As usual, I had a terrific stay at Kasawari Lembeh Resort…a long one this time, just over three weeks.
It always feels like home at the resort, due entirely to the warmth of the people who work here.
A group picture is great, but video is much better at conveying the way things are here. I had to coax a little silliness from the gang, but actually, they’re always like this!
Thanks for a great stay, and see you again soon!
Transitioning from day diving to night diving for the Night Safari event was easy. We had a 24-hour break when we converted over to the night schedule, so I had some time to offload nitrogen and get a bit of rest.
Transitioning from night diving to day diving, however, has been much more difficult, with only a few hours between the last dive of the night dive schedule and the first dive of the day schedule.
So…for the past day or so, I’ve been feeling like this:
Which explains this snapshot that Eric took of me during our morning dive today.
That’s me in the background, and some of my equipment in the foreground. Note the unique technique I employ to get a black background.
Crabs are comical. There’s no doubt about it.
Following on the crab/ pipehorse test of wills I saw two nights ago, last night I watched as a crab and nudibranch matched wits.
From the outset, I had little doubt that the crab would come out the better of the two, but it was still a lot of fun to watch this mini-drama unfold.
It all started when I saw a nudibranch (Marionia pustulosa) making its way across the bottom. We’ve seen a lot of these nudis recently, so I didn’t give it much thought, and I was about to swim by…when I noticed something ambling across the sea bottom toward the nudibranch.
Within seconds, I watched as a crab walked in front of the nudibranch and grabbed the unsuspecting sea slug’s rhinophores to pull it down to a more crab-friendly level. The crafty crustacean proceeded to mount…yes, to mount…the nudibranch.
Of course, no self-respecting opistobranch wants to be seen in public with an unattractive accessory like this crab (much less to have its photo taken with one), so the hapless nudibranch resisted.
The besieged sea slug took off at top speed (for a nudibranch), but the nimble crab quickly changed strategy. It grabbed on from the side as the nudibranch sped away (again at top nudibranch velocity) and clambered atop the fleeing slug.
Once astride the nudibranch, the crab sat back(ward) and rode off into the proverbial sunset (there was, of course, no sunset, since it was just after 22:00 and underwater, but the mental image makes for a nice ending).
The ocean at night is witness to many a drama. Some involve life-and-death struggles between predator and prey. Others are just funny.
Last night was the first night of the Night Safari hosted by Kasawari Lembeh Resort. We started diving around 17:30, and I came up out of the water on our last dive at around 02:30 the next morning. The moon was full and bright, and Lembeh Strait was teeming with activity.
On the last dive, one of the guides pointed out a little pipehorse (Acentronura sp.), which looks exactly like it sounds…half pipefish, half seahorse.
Like many of the other animals we came across, this little pipehorse was quite active, prowling the bottom looking for food. I followed as it made its way across the sandy bottom of a site called Pantai Parigi, taking photos as and when the opportunity arose, since the pipehorse, like most Sygnathids, was camera shy.
Along the way, the pipehorse grabbed hold of various objects with its prehensile posterior…to steady itself and pause for short breaks.
The funny part came when the pipehorse latched onto a well-camouflaged crab:
Grumpy by nature, the crab was none-too-happy about the situation, and shook the bewildered pipehorse loose a few times. In each instance, the pipehorse turned with a puzzled expression, then wrapped its tail around the crab again…only to be dislodged once more.
Eventually, the crab grew weary of the clueless pipehorse and trundled off in a huff, as indignant crabs are wont to do.
I should’ve taken more photographs, but it’s difficult to hold steady when you’re overcome with uncontrollable laughter.
There are some really strange things in Lembeh. Take Mike for example.
Mike is the manager at NAD-Lembeh Dive Resort. He’s been kind enough to invite me over to NAD several times, but I’ve never actually made it over there until tonight (actually, I’ve totally been avoiding him, on the advice of mutual acquaintances).
Mike is from Canada. As if that weren’t sufficient reason to give him wide berth, Mike has been alone for a long time, stuck on a small island in Indonesia.
He is, let’s say, desperate for companionship.
…which is why I was quite happy that Hergen (who is the manager at Lembeh Resort) was also present for the evening.
Hergen is cuter than I am (at least in Mike’s eyes), so he bore the brunt of Mike’s misguided affections.
Not long after I took this photo, Hergen wisely rushed back to his wife at Lembeh Resort, and I fled returned to Kasawari Lembeh Resort, leaving Mike…once again…frustrated and alone.
Note to Mike: This is what you get for inviting me over!
Eric put together a nice time-lapse video of us setting up our cameras a couple of nights ago. It actually looks like we know what we’re doing:
Tony Wu and Eric Cheng set up cameras in Isla Mujeres from Eric Cheng on Vimeo.
After something on the order of 30 hours on the road and in the air, I arrived safe and sound for a brief stopover in San Francisco before I head down to Mexico.
Despite the concerns I had about travelling to and transiting through the US, everything went smoothly. There were more body checks than usual, but nothing excessive. Best of all, my baggage made it through the transfer in Los Angeles with no problems. Hurray!
Eric picked me up at the airport, and after a delicious and much-needed meal at a local Thai restaurant (where I had my favourite dish phad kaprao gai, with khai dao), we went back to his place…where we immediately got to work.
