Tulamben and the Critters of Bali Hai

[gee13]

More the merrier Luko...!! Yes first V Octopus Ive seen, thought it was a mimic at first before it spread out tentacles. Actually this trip had a lot of firsts for me.. Pom pom crab, pregnant hairy shrimp, clown frogfish, even the coleman shrimps in fire urchin..

 

[Quero]

Yeah, the octo picture is my favorite, and not just because of the rarity of the creature--the sense of movement, the sinuous lines, the contrast with the substrate... it just makes for a great shot.

 

[Luko]

pregnant hairy shrimp

I'd love to see one, even not pregnant at all... ... it seems it was a newly spotted critter in Lembeh or Ambon last year, but it has become sort of "fashionable" and now more macro places are getting hairy shrimps spotted like Anilao or Tulamben. Probably once people know where and what to find, it's much easier.

clown frogfish, even the coleman shrimps in fire urchin

You should go to Ambon for Colemanis! After your third fire urchin with Coleman shrimps on the first dive, you can skip to Bumblebee shrimps ( which even outnumber the Colemans, seriously there's one spot there are so many of those, I hardly believe now it's a rare critter).

 

[jake11]

Wow! Both Gavin and Luko.. simply AMAZING shots!!!! Gavin.. that might be the best harlequin shrimp picture I have ever seen! Luko.. LOVED the donut nudi! Excellent!!! Thanks to both of you for sharing!

 

[AlMitch]

Man alive, both of you should just stop showing off!! We all know you both take brilliant pics!! Yes yes yes... jealousy makes me nasty:alien:!!

 

[clownfishsydney]

Yes, a brilliant dive location, we were there in September, never had a dive that was less than great. Fantastic photos!

 

[pughio83]

Great photos all round. So jealous. Have seen the V octopus in
Lembeh but would love to see colemans shrimp and bumblebee chrimo.
I Am Looking to get some macro lens for my camera. Not as fancy as what you guys have got probably but I have a canon s95 and want to get a strobe and inon ucl 165 macro lens, one or two. Does anyone have any experience with these?? If so is it advised to stack two together for better close macro shots??
Would love an dSLR but can't afford right now.

 

[Luko]

I Am Looking to get some macro lens for my camera. Not as fancy as what you guys have got probably but I have a canon s95 and want to get a strobe and inon ucl 165 macro lens, one or two. Does anyone have any experience with these?? If so is it advised to stack two together for better close macro shots??

You can do great pix with a S95, providing you have an external strobe (2 is better). try the small Inon S2000 perfect for macro, very light and powerful enough.
For the macro wet lens, I'd suggest getting the subsee +10 which is definitely the best you can get if you want to go supermacro, no chromatic aberration like the Inon, almost any contrast loss. that's what I have and shoot with for my pygmy seahorse pics for instance.

For the Colemans and the Bumlblebee you know where to go . I've had fresh news from the "other" divecenter we discussed about, new management, the manager ensured me he can provide macro guide anytime. PM me if you want more info.

 

[gee13]

Thanks again folks I think what makes me keep coming back is that whilst everyone else hammers the wreck some of the other sites remain fairly quiet and thats good for the critters. @pughio83 I started out with a s90 and used it through 2011 and only upgraded to dslr at the start of the year. Apart from the shutter speed the quality in RAW format is exceptional. You do need the right lenses/ strobes.

@ Luko stop bragging about Ambon. :tongue2: You know I havent made the trek yet.. though its inevitable... someday.. Have some 'other' places to cross of the bucketlist first! :wink1:

 

[jake11]

I second Luko's high opinion of Ambon! A great location to combine with a LOB to the Banda Sea or other locations as well! :0) When you do make it there request to dive with Semwell.( I know I am probably spelling his name wrong..) He is AWESOME!