Sloppy Snooter

I slept in a little more today.  I am working on my groove.

I am watching episodes of The Big C on Netflix and Alan Alda’s character just talked about an Italian phrase: il dolce far niente, which literally translates to "the sweetness of doing nothing".  That sounds just like liming.

There are several people here coughing.  I cannot imagine this on a dive trip.  I hope they get better… and that I don’t catch it.  I drink out of my own cup, so hopefully I won’t.

It is interesting diving at a resort vs. a liveaboard.  A liveaboard is more like summer camp.  You all get on the boat at the same time and have to live with each other for a week in pretty close quarters.  Where as at the resort, people come and go all the time.  Even though I might like some people, it takes a little effort to chat with them and then they are gone.

We did a Mucky Morning where we stayed in the area and did Secret Bay and then Jack’s Jewels.  On the surface interval we noticed some local kids on the beach.  They had a hold of a bird and it seems they had clipped the wings so it couldn’t fly away.  They were taking it for a swim in the ocean and then took it to a boat where they had a big knife.  WTF?  It is like Lord of the Flies around here.

Then right before I jumped for my afternoon dive, I looked over and saw a different set of kids bouncing hard on a branch of a tree out over the ocean.  And all these other kids were also on the branch.  What!?!?!?  I mentioned this to Uri and he told me a story about one of the kids catching a small moray and showing it off to all the other kids.  Then he smacked the head of it against a rock to kill it.  I mean, I assume they learned that from their parents.  Holy cow.

At lunch I dropped off the Japanese snacks with the freeze dried fish in them to see if anyone would eat them.  So far, no takers.

I was waffling on the afternoon house reef dive but I MADE myself go.  I am so glad I did.  I didn’t go far and found so much that the hour went by really quickly.

The night dive was off the charts insane.  I was so into things that I went into a little bit of deco because I wasn’t paying attention.  There was a point where we were looking at a Miamira and I really wanted to snoot it but I knew it would take a lot of effort to get it switched up.  But Mona even asked if I wanted to snoot it.  So then I went for it and I really struggled with the switch up.  I have to unscrew the arm, take off the strobe, remove the diffuser, turn on the spotter light, turn off the other strobe and the focus light.  I was so awkward and had to swim away to do it… by the time I was ready, Mona had moved on and I couldn’t find the slug anymore.  I mean, WTF Pam?  Even through it all, there were so many interesting species.  

At dinner we talked about holiday traditions in different countries.  I also got some book recommendations.

My counts today are respectable, but nowhere near my 2023 on Day 4 which was 107.  

Circus of Slugs

68 - Trapania sp. 1

69 - Favorinus sp. 14

There is a parasite on its back.

70 - Pleurobranchus peronii

Something took a chunk out of this guy.  Those are its guts hanging out.

71 - Cadlinella ornatissima

72 - Goniobranchus reticulatus

73 - Philinopsis gardineri

74 - Jorunna funebris

75 - Hypselodoris emma

76 - Verconia purpurea

77 - Hypselodoris whitei

78 - Chelidonura varians

79 - Chelidonura amoena

80 - Trapania gibbera

81 - Petalifera ramosa

82 - Gymnodoris rubropapulosa

This is a Ceratosoma tenue with a Gymnodoris rubropapulosa hanging off of it.  The Gymnodoris was trying to eat the bigger Ceratosoma!  I was told by scientists that the Gymnodoris cannot tell how big its prey is.  So if it tastes good, it just chomps down. 

83 - Miamira miamirana

This is the one I wanted to snoot but by the time I got the snoot all put together, the moment (and the nudi) was lost.

84 - Marionia arborescens

I still had the snoot on while shooting this but it certainly doesn't give the snoot effect.

Slow Down

I still woke up pretty early today but I feel more rested.  

Even with skipping a dive yesterday, I made it to 49 species.  That is only outdone by 2023 where I made it to 57 on day 2.  So climb on!!!

We did the Jetty in morning which was beautiful but a little slow on the nudis.

Then we saw blue whales during the surface interval.  Super cool.  I may have captured one on my Go Pro.  We encountered dolphin and marlin as well.

Mucky Mosque was great.  I found a big fat nudi under a rock… only because I saw its weird gills.  I had a hard time figuring out what species it is, but Vie helped.  Mona also found a miniscule red frogfish.

