21 Jan 2020
Our boat drove all night and by morning, we were sitting just south of Batanta island, ready to dive again!
Lush greenery replaced the rocky landscape in the south, and the bottom here was mostly sand. Today’s dives will be muck dives, bascially, poking around in the sand for cool critters 🙂
Dive #23 – Algae Patch 1 – Batanta
Nora also drew some of the cool critters we might see here: Flamboyant cuttlefish, Seahorse, Ghost pipefish, Frogfish, Rhinopia, Blue-ringed octopus, Nudibranchs, Wonderpus (they poke just their heads out of the sand)
Mantis shrimp:
This strange looking thing is also a nudibranch (Thecacera picta):
I had no idea which end was which when I photographed this guy- he’s less than 1″ long
Hypselodoris infucata:
Another Hypselodoris infucata!
A little shrimp was hitching a ride on this nudibranch!
Little white pipefish!
Glass fish and a freaky not-mushroom:
This is a cuttlefish!!
Sandperch:
Another one of those strange Pikachu nudibranchs:
Little lionfish:
I have no idea what this is, but there were these purple-blue iridescent dots floating around so I photographed one.
Christmastree worm:
Giant cuttlefish! He was about the size of a small football:
And of course, no dive would be complete without some Nemos:
Dive #24 – Algae Patch 1 – Batanta
We were super-successful in finding Nora’s critters, so the map was updated and we went hunting again!
Ornate pipefish, and yes, they do hang like that:
Mimic octopus- when he gets scared, he shapes his arms to look like some other critter:
Cuttlefish!
Napoleon snake eel:
A pair of ornate pipefish:
Long-arm octopus
His head is about the size of a golfball:
Fingered dragonet- he had the coolest under-fins that only showed when he was running around:
Caloria indica:
And another!
Swallowtail Headshield Slug- these guys were really pretty!
I’ve been calling him a rock puffer, though that’s not what he’s actually called…
Dive #25 – Algae Patch 2 – Batanta
No map this time- basically the same topography as the first- more sand, hopefully more critters!
Leafy filefish (again, not his actual name, but that’s what I call him):
Little hermit crab:
Flamboyant cuttlefish!!!
Isn’t his pattern cool?!
Tiny lionfish:
Strapweed filefish:
Halgerda okinawa:
Devilfish- look at his legs!!!
Phyllidiella nigra:
I think this is a turkeyfish…
Isn’t his eye cool!?
Giant mantis shrimp- his hole was empty when I swam over it, but my buddy knew what lived there, so she waited for him to appear:
Pretty feathery fan:
Doriprismatica atromarginata:
Yellowlip emperor?
Phyllidiella pustulosa:
This was seriously the pudgiest nudibranch I had ever seen! If nudibranchs could be obese, this one would be:
Phyllidia varicosa:
Hypselodoris bullockii:
Glossodoris rufomarginata:
Lionfish!
Dark Nemo:
Two baby scorpionfish!!!
They blend in quite well!
Another flamboyant cuttlefish!
Flamboyant cuttlefish trying to hide
And back to his original colors
Dive #26 – Algae Patch 2 – Batanta
Same site, but at night!
Half of this sea plant was missing?
Mantis shrimp- I learned if you dance a pointer (or anything shiny) over them, they’ll come out of their hole, and it’s absolute terrifying the first time they snap at your stick!
Ceratosoma tenue:
Fancy shrimp:
ANOTHER flamboyant cuttlefish- we saw 3 in this dive!
Hypseldoris tyroni:
Scorpionfish of some sort?
Cowfish!! Love the shape of these guys!
Frogfish face!
Coryphellina rubrolineata:
This fish looks like part of him has fallen off 🙁
Another Cowfish!
And another! These guys are like tiny tanks- when they want to turn around, the madly flap their pectoral fins and swivel- so fun to watch!
Cuttlefish…
Same cuttlefish, different coloration
Back to his original colors
And I think he’s sick of me
sleepy fish
I found this frogfish!!!
He was awkwardly walking around
Full-size seahorse
Awkward crab:
Baby lionfish:
Leafy the filefish:
Orangutan crab:
Bigfin squid!
He changed colors!
Mid-change
And back to his original colors!
Dark Nemos
Shrimp!
