BIG GREY REEF SHARKS!

Liveaboard trip 01/04/09 – 10/04/09

BURMA SAFARI

Mermaid I

It was one of those days, when all of a sudden everything shows up. At the same time. This was our second dive at Black Rock, after a quite disappointing first one, and nobody really expected any action, when a pack of five Eagle Rays moved in, tightly followed by four adult Grey Reef Sharks and a pair of big Marble Rays. Not having a nervous day, they all circled us for nearly 20 minutes. Wow!

The same divesite delivered a beautiful, red Frogfish, a Tigertail Seahorse as well as two Harlequin Shrimps, aggressively defending the seastar leg they just had cut off.

At Three Islets we saw several mating Cuttlefish, two Bamboo Sharks and the first of our Spanish Dancers. Big Sponge Crabs moved along the bottom, carrying chunks of yellow sponge, or, in one case, a piece of a seafan. We also found the extremely strange Wondrous Melibe – a big Nudibranch, that throws a transparent ”net” to catch dinner.

Continuing south to Western Rocky, while some of us were busy, trying to get a clear shot of a miniscule, white Frogfish, others could enjoy a spectacular, if short, show from a large Manta Ray.

However, there was nothing short about our Manta Ray encounters at Koh Bon. Two absolutely massive rays, one all black, stayed (and performed!) for the better part of two hours. This, for sure, was the best Manta action so far this season!

Add a whole bunch of rare Nudibranchs, loads of Octopus, rare Toadfish, Bent Stick Pipefish and a few Whitetip Reef Sharks, and this makes for a really good Burma Safari!

PJ Widestrand

Video-Pro
Mermaid I

Liveaboard diving Thailand, Myanmar, Bali - Komodo and the Andaman Islands.