Four-Dive Day of Fun - Day 4

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

An early morning meet up for breakfast at 6:30am. We were to have a 7:45am pickup in preparation for a long boat ride to Peleliu. It was a rainy morning and looked like it was going to be throughout the day. We chatted at breakfast about possibly scheduling the Peleliu trip another day when it would possibly be a bit dryer but we needed to check with the staff at Sam's. Even though it was raining, we decided to just walk the 5-10 min. over to Sam's and check about the schedules. It wasn't a problem to push it off a day so we planned to do some fun wreck dives. I did a bit of shopping at the SCUBA shop while we figured thigns out. It was just going to be the five of us and Siksei, J5 and Arson again. I saw Dave while waiting in the morning and he was deciding going on the Kayak Tour or staying at Sam's and getting some work done. We swapped information in case i didn't see him before he left to go back to the Philapines later that evening. I told him I wanted to see the pictures he got while diving together and that I would send him one's that I took of him.

a rainy morning

Sam's Tours

The decision was made to go on the Chuyo Maru as our first wreck dive. I saw that one last time but not the whole thing. We drove out for about 15 min., suited up and headed on down to the wreck. The Chuyo Maru is a deep ship wreck from WWII. It was nice and relaxing as we made our way along the wreck. I had my eyes peeled for Lionfish, Cleaner Shrimp, small Gobies and Blennies and other macro critters as they are my favorites. The best areas for the macro critters were along the stacks and I was very lucky to come across multiple shrimp, lots of Trimma and Evoita Gobies, Blennies, small Pipefish and even a Lionfish! I also saw huge Clams, Oysters, a colony of Bubble Tip Anemones with hosting Cinnamon Clowns, lots of Eyphyllia ancora (Hammer Coral), Acros, Zoanthids etc. While getting up close to the Cleaner Shrimp, I slowly put my hand out and a couple checked it out and started cleaning my hands! It was so neat! What a great dive! We surfaced and headed back to Sam's for a little bit to take a surface interval and unload some tanks. The rain still hasn't really stopped much at all, but whatever, we are underwater through most of it so getting wet anyways!

Siksei going over the Chuyo Maru wreck

a small Cleaner Shrimp

Hammer Coral, Euphyllia ancoraVolitan Lionfish

very small Banded Cleaner Shrimp species

Cinnamon Clown in Bubble Tip Anemone

getting cleaned by a little Shrimp

a small Pipefish

After about an hour and a half surface interval we made our way out to our next site, the Teshiu Maru. The anchor buoy was gone but the captain got us pretty much right over it so Siksei free dived with a line to the top of the wreck and tied us off. We made our way down to another huge ship wreck which was lying on it's side. There were a few nice spots to penetrate this one so I made my way through parts of it. I felt much more comfortable now that I am getting used to how big my gear is and the size holes I can swim through. We came across a lot of neat critters on this wreck as well. Lots more Euphyllia (yoo-fil-e-ah), Pectinia, Chalice, Toadstool Leathers, Acros, Brains, and other corals. Siksei pointed out a gorgeous Nudibranch which I got some amazing shots of. I saw a couple more small Nudibranchs, a Red Marbled Fromia Starfish, Signal Gobies, Rainfordi Gobies and other Gobies, curious little Blenies, but unfortunately no more Lionfish. All in all it was a good, fun dive. After close to an hour, we got back on the boat, headed back to Sam's to have lunch. It was a nice lunch as the sun decided to show itself for a short bit so we enjoyed our time out warming up in the sun. Well, Andy sure did, he took a chair out to to the dock area and did some relaxing :). I had the Chicken Bento which wasn't the best but still good. We got those jelly rice noodles which i really don't like but the veggies and the chicken was OK. Since the next dive was a much shallower dive, we only surfaced for just about an hour and then headed back out to the Jake's Sea Plane.

Hammer Coral

Toadstool Leather, Sarcophyton

part of the Teshiu Maru wreck

Fromia Star species

a beautiful Nudibranch species

more Sake?

another pretty Nudibranch

I had dove the wreck of the Jake's Sea Plane before but it was still fun to do again. This time i didn't spend too much time playing around in the plane but enjoyed taking my time looking closely at the life around me. I found a pretty Fromia Star right in the window area of the plane, another gorgeous Nudibranch under the wing, Siksei showed me a really neat black Sea Slug which i found more of later on, Medusa Worms, a Bubble Tip Anemone with Cinnamon Clowns and even some flatworms eating away at the coral. I do have to say that i have seen much more algaes, flatworms and coral destruction than i did last year. Not sure if it is because of the storms lately, more frequently dove areas, paying more attention this time or just happen to be in that time of the season. It still was pretty and I was happy to see no Crown of Thorns (COT) although Jim said him and Melanie saw one and they turned it over. Crown of Thorns are a type of starfish that are devastating to the coral as they eat the tissue and leave the skeleton to just grow algaes. They are also poisonous so it is wise not to touch them at all, but if you can turn them over using something, they are not able to right themselves like other starfish. You can also stab them with a knife, piece of dead coral, shell or whatever but it is best when there is some type of hungry fish around such as the triggers since the COT's have their reproductive organs in their arms, which there are many of. They are a very pretty starfish but too devastating to the reef and are in much higher population than needed. So pretty much open season on the COT's! I was finally ready to surface as air was getting low and noticed we were all corralling by the anchor line so did my safety stop and Siksei pointed out a little baby Triggerfish hanging out in some sponge that had grown on the line. It was a bit shy but I was still able to snap a few shots of it along with the little Fangblennies that I always see along the anchor line. After my 3 min. safety stop i started heading up the line and was amazed to see two small Squid just hanging out in front of me. I of course already turned off the camera and as i was trying to get it ready to get some pics, they started moving away very quickly so the pic i did get of them is quite blurry. I finally saw my first Squid on a dive, very cool!

Melanie warming up

Andy enjoying the sites

me just cruisin'

Lunch, Sushi bentogetting ready for my back roll into the blue

Jake's Sea Plane

Nudibranch
a really cool Sea Slug
a little baby Triggerfish

It was a good day full of wrecks and i am enjoying them more now. It is nice to see these wrecks that have become homes for many sea life and sometimes you can't even tell it is a wreck because it is so overgrown with coral, clams, oysters, algaes etc. I also like that the wrecks are in much calmer waters so i get to see different types of coral and lots more of the small macro critters. We decided that today would be a good day for a night dive so we hung out at Sam's, had a few drinks and some appetizers and waited for dark. We suited up and got in the water right there at Sam's dock. It was a relaxing night dive because we were only about 20 feet max depth right near the shore so no worries about getting lost. I got to see pretty much the same things i saw during the day, lots of Pipefish, starfish, clams, needlefish, shrimp, crabs, small nudibranchs, a cute little juvenile Harlequin Sweetlips and a Dogface Puffer. We didn't dive for long, rinsed off and headed back to the hotel to get some much needed sleep.