Second Muck Diving Trip in Dauin (Part 2)

(Click here for Part 1)

Day 3 / Dive 6 / Site: Rock West, Apo Island

Most of the guests of the shop would go diving in Apo Island on that day, so I just followed them. We had three dives there, and the first dive in Rock west was my favorite. The visibility was the best which was 25 to 30 meters and the current was almost none. The seabed there is covered by many kinds of soft and hard corals. I used 14mm end of my Panasonic kit lens for that day.

I told Rocky no need to find some small stuffs and just enjoy the dive. The bigger stuffs we saw were sea turtle and eel.

Day 3 / Dive 7 / Site: Chapel, Apo Island

We also enjoyed the dive in this coral garden. The interesting fishes I saw were a big scorpion fish and two bluefin trevally. The scorpion fish is very big which is bigger than 30cm, I believe. Even though my lens is only 14mm, I still can get a little enlarge effect if the lens is close to objects. These two trevally were swimming around a hard coral and trying to hunt some fish hiding inside. I suppose we have no chance to be too close to these kinds of fishes unless they are focusing on feeding.

Day 3 / Dive 8 / Site: Katipanan, Apo Island

We also had a great time in this dive. The highlight of the dive was we saw sea snakes four times. Before ending the dive, we started to take some selfie to cease the last wonderful moment in Apo Island.

Day 3 / Dive 9 / Site: San Miguel (night dive)

Finally, I had the chance to do night dive. I couldn't believe the critter condition of San Miguel was like what we had the day before, so I requested to dive there again.

The first critter we saw was Ornate Ghost Pipefish. I was hoping to see more special critters at the night time, so I didn't spend too much time on it.

And then, it's an arrowhead crab (Huenia heraldica). This one doesn't have a big "hat", so it's easier to take a clear picture.

I think there are many Purse Crab (Umalana purarensis) on the seabed here, but it's also my first shoot of this kind of crab.

This frogfish is about 3 cm. My visit stopped it fishing. But fishing at the night? Can other smaller fishes see the bait?

This is a porcelain crab (Porcellanella haigae) on a sea pen.

And then, Rocky found me Tropical Bottletail Squid (Speiadarium kochi), another critter in my list. It's somehow difficult to take pictures of it. This small squid always buries itself in the sand quickly. Even though I switched manual focus to auto mode, I only got one or two focused shoots.

While Rocky was finding something nice, I also found some easy-spotted critters to take the pictures.

I also found a pair of Scissor Swimming Crab (Lupocyclus sp.1).

When I was trying to get some good shoot of the scissor swimming crabs, Rocky waved his torch to ask me to come to him. He saw me didn't react, so he waved the torch again more exaggeratedly which means he found something really nice. It's a flamboyant cuttlefish (Metasepia pfefferi)!! I didn't get too excited like last time, so I could be more concentrated on focusing. However, this one was not like the one I saw last time showing more fantastic colors.

This one is a juvenile of warty frogfish which has the most different coloration I had seen in this Dauin trip.

This cuttlefish is super small, about 1 cm.

Another porcelain crab on a sea pen. The posture is like a diving athlete going to have a back roll.

This is Berry's Bobtail Squid (Euprymna berryi). It looks like Tropical Bottletail Squid, however we can see the difference easily by the colors of their bodies. It's also very naughty and hard for me to take the pictures.

And then, we saw a decorator crab. Although it's camouflaged, the reflections of their eyes from torches make them compromised at the night time.

After seeing those small stuffs, I feel the creatures bigger than 15 cm giant. This is a sponge crab, but it carries a tunicate instead of a sponge. It's also one of the interesting parts of diving and observing creatures.

When the dive time almost reached 60 minutes, we saw another pair of ornate ghost pipefish. I was still hoping to see more critters in the last minutes, so I only took few pictures to record it.

Eventually, I finished this dive with another purse crab.

Day 4 / Dive 10 / Site: Cars

At the first, we saw a cuttlefish which is around 15 cm. He seemed not to welcome my visit so raised two arms to warn me off.

Another cuttlefish. This one is smaller which is less than 10 cm.

And then, a juvenile of stone fish(or scorpion?).

Another super tiny frogfish.

I saw another Long Nose Rock Shrimp (Leander plumosus) during this dive, and this one is smaller than the one I saw on the first day. It's about 3 cm, and it's cuter in this size. I almost reached Deco time when I was taking the pictures of the shrimp. Rocky didn't know I was taking pictures of what I wanted, so he kept banging his tank to ask me to ascend. Really a responsible DM.

After ascending to 16 meters, we kept searching something special. Rocky grabbed his hair and made a gesture of frogfish which was the sign I was expecting most. It's a hairy frogfish!! Finally, I fulfilled the regret I left from the last time. I was so happy to see this beautiful froggy.

And then, I saw another pair of Robust Ghost Pipefish (Solenostomus cyanopterus). Somehow, it's difficult to photograph both of them in the frame by 45mm lens. I had to backward more to put them in the picture, so it's easy to illuminate a lot of back scatter in this case.

When we were in the depth of 5 meters, Rocky asked me to see a blade of sea grass.

