420 Dive Log Australasia OCTOBER 2026

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digi tal

AUSTRALASIA

OCTOBER 2026 | No 420

MARINE NATURALIST GOES TO LEMBEH PART 2 by MIKE SCOTLAND U/W PHOTOGRAPHY ON A SINGLE BREATH by VADIM BELAKHOV UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY COURSE CH 8 MANY USES OF PHOTOS by MIKE SCOTLAND

YAP: KINGDOM of MANTAS by DAVID FLEETHAM NUDIBRANCH DEFENCES by DAVID MULLINS Nautilus Scuba Club Cairns Underwater Photo comp

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Great Barrier Reef on the October

PHOTOS FROM JULY/AUGUST

Protecting a UNESCO World Heritage Icon

For more than 50 years, Mike Ball Dive Expeditions has introduced divers to the very best of the Great Barrier Reef. Every expedition reminds us that we are privileged to operate within one of the world’s most extraordinary natural environments—a place recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site of Outstand ing Universal Value since 1981. Stretching more than 2,300 kilometres, the Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef ecosystem on Earth. UNESCO recognises it for its exceptional natural beauty, remarkable biodiversity and globally significant marine habitats. Among its thousands of reefs and dive sites, Cod Hole is one of the very few locations specifically named in UNESCO’s official Statement of Outstanding Universal Value . Described as “the internationally renowned Cod Hole near Lizard Island,” it is recognised as one of the Great Barrier Reef’s significant visitor attractions. For generations of divers, Cod Hole has been one of Australia’s most iconic underwater experiences—famous for its diver-sized Potato Cod, spectacular coral formations and unforgettable marine encounters. From the beginning, Mike Ball believed the privilege of exploring the Great Barrier Reef came with a responsibility to protect it. That philosophy continues to guide our expeditions today. Our crew contributes to Eye on the Reef , the Tourism Reef Protection Initiative , scientific research and citizen-science projects. Observations collected during our expeditions help researchers and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority monitor reef health, marine life and changing environmental conditions. Our long-standing Peace on the Reef initiative also encourages every diver to minimise their impact underwater. Every guest becomes part of this story by supporting responsible reef tourism and the ongoing protection of one of the world’s greatest natural treasures. Dive the internationally renowned Cod Hole Experience Cod Hole, the spectacular Ribbon Reefs and some of the Great Barrier Reef’s finest diving aboard SpoilSport on our 5-night GBR & Ribbon Reefs Expedition .

1st. TJ Cottam

3rd. Mac Garrabrants

2nd. Alex Wright

Created by Mike Ball in 1994, Peace on the Reef encourages divers to be mindful of their impact. Its simple hand signal reminds fellow divers to keep wayward fins, hands and equipment away from the reef.

Check out availability of Expeditions on Spoilsport. www.mikeball.com/availability

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MVOCEANIA/J' Our newest dive liveaboard operating out of Walindi Resort since 2019. Diving Bismarck Sea and Milne Bay

rest5ft

mv

LIVEABOARD MV FeBrina has been operating from Walindi Resort since 1991. Bismarck Sea, Including New Britain & Kavieng

Walindi Plantation Resort celebrates 40 years of operation. Diving Kimbe Bay Reefs

dive shops kept on cutting costs and discounting the cost of dive courses to try to survive. Shop owners compensated by reducing instructor wages. They remained at $100 a day for close to twenty years. Next, they cut the dive course to three days and got rid of a lot of the theory. Toward the end, the daily pay was a few miserable dollars more than the dole. This price war sent a lot of dive shop owners broke and many dive instructors into abject poverty. Dive shops regarded other shops as’the enemy’.What a joke! I knew from running well over one hundred and seventy scuba courses that,once they had mastered skills, the best teacher was time under water, , they could use them in many situations, encounter marine life, develop confidence, self-reliance and mastery. Most important. they could fall in love with diving! They got comfortable, confident and hooked! I charged proper market rate and delivered a high-quality course. The phone did not stop ringing for seven years until general overwork raised its ugly head and my first son was born. By then I had certified close to seven hundred divers whilst working a full-time job, an achievement that I am proud of. I still maintain that instructor candidates should have at least five hundred dives under their belt. It takes time to encounter every aspect of diving and the many experiences lead to invaluable anecdotes to supplement your teaching. Instructors with less than a hundred dives are really unprepared and inexperienced for their job, in my view. I also maintain that instructors should deliver lectures personally and actually teach their divers, not relying on a ‘plastic’ video unrelated to local diving. Much of the bonding, fun and friendship develops in the classroom and students learn a lot more from your experiences. I purchased a Nikonos II in 1978 and then my first U/W housing, a Sea Tite housing made here in Sydney. Within a year, other divers began asking me to run a U/W photo course which I did sometimes. Next, I read all three dive magazines avidly each month. I decided that I had good enough photos and I could write stories. My first published article was night diving on the Great Barrier Reef in 1983 in Neville Coleman’s Underwater. Since then, I have written well over three hundred articles and had more than three thousand photos published in a dozen magazines. I became a regular contributor in Sport Diving, Scuba Diver and Underwater in the mid 80”s, often times having a major feature article in all three magazines simultaneously. Diving has been rewarding for me socially and professionally but not so much economically. (I met my wife of 47 years through diving). Diving is like the ocean food chain. Instructors are like sardines feeding on scraps at the bottom of the food chain whilst bigger hungrier fish come in the form of dive boats, gear manufacturers and dive holidays with first claim on your diving $$, scooping up big bucks. Looking back, it has been a great voyage of adventure and friendship. These days, I continue to try to make a contribution to diving providing a service, making myself useful through promoting diving in Dive Log writing books on Marine Biology, Fish and U/W photography. Dive Log Australasia is a world class diving magazine. It always features excellent educational articles, the best U/W photos and it is Australian made. I always welcome more Australian divers to contribute to Australia’s longest running scuba magazine so it can get even better. The Oct issue of Dive Log is another blockbuster. Read on and enjoy!

