The Diveblog

Kiss me sweetie!

 

The rosy-lipped batfish.

Shhhh......be vewy vewy quiet

The whitetips are hunting....anything.  Pack hunting by the whitetip reef sharks is a sight to behold.  They remind one of a pack of wild dogs, except without the social structure.  This is purely opportunistic and its every shark for himself!  The pics aren't great, because the sharks kick up a bunch of sand when they hunt.  Oh, they didn't let us night dive the site where this happens for the first half of the trip because this also happens to be the dive site where the tigers had taken up residence and the divemasters didn't want us in the water at night with the tigers.

 

 

Other Cocos Sealife

Every dive is so focused on the "big action" (i.e. sharks) that its sometimes easy to ignore the other wildlife in these very rich waters.  I think the other fish get used to being ignored, because I had them swimming right in my face sometimes.  Like this guy, who nearly bumped into my camera as I was waiting for hammerheads:

 

Normally, there are hundreds of marbled stingrays swimming about the Cocos sites, but they were making themselves scarce during our week.  I wonder of the tiger sharks had anything to do with it (they love eating stingrays).

 

More pics after the continuation 

 

 

Hammer Time

So after a couple of days swimming with the tigers, it was time for some hammerhead action.  Scalloped hammerheads gather into schools and come into Cocos for one reason, to get cleaned by the little barber fish.  Hammerheads get easily spooked by divers' bubbles, so the technique to get good photos or videos as follows:

Find a cleaning station....get close, but not too close...wedge yourself between a couple of rocks....every time a hammerhead comes in, hold your breath a hope he gets close enough for a shot before you pass out.  The second you exhale, it will bolt away.

Did I mention you need to do this in a current/surge with the bottom littered with sea urchins?  They call it a "Cocos tattoo" and most of us got nailed once or twice (right through the wetsuit).  Hurts like hell right when it happens, but the pain fades through the course of the dive and a little vinegar spritz when your back on the boat helps dissolve the spines over a day or two.

Anyway.....hammer time!  Its an awesome sight when they do the initial flyby:

 

 

 

And if you hold your breath long enough, you may get one to come in real close:

 

[breeeeeeeathe!]

 

Tigers at Cocos

So after a pretty smooth 35 hour crossing from Puntarenas to Cocos Island, we prepared to do a checkout dive on the shallow side of Manuelita Island.  Almost every dive charter begins with one of these dives to help the divers get the kinks out and make sure everything is OK.  These dives are almost universally shallow and generally boring.

We take the short boat ride out to Manuelita and as I'm getting into my gear one of the divemasters calls out "tigre!"  A tiger shark in Cocos!  That's when I realized that divers are probably the only people in the world who jump INTO the water when someone yells "shark".  You never saw a group of people suit up so quickly to get in the water.  Now, unless they are baited or chummed-in, tiger sharks are usually very skittish and will swim off as soon as the first divers enter the water, so I wasn't expecting to see it.  As I slid in, much to my surprise, there wasn't one tiger shark, but THREE!  Here's a shot of a pair.

 

So we spread out, settled in on the bottom (25ft) and enjoyed the show.  And they DID get close.....

 

Next dive, there were SEVEN in the water.  The divemasters were giddy.  They had never seen tiger sharks in Cocos waters before......and now there were seven!  The sharks stuck around for two days and we got four dives in with them.  It was a truly special time.....particularly because they weren't baited in or fed.  More pics after the continuation.

Costa Rica - The accidental artist

On our way back to San Jose from La Selva, we asked the driver to pull over so we could get some photos of the scenery along the road.  I zeroed in on a little waterfall beside the road so I could play with the tripod and some long exposures.  This is what I got:

That's what happens when a giant orange tour bus passes in front of the camera during a long exposure.  Pretty cool huh?

Costa Rica - La Selva Biological Station

I'm in the beautiful country of Costa Rica to dive Cocos Island from the Undersea Hunter.  Given the itinerary, I've got an extra day on the front end to do a little ecotourism.  We've chosen to go to La Selva Biological Station, mostly because it is an active research center and quite a different ecosystem (tropical rainforest) than what we will experience in the mountains at the end of the trip (more on that later).  Jesus was it hot and steamy.  I grew up in New Orleans, I thought I knew hot and humid, but I have never experienced it like THIS!  [.....that's why they call it the rainforest, dumbass!].  We were guided by a naturalist from the park who was instrumental in teaching us about the various flora and fauna.  Some pics

Leafcutter ants

Red dart frogs

More pics after the continuation

Chuuk - Shinkoku Maru (3 dives)

The Shinkoku Maru is considered one of the "must dive" sites of the lagoon.  The Shinkoku lists an illustrious career record, including supporting the attacks on Pearl Harbor, Rabaul, Ambon and Midway.  The ship was torpedoed and sank late on February 19, 1944.  This 500ft oil tanker offers divers every possible wreck diving experience,  Beautiful coral growth, interesting subjects on the deck, easily penetrated superstructure and more challenging dives inside the wreck.  We spent most of a day on her.

