Soooo... at the end of September, the Season Premiere of The Masked Singer featured a "Leaf Sheep".
Here is the clip:
https://youtu.be/Eg9esNUQRKc?si=DO4oStXhOau9tWQ6
It turns out the singer was John Elway. It doesn't appear that anyone realized this was a Costasiella kuroshimae, a nudibranch or even a slug but hey, at least a species is in the spotlight!
A lot of divers call this guy "Shawn the Sheep".
Well, today is the last day of diving. Just two dives this morning.
On the first dive of the morning, I got to sit with the biggest Melibe virdis. I studied it and watched it eat. Whoa. I stayed there so long that a pipefish decided to hide in my camera arms. It was so cute I took a video.
On the second dive I found some additional interesting slugs I hadn’t seen yet on this trip.
Chris, John and I had our picture taken on the boat:
We had a last night party where there was a big Filippino meal and then we had the slide show. I just slipped away back to my cabin after. I was so tired.
Here are the slugs for the last day:
161 - Okenia kendi
162 - Hypselodoris whitei
163 - Goniobranchus rufomaculatus
Well, I am grateful that I was still able to take some pictures, but I certainly know it is time for a new camera setup.
I saw many nudibranchs on this trip I had never seen before in my life. That is super exciting. I’ll try to compile that list.
Here is the graph of the Nudis found in Anilao:
I am trying a new thing where I am keeping a Life List of Nudis and all the ones I've ever seen. That way each trip I can say which ones were new in life for me. For this trip to Anilao, there are 18 new ones:
I did 66 dives on this trip bringing me to 2,315 lifetime dives.
Until next time…
This is the last full day of diving. I am totally OK with that. I am getting tired.
We did Bethlehem and the wreck in the morning and some more local dives in the afternoon. I was cold a lot. So sad because it is almost 80 degrees in the water.
I found some interesting nudis today and the camera was just not cooperating. I got some shots but they are not great.
Mike went through some new camera ideas with me at lunch. I took random scrappy notes on my phone. He is either recommending the most recent version of my Olympus camera or possibly switching to Nikon. I’m not even sure the most recent version of my Olympus camera would be able to do blackwater photos. This is going to set me back pretty big financially. I am ok with that. I just don’t want camera problems to be what is holding me back.
It may be time to grow up and buy a real Nikon camera that can handle what I want to do. I need to work on a comparison spreadsheet.
Of way more interest, here are today’s nudis:
146 - Goniodoridella sp. 5
147 - Sakuraeolis nungunoides
148 - Verconia sp. 5
149 - Hypselodoris decorata
150 - Nembrotha sp. 1
151 - Dermatobranchus albus
152 - Phyllidia polkadotsa
153 - Facelind sp. 2
154 - Mexichromis pusilla
155 - Phyllidiella nigra
156 - Ceratosoma sp. 1
157 - Phyllidia picta
158 - Hallaxa iju
159 - Lobiger viridis
Well, my housing swap didn’t really help any. My camera is still blacking out. It is definitely a camera problem.
In the morning we went to the Aphol and Coconut dive sites. They call this the fruit salad morning. Aphol was really pretty with lots of coral, but slow on the nudis. I did however find a flatworm with the name JAY down the side. Are flatworms learning to communicate?
John finally went to the doctor this morning and was able to join us on the afternoon dives. We did a really mucky site and then the town pier again.
I was so cold on both dives as well as the trip home. I have taken to asking for hot water and then holding it under a towel I make into a hoodie so it is my own personal sauna. It seems to help. I cannot believe I am getting so cold in the Philippines.
Here are the slugs for today:
138 - Berthellina delicata
139 - Atagema sp. 13
140 - Goniobranchus preciosus
141 - Mexichromis multituberculata
142 - Dendrodoris nigra
143 - Melibe virdis
144 - Petalifera ramosa
145 - Melibe megaceras
I am starting to get tired of my vacation. It would be one thing if my camera was working well and I was into learning all of these photo techniques, but I am just trying everything possible to keep it working over these last few days.
I am trying to stay positive and enjoy the diving itself.
I made all four dives. I was cold and was going to give up on the night dive but I am so glad I went. I saw many new nudis for this trip and a couple that were new to my life list.
There is an anemonefish on the wreck named Grimace who has lived here for years. He has something wrong with his lip so everyone can tell exactly which fish he is.
I shared with Mike that he should have a five timers club like they have for Saturday Night Live. Instead of smoking jackets, the people who have come to Crystal Blue five times or more should have a special hood where they could have stars or patches on it.
After dinner I decided to change the housings… just to see if that fixes things. I took a few shot and I am pretty sure it blacked out once. Oh well, let’s just try using this other housing for a bit.
Here are the super cool nudis today
119 - Mexichromis trilineata
120 - Phyllidiopsis pipeki
121 - Jorunna sp. 3
122 - Nembrotha mullineri
123 - Goniobranchus reticulatus
124 - Phyllidiella annulata
125 - Melibe digita
126 - Hypselodoris pupureomaculosa
127 - Unknown
128 - Chromodoris hamiltoni
129 - Goniobranchus albopunctatus
130 - Phyllidia coelestis
131 - Phyllidia sp. 1
132 - Ercolania endophytophaga
133 - Phyllodesmium kabiranum
134 - Trapania aurata
135 - Hexabranchus sanguineus (juvenile)
136 - Phyllodesmium magnum (juvenile)