October marks a special milestone for me. I leaned to dive in 1976, starting in October. I have been diving actively for fifty years averaging more than 140 dives a year. It slowed down a lot when I had three kids but later on, I made over three hundred dives a year for several years and averaged 265 dives a year for one eleven-year dive-athon. I have seen some changes, learned a great deal and had lots of fun and so many aventures. I was always a Biologist and Naturalist when I was an avid bushwalker pre-diving, learning about nature especially snakes, spiders and mountain flora. I dived head first into marine biology immediately. My first trip to the Great Barrier Reef was a ten day live aboard in 1977 to the Swains and Saumerez reefs way out in the Coral Sea. That is when I learned about scull-duggery at sea. When I embarked onto the boat, I wondered why the captain brought along twenty cabbages. We ate cabbage for every lunch and dinner. It was a lesson in economics; expensive trip with cheap food, max profit for the skipper. He also drunk at least 12 bottles of Bundaberg Rum starting with a rum and coke at 10 a.m. every day. He always had a glass in his hand until midnight. He never fell over once! Somehow, we did make it back home safely. Then, I went on three fortnight Island camping dive trips to Lady Musgrave, Tryon Is and North West Island. These were interspersed with five annual live aboards from Gladstone to the Capricorn Bunker reefs from an hilarious bald witty skipper, John who insulted brutally us at every breath. Naturally, we gave it back to him and nearly died of laughter when he tried to tell us that the brand-new appliance in the dining area was the latest Television. It was the first time we had seen a microwave oven. I christened him the “old buck tooth bowling ball” which shut him up for a few seconds. Anyway, it was so much fun and hilarious exchange of insults between loads of excellent diving. Since, I have done fifty-six scuba diving trips to the Great Barrier reef all the way from Lord Howe to Raine Is. I am a natural educator so I had to enrol in my FAUI assistant Instructor course in 1978 with Bob Baldwin, the then president of FAUI. I did a lot of training with Rick Swansborough at Dive Trek and with Alan Watson, a commercial Dive instructor at Phil Straw’s Cronulla dive. When I did my Instructor exam in 1982, I had rewritten the entire Open Water Course in my own style with prepared lecture notes on every aspect of diving along with handouts, overhead teaching aids and slide shows. The PADI IDC was a breeze for me because I was so well trained and I had run so many dives and lectures that I might have been over prepared, if there is such a thing. My first dive course included nine friends and work mates. In those days, the dive course was five full days of diving, ten hours of night theory and the exam. My dive course always began with a 90 minute snorkel lesson. I made all of the candidates rework all of the exercises until they were confident. I was told that I exceeded standards but I trained divers properly to my personal satisfaction. Some OWD students christened me ‘Iron Mike’ because they told me that I made them drill the exercises over and over like a Sargeant Major. They became safe and knowledgeable divers once certified. Lots of them did the Advanced course. In those days, the advanced course was another ten dives, including night dives and two boat dives with another ten hours of theory, not far short of today’s divemaster in some ways. Most bought their gear from the shop so the owner was happy. I was fortunate to avoid the absolutely disastrous and stupid way scuba diving devolved over the next five to fifteen years. Most OUR COVER PHOTO This wonderful photo of a pufferfish from YAP by David Fleetham is highlighting the excellent reef and night diving in Micronesia.

Happy diving. Mike

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CONTENTS

OCTOBER 2026

digital

N o. 420 NEXT ISSUE DEADLINE : Issue 421 Dec 2026 Advert bookings 12th Nov Artwork due 12th Nov Editorial material : 9th Nov

013 Diving related Fatalities by Dr John Lippmann. 015 YAP Beyond the kingdom of Mantas by David Fleetham 032 Wonderful WAKATOBI by Mike Scotland 032 . MANY USES of U/W PHOTOGRAPHY by Mike Scotland 046 U/W photography on a Single Breath by Vadim Belakhov 058 NAUTILUS SCUBA CLUB CAIRNS U/W PHOTO COMP 066 NUDINOTES DEFENCES by DAVID MULLINS. 070 A MARINE NATURALIST goes to Lembeh PART 2 082 SNORKEL QUEEN. by Melissa Senatoa 086 DIVE HEART AWARD HJ SYED ABD RAHMAN 088 RETURN TO RAJAH AMPAT by NIGEL MARSH 101 TASMANIAN PHOTO COMP Feature articles

EDITOR Mike Scotland mike@divelog.net.au Editor/Designer Mike Scotland divelog@divelog.net.au PUBLISHER mike@divelog.net.au ADVERTISING mike@divelog.net.au MENTOR Barry Andrewartha barryandrewartha@outlook.com

Mike’s Contact details: Tel: + 61 0415158168 mike@divelog.net.au www.divelog.net.au Editorial and photographic contribution guidelines: divelog@divelog.net.au The views expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of the shoeshine boy, publisher, or its editor. REPRODUCTION OF CONTENTS No part of the contents of this publication may be reproduced without the prior written consent of the publisher. All images are copyrighted by the authors and photographers.