On the stern, there is an auxiliary helm telegraph used for docking.  Today, an anemone and some anemonefish call it home.

 

Over the years, the Trukkese dive guides have made a habit of bringing certain interesting items onto the deck to create little displays of artifacts.  This is great for more inexperienced divers with no intention of entering the shipwrecks of Truk, but does create greater temptation for thieves and also expose the items to faster deterioration.  Here's a display of a first aid kit (see the red cross) with some random bottles placed in it:

 

More after the continuation:

Chuuk - Fumizuki Destroyer (1 dive)

One of the few genuine warships sunk in Truk Lagoon, the Fumizuki was under repair when the attack began with all engines in varying states of disassembly.  The ship was tasked primarily as a convoy escort and had spent the prior several months on troop transport runs between Truk and Rabaul.  On one of those runs, she was heavily damaged in an airstrike and retired to Truk for repairs.  When the Hailstone attacks began, the crew was able to work tirelessly to get a single engine fired up and the ship underway.  That evening, Fumizuki was engaged and sunk by Avengers from the USS Enterprise.

As she was underway and undergoing evasive action, the location of the shipwreck was not discovered until 1987.  Today she is a very picturesque shipwreck lying upright with a slight list to port.  This pic will make a spooky black and white:

 

More pics after the continuation.

Chuuk - Yamagiri Maru (2 dives)

The Yamagiri Maru is a combined freighter/passenger liner that is now resting on its port side in 110ft of water.  Similar to the Kiyuzumi, the Yamagiri was sitting at the repair anchorage due to torpedo damage inflicted by the U.S.S. Drum two months earlier.  She was sunk in multiple airstrikes from the Yorktown and Bunker Hill.  Hold 5 is of particular interest, since it holds several 14in battleship gun shells along with other miscellaneous equipment.  This wreck also begins to highlight a particular aspect of the Japanese strategy.....liquid courage.  EVERY shipwreck is littered with thousands of beer and sake bottles.  Its like the day after a bad frat bash.

14in battleship shells:

 

Chuuk - Kiyuzumi Maru (2 dives)

Also spelled Kyosumi in some accounts.  The wreck of an armed merchant cruiser lying on its port side in approximately 100 feet of water.  Between November and December 1943, this ship was bombed and torpedoed three times and survived all of these attacks.  She ran out of luck at Truk Lagoon. She was at the repair anchorage in Truk when she was finally sunk in the February 1944 Operation Hailstone raid on Truk by planes from the Yorktown and Enterprise.

This was our "warm up" dive with the top of the wreck at 40ft and the bottom around 100ft.  As she lies on her side, penetration of the interior of the ship can be a little disorienting, but the holds are very accessible, though mostly empty. 

As with all of the shipwrecks in Truk, we will see a mixture of beauty, ugliness, destruction and new life.  The ships and men of the Japanese fleet anchored here met their end in unimaginable horror and flames.  They now hopefully rest at peace and have become the foundation for new life in the deep blue waters of the lagoon.  

Some pics after the continuation:

 

Off to Chuuk

Gotta run, I'm off to Chuuk to dive off the Truk Odyssey for a week.  I'll be out of touch while on the boat.

Jellyfish Lake

Since I'm running out of Guam time and need to get back to the airport, I'll leave the description of Jellyfish Lake to Wikipedia.

Here are some pics

 

 

 

More Fishy Pics

 

 

 

More after the jump...

The Resident Napoleon Wrasses

Big and unafraid, the resident Napoleon Wrasses of Palau were always present and sometimes a little too nosy.

 

 

 

The Wreck of the Iro

Among the ghost fleet of Palau (that rivals Truk's in size) is a 470 foot fleet oiler named the Iro.  We'll just call this an appetizer for next week...

 

More pics after the jump

Peleliu

At the southern end of Palau lies a small five square mile island named Peliliu.  Today, 700 Palauans call it home, but in 1944, 11,000 Japanese soldiers and airmen were resident on the island.  Palau was a major strategic base for Imperial Japan in the western Pacific and Peleliu housed the primary airfield commanding the airspace in this area of the Pacific.

