He's cute, in an alien-type way. I got a video of him!
Look at that face. Cute!
More anemonefish:
Anemonefish!
Clownfish!
Another anemonefish!
Not sure what type of butterflyfish this is.
A parrotfish. I love their colours!
A patch of reef, probably 10 feet long or so. Good thing I had my wide-angle lens with me!
Bluespotted stingray!
I believe this is a goatfish, but I could be mistaken.
We got face-to-face with a Hawksbill sea turtle during one dive! Hawksbills are very similar in appearance to green sea turtles. You can tell it's a Hawksbill because of the curved 'beak' and by the jagged edges of the shell. I managed to get video of him!
Hawksbill sea turtle!
Hi there!
This is a Barramundi Cod! They're supposed to be pretty delicious.
Another unidentified but pretty fish.
Forcepfish!
Not a clue, but he's pretty!
More white tip reef sharks! You can actually see the white tips of the fins in this photo and video!
They look perfect for riding!
Moorish Idols are one of my new favourites! They look so pretty and elegant when swimming.
I love this guy's fin!
We've also got the Titan triggerfish, which I think is one of the prettiest fish around:
He's kicking up sand while trying to eat something.
We took some silly photos on my last dive:
Reiko!
Gigi.
I love the mask marks on our faces!
Hopefully I'll get a few more photos from my dive buddies, but that's all I've got for now. A big thank-you (and ありがとうございます) to everybody on Oceanquest, and I hope to see you all again soon! :)
No comments:
Post a Comment