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!