DJIBOUTI 2

This is one of the especials and magic moments during this tryp...it was lunch time!! the concentration of whale sharks was amazing..sometimes we swing with 4 o 5...a mix of fear (they came really close...you could touch them easily) and wonder...

the visibility was less than desirable and the photographer was too busy even for a photo watching this play...that's the magic

Great shots; just amazing.

Can you tell us more about who you dived with, trip details?

Great shots; just amazing.

Can you tell us more about who you dived with, trip details?

Thanks for your comments.

We did thr tryp with Ultima Frontera (http://www.ultima-frontera.com/) a spanish travel agency for divers. We dive in Djibouti whith Djibouti divers at the djiboutidivers 1. The boat it's nice, maybe a little older that it seems in their webpage http://www.djiboutidivers.com/. It was confortable, specially the rooms at the first level with outdoor windows. The food was so-so, not bad but few...with hungry 24 divers , you know...

The dive guides are french. They speak english, italian and spanish (and french of course). They are nice specially Emily who was the director of the live aboard.

The dives are regular to bad, specially 'cause the bad visibility 'cause the abundance of placton at this time of the year...but that's the reason why big guys are there.

So, in my opinion it's more an snorkell tryp than a dive one. The snorkell with the whale sharks it's AMAZING!! plenty of them...we saw around 50, from juvenile (3mts) to 14 mts. Even they come close to the boat by nights to the lights of the ship.

The country it's too much poor and i could feel a little hostility to tourists. They hate photographers...

Excursion to lake Assal it's the best you could do. Extraordinary beautifull place and very photogenic. A deep salt sea in the dessert something similar to the Dead sea, but mor beautifull.

If you need any other information and will be pleased to help you.

Excellent shots ripli.

Are those crabs floating around in the water?

Yes millions of crabs. Once they detected you they swing after you to bite so they were quickly everytime on top of the dome...but

during the night dives they were atracted by the lights of the ship and they were thousand if not millions, really not funny to do the safe stop with this animals on top of you.

This photos are from a friend of mine from the dive platform...all crabs

Ripli, that is the most bizarre thing I've ever seen! Thanks for sharing!

Yes millions of crabs. Once they detected you they swing after you to bite so they were quickly everytime on top of the dome...but

 

during the night dives they were atracted by the lights of the ship and they were thousand if not millions, really not funny to do the safe stop with this animals on top of you.

This photos are from a friend of mine from the dive platform...all crabs

 

 

Wow !!! That's crazy!!! Really freaky to dive with all those crabs around you... Great photos of the whale sharks.

Cheers

Nuno

Great find for the spawning pelagic red crab. And they are pretty aggressive too. Was this in the Gulf of Tadjoura? Off Ghoubet Al Kharab? Time of year?

Thanks for posting.

Great find for the spawning pelagic red crab. And they are pretty aggressive too. Was this in the Gulf of Tadjoura? Off Ghoubet Al Kharab? Time of year?

Thanks for posting.

Thanks for your comments.

It was at Gulf of Tadjoura. Our tryp was from the 26Th december till 4th January. They were there when we arrive, in fact there were millions death at the shore. and they were still there when we leaved. From the travel agency there are some reports from seeing the crabs, but not so many, from the begining of December, but nobody saw them never from 3 years a go that the agency begun to sell this tryp. So we were...uhmmm :glare: lucky to see them spawning

you should have pushed a fellow diver into the water for that night shot! Would have made for a great picture...

I was out there a few weeks before as well and the crabs were also everywhere. We were in the water with them at night and they nipped us all over (that's why I always wore a wetsuit ). We watched the whalesharks feeding among the crabs and they always spat them out when they accidentally swallowed them. I've got a photo somewhere of a whale shark spitting out a crab and a load of seaweed. Here's another pic of a crab!