Thursday, July 28, 2011

Scuba diving the seas of Sulawesi...

I have always considered myself to be lucky...
In the sense that, my 'suweeto haato' shares the same passion for scuba diving as I do...
We particularly enjoy diving the seas off the east side of Sabah... 
And what more, we don't have to go far to enjoy the thrills of being underwater...
Here, my suweeto haato was having a good time observing a school of rabbit fishes just below the jetty... 

Can't remember the name, but these little fishes are such a joy to watch...
They normally position themselves in the rock crevices....
which naturally protect them from the currents as well as being preyed upon by their bigger cousins...


At Mabul Island's Paradise One dive site, we were pleasantly surprised to find a moray eel sharing its abode with cleaner shrimps...
Their relationship is somewhat symbiotic in that the shrimps clean the teeth of the moray eel... and I imagine the moray eel 'protects' the shrimps from being eaten by bigger fishes... 
While I was taking pictures, I could sense the shrimps climbing over to my hand...

This cute little puffer fish...again, I have to look up its name in the books...
Was following its movement for several minutes...
Really enjoyed watching it darting here and there...
And can you see the rock 'face' with the left arm up-stretched, index finger pointing upwards, 'kissed' by that little cutie?

These little fishes, chromis I think... their colors... so crisp and brilliant...
Ooh, it feels like heaven down there...

At Paradise Two dive site, there are a couple of these yellow trumpet fishes...
They have this habit of swimming head down... ever ready to snap at an un-suspecting prey...

The giant clams...
They come in several different colors and I think the bluish-purple is the most pretty...
These clams are huge and they are a delicacy in Okinawa and I think, the Philippines...
They are harvested for their shells as well, which I think is rather sad...
At the Sunday Market at Gaya Street in KK, there was a stall that specialized in selling only shells...
And people were buying them in droves...
Did a check on them and was very surprised to learn that they have the ability to cultivate plants in their body tissue...

They apparently feed on the plants themselves...

17 comments:

  1. Lovely, lovely underwater photos.

    The fishes are so colourful! :)

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  2. Wow what a beauty, the giant bluish-purple clams stole the limelight or rather the underwater heaven haha. Great pixz love them all.

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  3. These are marvelous underwater pictures. You did a great job with these. I'm glad you and your wife can share this hobby.

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  4. lina... in some cases, you can almost literally touch the fishes but we don't, of course...

    Bananaz... it is a thrill to watch the clams 'breathing'... I don't get tired of them...

    George... thank you very much for your comments... we really enjoy this hobby of ours...

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  5. What a wonderful world down there! Lovely pictures.

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  6. These are fantastic images! How wonderful to be so close to those beautiful undersea creatures. I see the rock face and finger pointing. :)

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  7. rainfield61... indeed, a paradise found...

    Keats The Sunshine Girl... down these, only peace and love... no?

    Diane AZ... it is indeed a privilege to be able to get that close to those wonderful creatures, really... we just need to be patient and 'respect their space'...

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  8. Lovely pics Lrong Sinseh! I can spend all my air looking at prawms. ROFL!

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  9. UnkaLeong... thank you!
    Me too, plus, I wonder how they will taste with my fried beehoon...

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  10. Gorgeous photographs! Beautiful sea creatures and it really is something special to be able to see them up close! Have a lovely day!

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  11. kitchen flavours... Thank you for your compliment... Have a good day too!

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  12. Hi i am new here. I read your profile saying you were here too! I bet you were here for scuba diving-related activities, haha! You have wonderful photos and i envy you for seeing our waters which i don't even if i am in the town where Anilao is. I've seen giant clams from sanctuaries and yes they are really very beautiful. I heard they are all different from each other. Which part of their body do they raise plants? If outside the shell, how do they get that for food? Amazing.

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  13. Andrea... thank you for dropping by... yeap, for sure I was there for diving... thank you for your comment on my humble photos... glad you like them...
    On Anilao, I wish I can go there one day... I hear it is a superb place for diving... the giant clams are indeed fascinating and beautiful animals...

    Apparently, they 'achieve their enormous proportions by consuming the sugars and proteins produced by the billions of algae that live in their tissues. In exchange, they offer the algae a safe home and regular access to sunlight for photosynthesis.'

    'Tissues' meaning the mantle, that is the colorful parts of the clams...

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  14. Wow, thanks also for those information about the giant clams, now i remember it Tridacna gigas, haha! If you will come to Anilao, i can suggest a nice and accomodating place, good food too, which i used for my friends last June. Do you know that Anilao is now internationally famous for nudibranchs? BTW, i did not get your profession from your profile, it i am not intruding too much. thanks.

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  15. Andrea... Anilao internationally famous for nudibranchs? Wooh, now that is an attraction... and good accomodation too? Hmmm...

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  16. I miss my dive trip at Sipadan island. You took very nice underwater photos. My hands tend to shake whenever I capture the photos underwater. I love puffer fishes so much, they are so cute but hard to be spotted. I'm glad that you took a nice photo of puffer fish.

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  17. Shelyn... yeap, Sipadan really offers amazing dives... we surely would like to return there... I enjoy taking underwater pics... and the puffer was really so pretty I could just gaze and gaze at it...

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