by Kat Ramage | Jun 6, 2017 | Scuba Diving Courses, Underwater Temple Garden
Captain Paul is taking Emma through the skills of the deep dive portion of her Advanced certification
Emma from London came to Sea Rovers to dive Temple Garden, and decided to go ahead and get her Advanced Open Water certification. Today she worked with Captain Paul starting with the deep dive, and later was slated to do her Navigation and Night dives at Mucky Pirates Bay. Tomorrow she will finish up at Menjangan.
Captain Paul and Emma are all OK at 33 meters
Emma in Lotus with Captain Paul in the background
Captain Paul posing next to a Buddha statue
by Kat Ramage | Jun 4, 2017 | Kat Ramage Photos, Mucky Pirates Bay
The photo wench found lots of cooperative subjects on another long shore dive at Mucky Pirates Bay. Thanks to the pirates at Sea Rovers for providing shore support.
Here’s lookin at you kid
This is a juvenile angelfish who will look completely different when it grows up
This little bannerfish was busy trying to nibble at the jellyfish
These little puffers are so cute
One of the smaller false clownfish in the anemone under the pier
by Kat Ramage | Jun 3, 2017 | Kat Ramage Photos, Mucky Pirates Bay
Meet the sand shrimpgoby
One of the joys of diving for me is learning about and trying to photograph behavior. Today’s photos are not really portfolio-worthy, but they show the interesting relationship between the sand shrimpgoby and the shrimp they share a home with.
These two creatures are symbiotic (meaning their interaction benefits both of them). The gobies stand guard while the shrimp plays “housekeeper” to their burrow, continually digging and cleaning out the sand. The Gobies will signal when predators are near. When I got too close, they both dashed back into the hole. The fish came back out first, followed by the shrimp a few moments later, then the housecleaning continued.
Here’s you can see the shrimp doing some housecleaning while the goby is on lookout
Another shot of the pair–all of the floating sand was brought out by the shrimp
Here’s a closeup of the goby’s face–looks like he has a mouth full of sand so I guess he shares in the cleaning chores
by Kat Ramage | Jun 2, 2017 | General News
Unusually close because it was a baited shark dive in Honduras
If you’re like me, one of the first things most people ask when they find out you scuba dive is, “aren’t you afraid of sharks?” I always answer “Oh no, I so rarely see a shark; it’s always exciting, and I swim towards them to get a photo.” They eye me skeptically, so I follow up by saying that I’m more afraid of the stray dogs that live on my street than I am of sharks. So, here are some interesting statistics to share with these dubious folks.
According to the International Shark Attack File (ISAF), between 1958 and 2016 there were a total of 548 fatalities from sharks. That is an average of 9.45 fatalities per year. Of those fatalities, only 8% were snorkelers or divers (more than half were surfers).
So, what kills more people each year than sharks? Here’s a list that may surprise you:
ANIMALS & INSECTS
Mosquitoes – 800,000 worldwide
Hippos – 2900 worldwide
Bees – 100 in the US
Ants – 50 in the US
Jellyfish – 40 worldwide
Dogs – 30 in the US / 25,000 worldwide
Cows – 20 in the US
Horses – 20 in the US
OTHER THINGS/ACTIVITIES
Texting (while driving) – 2900 in the US
Falling out of bed – 450 in the US
Falling coconuts – 150 worldwide
Popping champagne corks – 24 worldwide
Taking selfies – 18 worldwide
Falling icicles – 15 in the US
So, now that you’re armed with some statistics, go out and convince all your friends to discover scuba diving!
by Kat Ramage | Jun 1, 2017 | Kat Ramage Photos, Mucky Pirates Bay
Brethren David wanted to check out the amazing shore dive at Mucky Pirates Bay here in Pemuteran, so we enlisted dive guide Edy to find some unusual macro subjects for our cameras. We were definitely not disappointed.
David–be sure to send us some of YOUR photos to post on the website!
This fangblenny found a home in a discarded piece of PVC pipe
This shy moray eel wouldn’t venture out of his hole
I tried to move in for a close-up of the eye, but he dashed back into his hole in a cloud of sand
This juvenile lionfish was TINY–thanks to Edy for finding this little gem
Lots of pipefish on this dive
