Page 66 - Underwater Photography (January-February 2020)
P. 66
Olympus E-EPL5, Olympus 8mm, dual DS 161 strobes, f 11.0, 1/100, ISO 200 Nikon D7200, Ikelite housing, Tokina 10-17, 10.0 mm, dual DS 161 strobes, f13.0,
1/125, ISO 200
kept their distance. We missed larger jacks and huge Spanish mackerel. And photographers in the 16 persons up the reef. During a drift dive or
groups of barracuda. The night dives, not to forget the batfish swarming in group of mixed nationalities. a situation of lower visibility this
some at the piers, had loads of macro groups. A great thrill were the reef Curiously enough, although our dives easily leads to a loss of eye contact
subjects, such as blue ring octopus, Mantas that we encountered at Magic were categorized as ‘macro’ and with the group, creating inevitably a
bobtail squid, ghost pipefish and mountain (a submerged reef south of ‘wide angle’ dives, critter seeking ‘solo diver’ situation. Luckily, Laura
pygmy seahorses. The current was Misool) and in the north, hovering by the dive guides formed a central the American assistant dive master
a major factor of most of the dives. over a shallow sandy cleaning station element of most dives. Being the was so kind to accompany me
Where the current strikes the offshore plateau. Other spectacular sights were only diver with a fish-eye lens on during a number of dives, which I
reefs, it often splits, attracting a the dense groups of hundreds of jacks my Nikon as well as Olympus rig this otherwise would have finished with a
dazzling variety of congregating fish, and various species of sweetlips initially caused some frustration. This solo ascent and release of the marker
such as pulsating masses of sweepers, (Plectorhinchus) huddling together. was when I had to follow the group, buoy. The dinghy captains were
yellow snappers, fusiliers pursued by My buddy Jack and I were with little time to linger behind on always attentive and divers surfacing
huge giant trevallies, packs of bluefin the only two experienced UW occasional interesting spots higher were always spotted and transported
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