Don Murray had a theory about scuba diving. The theory said that if one or
more people skipped a dive, then those that went on the dive would see spectacular
critters. One night we put the theory to a test.
We had been diving at Anilao, Philippines staying at Club Ocellaris. All
week the diving had been excellent. We had already had some pretty
spectacular dives; even seeing coral spawning. One starry night our gear, minus
that of Don Murray and Lori Wahl, was loaded into the boat and we motored off
into the darkness. We were going to put Don's theory to the test.
The dive site was called "Basura" which means "trash" in Spanish. It was
really a shore dive, but we did it as a boat dive. The critters could be
found anywhere from three feet to 50 feet. Most of the good stuff was at
ten to fifteen feet. The bottom was sand and small stones. From a distance
it could look quite barren, but past experience told us it was filled with
life. It had long been one of our favorite places to night dive, but
tonight was to be something else.
The narrow wooden boat with its two outriggers glided into shore. One of
the crew men jumped out with a rope and tied the boat on shore. He left
enough line to let the boat drift away from shore so it sat in about 10
feet of water. Being on shore, we could have walked in. But when you have
critters in three feet of water, you don't want to step on any! With light
only from the stars and flashlights, we suited up and made sure our cameras
were set. When we were ready, each of us did a back roll into the black
water.
As I dropped below the surface I saw a school of squid swimming around
where I entered the water. Another few feet away was a cuttlefish that
wasn't happy to see me. He didn't stick around for me to take his photo. I
was off exploring.
It was the night of critters! First I came upon a bright yellow pipefish.
He was very friendly and stayed around me. After he swam off, I saw several
ghost pipefish. They were an olive drab color. They blended into the
background and were very difficult to see. The algae begged to be searched
more thoroughly. In one clump of algae I found a baby seahorse. Two small
mollusk shells clung to the algae nearby. It felt like a marine nursery.
Soon I was seeing mollusks of all types. There was a harp snail out for a
walk and then I saw the moon snail that I had seen on other nights. Both
animals are normally nocturnal. The harp snail usually feeds on crabs and
there was a variety of them around for a nice healthy dinner.
Every so often I looked into the darkness to see where the others were.
Sometimes a roving flashlight beam was mistaken for an urgent call to come
look. Camera strobes firing was a sure sign that something good had been
found.
Across the sand and rubble were a variety of nudibranchs and occasionally a
free swimming flatworm. Another seahorse. This time an adult. Then a sea
pen was found in water shallower than I seen before at this site. Last
year, we had to dive to about 40 feet before seeing sea pens.
As I swept my flashlight over the sand I spied an orange colored octopus
burying itself in the sand. I grabbed a photo before he was covered
over with the drab colored mud.
In an isolated anemone were two saddleback anemone fish. They were more
interested in sleeping than posing for a photograph. I was also able to
locate the frog fish that I'd seen a few nights before. Someone had placed
a stick nearby to make it easier to locate him. I was taking his photo when
off in the distance I saw a flashlight waving. Then two flashlights
waving. This was surely a good sign! I swam down to where Debbie Fugitt
and Tony Mathies found something quite special. It was a large gold colored
prawn. Tony saw only its eyes sticking out of the sand. He stuck his hand
under the sand to get the prawn to crawl out. But it wanted to stay buried.
Tony stuck his hand in the sand again to bring the prawn up. As soon as the
prawn was on top of the sand, then he started burying himself again. This
continued and I was taking photos as fast as I could hoping at least one
would turn out. Debbie was out of film but not out of luck; she and Tony
would find the prawn again another night.
It was an incredible dive. Even though Don and Lori had stayed
behind, I don't think we saw all the critters because of it. The next night
someone stayed behind and we went back to Basura. Like all good dive sites,
it was different each time we dove. Not quite as spectacular as the night
before, but wonderful just the same; and still one of our all time
favorite spots for a night dive.
Contact Boy Venus, owner of Club Ocellaris at
oc@mozcom.com or email
Club0@SeahorseTales.com for
information. The '99 trip is scheduled for May 17-30 at Club Ocellaris.
Further information can also be found in the SeaHorseTales archives.
Report by Margaret Bryant
Sea Gifts