In October of 2105 we went to Indonesia with the group from Underwater Connection. The primary destination was Lembeh Straight. Lembeh is well known for what is often referred to as “muck diving”. It is really that you are diving on a black sand bottom. The depths are typically quite shallow (<30 feet) and visigbility is not great. The slightest movement can easily stir up clouds of debris and swirling sand which takes minutes to settle back down. The goal of this diving is to see the many rare and unusual critters that inhabit this area. It is macro photography heaven.
We stayed at Kasawari Lembeh resort. This is a small boutique resort with excellent service and attention to detail. One of the key details was the small groups on the dive boats. Typically 6 divers to a dive guide. The guides are a necessity. We were looking for critters that were well camouflaged and often the size of your fingernail. We often wondered : “How did they see that?” However, after a few dives we started spotting some on our own but still not with the regularity of the guides.
On many trips we feel lucky to see an octopus or a small group of squid on a trip. Here we had the fun of seeing as many as 5 species in a single dive! These included coconut octopus, mimic octopus, wonderpus, blue ring, flamboyant cuttlefish and more. Dozens of nudibranchs (including mating couples), and an endless variety for shrimp and crabs.
A sample of the photos can be found here: Lembeh Straight Critters 2015
These were taken with a Nikon D300S, Nikon 60mm macro, Subsee+10 wet diopter, Ikelite housing with glass flat port, Ikelite DS125 strobe and a Light and Motion Sola 600 as a focus light. The side lighting pf the focus light was extremely helpful to find the target and actually provided nice fill in of the shadows. The overall murky conditions were best suited to macro. I did not get a chance to do any significant wide angle shots. For those I use a Tokina 10-17 and Ikelite 8″ dome with a single strobe and diffuser.