Regulars

96 Steve Sinclair 50 Great Dive challenge 100 Kevin Deacon’s PHOTO FEATURE 101 Tasmanian Photo Competition 106 Parting Shot 108 Dive Boat Directory- 109 Your Shot 111 Paul Watson Icelandic Whale Wars

07 -Mike Ball Expeditions 10 Aust Diving Safety Foundation 12 PNG Resort Listings 66 NudiNotes Behaviour David Mullins 73 DAN News Middle Ear Trauma 69 Counter Strike Heroes and Villians 94 Noel Monkman by Des Williams 98 In Deep Column- Simon Pridmore

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“The reef systems here are some of the most pristine I have seen anywhere in my dive travels around the globe, and Wakatobi resort and liveaboard are second to none. The diversity of species here is brilliant if you love photography.” ~ Simon Bowen

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Up to one third of diving deaths are due to heart conditions, mainly in divers aged 45 or more.

Many of these divers were unaware of any problem.

Diving includes many stresses on the heart, including: immersion itself, exertion, breathing restriction, and gas changes in the body, among others. PREVENTION: Have your heart health checked by a diving doctor at age 45, or earlier if unwell.

Photo by Dave Bryant

Don’t dive if feeling unwell.

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The Australasian Diving Safety Foundation

The Australasian Diving Safety Foundation (ADSF) is an Australian-based Health Promotion Charity. The main aim of the Foundation is to reduce diving-related illnesses and deaths.

The ADSF supports its aims predominantly by undertaking research, providing education on diving safety, and offering grants for relevant research, diving safety promotions, dive medical training, oxygen equipment and AEDs. Funds have been allocated to support up to AUD$250,000 per year for appropriate research projects. In addition, the ADSF offers grants of up to AUD$25,000 to fund safety- related projects within the diving industry . Full details of these grants, as well as applications are available at http://adsf.org.au.

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PACIFIC OCEAN

• Diving is possible all year round with the optimal season typically from mid April to mid June, and mid September to mid December.

KAVIENG

NEW IRELAND

MANUS ISLAND

VANIMO

BISMARCK SEA

• Water temperature from 26º along the edge of the Coral Sea and up to 31ºC in the Bismarck Sea. • Visibility ranges from 50 to 150 ft • PNG has a hyperbaric chamber maintained to international standards • The use of permanent environmental moorings ensures minimal anchor damage to reefs. • Weekly flights to Port Moresby from Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Manila, Kuala Lumpur, Honiara, Nadi. Daily flights from Cairns, Brisbane, Sydney. • For the best dive and air package pre-book your complete tour with a recognised PNG dive travel specialist.

RABAUL

WEWAK

KIMBE BAY NEW BRITAIN

MADANG

TARI

HOSKINS

MT HAGEN

GOROKA

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

BOUGAINVILLE ISLAND

LAE

SOLOMON SEA

GULF OF PAPUA

TUFI

PORT MORESBY

MILNE BAY

ALOTAU

www.walindiresort.com

www.lissenung.com “Instruction, gear rental, 8 rooms (6 with ensuite, 2 with semi ensuite), free WiFi, full resort facilities. A visit at Lissenung Island Resort is truly exclusive! info@lissenung.com

Instruction, gear rental, Nitrox, 12 bungalows, 8 plantation house rooms, all ensuites, internet, pool, full resort facilities, English. Voted the 'Best diving from a resort anywhere in the world', Walindi comprises fern-draped bungalows set in tropical rainforest gardens on the shores of Kimbe Bay.

resort@walindifebrina.com

MV OCEANIA LIVEABOARD www.mvoceania.com

www.mvfebrina.com

Gear Rental, Nitrox, 10-12 passengers, English MV FeBrina cruises from Walindi Resort, diving Kimbe Bay, Witu Islands, Fathers Reefs, Rabaul and New Hanover. febrina@walindifebrina.com

Gear Rental, Nitrox, 16 passengers, English

MV Oceania is the most recent liveaboard addition to Kimbe Bay. A 27 metre catamaran, Oceania began operation in 2019 with itineraries including Kimbe Bay, Witu Islands and Fathers Reefs as well as further afield at select times of year. reservations@mvoceania.com

Image credit David Doubilet

LOLOATA ISLAND RESORT www.loloataislandresort.com

DIVE KOKOPO & WATER ADVENTURES www.facebook.com/kokopodiveandwateradventures

Luxury Island Resort with 68 - rooms/villas, two restaurants and bar, a swimming pool, recreational beach, fully equipped dive shop, spa and conference centre. Importantly, it sits on the edge of the Papuan Barrier Reef and 29 dive sites around the island where experienced divers can explore its reefs, spectacular sea life and shipwrecks.

Instruction, gear rental, WW2 wrecks, wall dives, reef dives, muck dives, shark dives. Full resort facilities, land & marine tours, wifi, pool. At Kokopo Beach Bungalow Resort with tropical bungalows in the heart of Kokopo-Rabaul with private beachfront. diving@kbb.com.pg

There are also excellent snorkelling sites. Loloata’s PADI-certified dive and activities centre is opened now, so learning to dive is also now an option. t: +675 7108 8000 / 7914 3966 e : gm@loloata.com

NIUGINI DIVE ADVENTURES www.niuginidiveadventures.com

TUFI RESORT www.tufiresort.com

Discover Tufi in a boutique resort with 180 degree panoramic views over the sea and the only fjords in PNG. Experience diving in a secluded paradise with abundant sea life, coral reefs and wrecks. The warm crystal clear waters of Tufi are a divers paradise. Gear rental, water activities, village stays, cultural and land tours. 24 air conditioned ensuite guest rooms, pool, full resort facilities. reservations@tufiresort.com Fly across mainland Papua New Guinea to remote and magical Karawari Lodge. The lodge overlooks the Karawari River whose waters flow towards the Sepik River. Stilted villages line the edges of the waterways. Dugout canoes glide by. Lodge guides introduce guests to the complex and mysterious tribal culture. Conversations with villagers are fascinating. Photo opportunities abound.

