Phuket Dive Report - Day 3

Dive Sites:

Koh Bida Nok - West Side
Koh Kiaew
Koh Dok Mai

Well, Day 3 started with breakfast at 7:00 and a longtail boatride to the dive boat at 7:30.  Our first dive of the day was close by, the small island of Koh Bida Nok. Another map puffer on this dive, lots of beaituful fan corals and whip corals.  A giant moray eel. Lots of white-eyed moray eels.  And a not-so-close encounter with a titan triggerfish that had my blood pressure rising ever so slightly.  There are stories circulating amongst divers in Thailand of really aggressive titan triggers.  So we are occasionally reminded to "let them be."  Well, on this dive I had a titan trigger that decided to swim at me.  My first response:  Cool!  A picture!  My second response:  Grab the flashlight just in case...  My third response:  "Click" from the camera and fin away.  Truth be told, it probably wasn't ever an issue, as the fish never charged me or anything.  But hindsight often makes us look a fool.  Regardless, this was another in a four-day trip of fantastic dives.

The weather today was quite rough.  Lots of rain and wind, which caused rough seas.  So a change in plans. Rather than diving the more exposed Shark Point and Anemone Reef, we dove the islands of Koh Kiaew and Koh Dok Mai.  The islands provide protection from the elements, by diving on the lee side.  When the crew were asking us divers about options, my response was, "Wherever you want to put us in the water is fine with me.  I'm sure we'll find cool stuff."  And I wouldn't be disappointed.

Koh Kiaew is a sight I got to dive in February when I visited Krabi for a long weekend.  (Ao Nang more specifically.  See here for a trip report and here for a dive report from that trip.)  I saw more bubble coral, a beautiful lionfish, and the "golden variant" of the trumpetfish.  Same species, just a very different coloration.  A crown-of-thorns seastar.  A fairly large fishing net left on the bottom.  And as typical of sites in this area, there were beautiful fan corals and lots of great "reef scenes" to hold our attention.  What can I say?  I love diving here.

Before my trip to Phuket, Marcia and I exchanged numerous e-mails so she could choose dive sites that I would enjoy based on the type of diving I like.  I warned Marcia that I'm an "information junkie" and I would be asking lots of questions before, during and after the trip.  "No problem." was her response.  Then she added, "Just so you know, I'll be asking you a lot of questions before I book any dives."  And it all worked out.  She learned of my love of small life, including nudibranchs.  So in our e-mails, she said one site in particular would be "nudi-ful" in her words.  Well, the nudiful sight is Koh Dok Mai.  And she was spot on with her prediction.  This dive would be no different.  Two new nudibranchs for this trip, the ringed chromodoris and the Risbecia pulchella, along with several species from the family Phyllidiidae which I find difficult to identify.  They are all beautiful nudies, though.  We also came across a huge collection of "Durban's Dancing Shrimp" which was kind of cool.  There must have been over 100 shrimp in one little alcove of the wall.  The weather continued to be "rough" all day, with tons of rain and rough seas.  But that didn't make the diving any worse.

Pictures are below.  Click on the image to see a larger version.

Koh Bida Nok - West Side
Part of a huge coral formation.  Just one of those "artistic" photographs I try to find on every dive.  They don't turn out very often, but I like this one.	Bubble Coral, Plerogyra sinuosa.  This colony seemed a bit odd, with the dark yellow coloration.  I've got two more close-ups in the next two pictures.	Bubble Coral, Plerogyra sinuosa.	Bubble Coral, Plerogyra sinuosa.
Map Puffer, Arothron mappa	Giant Moray Eel, Gymnothorax javanicus	Fan and Whip Corals	Moorish Idol, Zanclus comutus
Trumpetfish, Aulostromus chinensis	White-eyed Moray Eel, Siderea Thysoidea	Another Chocolate Grouper, Cephalopholis boenak, "holding on" to avoid current.	A view up the reef to the surface.  Another attempt at an "artistic" shot.  This one not so good...
Titan Triggerfish, Balistroides viridescens	Big fan coral
Koh Kiaew
Bubble Coral, Plerogyra sinuosa	Lionfish.  (Unsure of species.)	The same lionfish from a different angle.	Cusion Star, Culcita novaguineae
Magnificent Sea Anemone, Heteractis magnifica, with a Skunk Anemonefish, Amphiprion akallopisos	Unidentified wrasse in front of a beautiful white soft coral.	Feather Duster Worm, unidentified species.	Large fishing net left on the bottom.
Crown-Of-Thorns Seastar, Acanthaster planci	Scallops inside coral reef	Small coral formation	Unidentified scorpionfish
Emporor Angelfish, Pomacanthus imperator, swimming over the reef	Regal angelfish, Pygoplites diacanthus, swimming over the same reef.	Unidentified wrasses and a Moorish Idol, Zanclus comutus	Golden Variant of the Trumpetfish, Aulostomus chinensis
A cool looking puffer, the Guineafowl Puffer, Arothron meleagris	Crocus Giant Clam, Tridacna crocea	An unidentified wrasse.  For some reason, I have trouble identifying wrasse.
Koh Dok Mai
Phyllidiella rudmani.	Ringed Chromodoris, Chromodoris annulata.  This is one of my favorite "finds" of this trip.	Ringed Chromodoris, Chromodoris annulata.	Beautiful Risbecia, Risbecia pulchella.  You gotta love it when "beautiful" is part of the common name.
Phyllidiopsis annae	Phyllidiopsis annae, close-up view with two "visitors" on its dorsal side.	An unidentified sponge.  When showing this to my family, Devin called this "scrambled eggs with salsa."	Indian Toby, Canthigaster solandri.  (I think I originally misidentified this as C. petersii.)
Big fan coral.	White-eyed Moray Eel, Siderea thysoidea	A pair of White-eyed Moray Eel, Siderea thysoidea	And a White-eyed Moray Eel, Siderea thysoidea that is venturing out of its den.
Indian Lionfish, Pterois muricata	Dancing Durban Shrimp, Rynchocinetes durbanensis	Dancing Durban Shrimp, Rynchocinetes durbanensis	Banded Coral Shrimp, Stenopus hispidus