Lilo's Diary: Similan Dec 2007

I had a great time in Similan~ I saw manta for the first time~!! It were 2 short glimpse of it but I am happy :D This photo is from Gabriel's camera. My photo of it was really blur. I was so caught in surprise as it appeared less than 2 minutes into our dive!

The guide had told us 99.9% we will see the mantas and we did!! well, not all of us saw it. I am really thankful that I did!! It was a small manta. Saw twice in that one dive only.. Before that day I dreamt of manta and I saw manta~ Next night, I dreamt of whale shark but too bad I didn't see one.

See here for the rest of the photos : Similan Photos

This was my strobe (underwater flash)'s maiden dive!! And I got some nice photos which I am really satisfied with. Here are 5 of my favourites :

1. Little crab in hard coral : This was shot in a night dive. I had only one shot on this. I like the pink portion of the coral so I didn't crop very tight on the little crabbie.

2. Moray eel with soft coral : My strobe actually pointed more on the coral than the eel, it'll be perfect if I pointed on it correctly. This eel was coorperate enough, I waited for its mouth to open big big to breathe and took the shot. The other moray that I took hardly open its mouth..

3. Little fish on sea grass : I don't know what fish is this. And this was the first time I saw this kind of sea grass. It looked like a shot directly from an aquarium, doesn't it? The grass looked very soft and it's very pretty.

4. Hawk fish with red coral background : hawkfish really makes good subject. I actually prefer the second pic because of its fins' position. But it looked like it had only one eye...

5. Little fish with sea grass again : The little fish looked like a baby in its cradle.

This was taken not long after we left the port, on the upper deck of the boat.

The blue sea was really nice~

My flat abs.. gone... after days of munching on tidbits non-stop. I looked like 3months pregnant....

The flower blocked my view... Else this would be a great pic..

Super friendly turtle!!!! It kept coming back for watermelon. We get to touch its head, its fins, its shell.. and it wasn't annoyed at all! 2 of our divers jumped into the sea and snorkel with it, "molest" it all over yet it still remain with us for a longgggggg time, long after we ran out of watermelon.

It felt so much like playing with a puppy.

There was another turtle came to our boat on the next day. So.... fun~!!

Everybody looking and playing with the turtle.

Another hawkfish shot.

Gab took this pic as I couldn't get my strobe to point on the correct place. This was during the first few dives where I struggled in finding the correct angle for the strobe.

Another turtle~

Similan sunset~

BIG BIG lobsters!

We saw the most octopus in this trip~ I love octopus!

This octopus remained with us for a long time too. It went under the rock, came out, went in, came out. So funny. We were pretty close. I was a bit scared that it will get frustrated of us and jump on my face, so I backed up. haha... There's no way we can fight with its many, strong suckers underneath its tentacles.

The not-so-aggresive-triggerfish. I thought I was the only who took this shot, the triggerfish with one tooth less. Turned out that everybody took this same shot, almost same posture too!

A crab in super red sponges.

Super big crab!!!

I call this "double-decker shrimp", cos it looks like the prawn printed on Double Decker prawn cracker.

The sea was full of blenny.

We saw this "cowboy diver" underwater! He wore a hat while diving! I totally blur... when I saw him.

I think this guy was in the same group with the cow-boy. The act-macho-dive-with-swimming-trunk-diver. The water was pretty cold and he did look cold. ha! Serves him right if he felt cold.