The only dive company established within ‘beautiful Madang’; the PADI certified facility, NDA is one of the most experienced dive operators in Papua New Guinea. NDA offers resort courses taught by our team of multi-lingual, PADI certified instructors and dive masters. The crystal clear waters surrounding Madang offer some of the world’s best diving

experiences for divers to discover. Most dive sites are only 5-10mins away! Underwater peaks climbing from 600m to 4m and sheltered lagoons where old wrecks, dating back to World War II, are waiting to be explored... Contact info: nda@madangresort.com

KARAWARI LODGE www.pngtours.com

TAWALI RESORT www.tawali.com

Instruction, gear rental, Nitrox, 22 ensuite rooms, Broadband, full resort facilities.Where it all started, discover the dive sites that place PNG into the world class map of scuba diving. Situated on a limestone bluff backed by densely rain

forested hills overlooking the clear and protected water of Milne Bay, Tawali offers travellers a unique location to dive, relax and enjoy the unspoiled wonders of this magnificent part of the world. reservations@tawali.com

service@pngtours.com

AMBUA LODGE www.pngtours.com

RONDON RIDGE www.pngtours.com

Explore mainland Papua New Guinea based from eco-friendly Ambua Lodge. The lodge is nestled in the highlands, overlooking the magnificent Tari Valley, home of the famous Huli Wigmen. Visit their traditional lands and learn about their fascinating culture. Follow walking trails through mid-montane forest, over traditional vine bridges and along clear mountain streams to secluded waterfalls. Watch for Birds of Paradise.

In the mountains of mainland Papua New Guinea, above the town of Mount Hagen, sits Rondon Ridge. Rising mists enhance the lodge’s panoramic views of the historic valley below. Orchids thrive here. Hours of walking trails offer opportunities to spot exotic birds, including Birds of Paradise. Lodge

guides share the history and traditions of the Melpa people. Rondon Ridge is conveniently accessible on scheduled flights between Port Moresby and Mount Hagen. service@pngtours.com

service@pngtours.com

Diving-related Fatalities in Australia in 2021 . T here were 23 diving-related deaths recorded in Australia during 2021. These included eight scuba divers, including one on a closed-circuit rebreather (CCR); 13 snorkellers/freedivers; and two divers using surface-supplied breathing apparatus (SSBA), more specifically ‘hookah’ units. © Dr John Lippmann

Scuba The average age of the scuba divers was 51 years, ranging from 33 to 67 years old, and seven were males. No BMI was available for two divers, however, of the remaining six, four were severely obese (BMI > 35 kg.m -2 ), obesity being a risk factor for a scuba diving fatality. Four divers were classified as experienced (30 200 dives), three as very experienced (> 200 dives) and two were inexperienced (< 30 dives). There was no indication of experience with the other two. One, a relative novice, was doing the ‘deep’ dive of an Advanced Open Water Course. Health factors predisposed to six incidents and included obesity (4), cardiac conditions (3), and medications (3). Depth was a major factor in one incident which occurred during a working dive to 75 msw during which an out-of-gas emergency occurred. Equipment problems contributed to at least three deaths and included two high-reading gauges which led to low air emergencies, one exacerbated by a poorly functioning demand valve. The CCR diver was carrying seven cylinders and a non-functioning DPV. The associated exertion more rapidly depleted his breathing gas and lead to him breathing a hypoxic mix and, despite a likely warning from the unit, lead to unconsciousness and subsequent drowning. Somewhat unusually, the sea conditions (other than depth in the case already mentioned) did not appear to have been a factor on these deaths. Cardiac events were the disabling conditions in four incidents, and decompression sickness, asphyxia (primary drowning), arterial gas embolism and drug toxicity in one each of the others. These scuba deaths once again reinforce the importance of diving health surveillance in divers aged 45 or more, equipment maintenance, and careful gas supply monitoring. Click here to learn more about Australian scuba deaths over 50 years.

Snorkel / breath-hold All but one of the snorkellers were male, the average age was 39 years and ranged from 16 to 67 years, and at least five were experienced breath-hold divers. Unusually, none of the victims this year were overseas tourists, a probable consequence of COVID-related travel restrictions. At least five of the victims had significant cardiac disease and/or dysfunction which contributed to their deaths. One victim appears to have been attacked by a shark, but it is unknown if he was hunting seafood - a common provocation. Five set out solo, and, of the others, only one was with a buddy at the time of their incident. One solo diver who was hunting crayfish became trapped in a crevice, and his body was accidently found in situ almost one month later. A very experienced diver was practicing extending his breath-hold in a pool with others nearby but with no direct supervision. He was likely unconscious for around 15 minutes before being noticed. Another victim suffered an episode of SAMBA (loss of motor control from hypoxia) after an earlier dive and, after a break, failed to surface on a subsequent breath-hold dive. By the time his companions noticed he was missing he couldn’t be found. Once again, it is evident that heart disease predisposes to snorkelling deaths which are often cardiac-related. Appropriate health surveillance and management, and close buddy scrutiny are required to reduce this risk. Very close scrutiny is also essential when divers are pushing their breath-holding limits to reduce the risk of drowning after breath-holding blackout, which can occur at or near the surface, or at depth. Click here to learn more about 317 Australian snorkelling and breath-hold deaths over 20 years. SSBA Both SSBA victims were males and were using ‘hookahs’. One was totally untrained and a novice who had built his hookah from parts bought online. He set off alone on a night dive,

