On Night Diving...
Here are some fish that I was able to snap pictures of during my dives. First up is the Mandarinfish (better pictures in the link). This colorful fish had eluded me during 5 different night dives. Apparently it is only active at dust. My last night dive I went down with Drew and Kathy and Junior was leading the way. We shared the cost of renting the camera and I was elected to man the camera first. Photographing this shy fish was really big pain in the ass as it seemed to know exactly when I was taking a picture.
To the left I caught a cuttlefish changing the texture and color of its skin. The stock flash of the camera kind of messed up the second picture but you should be able to see the bumps and color changes. At the end you can see some really shaky video of our dive guide poking him with a stick. I wanted video of him changing color so I grabbed out of my buddy's hand and was trying to film with it still attached to his BCD.
This was my first time seeing a cuttle fish. They are kind of cute, in that way that animals like pugs or walrus can be so ugly they come around full circle to cute again. I think they look like a baby Chuthulu.
I also began collecting shells this trip. I have always been intensely curious about the things that live in shells but all I have seen are hermit crabs. I finally got to see one of the various snails that make these shells crawling along the sand bed. These pictures on the right are for emosnail . Still unsure about the species, although it was common enough around Alona. It even has little spikes around the mouth.
Finally we I saw my first octopus. This little guy changed colors constantly and even shot out some ink for us. It was slightly smaller than a CD. After the dive some of the instructors told me it was a highly venomous Blue Ring Octopus, but after some research I can tell you it is not. Supposedly if one is bitten by the Blue Ring Octopus, they shouldn't even bother to ascend because the poison is so potent that one wouldn't make it to the surface.