NickLongfellow
Contributor
After a long 9 month season here in Perhentians, knee deep in confined water, day in and day out. I was starting to think I was not going to get that.. (aaahhhhh *angelic sound and shining light*) dive moment this season, and had effectively sold my scuba soul to the devil so as to pull myself up from poverty. And onward I trudged, until last sunday a second dive DSD decided not to show and so I hopped on the boat anyhow and.. sweet bliss. We drop in @ Terumbu Tiga (T3) off of Besar, only boat on the water, and low and behold. Crystal clear blue water. Haven't seen this viz since july. Perfect for photos! Oh yes, this will be good. Julia and I drop in a few harry swim throughs which we can never try because of students, and about 15 minutes into a totally serene dive, what's that I hear in the distance?! An excited ratty tat tat of a tank banger? I think so, oh it's like christmas I tell you. As we make our way through the massive and towering granite boulders of of T3 we run across charlotte and steve, who simply point into the blue. And then the shadow materializes. coming in head long over the first boulders of the reef this 6 meter whale shark plows through the group trailing a ****ing school of remoras and cobia. I had to shoot a quick 4 poorly aimed shots immediately, out of sheer duty. I'm thinking he'll continue on and we'll be left ****ting our pants and cherishing the few fleeting glances we got. But then he starts circling, and coming closer and coming back, swimming directly over us, under us, chasing two divers who ran low on air around on the surface. swimming away until we couldn't see him, then turning around and coming straight back, checking out the boat, going head up and floating infront of us, totally calm and totally curious. It was nuts. We had a good 40 minutes with him. He had something like 100 remoras around him, and at times I think he was enjoying the bubbles a bit too much if you know what I mean! So anyway, that was my ahhh *angelic sounds and shining light* story for the season. Just had to sing it from the rooftops I suppose. Cant let a moment like that dissapear in the ages, oh no. It certainly left a boat full of excited staff bumping fists and drinking cold beer in the shop end of the day wildly exchanging stories. Got some nice shots as the thoughtful fellow left me enough time to dial in some manual setting and play around with aperture and whatnot. Anyhow enjoy the pictures and any advice is gladly received.
Nick Longfellow
p.s. Until you've seen the sheer panic on an open water divers face when a whale shark chases him, you have NOT LIVED! http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/images/smilies/rofl3.gif
p.p.s. All shots taken with an S95 in ikelite housing, wide angle lens, and Inon D2000 strobe.
Nick Longfellow
p.s. Until you've seen the sheer panic on an open water divers face when a whale shark chases him, you have NOT LIVED! http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/images/smilies/rofl3.gif
p.p.s. All shots taken with an S95 in ikelite housing, wide angle lens, and Inon D2000 strobe.
