Photos of Thailand Reefs (3/3)

2008/03/21 23:34
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There were Moorish Idols everywhere. Sometimes it's frustrating to see so many non-reef-safe on the reef - wish we could keep some of these in our tanks!


Sarah waving in front of a huge outcrop of montis




This shot (a large parrotfish) and the next few are actually snorkeling shots from a site called Monkey Beach on Phi Phi (pronounced "Pee Pee" - no joke) Island. We didn't see any monkeys on the beach, but it's probably a good thing - they're supposed to be kind of aggressive.




You can see how the colors tend to be a bit more vibrant at these shallower depths - better light penetration of the full spectrum


Some pink skunk clowns in a really large anemone




I think these Sargeant Majors thought they were piranhas in their own minds by the way they circled us.


Another closeup of a green stag. Note the big teal-colored clam behind it.


YAMI (Yet Another Moorish Idol). I think that's what's called an 8-band butteryfly in the background. Another clam on the left.


More skunks in an anemone.


Chevron butterfly


Think these are called Rainbow butterflies - one of those species they always say fail miserably in aquaria because they only eat coral.








Pipefish



A gorgonian?


Softies and a monti on a wall


Two bar rabbitfish. I had hoped to see a magnificent foxface because I have one of those at home and they're supposed to come from the Andaman Sea (where we were), but no such luck.


??? No idea what these are


An assortment of wrasses. The second from the left might be a Christmas wrasse (which I have in my tank) but could also be one of the thalassoma wrasses. Cleaner wrasse on the far left. We spotted a couple cleaner wrasse cleaning stations where the other fish line up like they're at a car wash, waiting to be picked clean.


Open brain of some sort


More softies. All the pics in this post are from a site known as Bida Nok, by the way.

These are from another site, a place called Siam Bay off a little island south of Phuket called Racha Yai.


Moray


Blue ridge coral, I think - there was a lot of it at this site




Close-up of the edge of a tabling acro


Some kind of fire coral I think


Purple fungia - I have one of these. It was the only thing I saw on these dives where the version I have in my tank is actually bigger!


Butterfly - I thought it was a threadfin, but I just looked at some online photos of those and they don't seem to have the vertical black bar on the trailing edge and tail like this guy


Wrasse - looks like maybe a cousin to my Christmas wrasse (halichoeres sp.)
Last set of shots


Big softie


Blue linckia


Looks like something from Mel's old tank


Our divemaster pointed this bad boy out to me - never would have spotted him on my own. Made me a little nervous even getting close enough to it for the photo, but I think you're ok if you don't startle them, step on them, or get too close...




Chromis and I think some kind of bicolor blenny

For anyone who is interested, the photos I've posted here are a subset of the ones I have in an online album at http://picasaweb.google.com/jemoersch/ThailandDiving, although I think the ones I put here are some of the best. Even the ones posted in that album are a subset of the total that I took (around 500 frames!).

All of these were shot on a little Canon Powershot SD800 digital compact camera in an underwater housing. I've also got around 1300 above-water shots from the trip taken with this camera and a Canon Eos 40D SLR, but while they're also interesting I figure they're probably not as germane to this board. If folks are interested, once I have them processed and uploaded to an online album I can post a link here. The pics we got of the temple ruins at Angkor in Cambodia turned out particularly nice.

Last thing, in case anyone ever stumbles on this thread when doing a search on diving in Thailand: I give my highest recommendation for the dive shop we went with, Phuket Pro Dive (http://www.phuket-scuba-diving.com/). It's owned and operated by a Canadian/Japanese couple, Richard and Megumi, and they really are top notch. Megumi was our divemaster on all the dives, and she was very safety-oriented and just totally had her act together - very organized and efficient. I looked around a lot before picking this outfit, and got the definite impression that a lot of the dive businesses in the area are not as organized. Megumi tailored our dives perfectly for our novice experience levels, but I'm also certain she could cater to any level.

Jeff (vol_reefer)




 

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