The girlz were raving about the mustache jawfish found by the Casey's close to the west wall and Steve's juv spotted bumble bee. Talk about cool things to look for!! It has been raining a lot and we skipped yesterday to run errands plus the battery of my truck took a pooh. I started the dive with Steve and then felt behind. The nudis that like in the algae that looks like a thick fishing line in a ball are back. They were everywhere and all sizes. I tried a couple of ID shots but I wanted something more colorful. It's hard to find them isolated from that ball. I guess I passed the dip because I saw a boat going in top of me. I found the dip and photographed a baby lobster and I ... read more

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 ... read more

Dilema: What to do on my last night dive? Go get a better shot of something I have already seen (almost for sure: mating dragonnetes) or go see something I have never seen (Not for sure: Mating mandarin)…I switched back and fwd when I think half of the island or more think there are no mandarine fish in Bali… 06 06 2013 Bali 80 Secret Bay am I didn’t really care much for going back to secret bay but I really really wanted a potrait, award winner shot of that cute blenny with puffy cheejs I saw earlier during the week. So I decided to at least do one more dive there. It was raining all morning, Mr Yono stopped at an Internet place in Gilimanuk while waiting for the ... read more

05 04 2013 Octo with Bumble bee. Watching this behavior is what actually made me start thinking about video. One of the last dives before our quick departure to Indo, I dove the left over 2500 psi from the day before and I was diving in a different way checking for something unusual on common subjects diving slow and carefully. I saw a playful octo that grabbed my tickle stick and I noticed clear shrimp around it. There were a bunch of these clear shrimp jumping off and on the octo. When I was trying to take some pics of the clear shrimp I noticed onebumblebee shrimp and then another one and another one jumping on the octo and picking on its sucklers… so cool. The octo was completely surrounded by bumblebee shrimp that would pick ... read more

Gardening has always been a great way to clear my mind. I stopped all the tasks I was working on and walked the new yard for first time. I found some rocks on a pile that could make a great fire pit. Hmmm. Ideas, ideas. It would take a long time and work to have the lot the way I would like it to feel, look and smell. I started by cleaning a palm tree by the garage that I always see when I pull up… while I think of a new spot for it. There was a pretty bug with bright blue stripes. I wanted to run to get my camera but then I thought: ahh by the time I come back it is going to be gone. Half of the leaves of the palmtree ... read more