While it may not appear from this snapshot as if I’m engaged in a serious endeavour, I was actually looking through a pair of diopters that Keri Wilk from ReefNet sent over for me to use in Lembeh later this year. (Eric posted a 3-D version of this photo).
I’ve actually ordered (but not yet received) a pair of these, so Keri was nice enough to lend this set to me in advance of my units being delivered. The diopters are +5 and +10 power, and I was looking through them to view the relative difference in magnification. They have a 67mm thread, which means they’ll fit directly onto my macro ports. Can’t wait to try them out!
Eric also had to engrave his name and signature for a couple of prints he sold, but he encountered a few minor technical difficulties due to a mismatch of Dremel bits (No, I didn’t know what a Dremel was until Eric pulled one out):
…and to round things out, we ended the evening with a practical lesson in aerodynamics:
Time to hit the road once more…off in search of big animals in Mexico and Dominica.
Though I won’t be staying in the US, my itinerary takes me in and out of the US a few times.
Security concerns are understandably at an all-time high given the Christmas Day fiasco last year, and airport personnel will probably be stressed out and on edge. US air carriers are also raising checked baggage fees, and quite of few of my friends who’ve flown to and through the States recently have had bags go missing.
Travel is stressful in the best of times; we are, unfortunately, in anything but the best of times.
To minimise the risk of encountering problems, I’ve consolidated down to one suitcase to check-in and one Think Tank Airport Antidote backpack that I’ll carry on…the lightest and most compact configuration I’ve travelled with in many years.
In my non-descript, normal-looking suitcase (i.e., not a case that screams “Expensive stuff inside. Please steal me!”) are clothes, a wetsuit, mask, snorkel, fins…plus one Zillion 5D MkII housing, a Pro-one dome port, and some associated tools and parts.
More importantly, in my backpack are all my cameras, lenses, a Zillion 5D MkII housing, a Pro-one dome port, extension tubes…plus all the things I need to make my cameras and computer work. My laptop goes into the backpack too.
So, in the worst case, if my suitcase disappears, I’ll have no clean underwear or toothpaste, but I’ll still be able to shoot as long as I can borrow a pair of fins, a mask and a snorkel. One has to have appropriate priorities after all.
My only concern is that my housing requires a metal handle set, pictured below:
Normally, I doubt this would pose a problem, but someone pointed out that if I pack the handle set as-is, an overzealous airport security person might decide that it’s a weapon.
Yes, it sounds silly, but I’ve found myself having considerably more ridiculous “discussions” with airport personnel in the past (see the Travel Silliness section).
So, to hedge this risk, I’ve disassembled the handle set to try to make it look more innocuous, and I’ve packed a spare set in my suitcase, plus another spare in a co-traveller’s suitcase.
Time to go…I’ll guess I’ll know shortly whether my packing protocol works or not.
My poor 15-inch Macbook Pro is over three years old now. It’s choking and sputtering from the overwhelming workload I’m subjecting it to, especially from the increase in video stuff.
So…my friend Eric Cheng is helping me to configure a new souped-up 15-inch, 2.8GHz Macbook Pro with 8GB of RAM, a 160GB SSD start up drive, and a 500GB spinning drive for storage. In fact, he’s setting it up right now, and sent me this preview of the blazing-fast start-up time.
I’m picking up the new laptop when I hook up with Eric later next week to head out to sea again. Woohoo!
Yes, it’s sad. I get emotional about stuff like this.
Somewhat of a departure from my normal “me at work” snapshots…this is me yesterday morning hauling stuff through the mikan trees. Note my new year’s fashion statement:
Many of my friends have heard me rant and rave about how awesome the fruits are in Japan. A few have even had the chance to sample some of the fruits here…and all agree.
One of the reasons for the incredible flavours and quality of the fruits in this country is attention to detail. Many fruits, for instance, are given individual care. By “individual”, I don’t mean “per tree”. I mean “per fruit”.
As an example, this is a short video of me wrapping a “kara” citrus fruit, which matures in April/ May and is apparently so good that the entire crop is reserved in advance, so they’re not readily available in stores.
Each kara is individually wrapped to protect it from birds (who, in this area at least, apparently know enough about citrus fruits to discriminate among varieties), rain, and cold.
I and some friends wrapped all the fruits on two trees before calling it quits for the day. I’ve never had a kara orange, so I guess I’ll have to come back here in April or May to enjoy the fruits of my labour (I know, terrible pun).
To work off some of the calories from indulging in far too many new year treats, I spent most of the afternoon yesterday helping out at a friend’s citrus farm, a place called Suzuki-en (鈴木園).
There are acres and acres of citrus trees, with different varieties in season throughout the year. Mandarin oranges, known in Japan as mikan (蜜柑, ミカン, or みかん), are the main fruit right now.
Since I spend much of my time in tropical climates with white sand and palm trees, it took a while to acclimate to the single-digit ºC temperature and winter wind, but it was certainly refreshing being outside, breathing in the crisp, clean air while I raked up leaves and fallen citrus bits, emptied containers, hauled stuff around, etc.
My body ached a bit last night from the manual labour, but I had so much fun that I’m heading back after I post this to lend a hand again.
Of course, I sampled a few mikans here and there throughout the day, and took some back as natural Vitamin C supplements for the cold winter evening…which is to say…I ate too much again.
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