Deep underwater and totally off the topic

Photos are awesome. Did you ever see a giant manta in person? I hope to go to the Atlanta aquarium this year with my son, they have one (maybe two) there.
 
Maldives is the place I keep hearing about when they are filming. How awesome to be around that many. Their effortless movement is most fascinating, if you look at photos of the skeleton it makes a little more sense.
If you had to name a favorite trip, would it be the actual underwater experience - or a person, or the boat, above water scenery etc?
 
Gosh, all the diving trips we’ve had are so much fun. Fish and folks together.

In both the liveaboard and the resort level classes of divers there’s somewhat of a cadre of folks with a similar bent.

We all take time off our lives to go to the far spots around the globe to be one with nature while swimming with the creatures of the depths.

Somewhat like climbers and backpackers.

It’s a thing. 😉

Cheers
DSD sends
 
Wait, that's a whale shark, right? That's like the no.1 fish you can hope to dive with? With maybe a blue whale or orca being higher on the list, not being fish? Unless you want to dive with a great white? But the one with the tall tail fin that's giving you the evil eye looks like a shark as well. So you don't seem to be too inclined to be scared by those type of folks...
Maybe they aren't so rare though, those whale sharks. Not sure what would be the holy grail to dive with.
 
Yes it is a whale shark. No they aren’t rare in quite a few places, but worldwide perhaps. Some small villages actually grow krill and feed the local whale sharks. Then have folks skin dive on the surface with them, while scuba divers are underwater. This becomes somewhat of a zoo, especially when the current and wind pick up. That was where that image came from, but the current was so strong the skin divers were endangered and pulled out of the water, leaving us. However the current got so strong we could only glide by until we returned a couple hours later.

That is a Thresher Shark. Pelagic, not normally dangerous, kill by creating a hydraulic burst with its tail, but hard to find and shy. Also tend to be deep. This image was taken near at a cleaning station while a the entire shiver of 20 odd sharks were circling us.

Everyone has a holy grail in diving until they see it a couple times. Then there is the next one.

Some are critters are very elusive though. Here’s one. It’s a fish called Comet. My partner and I were the only ones in multiple dives to have seen one and I was lucky to get a decent image as the fish shot away.

One that moved too fast and missed getting a decent image of…. Note how well its eye is camouflaged and the fish has a distracting eyespot on the tail section.

IMG_0196.jpeg

One that I saw before it saw me. Playing Peek a boo.

IMG_0197.jpeg

Cheers
DSD sends
 
Fiji is a really fine place to dive. Been there a couple times once ashore once on a resort coupled with a liveaboard trip.

Find it’s best to go a minimum of 10-14 days to make a relaxing trip. Especially considering distances we need to go

Doing any wreck diving in the Atlantic?

Cheers
DSD sends
 
Deep Sea Diver said:
Doing any wreck diving in the Atlantic?
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I dove the USCG Duane in the Keys... some big fish at that wreck!
Deep Sea Diver said:
Fiji is a really fine place to dive. Been there a couple times once ashore once on a resort coupled with a liveaboard trip.
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I've been there twice as well. Both times I stayed at:

Home - Navini Island Resort Fiji

www.navinifiji.com.fj www.navinifiji.com.fj

Somewhat similar to Tahiti, I found the snorkeling to be as good if not better than the diving, unlike, for example, Hawaii, where the diving was considerably better than the snorkeling.

By the way I love your photo of the thresher. They aren't very common!
 
Awesome. Was on the USCGC Campbell for an Alaskan trip back in the day… sister ship to the Duane.

Threshers are cool. Breath taking when in a bunch of them, for sure!

Leaving to another lifeboat soonest kicking off at Alor. More later.

Cheers
DSD sends
 
Incredible. I love the ocean, but ever since seeing Jaws have been scarred out of my mind of sharks. So I stayed in the shallows and then came Shark Week on TV where I saw sharks hunting n the shallows. Now I stay on land.
 
dbonsaiw said:
So I stayed in the shallows
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You have to learn to be a water person. I don't remember not knowing how to swim. My mother was a swim instructor who taught infants and very young children swimming skills. The first time I was on scuba in a swimming pool I went into the deep end and was lying on my back looking at the sky through the water and accidentally fell asleep. Sharks are just fish. And they are relatively dumb even as fish go. They are 100% instinct and most species aren't going to be interested in you. But they are beautiful when you see them up close and it is an experience you would not want to miss.
 
If one is diving in Southern Indonesia beware. It is fairly dangerous. There are cold water, strong currents, with up and down drafts strengthening quickly. These can push a diver all over

Also underwater whirlpools, or “washing machines” at points in land where currents meet. Nasty.

Finally there are underwater tunnel mouths where currents suck a diver in if one gets too close.

Yesterday helped pull out a diver who lost a fin on a rock at the edge of one of these holes and got swept in. Big trouble. Needed another guy at the mouth to help drag the diver free after I went down inside to help the diver climb out climb out rock hold by rock hold against all the water flow. Found the fin too, so all ended well! All concerned are pretty beat up today.

Sadly not an uncommon occurrence. Seriously getting am way too old for this! The Dive Director should have never put our team in the water in the first place after other groups before us had some borderline dangerous issues and the current was freshening by the minute.

So taking a hiatus today from the briny deep to rest. Here’s a couple images from a trip 15 months ago.

Uh oh! So sorry. Looks like signal is going down… will send images later.

Cheers
DSD sends
 
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Deep Sea Diver said:
If one is diving in Southern Indonesia beware. It is fairly dangerous. There are cold water, strong currents, with up and down drafts strengthening quickly. These can push a diver all over

Also underwater whirlpools, or “washing machines” at points in land where currents meet. Nasty.

Finally there are underwater tunnel mouths where currents suck a diver in if one gets too close.

Yesterday helped pull out a diver who lost a fin on a rock at the edge of one of these holes and got swept in. Big trouble. Needed another guy at the mouth to help drag the diver free after I went down inside to help the diver climb out climb out rock hold by rock hold against all the water flow. Found the fin too, so all ended well! All concerned are pretty beat up today.

Sadly not an uncommon occurrence. Seriously getting am way too old for this! The Dive Director should have never put our team in the water in the first place after other groups before us had some borderline dangerous issues and the current was freshening by the minute.

So taking a hiatus today from the briny deep to rest. Here’s a couple images from a trip 15 months ago.

Uh oh! So sorry. Looks like signal is going down… will send images later.

Cheers
DSD sends
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Glad you're ok!
 
Thanks Carol, Really appreciate that.

Here's a couple images I promised…

Nudibranch 1.jpeg
Moray 1.jpeg

Gotta look at this one hard..
Hawksbill in Coral.jpeg

Cheers
DSD sends
 
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