Hey everyone, I just started a website on muck diving. www.muck-diving.com. It is based on the "critter hunting" muck diving, where the muck supports many interesting life forms. Check it out, tell me what you think. Its under construction, but I think it will be useful.
What is "muck diving"?
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60feet:
As a die hard muck diving fan,
Allow me to try.
Muck diving isn't always 'muck' like all the definition that you gave. It's more referring to macro diving, dive sites where we can find a good diversity of small and interesting critters. It could be sandy bottom, rocky terrain, but it's not 'muck' as mud, it might more understandable if i call it macro diving.
I would pay good money to be able to do muck diving, as the matter of fact, I will miss it if I only see big stuff in my dive trip. The best muck/macro diving I've visited so far, you might have heard of their reputation also;
- Lembeh Strait in Menado, Indonesia
- Tulamben and Seraya, Bali, Indonesia
- Secret Bay, Bali, Indonesia
- Puri Jati, Bali, Indonesia
- Mabul and Kapalai, Malaysia
My first experience doing muck was in Secret Bay, Bali. This site might be the best to describe the 'muck'. So what qualities do we look for when we dive:
1. Fish, many fish : You can't find it here, you don't even see a single fish during your first few minutes.
2. Colourful coral : I'm talking about sandy bottom, all the way, north, south, east, west, all you can see is sand.
3. Great visibility : I don't think so, put one diver with poor buoyancy, he/she would stir up everything, because, it's sandy.
4. Healtly and clean water : My first muck diving, five minutes into the dive, I found potato chips packet, detergent package, slipper and bra.
5. Glorious depth : Secret bay lies a mere eight meters below the surface.
But as when i started to wonder, our DM showed us a stick. What the...when we got a closer look, it was a bent-stick pipe fish, disguise perfectly between sand and algae. Then he pointed at one decaying leaf, and it was a robust ghost pipe fish, another 'dead leaf' was a cockatoo waspfish. And a pile of small dirty rock was snake eel, it was all five minutes into the dive.
When we know the game rule, we started to train our eyes and spot more and more new, bizzare and interesting things. Fifteen minutes into the dive, we saw triplet of harlequin ghost pipe fish.
There are many bizzare species that we hardly find in other type of diving that we saw in those locations: rhinopias, flying gunnard, star gazer, dragonet, pegasus sea moth, hairy frogfish, bobbit worm,
with more effort in rocky terrain, the rewards are harlequin shrimp, boxer crab, in sea urchin coleman shrimp etc.
So, even if I can't fulfill the need of 1,2,3,4,5,
Muck diving is a very fun and rewarding:
6. especially for divers attracted to macro photography. Small critters in muck area provide great object for photography because they have camouflage as self-defense, and they are confident enough that they won't be seen by you and let you take whatever shots you want.
7. unlike pelagic diving, muck diving doesn't really rely on luck. If you know how to find the critter, you can find them, instead of waiting for big fish to come, you can actually 'hunt' them. It's much easier to do so if you have knowledge about their habitat and their food.
8. usually shallow diving, one-two hours is very fast when you enjoy it, and AL80 is sufficient for value for money diving.
9. It's highly addictive once you are hooked. I prefer to be active and look for small things rather than wait and hope that big things come to me.
My buddies had taken great pictures but for my self, I just started with camera, and it hasn't been equipped with good macro lens, so I don't have much photos to share yet.
But goggle for Lembeh and places that I mentioned and you can find many beautiful pictures.
Hope that can answer you questions?
About the smell, smell is okayyyy...
Some muck diving have great and beautiful corals too, but not abundant.
Except Secret Bay, other places are veeeery clean, unless in your definition, sand is dirty.
Muck is misleading, but it's good, so not many people will know my 'secret places' to dive.
Now I have to check my piggy bank. I want to go 'muck'.
Some muck diving have great and beautiful corals too, but not abundant.
Except Secret Bay, other places are veeeery clean, unless in your definition, sand is dirty.
Muck is misleading, but it's good, so not many people will know my 'secret places' to dive.
Now I have to check my piggy bank. I want to go 'muck'.
ekewaka
Contributor
It is better than not diving.LekicINC:
Peter, nice website even though it's still under construction. VERY pretty thumb-size photos you already show, and I can't wait to see more, and full-size photos. I also enjoy reading the Dive-The-World.com muck diving article. THIS is the muck diving that I want to do. Makes me want to drop everything, jump on a plane to Lembeh, Bali, Mabul, etc., and do a week of diving there. It's interesting that you included a link to this scubaboard thread on your website. Are you sure you want that? It may scare off divers who may want to take up the Southeast Asia type of muck diving - I mean if they read stuff about diving in filthy water, etc.?LekicINC:
Anyway, nice website, and I hope you develop it further. It has potential!IceIce, thank you for taking time to write such an excellent post! Many dive sites where I live (the U.S.) have sandy bottom, but not the diversity of small, unusual critters that you describe. As you've seen on this thread, here in the West, muck diving is often used to describe diving in poor viz, dirty water, and such but without seeing unusual small fish and other marine animals. Your post and those of a few others provide a complentary - and I might add, more enticing - description of muck diving. I definitely want to experience this type of muck/macro diving someday... Thanks again for sharing your experience.IceIce:
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Ooooohhhhhh ... I'm going to be visiting most of those places next March ... I wanna go NOW! ...IceIce:As a die hard muck diving fan,
Allow me to try.
