Norman and Amy arrived the night before, just in time for late dinner together. It feels really good having dinner by the sea with the cool breeze and listening to the waves crashing into the rocks. We chatted till late before heading for bed in preparation for a long day ahead.
The day started slow while we waited for our DM, Kadek, to come from Kuta. Before that, we decided to do some underwater shots at a calmer spot near our resort. It was crazily difficult, both for the models and the photographer. We spent a good 2 hours sorting out problems and trying out stuff. It was fun, but tiring too. I realized not everyone sinks like a rock like me.
As Norman hasn’t dived for years. We took it easy and went down the wreck again while Amy was “watched over us” while snorkeling. This time round, I replaced my macro port with a dome port for the wide angle stuff. There are still plenty of creatures to see, but with a dome port, the photo opportunity is limited for a place known for it’s macro stuff. Still, I love the wide angle for a change.
We spent the later part of the afternoon perfecting some underwater shots of Norman and Amy. My head was swirling from the underwater surges. I have to say they were as eager to get the shots as I do. But the level of difficulty in doing things underwater is nowhere close to what we do on the surface. We kept trying till our bodies decided, it’s time to rest. Had an extremely heavy dinner and for the first time in more than a week, I had 7 hours of sleep.
We did exactly the same dives as the previously 2 days. Liberty -> Drop Off -> Liberty (dawn) -> Seraya. This is what I love about staying at a place for a long time when I travel. Same place, different time, different things.
The dawn dive was especially rewarding. We managed to set off before 7am, which was an extremely good move as we didn’t see many divers there. Before the dive, I told Kadek that I would love to photograph the school of jacks, which I’ve always seen from a distance. 5 mins into the dive, she pointed them out to me and I signaled to her that I will be up there for the rest of the dive. Depth, 3-5m. I spent an hour swimming with the jacks with minimal visual on other divers. Even if they passed, they didn’t seem interested with the jacks. To me, one jack is nothing, a school of them makes them interesting. That was one of my favourite dive. We all surfaced happy with the dives. Norman got to see the Pygmy seahorsea among other stuff. I hope my dives in future will be like this, spending more time with the animals, so I can watch them rather than “touch and go” or “shoot and go”.
2nd dive at Seraya was equally good to complete a day of fantastic diving. Before the dive, a couple from Hongkong spotted the elusive and prized Harlequin Shrimp and told us a rough location. And that was good enough. After about 20mins of searching, an excited Kadek signaled that she found something. I knew it’s going to be something good as she rarely got that excited. As I approach, I kept telling myself, go slow and not kick up a storm. And there it was, the beautiful Harlequin shrimp. It was tiny, about a centimeter or less. I spent a good 10mins photographing it. And that’s when I realized, why people take underwater photographs. With your naked eyes, you can hardly make out the details on these beautiful but tiny creatures. When we surfaced, Kadek told me it’s the first time she saw a Harlequin shrimp, which explains why she was so excited. I guess, everyone got something out of that dive.
We packed up and left tulamben. That’s where I realized I haven’t booked a hotel for the night’s stay in town. Luckily the dive center helped me booked one that’s right in the middle of Kuta. I said, “internet availability” is utmost priority. The dive is over, at least the shore dives. Looking forward to the shoot and then diving with the Mola Molas and Mantas again. May the luck be with us, like it has always been.
Enough talking, here are the images.
A shot of Norman during our dive at Drop Off. I like this because it seems the bubbles were from him and it’s moving down instead of up.
Couple fish. I’d have missed it if it were any deeper. But at shallow depths, the shadow makes it a little more interesting.
Harlequin shrimp. A crazy idea to convert the colourful creature into black and white. Totally different feeling.
School of yellow tails (I assumed… by visual translation). Just reminds me of the wonderful sashimi we had in Hongkong. Might be a different spieces though.
A well camouflaged stonefish. It opened it’s mouth twice… both which I missed. Waited for another 5mins and it refused to open it’s mouth. Maybe there’s gold in it.
The colored version of the beautiful Harlequin shrimp. It’s so tiny and hidden under some rocks. But it’s bright colors gave it away.
A cleaner wrasse working on the black bat fish. Not commonly seen, at least for me.
The school of jacks forming up near the USS Liberty wreck. Partially blocking the sun, it created beautiful beams of rays on the wreck.
From below, the school of jacks formed up. It’s hard to get in to get a shot, because the bubbles I create will break up the formation.
One of the many times the jacks formed up. The lighting created a surreal image underwater. It almost feels like some UFO approaching.
One of the many “performances” put up by the school. It was amazing feeling to just sit there to watch and photograph them.
Like a well orchestrated dance, they move around in tight formation. Once they circle a particular area where food source seems to be, some of them will dive down to grab them.
A close up on the jacks near the surface of the water. On the beach, one can see their location by looking at the waters. Areas where the waters are disturbed.
The rocky bottoms of Tulamben. The beach is covered with pebbles, making the walk to dive sites a chore. It’s like having foot reflexology, just more painful.
