Sipadan, part 2

Orange-striped Emperor. Can get up to 50cm long. The mottled pattern is a camouflage when sheltering in sea grass or corals.

Crocodile Flathead - black phase. They again typically camouflage their body to match the bottom color but it's not uncommon to see them in black. Titan Triggerfish. They can get as big as 75cm! I have seen some around half a meter long, Always chomping on rocks or corals. I know triggerfish has a reputation of being really aggressive but so far the ones we have encountered were more scared of us. Whitetip Reef Shark. Typically rest on bottom, sometimes in small groups. Very shy. Many-spotted Sweelips. Sweetlips are also called Grunts as they make a grunting sound when they smack their flat teeth plates together. The sound is quite loud as it is amplified by the adjacent air bladders. I once swam past one and heard a knocking sound behind and when I looked there was this big sweelips looking at me. Spooky!
Sharksucker. Swim with or attached to sharks, turtles, and other large fish.
We think this is a type of Shrimpgoby. Gobies are so small and shy they snap in and out of their sand burrows whenever they are spotted. Spotted Garden Eels. They form large colonies on sandy bottoms. Green Turtle. My favourite creature in the sea.
School of Midnight Snapper. They look tasty. :-) Yellow-mask Angelfish. They get pretty big in the wild - up to 40cm!

A type of nudibranch. Cool colours!

Trumpetfish - golden variation. Often seen drifting upside down as a camouflage among branches of gorgonian coral. I love the almost transparent-looking mouth.

Humphead Wrasse, also known as Napoleon Wrasse. The bump on forehead grows with age. In some area it's an endangered species due to overfishing. Poor thing.

Another Green Turtle. You can tell I like them hehe.

Most probably a Tasseled Scorpionfish? Looks so dangerous.

Flamboyant Cuttlefish.

Clownfish. Always darting in and out.

Green turtle on cleaning station.

Humphead Parrotfish. HUGE!! Over 1 meter long they travel in big groups early in the morning or late afternoon to feed. I think they can all use a dentist.

And finally a Giant Trevally - up to 165cm big! They are sneaky -always on the look out for food.

Sipadan, part 1

We have so far got 2 days of diving pictures sorted - more to come. Pictures were taken with the (my husband made me say it) magnificent Canon EOS 5D with Sea and Sea housing + 2 YS110 strobes.

Ghost pipefish
Big-eye barracuda

Freckled goatfish

Green turtle

Green turtle scratching

Barracuda

Blue spotted ray

Scorpionfish - see its chin!

Blue ribbon eel

I touched an EEL!!

For those who didn't know, I actually got to touch a giant moray eel in Vanuatu! The friendly eel lives on the SS President Coolidge wreck, near the bow around 25 meters deep. I generally don't touch anything underwater unless I alsobutely have to (there were times when I had to hold on from being washed up by the current). This eel however seemed so friendly it wanted to get stroked. I know it's not an excuse but in any case I did it. I looked at it for so long and it looked back at me like a cat. I had to do it. It felt so strange! It's smoother than jello but not at all slimey. Just soft. REAL soft. I always used to think eels are evil but not any more.