Muck diving isn't always 'muck' like all the definition that you gave. It's more referring to macro diving, dive sites where we can find a good diversity of small and interesting critters. It could be sandy bottom, rocky terrain, but it's not 'muck' as mud, it might more understandable if i call it macro diving.
I would pay good money to be able to do muck diving, as the matter of fact, I will miss it if I only see big stuff in my dive trip. The best muck/macro diving I've visited so far, you might have heard of their reputation also;
- Lembeh Strait in Menado, Indonesia
- Tulamben and Seraya, Bali, Indonesia
- Secret Bay, Bali, Indonesia
- Puri Jati, Bali, Indonesia
- Mabul and Kapalai, Malaysia
My first experience doing muck was in Secret Bay, Bali. This site might be the best to describe the 'muck'. So what qualities do we look for when we dive:
1. Fish, many fish : You can't find it here, you don't even see a single fish during your first few minutes.
2. Colourful coral : I'm talking about sandy bottom, all the way, north, south, east, west, all you can see is sand.
3. Great visibility : I don't think so, put one diver with poor buoyancy, he/she would stir up everything, because, it's sandy.
4. Healtly and clean water : My first muck diving, five minutes into the dive, I found potato chips packet, detergent package, slipper and bra.
5. Glorious depth : Secret bay lies a mere eight meters below the surface.
But as when i started to wonder, our DM showed us a stick. What the...when we got a closer look, it was a bent-stick pipe fish, disguise perfectly between sand and algae. Then he pointed at one decaying leaf, and it was a robust ghost pipe fish, another 'dead leaf' was a cockatoo waspfish. And a pile of small dirty rock was snake eel, it was all five minutes into the dive.
When we know the game rule, we started to train our eyes and spot more and more new, bizzare and interesting things. Fifteen minutes into the dive, we saw triplet of harlequin ghost pipe fish.
There are many bizzare species that we hardly find in other type of diving that we saw in those locations: rhinopias, flying gunnard, star gazer, dragonet, pegasus sea moth, hairy frogfish, bobbit worm,
with more effort in rocky terrain, the rewards are harlequin shrimp, boxer crab, in sea urchin coleman shrimp etc.
So, even if I can't fulfill the need of 1,2,3,4,5,
Muck diving is a very fun and rewarding:
6. especially for divers attracted to macro photography. Small critters in muck area provide great object for photography because they have camouflage as self-defense, and they are confident enough that they won't be seen by you and let you take whatever shots you want.
7. unlike pelagic diving, muck diving doesn't really rely on luck. If you know how to find the critter, you can find them, instead of waiting for big fish to come, you can actually 'hunt' them. It's much easier to do so if you have knowledge about their habitat and their food.
8. usually shallow diving, one-two hours is very fast when you enjoy it, and AL80 is sufficient for value for money diving.
9. It's highly addictive once you are hooked. I prefer to be active and look for small things rather than wait and hope that big things come to me.
My buddies had taken great pictures but for my self, I just started with camera, and it hasn't been equipped with good macro lens, so I don't have much photos to share yet.
But goggle for Lembeh and places that I mentioned and you can find many beautiful pictures.
Hope that can answer you questions?
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
60feet, Thanks for checking out my webpage! I think it fits perfectly with this thread, but your right it may deter people, that shouldn’t be deterred! I should have some species profiles and more places up very soon, if you want to check it out. But, I am Matt, and the pictures belong to Peter, or TSandM!
Ekewaka, that’s what I figured, just wondering if there was something i missed.
IceIce, I have many questions for you which should add to the thread, if you disagree PM me.
1. I would differentiate between muck and macro because one could do a macro dive on a reef dive or a wreck dive, but what differs in a muck dive Is that there is no reef or wreck just like you said. Thus, like you couldn't call a wreck dive a reef dive and so it needed a new name, muck diving deserved one as well.
2. As for the word muck, is it not true that some of the lembeh dives (where muck diving originated), did have a muddy substrate? I always thought this. Mud can be a great substrate for life. Also, I thought muck was somewhat appropriate because of where the "critters" hide or mimic. Say, the dead leaf or the poll, or the algae. Although, I agree that muck offers negative connotations, this "muck" is what makes muck diving so great, no?
Lastly, which of those "classic" destinations did you prefer for muck diving, and why? I am doing a dive safari in August going to those exacts sites in Bali. I hear it has the least critters of the three though.
Also, I loved your description of how it is "active" diving, really looking for creatures, rather than hoping they come. Its not, "I hope the stuff comes", it is, "there are here, can I find them?"
Ekewaka, that’s what I figured, just wondering if there was something i missed.
IceIce, I have many questions for you which should add to the thread, if you disagree PM me.