On the night dive, one of the divers Chris couldn't find his camera as he was getting back on to the boat.  He dropped it somewhere.  Crap.  Mona and Chris went back down to search for it.  Mona got it!

I feel like a lot of my pictures are harsh lighting.  I brought my diffusers.  I may try to use them this trip to see if I like the results better.  I wonder if I need to take it off to use the snoot.  That’s one more step and I am so awkward already with the snoot.

I am really grateful that all my gear seems to be working well.  Especially the Air 2 on my BCD… since I bought them both off of eBay.

Here is an exciting frogfish at the Jetty

Slug Line

50 - Phyllidia varicosa

51 - Nembrotha sp. 2

Seems this one was just hanging out looking for a mate.

52 - Tambja morosa

53 - Costasiella sp. 1

54 - Roboastra luteolineata

55 - Elysia sp. 37

56 - Carminodoris grandiflora

57 – Pelagella sp.

58 - Mexichromis multituberculata

59 - Costasiella kuroshimae

60 - Atagema sp. 13

61 - Pleurobranchus grandis

This pleuro was too big to get in one shot and the baitfish were EVERYWHERE, so I decided to go a little artsy.

62 - Goniobranchus albopunctatus

63 - Discodoris cebuensis

64 - Costasiella usagi

65 - Goniobranchus verrieri

66 - Hypselodoris roo

67 - Platydoris sanguinea

Spelunk Surprise

I slept through the night until almost 3am which is pretty good for me.

I need to remember how to do the magnify mode thing as I don’t feel like some of my shots are in focus.  Although, maybe it’s my eyes since I haven’t slept enough (and I’m getting old).  I do think my close up vision is still pretty good… it’s my far away vision that sucks.

The power went out again at like 4:30am.  I was already back in the room.  Trying to recharge my laptop.

I did my nudis for the day and then created a line graph that showed year over year how productive my trips were.  It turns out that in 2023 (a shorter trip) I found the most Nudis.  Interesting.

One thing to note is that I found 31 nudibranch species on the first day which is more than any other year.

We did the caves on the first dive.  Normally, I am NOT into caves but on this dive we found a very special species inside.  A Bornella anguilla which I have never seen before!  I should have spent the whole dive on it.  It was so gorgeous.  We also saw a good sized sleeping bamboo shark and a mermaid’s pouch with shark eggs in it.  I am warming up to the cave thing now.  

The second dive was supposed to be Clown Alley but because of the current, we went to Apuri Bay.  I love it there.  There was still a little current, but it was manageable.

We saw marlin jumping out of the water on the way back.  Oh, and we’ve been seeing dolphins in the bay on our departure each day.  We’ve been looking for Mola Mola but no luck yet.

On the third dive at Jack’s Jewels, after I rolled in I noticed that my air fill was only like 2000 psi.  Ugh.  That is only like 2/3 full.  I was tired and decided to just go with it but I let Niko know.  I went up a little earlier than the others.  It was weird to be on the dive boat while others were still diving.  I took this as a sign that I was supposed to be done for the day and took the rest of the afternoon and evening off.

I feel like my photos aren’t up to par.  I feel like I can’t really see what I’m doing underwater and I’m not completely locked in yet.  It’s only day two.  I’m giving myself a break.

I slept and barely woke up in time to make it to dinner.  

Next Nudis

32 - Pteraeolidia semperi

Two mating.

33 - Bornella anguilla

This one is so special!  I wish I would have stayed with it longer.  You can sorta see the eyespots and it is definitely feeding on this hydroid.

34 - Halgerda willeyi

There were lots of these in the caves.

35 - Elysia marginata

36 - Chromodoris joshi

37 - Chromodoris magnifica

38 - Phyllidia ocellata

Whoops. I only got a butt shot.  

39 - Doriprismatica balut

These are on every leather coral at Apuri Bay.

40 - Stiliger aureomarginatus

I was really struggling with the current and this guy was just NOT cooperative.  I hope to see it again on this trip so I can get a better shot.

41 - Hypselodoris tryoni

Two mating.

42 - Glossodoris rufomarginata

43 - "Taringa" halgerda

44 - Marionia sp. 1

45 - Phyllodesmium parangatum

46 - Samla bilas

47 - Thecacera sp. 8

Three of these together.  They are often called the pikachu nudi.

48 - Hypselodoris infucata

49 - Ceratosoma tenue