Kraken de Mabini

CAPTAIN JAMES BLACK November 5, 1949 - May 18, 2024Now, a bit over one year since Captain Jim Black's left us, let us recall his fine friendship to many, and his role as a teacher to his friends of Scuba diving and underwater photography Jim's loyal and wide circle of friends was arose because Jim loved people, and was full of good will to all. He was also very intelligent, loved to dive and study the oceanic life, learned all he could, and then with the greatest of enthusiam and charm was happy and eager to share his good times and knowledge of the ocean and its life. Jim loved scuba diving, became a Scuba Instructor, and then while we were on a several days boat dive trip to a far away dive site such as Coco Island, he taught PADI approved dive courses so we too could enjoy all that sea life has to offer. I first met Jim in Costa Rica, where we dived Coco Island from the Undersea Hunter boat. During the afternoons as we motored to the island, a trip of several days, Jim taught the PADI Master diver course, free of charge. Later, a small group of international divers soon formed around Jim, and we would congregate in Bangkok for a few days of shopping and dining before embarking on a long dive trip in South East Asian waters on local dive boats such as the Raja Ampat Explorer. Jim introduced us not only to the amazing street shopping, and excellent tailor shops, but also also the fine dining and night life in the karaoke bars, where he would soon be on the stage, singing in his amazingly fine voice, and giving impersonations of the Blues Brothers. Back home in Pittsburgh, after retiring as a commercial airline captain, Jim lived at home with his dear Amy, cared for his cats, and at the local scuba club gave travelogues, and taught PADI scuba diving. It is now a bit over one year since Jim's fatal heart attack, a time both to remember him and to acknowdge his admirable life and his constant efforrts to benefit his friends. He was a burst of happy life and energy for this friends both in the karaoke bars of S.E Asia and while diving in Costa Rica, Anilao, Lembeh and other exotic dive spots. Captain Jim, your many friends all miss you! Elias Amador, M.D. Rancho Palos Verdes, CA USA

Speaking of Anilao, in years past I dived many times at Club Ocellaris (Club O) and found it a delightful abode. It closed because of the virus pandemic. Does anybody know if Club O will reopen, and if so, any guess of when? .

Hola, Fotosub: he aqui un lente de 17 mm: x* https://www.ebay.com/b/SEA-SEA-Camera-Lenses/3323/bn_159073 Con un poco de buena suerte, esperemos que este lente te sea util. Elias

There is this study on Raja Ampat's coral bleaching in the Oceanocaphic Magazine: https://oceanographicmagazine.com/features/cyanobacteria-in-raja-ampat/

Good questions. After thinking it over, it seems best for me to take the camera with housing to a photo shop, such as Bluewater Photo. I now have to set aside a half day for the long drive to and from the shop.

Hi Chris: It is an old standard size G Canon, not a compact. Maybe I should take the camera and housing to my local camera dealer, for them to suggest a lens. Thank you for suggesting a close up diopter.

Hi, I have a Canon G camera with housing, but no lens. Which lens would you recommend to photo nudibranchs and small fish? Thank you.

Wonderful news, congratulations!

It sure does look like a Hairy Clinging Crab, Mithrax pilosus.

When I click on https://scubaboard.com/ ... with Gmail, I get a Scubaboad "contact us" form with no Error message. In other words, Scubaboard can be contacted via Gmail. Maybe you might need to use a different web service. Good luck!

The strobes and housing i wrap in my wet suit and clothes, and pack them in my two hard shell suitcases. The camera and lenses I wrap in some clothes in my camera bag. The suitcases I check as luggage and the camera bag i carry with me. I have travelled like this for over 20 years with no problem.

Over the past 40 years I have dived from several dive boats, mostly in the Sea of Cortez and the Andaman Sea, all excellent dive trips. But the lone exception was some ten years ago was the Egyptian dive boat, the Gazala Explorer. Both my buddies and me had a miserable experience on this boat with very poor diving and useless dive guides. If you or a friend are thinking of diving the Red Sea on an Egyptian liveaboard, please read the following report by the Egyptian Marine Accident Investigation Branch. In nutshell, the report states that: "16 Red Sea liveaboard dive boats have been lost over the last 5 years. Seven of these losses happened in the last 21 months, and three of these resulted in numerous fatalities." But dive boats in the US can also be deadly, such as the MV Conception in southen California I dived from many times, caught fire at night, trapping the divers sleeping in it, with many fatalities. The moral of the story may be to avoid dive boats, best dive from land. https://divemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2025-SB1-RedSeaDiveBoats.pdf https://edition.cnn.com/2024/05/02/us/california-dive-boat-fire-captain-sentencing/index.html

The photos of the Black Sand Retreat look lovely. I may consider it for my next dive trip, thank you.

Hi, you mention that you plan to dive in Lembeh. Allow me to suggest you might consider Yos Dive Lembeh resort, where I have dived many times. Dive guides Nuswanto Lobbu and Maureen Dengah are excellent. As most of the good stuff is above 20 m, if one dives relaxed, it is possible to dive for 70 to 90 min, four dives per day. Yos Amerta, the owner, personally oversees the resort, and is himself an uw photographer. I hope to dive there again later this year. [email protected]

A related and useful Scuba report on diving in Anda, Bohol can be found here: https://scubaboard.com/community/threads/may-2024-anda-scuba-diving-bohol.646545/

Many thanks for posting this most enjoyable report. The maps helped me follow your trip. The photos are all excellent! They show the great diversity of sea life. What camera and strobes did you use?

If possible, it might be great for you to keep both your homes, the one in Hawaii and the one in a South Carolina Island which gives you ready access to the Caribbean. You would then have access to two diving paradises, Hawaii and the Caribbean. Maybe three if the diving from your South Carolina Island is at all interesting. The marvels of modern air travel may well allow you to juggle all three, that is if your land obligations are compatible with a diverse underwater life.

Good news! Thank you for posting.

Hi, Aquatica: Time has come for you (and for the USA) to switch to metric from the medieval inches/pounds. Everybody else in the world uses metric, in case you hadn't noticed. Cheers!

Lovely film, thanks for posting it.

In the 1990's I joined a group led by the late Capt Jim Black to dive in the Red Sea, the divers had dived all over the world, but the boat (I seem to recall it was the Gazala Explorer) and diving were marginal at best. None in that group ever returned, or to any Egyptian or mid Eastern dive site, as there is practically nothing there when compared to SE Pacific or Mexican dive sites.

On second thought, the dorsal three white lines and the white mantle's edge tell us these nudis are a Mexichromis trilineata couple. The white may be replaced with a light color depending on the nudi's diet. Nice photo, thanks for posting it!

Yes, these two nudibranchs do remind one of a Mexichromis trilineata, but I am not able to take it any further. Maybe you can ask Terry Gosliner or Mike Miller for their expert opinion.