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towing his hookah which was mounted on a float. It was later found submerged, with the diver’s body nearby. It is likely that the hookah sank and cut off his air supply causing the diver to drown. The other diver was highly experienced but hadn’t used his hookah for a year and it was in very poor condition. He aborted his first dive complaining to those on his boat that he wasn’t getting enough air. After banging the compressor throttle with his knife, he moved to a shallower site and redescended alone as the boat drifted with a lookout watching the hookah hose. After a few minutes, the hose appeared to tighten, and the diver was soon seen unconscious near the surface, before sinking. He appears to have suffered an arterial gas embolism, likely from an interrupted air supply. Neither diver carried a bailout bottle, and neither had ditched their weights. Relevant training for hookah use is important, and correct equipment configuration and maintenance essential. In addition, hookah divers should carry a bailout bottle and readily ditchable weights.

Click here to read about more than 50 years of SSBA fatalities in Australia. From 2000 to 2021 in Australia there were an average annual frequency of 9 scuba, 14 snorkelling and one SSBA death. As shown in Figure 1, despite peaks and troughs, there was a slight upward trend in snorkel deaths but no clear trend with scuba or SSBA. Participation declined from 2019-2021 inclusive due to COVID restrictions.

EXPERIENCE DIVING AT ITS FINEST

7 nights / 15 dives starting at $1,799*

Andy Schumacher

* per diver, double occupancy. Photo: Andy Schumacher World-Class Diving • A Single Airline from the US to Yap • Smooth, No-Hassle Travel.

Mike Veitch

David Fleetham

Tim Rock

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YAP: BEYOND the KINGDOM of MANTAS T here are places you visit and places that stay with you. Yap stays. Text and photos by David Fleetham

These two young girls are in traditional outfits for cultural ceremonies on the island of Yap

And on land, great disks of stone money still stand beside pathways and village houses, some exactly where they have rested for generations. There are easier places to reach. There are busier places. There are certainly places with more nightlife.

I have been coming here for years, often as one of the professional photographers invited to MantaFest at Manta Ray Bay Resort. Like most divers, I first came with manta rays on my mind. Yap has long been called the Kingdom of Mantas, and there are few places where a diver can spend so much time watching these enormous animals at close range.

That is part of the reason to come.

But after enough dives here, I discovered something.

The flight from Guam arrives in the middle of the night. You step from the airplane into warm, heavy air. The airport is small. Beyond it the island is black and quiet.

The mantas are only the beginning.

Yap lies in the western Pacific between Guam and Palau, a remote collection of green islands surrounded by coral reef, mangrove forest and very deep ocean. Narrow channels cut through the mangroves and connect protected lagoons with the sea. Beyond the reef, the bottom falls away into blue water.

Morning changes everything.

Green hills rise behind Colonia. Thick vegetation runs down toward the coast. White fairy terns cross a brilliant sky. The harbor lies still beneath the morning sun and dive boats wait at the dock.

Down there are sharks.

Beyond them is the reef.

On the reef are creatures small enough to disappear behind a finger.

That is where I want to be.

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One of the pleasures of diving Yap is the journey itself. A boat leaving Manta Ray Bay Resort can soon disappear into narrow passages through dense mangrove forest. In places the channel is scarcely wider than the boat. Roots reach into dark water on both sides and the forest closes overhead.

Then the trees open.

There is a lagoon.

Another passage.

Then blue water.

Kingdom of Mantas

Mi’l Channel is one of the places that put Yap on the diving map.

The tides push ocean water through this natural passage, and manta rays use it as a highway and a place to visit cleaning stations. On a flooding tide, the incoming water can be remarkably clear. We dropped to the bottom at about 55 feet and let the current carry us. There was no reason to fight it. A manta appeared almost immediately.

A single grey reef shark, Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos, glides over a reef off the island of Yap

It came toward us against the current, its great wings moving slowly. The animal seemed to be doing nothing while we worked to maintain our positions. It passed, turned slightly and disappeared into the blue.

Ahead was a school of jacks.

Moorish idol, Zanclus cornutus, and reef manta rays, Mobula alfredi, over hard coral off the island of Yap

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The front end of a Coastal Manta Ray, Manta alfredi, getting the close attention of a cleaner wrasse, Labroides dimidiatus, at one of the cleaning stations in Goofnuw Channel, Yap,

Hundreds of silver bodies surrounded us and turned together. When the school changed direction, sunlight flashed from their sides. Jennifer was ahead of me and for a few seconds disappeared completely behind them.

Sometimes it is a very good problem.

Farther inside Mi’l Channel is Stammtisch, one of Yap’s best known manta cleaning stations. The reef here is shallow. The mantas arrive over the coral and circle while cleaner wrasses and other reef fishes inspect their bodies.

Then the school opened and she was there again.

This is the sort of thing that happens in Yap.

You come looking for one animal and something else gets in the way.

The secret is not to chase them.

An aerial view from above the water of the Manta Ray Bay Resort and it's floating restaurant "The Mnuw" on the island of Yap..

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Reef manta rays, Mobula alfredi, attempting to mate, Yap, Micronesia. This species was previously Manta alfredi.

Find a good place.

One cleaner apparently became too enthusiastic. The manta shot vertically toward the surface, rolled completely over and came back down.

Settle down.

Then the cleaning began again.

Wait.

