17 Jan 2020
We headed south-west-ish, to Warakaraket, to the sea of fishes!
Dive #9 – Magic Mountain – Warakaraket
A sea of fish greeted us as soon as we hit the water:
Humphead wrasse:
Seriously cool fish– they can get up to 7.5′ long!
(this guy was probably 4-5′)
Juvenile humphead wrasse:
Juvenile Midnight snapper:
Spot the octopus
I like that he looks like he’s sitting
Sea cucumber, walking around
Masked puffer getting its gills cleaned by a cleaner wrasse
Titan triggerfish:
Lamark’s Angelfish:
Panda butterflyfish:
Phyllidiella pustulosa:
and another:
Bluegirdled Angelfish:
Grouper:
Coral Rabbitfish:
Blackspot puffer:
Yellowtail coris wrasse:
Orange-lined triggerfish:
Tomato Grouper:
Longfin Damselfish:
Three-spot Angelfish:
I don’t know this guy’s name 🙁
but he has some cool markings on his fins
Tiny sharpnose puffer
Sailfin tang
Eel:
Cornetfish:
Lionfish!
Dive #10 – Eagle’s Nest – Warakaraket
This was not a good dive- the current was wicked strong and it took me forever to find something dead, yet strong enough to hook into. We got tossed around and the rock I was hooked on broke, but stayed lodged on my hook. I signaled to my guide that I was totally not comfortable with the current- he tried to convince me to stay down with the group, but I went up early anyway, launching my own safety sausage and doing my stop out in the blue.
Farewell, terrible dive site!
On a positive note, even though I offered to switch groups when we knew the current would be strong so I wouldn’t hold the others back, my group was cool with dropping somewhere a bit more tame.
Dive #11 – Boo Windows – Warakaraket
The swim-thru in the larger rock used to be 2 separate holes, but the divider has collapsed and now it’s just one big window:
A sea of sea fans:
And a plethora of fishes:
This poor longnose hogfish had a parasite on his face:
Clown triggerfish:
Cleaner wrasse!! I swam into his cleaning station and he started cleaning around my mask. Unfortunately, every time I turned the camera to get a shot, he swam off
Banded pipefish:
Sea star:
Juvenile Emperor Angelfish. This guy was seriously camera-shy!
Grown-up Emperor Angelfish:
Masked puffer
Blenny
Pygmy seahorse, FINALLY facing the camera!
Tiny damselfish- there were dozens of them living in this coral
This guy was an intense orange
WALKING SHARK!!! He wouldn’t leave his little cave, but he did amble around on his pectoral fins.
I think this pygmy seahorse is pregnant.
Nembrotha Cristata, making more nudibranchs
Solo Nembrotha Cristata:
Apparently, it started raining while we were underwater:
Dive #12 – Boo Windows – Warakaraket
We returned to the same site for our night dive, this is what it looked like top-side:
Look at this blue spiny lobster’s moustache!!!
This sea fan had like half a dozen sea horses in it! But none of them wanted to look at the camera 🙁
Blue spotted stingray:
Squat lobster- he was maaaaybe 1/2″ big:
This flatworm (Pseudobiceros gloriosus) was swimming through the water!
Dancing shrimp:
So this creepy hand is actually the severed leg of a sea star that is regenerating. Cool, but still creepy.
Scorpionfish:
Trumpetfish:
Nembrotha chamberlaini:
he was super-active!
This little crab is using sponge-parts as camouflage:
Nembrotha Cristata:
