Palau Diving

The Blue Corner dive site is famous for the grey sharks that glide on the currents. You must use a reef hook to hold on in the strong current. The sharks swim by one after another throughout the dive. This Magnificent Purse Anemone and clown fish is a standard photo op at Blue Corner.

A Ridley's Green Turtle at Turtle Cove.

A squadron of grey reef sharks patrolling Blue Corner.

The Grey Reef Shark, Caracharhinus amblyrhynchos has numerous names among them are the Bronze Whaler, and Whaler Shark,

Mandarin fish, Synchiropus splendidus abound just outside the entrance to Chandelier Cave. The males and females rise up from the coral and start a mating ritual dance that lasts well into the darkness turning this into a night dive. The cave is just a short dinghy ride from where Sooke is anchored. I could spend hours on the dive site.

A male Mandarin fish displaying his colors

Palau Rock Islands

After a fast downwind two day sail from Yap Island to Palau the time was right for diving and cruising the quiet waters of Palau's Rock Islands.

The coral formations at the Soft Coral Arch were stunning.

Moon Jellyfish, Auretia sp

Jellyfish Lake was a special treat to snorkle among millions of jellyfish. The jellyfish have evolved in the brackish water and the stingers are barely noticable. The jellyfish follow a daily east to west migration following the sun and consuming algae that provides food and energy for the jellyfish through photosynthesis.

Two types of jellyfish can be observed in tthe lake. Spotted Golden and Moon Jellyfish.

Spotted Golden Jellyfish, Mastigias cf. papua etpisoni
A very sureal experience indeed... I kept hearing the music of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" album while snorkling around the lake..

Wall drift diving off Pelilu Island. Just relax and let the strong currents do all the work.

Sooke at anchor in one the hundreds of quiet anchorages in the Rock Islands.
There are very few boats cruising the islands and one can be alone for weeks at a time.
The bird life is amazing and the bird calls and sounds overwhelming.

That's why the area is called the Rock Islands. Thousands of limestone rock islands and formations form this protected area.

Adios Saipan Olomaway Yap

Leaf fish
Finally untied the docklines and sailed out of Saipan to Ulithi Atoll. Three days of downwind sailing saw Falalop Island on the horizon. Short visits were made ashore on Falalop and Fedderi Islands. The islanders still live a traditional lifestyle with a few modern amenities like DVD movies. An overnight sail took Sooke to Colonia, Yap Island. After a much needed haulout and new bottompaint completed at the Yap Fisheries Boat Yard, it was time to dive the waters of Yap. I made contact with Alex Raiman of Yap Divers. He is a twenty year veteran dive guide and knows the dive sites very well. High voltage shark action at Vertigo Wall keep the heart pumping. At times we had up to fifteen grey reef sharks approaching the divers.

The Giant Manta Rays were elusive on a number of dives but finally showed up at the Cleaning Station in Mill Channel. Sitting on the bottom at 75 feet for up to thirty to fourty minutes made the use of nitrox and the extended no-decompression times perfect for this dive site. These graceful creatures would approach us from all directions and make passes directly over top of the divers.

Giant Manta Ray Manta birostris

Nudibranch

Grey Reef Sharks Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos

Soft Corals on South Reef Wall.

Seasons Greetings 2009

Typhoon Melor a near miss on Saipan

On October 3, 2009, the eye of Typhoon Melor passed 160 miles north of Saipan. Wind speeds near the eye were 140 knots. Saipan saw maximum of 50 knots and very little damage done to the island.

Chaotic seas and 16 foot waves crashing on south Banzai Cliff.

A sailors nightmare... a breaking rogue wave in heavy seas.

Large typhoon driven swells breaking on Banzai Point. Not a good fishing spot on this day.

Diving Saipan Grotto, Northern Mariana Islands

The west ocean swells have returned to Wing Beach making the dive site inaccessible from shore. Lau Lau Beach dive site visibility is not the greatest due to the storm runoff, so it's back to the Grotto and the famous 112 stair climb back up to the top.

Christmas tree worms Spirobranchus giganteus .
Lion fish Pterois volitans.
Whitemouth moray eel Gymnothorax meleagris.
Very surprised to find this Giant clam has avoided the night poachers Tridacna derasa .
Looking for Waldo? A lonely wrasse swimming with a school of

Gold-spot bream Gnathodentex aureolineatus.

These lacy and delicate hard corals and are located inside the grotto under the dark ledges, very surreal. Distichopora borealis
This Flame Scallop lives inside a dark corner and continues to survive over the years.
Giant moray eel Gymnothorax javanis

Christmas tree worms have hundreds of varying colors. Spirobranchus giganteus

Diving Wing Beach, Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands

Diving at Wing Beach during the past four months is the best ever. Every dive serves up a amazing number of underwater critters. So far this is my favourite dive site on Saipan. A number of divers have asked what camera, housing and strobe are used in the latest underwater photos. Currently shooting with a Canon G-10 camera in the Canon WP-DC28 housing. The external strobe is a Sea & Sea YS-110a with a fiber optic wire cord to fire the strobe via the camera's internal flash. After 29 diehard years of shooting with a battered collection of Nikonos 35 mm cameras, I finally made the move up to the digital age. Kodachrome 2009 R.I.P.



Fire goby or Fire dartfish (Nemateleotris magnificas)

Featherduster tubeworm (Sabellide)

Nudibranch (Phyllidia tula)

Spot fin lion fish (Pterios antennata)

Juvenile Lion fish (Pterios volitans)

Dusky anemone fish and Porcelain crab

Yellow white mouth moray eel? or a Undulated moray eel? or a Leopard moray eel?

Snowflake moray eel (Echidna nebulosa)

White mouth moray eel ( Gymnothorax meleagris)

Juvenile Blackside hawkfish (Paracirrhites fosteri)

Leopard blenny ( Exalias brevis)

Red-spotted blenny ( Blenniella chrysospilos)