A few shots from Wakatobi

Visited Wakatobi for the first time last month. Here are a few shots I liked. 7D, Nauticam, Z240, lenses.


Prettiest Basket Star I've ever seen

Bigeyes who were hiding from the current behind a small bommie and let me get close

Soft Coral Crab



Crinoid Squat Lobster

Looking great Mike. How did you like the resort? Did you get to go out on the Pelagian?

Cheers,

Steve

I really enjoyed your images. Thanks for sharing.

Looking great Mike. How did you like the resort? Did you get to go out on the Pelagian?

 

Cheers,

Steve

thanks Steve! As I expected, the resort, staff, rooms, food were all incredible. The diving was overall excellent, but I did notice there seemed to be fewer macro critter ops there than almost all the other places I have visited in Indo. The house reef was amazing, although we only got in three house reef dives in 9 days diving. Didn't get on the Pelegian, I went on a land excursion in Bangkok on the way and 10 days of diving was all I could manage.

I really enjoyed your images. Thanks for sharing.

My pleasure Alison. I'll post a few more later.

Mike

Here are a few more.


Real deal Nemo fish.


This are Delicate Tube Worms, less that 1/2 inch across, feeding in the strong current


Our friendly DM, Dollar


Splendid Dottyback, tending eggs inside a hole in a sponge.




Here a shot I always hoped to get, a male Yellow Barred Jawfish brooding eggs in it's mouth. You can see the eyes of the juveniles inside the eggs.







Lizard Fish


This Map Puffer settled into the sand to have his gills cleared of parasites by cleaner wrasse. His teeth proved to be more interesting


Mirror Basslets being cleaned. One of the prettiest small fish on the reef

And yet a few more

This is a Pyrosome, I found this colony of Zooids shallow at a safety stop, and miraculously IDed it while googling another creature









Leaf Scorpionfish

And yet even a few more.

This was a very unusual shot for me, three Nudibranchs mating simultaneously. Never seen three of them touching wieners before.

A Pygmy Seahorse, about 1/3 inch tall




This is a close up of the eye decorations of a Sharp Nose Pufferfish

Glass shrimp, 100mm Macro with SubSea +10




One of my favorite wide angle shots of the trip, soft coral deep on a wall

Spadefish with Isopod parasites

If a mod happens to read this, could you please edit the subject of this thread and add the words (More pics added)?

Thanks

Or, is there a way for me to edit my original post? I can only find an edit button on the last post of the thread. Maybe I'm missing something.

Thanks,

Mike

Very nice shots. Great job.

My first trip to Indonesia was to Wakatobi, and it was a real eye-opener. Having been to Raja Ampat a couple of times and other Indo-Pacific destinations, I rank it a little bit lower than some other locations, although I still have great memories of lots of wonderful dives.

Erwin

But a hell of alot easier to get to! Eh!

Very nice shots. Great job.

 

My first trip to Indonesia was to Wakatobi, and it was a real eye-opener. Having been to Raja Ampat a couple of times and other Indo-Pacific destinations, I rank it a little bit lower than some other locations, although I still have great memories of lots of wonderful dives.

 

Erwin

Thanks Erwin. It was pretty much the consensus of our travel group, many of whom had visited other Indo locations, that Wakatobi was a great location, with wonderful staff and facilities, and great diving by any standard, but still not as diverse and creature intense as Raja, Komodo, or Banda. It's worth a visit on it's own merits, there aren't many places where you are as well cared for and well fed, but for hard core photographers who can't manage frequent trips to Asia, there may be better choices. And, it's pretty expensive.