MUCK in Khao Lak

the title of this blog entry speaks for itself! Despite being one of the major hub for divers heading to the Similan National Park, Khao Lak is not promoted (as it should!!!) as a "local" destination for avid MACRO underwater photographers.

17 or 22 (it'll be clear later on) different nudis, 10 or 12 different species in 2 or 3 dives over 1 or 2 days (clear now?)

Less than a year ago never would I have guessed that moving to Khao Lak (closer to Similan) would have charmed me away from the crystal clear waters of the park to the often murky waters along its coast...

The only dive site that I knew of and I've been to was the Boonsung wreck (for which I'm still lacking a proper entry in this blog) and I've always been rewarded with cool and unusual findings (compared to Similan or Phuket) such as honeycomb moray eels, various nudibranchs, many lion and scorpion fish, shrimps and crabs and outstanding schools of trevalley and yellowtail snapper.

Let's get to the "dirty business": on the Premchai wreck

Click here for my blog entry

I've generally always see adult specimen like this couple of glossodoris atromarginata

01_glossodoris_atromarginata

02_glossodoris_atromarginata

another favorite of mine is this adult of "cincta" with its colors and the blue edge...

03_glossodoris_cincta

not to mention the "common" risbecia pulchella popping out anywhere on the wreck!

04_risbecia_pulchella

05_risbecia_pulchella

06_two_risbecia_pulchella

not to mention the 2 porcelain anemone crabs on a knob edge anemone at 20m depth and so much more stuff (read my blog entry!!!)   click here ;-)

YET today I'm going to focus on sea slugs...

On the way back from the wreck we decided to do an exploratory dive near the coast...

visibility was bad (between 1 and 3 meters), everything green-ish, sand, few rocks, some garbage...

and then... they all started lining up before our amazed eyes!!!

Hypselodoris Bollandi

07_hypselodoris_bollandi

Hypselodoris Kanga

08_Hypselodoris_Kanga

Chromodoris Preciosa

09_chromodoris_preciosa

Chromodoris Daphne

10_chromodoris_daphne

Another Hypselodoris Kanga!

11_Hypselodoris_Kanga

Red version: Hypselodoris Zebrina!!!

12_Hypselodoris_zebrina

STILL another Kanga!

13_Hypselodoris_Kanga

Cardinella Ornatissima anyone? very very very very tiny subject, I had to use all the magnification power of my wet MACRO lens to get the details.

BTW

THIS is STILL DURING the SAME DIVE!!!!

14_cadlinella_ornatissima

What? Another Zebrina? Oh yes!

15_Hypselodoris_zebrina

Last but not least, a 7cm long Ceratosoma Trilobatum for good measure and to end the dive in glory...

16_ceratosoma_trilobatum

See what I mean by MUCK in Khao Lak?

I was so delighted with this unexpected success that I decided to go there again the following week.
Visibility was even worst this time: 15-70cm!!! we really struggled to separate the milky murky water from the sand, sometimes even bumping our nose into the sandy bottom...

the dive was still worth it during those moments of less particles, which allowed us to spot our sea slugs finding of the day:

Starting with a Chromodoris Fidelis. This one was tiny and moving fast!! a real challenge for my MACRO wet lens in such poor visibility...

17_chromodoris_fidelis

I knew I was back in the same spot as I started spotting the Kangas!!! here's the first of the dive

18_chromodoris_kanga

and here's another one

19_chromodoris_kanga

a new entry: Chromodoris Decora!!! NICE ;-)

20_chromodoris_decora

one of my new top 5 favorite nudis: the Chromodoris Daphne - here moving across a leaf

21_chromodoris_daphne

It was SCREAMING for several shots, this is it from another angle

22_chromodoris_daphne

and last but not least for this last dive of the season 2010-2011 in Khao Lak... one more Chromodoris Preciosa!

23_chromodoris_preciosa

that's it for this season of "MUCK in Khao Lak", can't wait for the next season to come!

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MACRO Lens on Thai Muang (tin dredger) wreck

Finally I've picked my self birthday present: UN UNCU-02 x6 Close-up Lens for 67mm Thread on F. I. T M67 Mount Base DC28 for Canon WP-DC28 for my Canon G10.


