Planet Rock – Move Along People, Nothing To See Here
I may as well continue feeding you a steady diet of fish for a couple of more days, at least until I run out of images from our dive on Planet Rock yesterday. Richard Jones, (A. K. A. “Eagle Eyes”) has been spotting for me. It’s like having an experienced tracker along on a safari. We’re not shooting big game, but I bet Rich could spot a lion’s ears peeking above the savanna grass at 200 metres.
Here’s Rich doing his thing:
Not a single nook or cranny escapes his attention.
However, while Rich is poking around looking for treasure, I’m usually takin’ in the scene, man. When you first start diving you’re looking for the big, flashy stuff. After the shine wears off you can begin to appreciate the simple beauty of a starfish:
It looks as if it’s strolling along the bottom, which, in fact, it is – though very slowly. I admire the starfish’s lack of urgency. When you pass, there’s always a little whisper, “Hey, man. Stay cool.”
You look for the odd juxtapositions. There’s no shortage of them. Here two species of Solitary Coral seem to be cuddling:
Nobody told them that it’s wrong. It’s blissful ignorance. Life is simple in the sea. You only have three things to think about. You eat. You reproduce. You are eventually eaten or otherwise return to Mama Ocean’s storehouse of building materials.
You can never swim far without encountering a bit of magic. Here little jewels of amber hover over a plate coral.
They are Reticulated Dascyllus, but that matters not a bit when the magic overcomes you. Everything is alive and a part of the whole. Identity merges into the gestalt. Are the Dascullus Reticulatus and the coral inseparable – needful of one another? Technically, no. However, the sense that you get is that it is all meant to fit together just as it is. Everything is copacetic.
Here and there passes a Unicorn . . . no, not really. Nevertheless, what it is is no less magical:
A Trumpetfish hurries to escape the camera. It’s no less a beautiful mystery if you call it Aulostomus chinensis. The background blurs and the camera strains to follow the motion. The photographer feels a part of the daily life of the reef. I think of the Don Knotts movie, The Incredible Mr. Limpet. I feel somehow more peaceful and accepted as a fish. I move like a fish, through a three dimensional world. My breathing slows and my body relaxes. I’m in the sea. I’m of the sea. I am home.
And she rewards me for my admiration, respect and love. She sparkles for me:
The sweet Anthea gather round me and frolic. I join their dance and music rushes through me.
We must protect our mother. If she dies, we shall all perish with her.
Related posts:
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- What Colour IS IT? I love the colours that I see underwater. It is a different world. But it is not all bright garishness down there. Like all underwater photographers, I strive to capture colours that mesmerise the viewer while conveying an approximation of what I saw with my eyes. While I want to...
- Planet Rock – When Is Close Enough Too Close? When taking close up shots of potentially dangerous critters you have to keep asking yourself if getting just a little closer is a good idea or not....
- Wrapping Up a Week of Diving It's been a long week of two dives a day, a bit much for my old bones. Still, it's the first time in years that I've hit the water on my back so many times....
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Another shot of my bald head. The swell surge was deep and powerful enough to trigger a rapid ascent alarm on my computer a few seconds after that shot was taken as I was ingloriously dragged up and down the reef in a storm of sand and coral pieces. I turned around and took us to the other end of Planet Rock immediately afterwards. Things were more horizontal there and I wanted to see the electric swallowtail orgy from a couple of weeks before. Racy.
Rich, your noggin is becoming a regular feature on MPBM. Better get used to it. I hear some chicks dig it. Obviously Jenn doesn’t mind.
I noticed that you changed directions when we entered the washing machine. I was wondering how in the world I was going to take picutres in that? It’s been a long time since I felt such an unusual swell action. I guess it was because it was so much like a wall there.
I’m getting addicted to that nudibranch porn. Need we consider the moral implications?
Naaaa . . .