Another great photo by Kim - this is a gorgeous thecacera sea slug Photo by Kim in Similan Islands 2010

Ornate ghost pipefish have great cammoflage Photo by Kim in Similan Islands 2010

A glossodoris atromarginata - Kim can really find the small stuff Photo by Kim in Similan Islands 2010

This dive starts on the east side of island #7. We descend to around 50-60 feet and are immediately greeted by a set of 6 Kuhl stingrays gliding across the sand floor. Very nice. Kim tours us around for a while, and finally motions each of us over to a small depression in the reef. There he shines his torch and indicates for us to have a look. With my bad eyesight, I stare at the place for quite a while, not really seeing anything except 2 pieces of drifting seaweed. Then, I realize that the 2 pieces of seaweed are exactly the same shape, one larger than the other. They are ornate ghost pipefish! Extremely cool!

Like the last dive site, this one is again LOADED with fish, schools of snappers and fusiliers everywhere, criss-crossing and merging into 3-dimensional highways over the reef. It is a pure delight to be in the middle of it all. Kim leads us to the location of a gigantic fan coral, nearly 2.5m across.

At one point, I spy a nasty titan triggerfish down in its nest. Its evil eye fixates on me, and mine on it, while I respectfully fin around. Unfortunately, the current pushes me an inch or two too close, and the triggerfish scurries up directly at me, with teeth bared, ready to take a bite. I'm successful in shooing it away with my fins, but Linda is laughing at the whole encounter.

Kim finds more tiny stuff, including a gorgeous thecacera nudibranch, bright orange with flowing wings. There are giant morays, regal angelfish, chromis, and schooling bannerfish that delight us at every turn. At one point, we spot a sea snake, black and white striped. Never seen one before this.

At our safety stop, we're entertained by a small turtle, and then by a beautiful school of lunar fusiliers. After seeing so many fish during this dive, it seems only appropriate that they should be present at the safety stop, too.

Sealife Observed on this dive:
Kuhl stingray
giant moray
orante ghost pipefish (2)
lunar fusilier
thecacera (nudibranch)
regal angelfish
glossodoris atromarginata (nudibranch)
jawfish
turtle
sea snake (sea krait?)
titan triggerfish
longnose butterflyfish
schooling bannerfish