However, as the tides of war shifted to the Allies advantage, Palau (as with Truk) became another target in the island-hopping campaign of the United States military.  Peleliu was supposed to be taken in three days......

It took two months.  Over 2,000 Americans and 10,000 Japanese died in some of the bloodiest fighting in the war in an area that has become immortalized as Bloody Nose Ridge

Many say the Americans could have bombed and bypassed Palau on the way to the Philippines, but the airfield was considered a strategic priority by certain military leaders. 

Here is the memorial that was erected by the landing beaches.

 

The landing beach.

 

More pictures after the jump

Fish and Critters

Palau's diversity is evident on every dive from pink anemonefish:

 

to one inch long spider crabs...

 

More pics after the jump:

Sunrise in Palau

We were blessed with some spectacular sunrises in Palau (jetlag means waking up at 4am every day!)

 

Doesn't this look like the island is on fire?

 

 

Palau Sharks

Many of the dives were planned around potential encounters with large numbers of whitetip, blacktip and silvertip sharks.  The idea was to place ourselves at an underwater point such as Blue Corner or Pelelieu Point in a strong current and watch the action unfold in front of us.  Unfortunately, the currents proved a little unpredictable, so the sharks were spread over a wider area on these sites.  Still plenty of them though...

 

 

Nap time......

 

And then I got REALLY CLOSE!

 

Palau's healthy reefs

Ten years ago, Palau's corals suffered serious bleaching due to la Nina.  Today, I can honestly say that I have seen few reefs healthier than these.  Enjoy.

 

 

 

More after the jump...

The Rock Islands of Palau

Palau is a beautiful limestone oasis in the Pacific with thousands of tiny rock islands scattered inside the fringing reef of the archipelago.  We will be spending most of the week in the southern end of the archipelago. 

 

Here are some shots of this picturesque place...

 

 

More in the continuation...

 

Next Trip - Palau

Spending a week on the Palau Aggressor liveaboard, cruising and diving among the rock islands of Palau.

Here's the boat, its very wide and spacious.  The cabin is the largest Aggressor cabin I've ever been in.

 

Because Palau has the potential for some serious currents, all diving is done from the ship's tender/skiff and treated as drift dives.  They also make sure everyone has a marker buoy, signaling device and personal EPIRB in case we find ourselves drifting off to the Philippines or Indonesia.  Here's a picture of the skiff, which was quite comfortable for the 18 passengers to dive from.

 

Getting lost in the eyes of a porcupine fish

Look into my eyes.......

 

Deeeeeepeeeer.........

Confused Decorator Crab

Decorator crabs grab hold of pieces of coral or sponge and hide underneath.  This one got a little confused and grabbed a hunk of wood:

 

Frogfish

Also known as anglerfish, these fish walk across the bottom (they can swim....sort of).  When they're hungry they stand perfectly still and use a little lure to attract little fish and shrimp close enough so they can gulp them down. 

This hairy frogfish has a pretty big lure:

 

In most places I've been diving, frogfish sightings are pretty rare, in Lembeh there were lots around.

Pygmy Seahorses

This is one of the creatures this area is famous for.They live on sea fans and are between a quarter inch and three-quarters of an inch big.  They also tend to be found between 60-100 feet deep, so there isn't much time either.  Very frustrating and difficult to photograph (they shy away from lights).

This is my best shot of the trip:

 

To get two in one shot AND have them both looking my way AND get them in focus (remember, they're half an inch big!) was a thrill.

Skipping ahead to Lembeh Resort

Given my internet issues, I thought I'd wait to wrap up the Pelagian leg until I get back and also spare you the gory details of the miserable overnight transfer to Manado from Bali.  Lets just say we pulled into the resort at 6:00 am and that there are actually "international" airports in this world (Manado's) with very....ahem...."inadequate" restroom facilities.

It was all worth it.....the Lembeh Resort has to be one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.  That's my room on the right:

 

The diving here is 95% muck diving, but the marine life is so abundant and diverse, I think I'll just post pictures by category.

Back to the pretty reefs

After a couple of days of muck diving, its nice to get back to the beautiful walls and reefs of the Wakatobi archipelago.  The incredible thing about the muck diving is that you become overwhelmed by the sheer frequency and diversity of the animal encounters.  Its relatively high intensity diving.  In comparison, the reef diving here is pretty relaxed, but offers fascinating critter opportunities as well:

Lots of clownfish around

 

This crinoid shrimp is a great example of natural camouflage abilities

 

More Muck

Some more pics from Butan:

Napoleon Snake Eel

 

Here is one swimming about

 

Fire Urchin.  Beautiful, but a painful venom on the spines.