We stayed nearly two hours.

Eventually the manta comes to you.

For an underwater photographer, time like this is a gift.

One passed directly over Jennifer’s head. Cleaner wrasses rushed from the reef and worked along its body, around the mouth and near the gills.

The longer you remain still, the less important you become.

The manta circled and returned.

Butterflyfish approached. Angelfish ignored us. Wrasses worked around the coral. Parrotfish crossed directly in front of the camera.

Then another arrived.

Eventually the mantas were almost an interruption.

For several minutes the two turned around one another above the cleaning station. Their enormous dark wings crossed against the bright surface. They moved with a grace that made everything else underwater look awkward.

Almost.

Reef manta ray, Mobula alfredi, Yap,

Bumphead Parrotfish defecating, Bolbometopon muricatum, Yap

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A female spotted guard crab, Trapezia rufopunctata, holding eggs, in antler coral, Pocillopora eydouxi

Think Small

You begin looking more carefully.

Soon ninety minutes have passed.

Yap became famous for big animals, but some of my favorite dives here involve subjects that could hide behind a fingernail. At a site called Slow and Easy there is no towering wall or dramatic blue-water vista. Visibility can be modest compared with the outer reefs. At first glance there may not appear to be much happening.

Yap has the habitat for this kind of life. Protected lagoons merge with mangrove forests, sandy channels, sea-grass beds, coral slopes and outer reefs. Each supports something different. Years ago, muck-diving expert Larry Smith came to Yap specifically to see what could be found when experienced eyes stopped looking for the obvious.

Then you stop swimming.

The answer was plenty.

A nudibranch appears.

Ghost pipefish, wire coral shrimp, mandarinfish, flatworms, nudibranchs, mantis shrimp, prawn gobies, cleaning shrimp and pipefish difficult even to identify all turned up.

Then another.

A goby stands beside a shrimp at the entrance to their shared burrow. A pipefish moves against a piece of vegetation and suddenly becomes visible only because it moved. A mantis shrimp watches from its hole with independently rotating eyes.

For photographers this creates a peculiar problem.

Steinitz' shrimpgoby, Amblyeleotris steinitzi, has a symbiotic relationship with the Alpheid worker shrimp. The two share a burrow that the blind shrimp maintains while the goby watches for predators.

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The boring giant clam, Tridacna crocea, will burrow deep into cracks in the reef and may form dense colonies,

The Outer Reef

What lens do you put on the camera?

A macro lens makes perfect sense until a manta passes overhead.

At the southern end of the island, Yap Caverns offers another version of the reef. Here the outer reef reaches toward deep ocean before falling away. Long ago, sections of the wall collapsed, leaving great blocks of coral, pinnacles, gullies and canyons.

A wide-angle lens seems like the obvious choice until your guide finds something smaller than your thumbnail that you have never photographed before.

There is no correct answer.

The visibility can be extraordinary.

You choose.

Anthias hover above coral spires feeding in the current. When jacks rush them, thousands of tiny fish collapse into the reef at once. Seconds later they emerge and begin feeding again.

Then you live with it and return the next day with the other lens.

The red-banded prawn-goby, Amblyeleotris fasciata, is common in patches of coarse carbonate or volcanic sand. Occurs in pairs and burrow with a yellow species of prawn. Yap

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The sunrays gleam through the suface above this blacktip reef shark, Carcharhinus melanopterus.

Gray reef sharks patrol outside.

The cleaner does not hesitate.

Deeper down is a shark cleaning station. From above you can watch the sharks hold themselves in the current while cleaner wrasses work across their bodies. Occasionally a shark opens its mouth and the little fish swim inside.

Both understand the arrangement.

Inside the caverns the light changes.

You move through shadow and brilliant windows of Pacific blue. Soldierfish crowd beneath ledges. Moray eels watch from holes.

There is something unsettling about watching a small fish voluntarily swim between a shark’s teeth.

Our guide stopped above a clump of eel grass and pointed.

The shark does not eat it.

Moray sharing the home of a school of Anthias

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Magnificent frigate birds, Fregata magnificens, in flight over blacktip reef sharks, Carcharhinus melanopterus, Yap,

Above: Juvenile Black Tip Reef sharks live in the shallow protected waters. When they reach five feet, they move out into the deeper oceanic water

Below: Curious Black Tip Reef shark juveniles

A pair of blacktip reef sharks, Carcharhinus melanopterus, at the surface off the island of Yap

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Bumphead parrotfish, Bolbometopon muricatum, are the largest species in this family and can reach 5 feet in length and over 160 pounds, Yap

I saw nothing.

sharks continued their patrol in the blue.

He pointed again.

It was too much for one dive.

Still nothing.

So we did it again.

When Darkness Falls

Then the pipefish moved.

It had been in front of me the entire time.

Some of Yap’s most interesting diving begins when the sun goes down.

Farther out, bumphead parrotfish crossed the reef while gray reef

An adult steephead Parrotfish, Chlorurus microrhinos, on a reef off the island of Yap

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At Rainbow Reef we entered the water before dark to look for mandarinfish. These extraordinary little fish spend much of the day hidden among branching coral. As daylight fades they emerge, and the males begin looking for females.

At dusk mandarinfish, Synchiropus splendidus, look for a mate and leave the protection of the finger coral where they are found, Yap,

A pair comes together.

They rise slowly into the water column, side by side.

At the last instant they release eggs and sperm and vanish back into the reef.

The entire performance lasts seconds.

Photographing it can take considerably longer.

A pair formed in front of me.

They started upward.

I focused.

They separated.

Another pair tried.

