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    Scuba anyone?

    Hobbies and Pastimes
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    • GilesG
      Giles
      IHUK Crew
      Joined:

      Ha….

      About 25 years ago when I was in corporate life, I went to some sort of business seminar.  I sat down next to some random guy.  As I settled down, he leant over a whispered in my ear, "Got rid of those crabs yet Giies?".......

      Turns out he was my roommate for my first year at Uni, we had not kept in touch, but he sure did remember my travails....

      "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

      last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • GilesG
        Giles
        IHUK Crew
        Joined:

        Frogfish…..

        Seahorse

        Mantis Shrimp

        Nudibranch

        "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

        last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • GilesG
          Giles
          IHUK Crew
          Joined:

          Cuttle Fish

          Nudibranch

          Crab (carapace 2mm across)

          "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

          last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • GilesG
            Giles
            IHUK Crew
            Joined:

            More Nudibranchs….

            "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

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            • GilesG
              Giles
              IHUK Crew
              Joined:

              Pygmy seahorse - yeah it's effing tiny….....

              "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

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              • J
                Jett129
                見習いボス
                Joined:

                I can’t imagine how difficult it is to get a shot like that,or for that matter,any of the insanely beautiful pictures you’ve been posting.

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                • GilesG
                  Giles
                  IHUK Crew
                  Joined:

                  None of them mine of course 🙂

                  Harlequin Shrimp (about 1cm carapace)….

                  Mantis Shrimp, my favourite reef-thug.  One of them hit my pointer stick yesterday and I felt the jolt, and the things are no more than 3" long….

                  Factoid (stolen from the web).....A mantis punch arrives with the acceleration of a . 22-caliber bullet, 50 times faster than a human eye can blink. Underwater, the low pressure bubble left in the wake of the punch collapses upon itself in a burst of light and heat, reaching an estimated 8,500 degrees Fahrenheit.

                  "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

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                  • J
                    Jett129
                    見習いボス
                    Joined:

                    I know that you didn’t take them but as someone who has ,at times,attempted underwater photography, I know how difficult it is. For starters the fish aren’t exactly posing, and your operating under water in a current. Add that to maintaining neutral buoyancy etc. And the list goes on.

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                    • mclaincauseyM
                      mclaincausey
                      見習いボス
                      Joined:

                      Badass shots! Mantis “shrimps” also have hyper spectral vision and independent eyes in addition to the cavitation bubble claw. Amazing creatures.

                      Think it, be it.

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                      • GilesG
                        Giles
                        IHUK Crew
                        Joined:

                        @mclaincausey:

                        independent eyes

                        I love watching them from above when they are in their burrows. Their eyes moving completely out of sync fascinates me…..

                        "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

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                        • GilesG
                          Giles
                          IHUK Crew
                          Joined:

                          Leaf fish

                          Dragon fish

                          Ghost pipefish

                          Shrimp fish (and Paula)

                          Turtle

                          Cement mixer

                          "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

                          last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • GilesG
                            Giles
                            IHUK Crew
                            Joined:

                            Nudibranch

                            Octopus

                            Garden eels

                            Clown fish

                            Turtle and human

                            Porcelain crab (again, but one of my favourite critters to find - not difficult when you know where they live)

                            Wheel

                            "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

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                            • JDelageJ
                              JDelage
                              啓蒙家
                              Joined:

                              Lovely pictures! I've never seen mats shrimps; I'd like to. They are very cool indeed.

                              Where are you Gilles? It looks like a super rich spot!

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                              • GilesG
                                Giles
                                IHUK Crew
                                Joined:

                                Mantis shrimp are fairly widespread in the tropics, the pretty ones mainly in the Indian and Pacific oceans.  I'm in Indonesia and have seen more free-swimming (rather than hiding in their burrows) ones here than anywhere else….

                                "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

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                                • JDelageJ
                                  JDelage
                                  啓蒙家
                                  Joined:

                                  Aaah, very nice! Currently looking at options for Raja Amat…

                                  last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • GilesG
                                    Giles
                                    IHUK Crew
                                    Joined:

                                    Very nice.  We've been a little disappointed with the number of divers here, basically if I have to look in front of me to make sure I am not going to hit a diver coming the other way, or when I look around, I can't immediately recognize my group, then it's not for me.  We've decided that from now on we will try and find areas a little less travelled, or do liveaboards where we can get to remote places to cut the number of bodies in the water down…

                                    Hands down, the best place we have dived is Socorro.  It's hard to get to, but absolutely amazing (if you like big stuff).

                                    We're looking at going to the Hallaniyat Islands in Oman as soon as we can.  I know the islands from my fishing exploits, they are bursting with marine life and have a resident population of Humpback whales.  And I believe, there is only one dive operation that goes there.....

                                    "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

                                    last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • JDelageJ
                                      JDelage
                                      啓蒙家
                                      Joined:

                                      Liveaboards are great. My best experience diving was a liveaboard in the middle of the Red Sea. Amazing mix of coral reefs and pelagic creatures.

                                      last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • T4920T
                                        T4920
                                        見習いボス
                                        Joined:

                                        I'm going to be diving for the first time next month in Thailand. Doing the PADI Open Water course and possibly Advanced too, depending on how much time I have.

                                        If anyone has dived in Thailand before, can you provide any recommendations for place to take these courses? As it stands I'm thinking Koh Lanta, as I only have two weeks in the country and it's location lines up with the rest of my itinerary, but I'm open to other suggestions.

                                        “𝑁𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑙𝑒𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑏 𝑦𝑜𝑢. 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑚𝑒𝑒𝑡 𝑖𝑡, 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜, 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑎𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑡𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑎𝑟𝑚 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡.”

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                                        • GilesG
                                          Giles
                                          IHUK Crew
                                          Joined:

                                          No experience of diving in Thailand I am afraid. But my strong recommendation is do your open water, then enjoy diving for a while. Then add advanced (and Nitrox if you think you will dive a lot) at a later date.

                                          "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

                                          last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • endoE
                                            endo
                                            見習いボス
                                            Joined:

                                            @T4920:

                                            I'm going to be diving for the first time next month in Thailand. Doing the PADI Open Water course and possibly Advanced too, depending on how much time I have.

                                            If anyone has dived in Thailand before, can you provide any recommendations for place to take these courses? As it stands I'm thinking Koh Lanta, as I only have two weeks in the country and it's location lines up with the rest of my itinerary, but I'm open to other suggestions.

                                            Did my PADI Open Water there about 30 yrs ago. On Koh Tao, but the diving is much better in the Andaman Sea (where I went later, around Rai Leh, beautiful reefs and some wrecks) than in the Gulf. Agree with Giles, just do the OW and dive as much as you can.

                                            si tacuisses

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