Malaysia - Sipadan, Mabul, Kapalai

Here are some images from a recent trip. Had a great time doing a total of 14 dives. Images taken with Nikon D90 with tokina 10-17 and nikon 60mm and dual Ikelite ds 125's.

Thanks for looking

Deep In Anenome by spencerjb22, on Flickr

Blue Spotted Sting Ray by spencerjb22, on Flickr

Nudi by spencerjb22, on Flickr

2-84 by spencerjb22, on Flickr

Whitetip Reef Shark by spencerjb22, on Flickr

The Walls Of Sipadan by spencerjb22, on Flickr

Flamboyant Cuttlefish by spencerjb22, on Flickr

Bustling Jacks by spencerjb22, on Flickr

Green Turtle by spencerjb22, on Flickr

Tiny Frogfish ( that's my little finger for scale) by spencerjb22, on Flickr

The full album can be seen here http://www.flickr.com/photos/sjburrows/sets/72157631727131088/

Nice pictures, well lit and very sharp! The water seems to have been quite green on occasions. The whitetip is very nice.

Nice pictures, well lit and very sharp! The water seems to have been quite green on occasions. The whitetip is very nice.

many thanks, yes, you are correct. The day before we did Sipadan it rained heavily. The first 5-10m of water were a green colour and below that was blue. Someone said this was due to rain, and someone else said it might have been due to a bloom in the upper layer. Would love to know for sure as quite unusual.... I thought I'd take some wide shots in the upper layer for some coral against the unusual green water.

Thanks for looking and kind words.

Super folio Spencer...really like your use of lighting..well done!

Well, both were kind of right. The green color certainly is due to an algae bloom. But the algae bloom in turn can, and will often be, caused by nutrients being washed into the water by heavy rains.

I have been to Sipadan quite a number of times and never seen anything remotely close to that color. How was the situation around Mabul? I am going again in February, and my planned pictures certainly did not include green water, but I guess it could be used quite creatively.

nice. love the shot of the stingray, and the juvie frogfish is a great find

Well, both were kind of right. The green color certainly is due to an algae bloom. But the algae bloom in turn can, and will often be, caused by nutrients being washed into the water by heavy rains.

 

I have been to Sipadan quite a number of times and never seen anything remotely close to that color. How was the situation around Mabul? I am going again in February, and my planned pictures certainly did not include green

water, but I guess it could be used quite creatively.

Everywhere else was fine, and only had water like this at Sipadan. Even on a the first dive we did, I can't recall seeing it. The guide did say before we hopped in on the dive I shot these corals that the was was not going to be great, and this is where we got the green water.

It did rain really heavy the day before.

They went to Sipadan a coouple of days later and after a couple of days of nice weather, the same guide we had that day said the Viz was 'loads' nicer.

Super folio Spencer...really like your use of lighting..well done!

thanks Damo.

nice. love the shot of the stingray, and the juvie frogfish is a great find

many thanks, the Ray was taken during a night dive. He was really taken with the focus light, and kept following it. I had a good few minutes with him, and managed to capture quite a lot of images of him. The little Froggy was nice, never seen one so small.

Excellent! I really love the flamboyant cuttlefish. Any shots of those guys are great but the combination of his sleepy eye and the "prongs" being nicely out of focus is particularly good.

thanks guys, appreciate your kind words.

What month were you there Spencer? On a flight out last year I witnessed a runoff slick going from semporna toward mabul/sipadan. Nice flamboyant find was that at kapalai house reef?

What month were you there Spencer? On a flight out last year I witnessed a runoff slick going from semporna toward mabul/sipadan. Nice flamboyant find was that at kapalai house reef?

Hi,

I was there last week of September. Yeah, that little chap was on the house reef. Thanks for looking.

Interesting. We had similar green waters Sept 11 a year ago..