There is something satisfying about wildlife that refuses to cooperate with a camera.

I missed them too.

It reminds you who is in charge.

Eventually I stopped trying to predict the exact moment and simply fired as they rose. Jennifer, forty feet away, had found her own group and was watching the same ritual.

A few nights later we left the reef completely.

We traveled offshore for a blackwater dive and stopped over water with the bottom 3000 feet below. A buoy was set out with a weighted line and lights beneath it.

Mandarinfish, Synchiropus splendidus, Yap

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Nothing below us but black water.

For the first few minutes your mind searches for something solid. The illuminated line becomes your little universe suspended over an ocean that extends thousands of feet beneath your fins.

Then your eyes begin finding things.

Almost immediately I encountered a shrimp riding a jellyfish.

The shrimp appeared to be propelling the jelly in circles. I fired frame after frame trying to get both animals in the right position.

Then came the squid.

Hundreds of them.

Some were only inches long. Others approached two feet. They moved through the lights and vanished into darkness.

Larval fishes drifted past.

Crustaceans materialized in front of the lens.

Jellyfish pulsed through the water.

The ocean that had looked empty from the boat was crowded with life. This migration happens every night whether divers are there to witness it or not.

The larval stage of a crustacean photographed at night in 3000 feet of water off the island of Yap

Then we jumped in.

I like that.

There was no reef.

Between Two Worlds

No sand.

After days underwater, we exchanged fins for paddles and kayaked into the mangrove forest.

No wall.

Jellyfish, Cephea cephea

The larval stage of a shrimp riding a luminescent jellyfish, Pelagia noctiluca, Yap. Shot on a black water dive one mile into open ocean at night with the bottom 2000+ feet below.

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It takes a great deal of patience to get a

Octopus come out to hunt in the darkness

The purpleback flying squid or purpleback squid, Sthenoteuthis oualaniensis, is a species of cephalopod occurring in the Indo-Pacific. It is considered one of the most abundant large squids. This image was captured at night with the bottom 3000+ feet below, a mile off the island of Yap. The squid has captured and is dining on a fish.

The water was flat.

At one point the passage became narrower than our paddles were long.

We passed a traditional men’s house with pieces of stone money nearby and entered a narrow opening in the trees.

There was no engine.

The bright tropical sunlight turned green.

No dive equipment.

Mangrove roots twisted into shallow water. Birds called overhead. In places the bottom was only two feet beneath us. Mangroves are nurseries for the reef. Juvenile fishes shelter among their roots. Archerfish hunt insects above the surface by knocking them into the water with carefully aimed jets from their mouths. Young animals begin their lives here before moving into the larger world outside.

No bubbles.

Only the sound of paddles entering the water.

When we finally emerged, I was surprised to learn we had been gone more than three hours.

Time behaves differently in Yap.

We paddled deeper.

This larval stage of a Stomatopods, mantis shrimp is just two inches long and was photographed during a blackwater drift dive, in open ocean at 50 feet with bottom at 4000 plus feet below, and several miles off the island of Yap.

A crown jellyfish, Nausithoe picta, Guam,

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Stone and Memory

One afternoon we were invited to a rehearsal for a cultural celebration in Rumuu village. Women and girls in traditional dress sat along a stone pathway while last-minute adjustments were made. The dancers ranged from small children to elders.

It is impossible to spend much time here without encountering Yap’s famous stone money. Called Rai, the circular stones range from manageable disks to enormous pieces taller than a person and weighing several tons. Many were quarried in Palau and transported hundreds of miles across open ocean by Yapese voyagers. Their value is not determined simply by size. The quality of the stone matters. So does the difficulty of obtaining it and the history of the people who brought it to Yap.

Then the chanting began.

For more than an hour we watched dances that had been passed from one generation to another.

I could not understand the words.

I did not need to.

A Rai can change ownership without moving.

The children watched the older dancers. The older dancers corrected the younger ones. Movements were repeated until they were right.

There is little reason to move it.

Everyone knows where it is.

This was how the stories survived.

Everyone knows who owns it.

There were no tickets.

The system makes considerable sense when your currency weighs several tons.

No stage lights.

www.divelog.net.au A young Yapese girl dressed in traditional clothing in her village

This couple are in traditional outfits for cultural cerimonies and standing beside stone money in a village

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Clark's anemonefish, Amphiprion clarkii, and diver with an Ikelite camera housing system , Yap

No performance arranged for tourists.

That is the problem with Yap.

This was rehearsal.

You begin planning the next trip before the current one is over.

We were the outsiders and were very aware of it.

People call it the Kingdom of Mantas, and it deserves the name.

We had been invited.

But after enough time here, the name begins to feel incomplete.

We were guests.

Yap is the manta that passes overhead when you have the wrong lens on your camera.

There is a difference.

It is the pipefish you cannot see until it moves.

The Return

Our flight left at 2:35 in the morning.

Shortly after midnight the resort staff came for our bags. Underwater photographers do not travel lightly. Cameras, housings, strobes, ports, lenses and dive equipment went back into cases that somehow seemed heavier than when we arrived. The same cheerful people who had greeted us in the middle of the night were there again.

We said goodbye.

The brightly colored mantle and rows of minuscule eyes make the coral-boring scallop, Pedum spondyloideum, easily recognized on the reef. This bivalve is a scallop and lives almost exclusively on massive coral colonies

Nobody made too much of it.

We knew we would be back.

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The stonefish, Synanceia verrucosa, is one of the most dangerous creatures on tropical reefs.

