Video
Muck Diving in Maumere
By Tony and Thomas on January 29, 2012 | 2 Comments »
Warning: This post contains cool footage
of the spectacular mimic octopus
If you see something swimming by in the video above which looks like an underwater Far Side cartoon creature wearing horn-rimmed glasses, that would be the mimic octopus. Mimic octopus? If you are wondering where you heard that name before, it might be that you read a recent National Geographic article about the discovery of a species of jaw fish which, ironically enough, mimics the mimic octopus. (That’s a lot of mimicry!)
We spent a couple of days at Ankermi Happy Dive Resort in northern Flores diving their world-famous muck sites. Lucky finds included: mimic octopus, long-arm octopus, a dazzling variety of nudibranchs, cuttlefish, yellow and black seahorses, an adult painted frogfish, 4 large harlequin ghost pipefish… it’s like a muck diving miracle.
There were also several extremely small animals we had never seen before such as bizarrely tiny pipefish and micro-nudibranchs. These animals were so small that we actually dove with a magnifying glass. Filming during muck dives is always a challenge as, unlike the jaw fish and the mimic octopus, we don’t have the ability to mimic our surroundings. Despite the challenges, of all our dive videos, this just might be one of our favorites.
Happy New Year’s
By Tony and Thomas on December 31, 2011 | 6 Comments »
We wish everyone a wonderful and exciting new year. We can’t believe this is our fifth New Year’s celebration on the road (and we are still in Asia). To give you a short glimpse of our adventures in 2011, we’ve put together a video retrospective covering this year’s travels through Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia.
Orangutans of Kutai National Park
By Thomas on August 31, 2011 | 3 Comments »
As Tony promised in his latest posting, we are once again turning the camera back on the wildlife and jungle. Hours and hours spent watching orangutans high up in the trees was quite a treat, but it may also require future treatment for a serious case of neck strain. That said, after viewing our video, I’m sure you’ll agree it was more than worth it.
Derawan, Sangalaki and Kakaban
By Thomas on August 26, 2011 | 2 Comments »
We’ve pretty much said everything there is to say about these three islands – so enough writing. Just sit back, watch and listen.
Organizing your Trip to Sipadan
By Tony on July 17, 2011 | 4 Comments »
Sipadan is consistently listed as one of the top ten dive sites in the world. And, as we discussed in our post Is Sipadan All Hype?, with its amazingly rich sea life and unique topography, the island definitely lives up to its reputation. But with so much focus, the tiny little island was in serious danger of being too beautiful for its own good. By the early 2000s, overbuilding and pollution threatened to destroy what Jacques Cousteau had labelled “an untouched piece of art.”
In an extraordinary example of environmentally sound decision making (with perhaps an added dose of financial self-interest), the Malaysian government decided to close Sipadan island for overnight visitors and impose a rigid permit system allowing only 120 people to dive the island each day. While the permit system, which will hopefully protect Sipadan far into the future, is a major environmental blessing, it does make diving » Continue reading this post »