Equipped with my 2 Sea & Sea YS27 DX external strobes, on March 16th 2011 my partner Kaye and I joined a longtail boat heading to the Thai Muang wreck (a.k.a. "Dodreco 103" or "Premchai 103") 30minutes ride off Khao Lak coast.

UnderWater Paparazzi and his tuned up camera

This wreck is an old tin dredger, one of the several (now disused and sunk) scatter around west the coast line of Thailand. There is one I know of in Bang Tao Bay (Phuket), a very famous one the "Boonsung" off the coast of Bang Sak beach (North of Khao Lak) and the "Premchai 103" off the coast of Thab Lamu (south of Khao Lak)

here's the GPS coordinates (linking to google map) and a 3D map realized by one of the DMT of the dive center hiring the longtail boat.

8.546732, 
98.196788

Thai Munag Wreck 3D Map

Local diving offers an amazing variety of marine life.
Accordingly, the choice between wide angle and macro is sometimes very hard.
Schools of Trevalleys and Yellowtail snapper obstract the view of the wreck at times.

snapper galore on Thai Muang Wreck

But before getting up close and personal with the wreck, on the sandy bottom (19-20m) NW off the dredger there is an enormous anemone with few fearless territorial Clarks Anemone Fish... and where there is this duo, there's almost always anothe subject making it a trio: Porcelain Anemone Crab.

UnderWater Paparazzi testing his new wet MACRO lens

The UN UNCU-02 x6 Close-up Lens has an impressive magnification power, yet the drawback is that it "kills" the auto focus option of my G10; accordingly, I had to manual (as is moving my hand back and forth) focus on my subject. The following picture shows how close I had to get...

UN UNCU-02 x6 Close-up Lens on Porcelain Anemone Crabs

Lots of patience and lots of hard work! But check out the results:

Porcelain Anemone Crabs BOKKEH

How about this close-up???

Porcelain Anemone Crab SUPER CLOSE UP

want more? Just follow us around it...

detail of "Premchai 103" or Thai Muang wreck 

on one of the edges I came across a Banded Boxer Shrimp, I went for full "fire power" and got him a super close mug shot!

Banded Boxer Shrimp SUPER CLOSE UP 

not enough? keep following us around the "Dodreco 103" or "Premchai 103" or the "Thai Muang Wreck! On the 45 degres sloping side of it we found a nice nudi "Chromodoris Anulata", it was facing up and therefore I had to modify my buoyancy and angle of shoot

Upside Down UnderWater Paparazzi Balancing on his pointer, things you do for a picture...!!!

 as mentioned, it was an anulata and I had to go "manual focus" on it...

UN UNCU-02 x6 Close-up Lens on Chromodoris Annulata

and here's the result:

Chromodoris Annulata with wet MACRO Lens on Canon G10 and dual Sea & Sea YS27DX Strobe set

This tin dredger is still in very good conditions after it was sunk, years of corrosion, tides and the rest did not affect it that much, you can still admire lots of etail of the structure. The CLAW is one of them

The Claw of the tin dredger, the Thai Muang Wreck

let us guide you to some more interesting details of this rusty platform...

another detail of the Thai Muang Wreck

anyway, going back from wide to macro, that's what was lying on the sand right next to it: a Chromodoris Kunei which was screaming for a close up portrait by the one and only UnderWater Paparazzi... ;-)

Chromodoris Kunei on Thai Muang Wreck

Pin Cushion Star Fish are common in South East Asia, and 9 out of 10 there is always a "guest": a tiny 3mm long Partner Shrimp, usually blending in with his dark red color matching that of the host

Partner Shrimp on Pin Cushion Star Fifh

WOW! That was a perfect site to test my MACRO lens, I can say I'm really happy of the purchase and of the local dive site too! Time for a safety stop and back on land to check the pictures and post this blog entry...

a very happy UnderWater Paparazzi with his "pimped" G10

next time?
Review of the Boonsung Wreck perhaps? most likely... ;-)

with love

Adriano

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