This Steephead parrotfish, Chlorurus microrhinos, has se creted a mucus bubble to protect it from predators at night,

this is the initial female yellow phase of the sling jaw wrasse, Epibulus insidiator, Yap, Micronesia. The slingjaw wrasse gets its name from its highly protrusible jaws as pictured here.

An adult bluestreak cleaner wrasse, Labroides dimidiatus, is carefully searching the mouth of this clown sweetlips, Plectorhinchus chaetodonoides, for parasites

Blacktip reef sharks, Carcharhinus melanopterus, and gray reef sharks, Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos, cruise the surface off the island of Yap

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The dorsal fin of a grey reef sharks, Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos, cut the surface off the island of Yap. The grey reef shark is a species of requiem shark, one of the most common reef sharks in the Indo-Pacific.

It is the gray reef shark holding still in the current while a tiny wrasse swims between its teeth.

From the airplane at night you cannot see much of it.

There are a few lights on the island and then darkness. Somewhere below are the mangroves, the channels and coral walls. Mantas are still moving through Mi’l Channel. Sharks are riding the current along the outer reef. Small creatures are emerging from holes at Slow and Easy. Farther offshore, animals are beginning their nightly journey upward through black water.

It is mandarinfish rising from coral at dusk.

It is a shrimp riding a jellyfish through black water above an abyss.

It is a mangrove passage so narrow the forest closes behind you.

It is stone money too heavy to steal and too valuable to need guarding. It is children learning dances from people who learned them from the generation before.

None of it stops because we have left.

The airplane turns toward Guam.

Yap disappears behind us.

And it is the reef.

For now.

Always the reef.

This is the Ophioblennius-stage larva of a salariinin blenny, Istiblennius sp. The fish is just two inches long and was photographed in open ocean at 50 feet with bottom at 4000 plus feet below.

Trumpetfish, Aulostomus maculatus, a reef predator is swimming behind a yellow boxfish, Ostracion cubicus, using it as a blind to ambush prey,

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EVERY DIVER SHOULD BE A DAN MEMBER

For over 40 years DAN has helped divers, like you, in need of emergency medical assistance and has prepared millions of divers for a lifetime of safe diving. That’s why every diver should be a DAN member.

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SAFETY – MEDICAL – RESEARCH – EDUCATION – DIVE ACCIDENT ASSISTANCE

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alternobaric vertigo may result, which is caused by unequal pressurisation of the two middle ears, which causes the brain to perceive the difference as movement. Beyond the vertigo, additional symptoms may include ringing in the ears and fullness or muffled hearing in one or both ears. Nausea and vomiting can occur in severe cases, as can involuntary movement of the eyes. Symptoms persisting more than a few minutes may indicate a more serious condition. While alternobaric vertigo can happen during descent or ascent, it is most commonly associated with ascent. Simple ways to reduce the likelihood of alternobaric include proper equalisation and not diving while congested. If you experience symptoms of alternobaric vertigo underwater, first stay calm. Then, focus on a fixed point until the symptoms subside. If symptoms occur at the beginning of the dive, abort the dive. If you experience symptoms later in the dive, end the dive safely. As necessary, enlist your buddy’s help with a controlled ascent. Swimmer’s Ear When ears are exposed to water and warm conditions for too long, inflammation and infection can arise in the ear canal, resulting in swimmer’s ear (otitis externa). The protective barriers lining the ear canal can weaken, resulting in pain or discharge. Water can enter the tissues lining the ear canal, creating opportunity for bacteria normally found on the surface of the ear canal to penetrate the skin and find an environment conducive to elevated growth. Swimmer’s ear is more likely to develop if the skin is already chafed. Symptoms include itchy ears, pain, tenderness and swelling of the ear canal. If untreated, swelling can infiltrate nearby lymph nodes and create enough pain that moving the jaw is uncomfortable. If you suspect swimmer’s ear, stop diving and see a doctor. Prevention is often as simple as rinsing your ears with fresh water after diving or simply keeping them clean and dry. If you experience recurring swimmer’s ear, you may be able to prevent it by rinsing your ears with a 1:1 mixture of vinegar and isopropyl alcohol after your last dive of the day. As your ears are used for so much more than just diving, how you manage them while diving is incredibly important. Learn and practice various ear equalisation techniques, and practice good aural hygiene. And if at any point during your dive you can’t equalise, abort. Listen to your body, and you’ll enjoy many years of diving — and healthy ears. World.DAN.org

How to Manage Ear Troubles Even with a sound understanding of how pressure affects diver’s ears and practical knowledge of equalisation techniques, divers still experience ear problems. Here are a few of the most common and some tips for avoiding and managing them. Middle-Ear Barotrauma Middle-ear barotrauma (MEBT) is the most common dive injury. It occurs when pressure in the air space of the middle ear is not equalised to the ambient pressure and can lead to ruptured ear drums. The Eustachian tube connects the throat to the middle ear and enables pressure equalisation. When there is an obstruction in the Eustachian tube, equalisation is not possible. If the pressure in the middle ear is lower than the pressure of the surrounding tissue, there is negative pressure in the middle-ear space. The tissues swell, the eardrum bulges inward, and fluid may begin to leak from the tissues. If a diver is having problems equalising, middle-ear pressure during descent will first feel like clogged or stuffed ears and could progress to severe pain. Further descent will increase the pain. Other symptoms may include fluid build-up, bleeding and eardrum rupture — which could lead to hearing loss or vertigo. MEBT can be prevented through proper equalisation and avoidance of diving while congested. If you feel pain with repeated attempts to descend, abort the dive. Alternobaric Vertigo When the two ears are equalised differently,

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