1. I would differentiate between muck and macro because one could do a macro dive on a reef dive or a wreck dive, but what differs in a muck dive Is that there is no reef or wreck just like you said. Thus, like you couldn't call a wreck dive a reef dive and so it needed a new name, muck diving deserved one as well.
2. As for the word muck, is it not true that some of the lembeh dives (where muck diving originated), did have a muddy substrate? I always thought this. Mud can be a great substrate for life. Also, I thought muck was somewhat appropriate because of where the "critters" hide or mimic. Say, the dead leaf or the poll, or the algae. Although, I agree that muck offers negative connotations, this "muck" is what makes muck diving so great, no?
Lastly, which of those "classic" destinations did you prefer for muck diving, and why? I am doing a dive safari in August going to those exacts sites in Bali. I hear it has the least critters of the three though.
Also, I loved your description of how it is "active" diving, really looking for creatures, rather than hoping they come. Its not, "I hope the stuff comes", it is, "there are here, can I find them?"
beester
Contributor
If you look at my avatar... that's what I would say is muck diving... this pic is taken in a saltwater estuary...
Visibility less then 2 feet.... this pic was taken at about 15 feet of depth... so at least you did see something... down to 60+ feet visibility was mmm let's just say... not splendid
Still if you manage to look very closely still alot to see.. spidercrabs, shrimps... etc
Visibility less then 2 feet.... this pic was taken at about 15 feet of depth... so at least you did see something... down to 60+ feet visibility was mmm let's just say... not splendid
Still if you manage to look very closely still alot to see.. spidercrabs, shrimps... etc
60feet, you are most welcome, I had fun writing the post.
LekicINC,
I admit I had difficulties to explain about muck diving, but why I associated it tightly with macro, because it's the very main thing we see in muck diving. Mostly small critters, and also the juveniles of big stuff.
I agree very much that we can do macro diving in the reef. You are right that muck deserve its own definition, but for definition sake, I believe the closest thing I can use to describe is macro.
The mud substante I found in Lembeh Strait is not much as far as I can remember, Secret Bay fits into your decription nicely as it has mud substance and algae, and the joy of the 'dirtiness', but still not at the capacity of 'eutrophic completley polluted nasty waters'
For Bali, Imho,
I have to choose Seraya, Puri Jati and also Secret Bay.
If Manjangan is in your schedule of you safari, you can drop by Secret Bay, if not, it might be too far to make a special trip. You can see many stuffs at day. At night, you can find Bobbit Worm too.
Puri Jati is black sandy bottom, it's great place for Mimic Octopus (Wonderpus), but there are many other special things you can see too. The shallow part is grassy area but the deeper would be sandy.
Seraya, short boat ride away from the famous Tulamben US Liberty Wreck. Seraya has some reef, rocks, and some corals too, it's the cleanest and have different terrain, maybe it can't fit to 'muck' definition of yours and what it should be, but our DM in Bali and other divers i met called it muck., the highlight of our dives there was Harlequin Shrimp and numerous Boxer Crab.
Totally agree with you, They are there, it's the matter of whether we can find them.
If you happen to have an excellent dive master, you will be very very busy.
Like the DM I had, he turned five 'What the hell is muck diving' divers into a "must see muck must see muck"..
I will love to recommend him, but from what I know, he is busy doing some exploration to new dive sites.
Hope you have great safari!
LekicINC,
I admit I had difficulties to explain about muck diving, but why I associated it tightly with macro, because it's the very main thing we see in muck diving. Mostly small critters, and also the juveniles of big stuff.
I agree very much that we can do macro diving in the reef. You are right that muck deserve its own definition, but for definition sake, I believe the closest thing I can use to describe is macro.
The mud substante I found in Lembeh Strait is not much as far as I can remember, Secret Bay fits into your decription nicely as it has mud substance and algae, and the joy of the 'dirtiness', but still not at the capacity of 'eutrophic completley polluted nasty waters'
For Bali, Imho,
I have to choose Seraya, Puri Jati and also Secret Bay.
If Manjangan is in your schedule of you safari, you can drop by Secret Bay, if not, it might be too far to make a special trip. You can see many stuffs at day. At night, you can find Bobbit Worm too.
Puri Jati is black sandy bottom, it's great place for Mimic Octopus (Wonderpus), but there are many other special things you can see too. The shallow part is grassy area but the deeper would be sandy.
Seraya, short boat ride away from the famous Tulamben US Liberty Wreck. Seraya has some reef, rocks, and some corals too, it's the cleanest and have different terrain, maybe it can't fit to 'muck' definition of yours and what it should be, but our DM in Bali and other divers i met called it muck.
, the highlight of our dives there was Harlequin Shrimp and numerous Boxer Crab.Totally agree with you, They are there, it's the matter of whether we can find them.
If you happen to have an excellent dive master, you will be very very busy.
Like the DM I had, he turned five 'What the hell is muck diving' divers into a "must see muck must see muck"..
I will love to recommend him, but from what I know, he is busy doing some exploration to new dive sites.
Hope you have great safari!
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