I looked at him doubtfully. He pointed to that grass again and signed me OK. I took a closer look and finally saw some skeleton shrimps. What?! It's so tiny and hard to be seen. Recalled the expression in his eyes at that time, he seemed to say: Here!! That's what you want.

Day 4 / Dive 11 / Site: Masaplod

One diver joined us on this day. During the briefing, Rocky said there are more corals compared to the other sites in Dauin Coast. Another DM, Jun, supplemented that we would have the chance to see Candy Crab. I was not sure if they were joking, but I saw Rocky smiled confidently.

The first critter we saw was Zanzibar Whip Coral Shrimp (Dasycaris zanzibarica). It's my second time to photograph this kind of shrimp, and I felt how to take the pictures better. The shrimp stopped at the bent part of the whip coral. Even thought the shrimp looks small in the picture, I like this image.

And then, we saw a big colorful nudibranch. I felt sad when I saw the LCD monitor after this shoot, because I knew my INON S2000 didn't work again. No more choice, but keep taking pictures with single strobe.

We saw more different kinds of nudibranch in this site. If you are a Nudi Lover, I suggest you to dive here in Masaplod.

Another Zanzibar Whip Coral Shrimp (Dasycaris zanzibarica):

When we were in the depth of 10 meters, there were only few red colored soft corals in the sight. Rocky searched for a while and really found a candy crab (Hoplophrys oatesii) on one of the coral. What a good work!

Day 4 / Dive 12 / Site: San Miguel

At the first, I saw a small golden goby (Lubricogobius ornatus) hiding under a dried leaf. It seemed to be afraid of me, so I didn't bother it too much.

And then, it's an ornate ghost pipefish. It looks like a juvenile because big portion of its body is still half-transparent.

I told Rocky I hadn't had a good shoot of Donald Duck, and he found me another one in this dive. Perhaps, I would have a better result of this picture if I could use double strobes.

I have to say I am terrible at taking picture of nudibranch, however, this pair Rocky found (Stiliger ornatus) are so beautiful. So I took a deep breath and decided to face my fear. Two of them are very small, so I took more than 10 minutes to take some shoots. It's the longest time I spent for a single scene in these four days.

Like I mentioned before, there are only few corals scattering on the seabed. However, most of the soft corals have some critters live on them. The special part of this porcelain crab is one of its arms is new-born.

This kind of flounder fish juvenile is quite common on the seabed.

Another pair of Ornate Ghost Pipefish. I took some shoots when they were close to each other, but only this one has two of them in the same frame.

And then, I saw a nudibranch (Stiliger sp.1) seemed like eating. It's my first time to see this kind of Nudi.

This kind of Nudibranch again (Armina sp.). To me, it looks funny, but somehow creepy at the same time.

Day 4 / Dive 13 / Site: San Miguel (night dive)

This night dive was my last dive of Dauin trip. One of the creatures hadn't been crossed out from my list.

At the first, I saw a porcelain crab on a sea pen. It's a little difficult to photograph this kind of combination because the sea pen will duck into the sand with the crab if we get too close.

Another tiny frogfish:

Before we dove, I told Rocky I didn't take a good shoot of small squid. He said no problem, it's guarantee of night dive here.

I didn't take a pictures of that pair of Scissor Swimming Crab last night because of the flamboyant cuttlefish. But in this dive, I photographed another kind of Scissor Swimming Crab (Lupocyclus sp.) in pair.

A big flounder fish. It's not afraid of me, so I took few shoots in front of it.

One big Marine Flatworm (Pseudobiceros kryptos) with a small one:

The highlight of this dive can be this Coconut Octopus (Amphioctopus marginatus). Last time I also saw a coconut Octopus, but this one is bigger. The body is bigger than a fist, so it's not too difficult for me to focus.

Another Scissor Swimming Crab (Lupocyclus sp.) with only one arm left:

Another two "playing" Skeleton Shrimp:

This Giant Box Crab (Calappa calappa) buried himself into the sand so fast. Moreover, he was not like the one holding a girlfriend which I photographed before. So I didn't bother him too much. But is that Angry Bird on his shoulder?

This shrimp walked toward to me straightly, so I had a chance to take this shoot.

Rocky asked me to check sea grass again. He nodded his head and seemed to tell me: Is it enough of skeleton shrimps?

Lastly, it's a western king prawn (Melicertus latisulcutus). Some of my friends always tease me that we can also see those fishes and shrimps in fish markets, so no need to go underwater to take pictures. What the!! Can you see marine creatures so lively in markets?

After this night dive, I had dinner with some divers. They asked me what special stuffs I saw. I said only Coconut Octopus. One of them replied: How could you say it's an "ONLY" ? Don't be so greedy!

Haha~ I am greedy indeed because I haven't seen Mimic.

Dauin, I will see you again, SOON!

P.S.

The diver we met on my fourth day, Florine, is also a diving blogger. To me, her blog, WORLD ADVENTURE DIVERS, is not only a blog, but a professional website instead. Her website is also about travel and adventure. Check her articles to get more information of diving in Dumaguete and around the world.