INSANE Night Dive

Easily my favorite dive of the trip so far.  The reef really comes alive at night with several different creatures that we don't see during the day.  Doug, Salyk and I headed out about 6:00 and were under the water at about 6:45 when it got completely dark......

Dive Nine

Site:  Nudi Rock

Dive Buddy:  Doug Beitz

Other divers:  n/a

Duration:  62 minutes

Max Depth:  62 feet

Visibility:  85 feet ?

Outside temp:  78.1 degrees F

Water temp: range from 79.5-84.6 degrees F

I dropped down right to 60+ feet on top of a massive shell (24 inches +) already turned over with the animal closed up inside which was unusual and there were two hermit crabs crawling alongside..........

There were several lobsters between about 30-45 feet - Doug and I both estimated we must have seen 24 of these guys easy - some bigger than others but this was a pretty good shot - these are Pacific Lobsters.........

I then happened upon a shrimp very similar to the one below and I wish I would have signaled Doug to snap a photo because it was fascinating.  The one I saw was white/clear and was almost glowing.  I estimated its size was about 6 inches long......

Hermit crab.......a big boy too......

I was really getting a kick out of this slipper lobster - really kind of clumsy as it tried to get away from my light but was kind of stuck.  I didn't know what it was at first.  You can't see it from this angle but it looked like a huge honey bee underwater.   I've never eaten one but I hear they are excellent eating...........

Doug found this guy free-swimming - the picture definitely doesn't do it justice as his camera focused right through it to the coral behind but this guy was glowing a bright blue and orange - about 4 inches long - was very cool..........

A flat worm in the same family as the black ones we've been playing with......

That's it for the pics (I have to pay per MB down here so have to be picky on what I upload).  We also saw many lion fish out and about, a huge red crab with arms leading to it's claws that were I swear easily as big around as my wrists (Doug wasn't with me to photo), scorpion fish, box fish, etc., etc.  I took some time with my light off playing with the phosphorescent as well - especially during my safety stop.  Trippy! :-)

That night dive was awesome.  Definitely will try and do one more of these before I leave Kosrae.

Fong wo