Blennies from a dream

---

Bali 83 Secret Bay Am

At breakfast I change my idea of doing my last 2 dives in Puri Jati and last minute I decided to go to Secret Bay and try to get a better shot of that baby dragonet/mandarine and to look for the cute blenny instead of trying to look for something new. On the way we stopped at a resort with WiFi and the owner ended up being friends with Mr Yono and they let me take photos of their facilities which were very nice, clean and within the budget. When we arrived at Secret Bay the water was flat like a plate it was perfect to do some top side wide angle and it was high tide. Lucky me!! I headed under the pier straight to the baby mandarin/dragonet and it was still there waiting for me. I repositioned my strobes and noticed that the screw on one of them was about to fall off. I got out of the water and looked in my tool box for my Phillips screw driver. I was so happy I brought it. I had to use it a few times. I have to make a list with all the tools and spares to bring next time. I got to use everything I brought even the spare oring for the housing. Any way the baby dragonet was sort of learning how to swim going up and down and it finally got the guts and ascended all the way to the surface. I followed and I tried to shoot up into the water column. That to me is one hard thing to do in UW photography. Any way I got it perfectly framed and in focus and I got to shoot a few times before I lost it in the current. When I went to check my shots I realized I forgot to open my f stop! I didn’t chage it from extremely close to use with the 10+. I was so pissed! I had missed the shot of the year for me. It took me a little while to get over it and I searched for it every where in the surface but there was to much trash and a lot of fish and I couldn’t find it. I descended and went back under the pier and looked up and I saw my beautifull blenny looking down at me. So I guess, I got my luck back, in a way. I still had air in my tank but my air gage was leaking and the bubbles were interfiering while the camera was trying to lock the focus. So I decided to get out and have lunch. My hands were numb again.



Log 629







Bali 84 Secret Bay Pm and last dive in Bali L



I had a delish Mie Goreng, at the restaurant on site, the cooked had thrown bacon bits and it was real good. Tide was extremely low and lots of trash. I headed under the pier again looking for froggies and critters in the trash maybe I would see any octo: Blue ring, coconut or mimic. I saw nothing on the bottom so I looked up and tried to shoot some of the baby Bengals but they are always on the seaurchins and I didn’t like it. Then I tried to figure out where my blennies hide and I saw a few of the clear and the others, the dark ones were around eating the barnicles. They were manching on them real hard. I guess that is why they have such big jaws. I fired a few shots but with the low tide was extremely low. Not for Secret Bay: Best viz is at high tide. Also I saw the blennies hanging on the pier structures just below the surface sometimes with the water movement their heads get almost uncovered. If the water was calm it would have been great for a reflexion shot. Instead of moving down deeper and look for more stuff I just decided to call it a dive. The water was so dirty that it was a waste of time any way to even try. I rinsed everything real well and headed back to my hotel to start packing. My flight was the next day! I am pleased I decided to go back for the blennies and I hope I got a sharp portrait shot. J



Log630

---