Last year (October 2016) I was lucky enough to do a wonderful wildlife cruise in Indonesia, from Bali to Flores, on a small ship called MV Mermaid I (1). These ships are usually used as dive boats, but this trip was devoted to looking out for dolphins, whales and birds – which I described in my previous blog (1) – and we also had plenty of opportunities to go snorkeling.
I took these underwater photographs with a Olympus Tough TG-5 GPS Waterproof camera, mostly with a fish eye converter attached. Unfortunately, I let some seawater in at one stage, and it never recovered from being bathed in seawater. Fortunately, I managed to capture quite a few underwater images before it died!
I wish I had kept a note of where each of the shots were taken (!) but perhaps it does not matter. It was fun to try to capture some of the amazing underwater world, mainly within the Komodo National Park. For those wanting to know exactly where we stopped off to snorkel, the trip report is available online (3).
We were given instructions about the site before each snorkel dive and taken to the coral reef in the small ‘zodiacs’. The Mermaid I dive staff accompanied us and videoed each dive.
There is no question you see more whilst diving, but I have never managed to take a course and I am quite happy just snorkeling.
The water was relatively shallow, so it was quite straightforward to swim down and photograph the more interesting inhabitants of the reef, like this gorgeous blue starfish.
Fish were a little bit more cautious, but I managed to get fairly close to this trigger-fish (I think it is!). They bite! Feisty characters who think they own the place; well I guess they do!
It was a treat to see the famous Clownfish, which lives within a sea anemone’s poisonous tentacles, and has been immortalized by Disney.
The shoals of small iridescent fish – which darted into the crevices in the coral at any sign of danger – were mesmerizing.
I was very happy to see how beautiful and unspoilt the coral was – at least at the places we visited in Komodo NP – although outside the protected areas may be another story. How people can fish using dynamite is difficult to comprehend; so short-sighted and stupid; but blast fishing, as it is called, does still occur, alas. (4)
It was fun to see some giant clams. Some of them are so tightly cemented onto the coral that all you see is the beautiful soft mantle undulating along the rims of the shell.
I think, what I most enjoyed seeing were the corals. They come in all shapes and sizes, soft and hard, with a myriad of different textures.
The boundaries between different coral types were often sharp and I suppose they were competing with each other for space on the reef.
I should have made more use of the library of books on board the Mermaid I, and sorted out the names and species of all the different soft and hard corals, but it was more relaxing to just sit back and watch; just enjoying the spectacle without necessarily putting a name to it all. Next time perhaps! I certainly would like to know what this purple creature is (see below).
It was a wonderful experience, a sort of dream, but eventually we had to wake up and leave our underwater somnambulations. Here I am coming up for air!
And I can’t finish without a shot of the boat (sorry, ship!) Mermaid I.
Ray Cannon's travel and photography blog 
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