Tulamben Muck Does Not Disappoint

[Searcaigh]

We may bump into each other...you just visiting or a vendor?

Visiting, I arrive in Singapore on Friday morning then head off to Bali on Sunday morning.

Would be good to meet up for a beer.

 

[matts1w]

How crowded was the dive?? Those early morning dives can be a bit of a zoo!
Also what was the temp today??

Only a semi-sh-t show, but it is pretty slow in Tulamben right now. It was a pretty morning, I have done it before, knew what the drill would be, and went into it with the right attitude. The bumpheads tolerated it as long as they could stand it and took off. I was happy.

Water was the same today: C- vis and 24/25 degrees. Liberty Dive Center has once again been stellar. Today was my last day and it as been a good trip. But it will be good to get home to my wife and the bulldawg. I miss them after a week solo.

I will post some more pics later.

 

[Luko]

but I have one hundred percent decided I am no longer a 3 mil guy. Maybe it is because I am sliding in the last year of my 40s, For every dive from now until I die I am going with a 5 mil and bringing along hooded vest just in case. Trips to known cold places like Alor or Nusa Penida will necessitate an extra shorty.

I get it now why you don't stand Alor, but you're also making a fool out of yourself with your 3mil. I usually wear a 5mil plus a sharkskin underneath, maybe that's the secret for enjoying Alor .

I always called them fried egg nudibranchs but I googled that and am way off. It is one of these: Carminodoris estrelyado (Gosliner & Behrens, 1998) [Hoplodoris]

That's indeed the fried eggs nudi, "Estrelyado" in Tagalog (Phils language) translates litterally to fried egg.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Just back from a 5:45 Am bumphead dive which was nice, but I have one hundred percent decided I am no longer a 3 mil guy. Maybe it is because I am sliding in the last year of my 40s, but I freakin' HATE being cold. For every dive from now until I die I am going with a 5 mil and bringing along hooded vest just in case. Trips to known cold places like Alor or Nusa Penida will necessitate an extra shorty and a...hell...I used to dive dry back home in Fort Myers, Florida in the winter. I may become known as the "crazy dry suit bule." I may look like an idiot but I will be warm and happy.

I had my sharkskin and a Bare chillguard with me, various and beanies and hood with cowl. I'd never worn the Sharkskin or that hood before but they're certainly used now!

Yes, my lower body would have been warmer in a 5 mm but I made do and didn't have to add any weights, which I really like, as I rarely add air to my bcd.

 

[Searcaigh]

I rarely add air to my bcd

You just go with the flow chilly

 

[Storker]

It's not about the camera!! It's how you use it!!

"Nice book, Mr. Hemingway! What kind of typewriter are you using?"

The next step is an awful big rabbit hole...

Awful big and awful deep...

 

[AlMitch]

"Nice book, Mr. Hemingway! What kind of typewriter are you using?"

Exactly!! A question Mr Hemminway never had to answer!!!

But the tragic thing is that even though I get annoyed about people thinking a good camera is the reason for good photos, I personally still want the latest camera...thinking it will magically improve my photo's!!! Man I am so fickle!!

 

[dirtfarmer]

Exactly!! A question Mr Hemminway never had to answer!!!

But the tragic thing is that even though I get annoyed about people thinking a good camera is the reason for good photos, I personally still want the latest camera...thinking it will magically improve my photo's!!! Man I am so fickle!!

An upgrade won't magically improve your photos but it might allow you to improve your photos. The last time I upgraded it was to get more control. I wanted no shutter lag and a wider range of aperture and shutter speed. Then adding a second strobe for no shadows in my macro (unless I wanted them) and better coverage on wide angle.

There are many people who think it's the camera more than who's using it. It's both.
I've seen remarkable photos from point and shoots, and I've seen laughable results from $8k rigs.

 

[matts1w]

Until I moved to Indonesia ten years ago, unless I was teaching a class I never, ever dove without a speargun and/or lobster snare. (I'm from Southwest Florida; its legal and far more ethical than hook and line fishing.) Obviously here that isnt an option and why I decided to try this picture taking thing. I quickly found so many of the skills one needs to spearfish well were imperative to taking good pictures. I think a lot of photographers would really benefit from leaving their cameras at home and take time to learn to stalk critters, to hold perfectly still and let the area get used to your presence, streamline in current, calmly wiggle in under a ledge, slow way down and breath...the list goes on and on. Spearfishing is stressful, frustrating, sometimes scary, and full of adrenaline. It forces one to get good at diving. Confidence and control are imperative, just like in photography. I absolutely love diving in SE Asia where everything is done for me and all I have to do is follow my guide from critter to critter, but if I didn't have the previous twenty years diving off our own boats and figuring things out with my buddies, I think my pictures would be nowhere close to where they are now...and I have a long way to go.

 

[chillyinCanada]

I love to do that too but without the camera. I just want the fish and critters to accept me (as not a predator).