The "Yoshi" Effect

.Photographed by Mr.Yoshi Hirata.

Day: Saturday, 16 June 2007 - Day Dive
Crew: Myself, Angel, Joseph, Steven, Simon, Albert, Nusun, "Some1", June, Uwais, Cik Azli (Instructor), Boatman
Dive Site: Arun's Wreck and Brunei Patches (Brunei)
Viz: So-so
Max Depth: 20m & 12m
Dive Time: 45m & 70m

Tempted by 3 boat dives in one trip, Angel and I got up at 7.30am on our day-off to join Cik Azli. We met at the bay off Jerudong fish market; fishermen were all preparing their boats to go out to sea, twenty over tanks stand waiting to be loaded on our boat, both my hands full with bags of food, i look up to the bleak skies hoping it wont take a turn for the worse on us.

Arun's Wreck is approximately 20-30 minutes away depending on sea condition. We descended to this sand barge that is sitting upright on a sandy bottom. Even with poor visibility and the lack of sunlight, this wreck exudes a kind of mellow beauty. It is completely floored with willowy pink and lilac soft corals that is home to carefully camouflaged cowries.

During this dive, the name "Yoshi" and the "Yoshi-Effect" kept running through my head everytime i focus for a shot. When i was in Mabul, Andy from Scubazoo told us about SWV's consultant marine biologist, who is also an underwater photographer, Mr.Yoshi Hirata. He raved about Yoshi's style of photography; focusing on a particular feature of the subject.. their face, their eyes and all else are out of focus. They call it the "Yoshi-Effect". They said his book "My Expressions of Love for the Sea with ... Yoshi" will send tears down your face. His pictures certainly justify the phrase "Every picture tells a story". I was inspired.

...So i fiddled with my camera... heh heh heh.

Conclusion: The strobes that i've been trying to avoid buying is inevitable if i wish to get closer to my subjects. I . got . to . resist . the . temptation.

There is actually a third Glossodoris at the back, but i've cropped it out. They were huddled together, usually a sign of mass-mating behaviour.

.I'll stand by you.

'Tailgating'

Risbecia tryoni has an interesting habit of tailgating - the phenomenon where one animal follows another often with the 'follower' usually resting its head on the posterior end of the foot of the 'leader'. More often than not, i see this trailing behaviour in tryonis. It is thought of as a prelude to mating behaviour in this genus.

.Peek-a-boo.

Our second dive was at Brunei Patches. We dropped off to part reef and part sand. I was quite excited because we learned in Mabul, sand dives can be very rewarding. A good part of my dive was spent peering over burrows in the sand, looking under featherstars, and scanning seafans. It has to be me if i havent found anything interesting YET! Then a featherstar sitting on the peak of a pyramid-shaped coral caught my attention. I thought it would make a good picture. I thought i could have a look at the featherstar before i take a shot. Suddenly, something red poked its head up from the other side. *@#$. Gawd. It looked at me straight in the eye. I backed off in a split second and it slithered off. My eyeballs almost popped out of their sockets! It wasnt anything extraordinary but the fact that it crept up like that scared me shitless.

Since this is probably the best encounter so far, i looked around for Angel, Steven and Joseph. No sight of them + bad viz = hysterical banging on tank while keeping an eye on Mr.octo-who-is-slithering-away.

.You got me!.

.You cant exactly get sick of them. It's Nemo!.

Our 3rd dive was cancelled due to bad weather and a few sea-sick divers. No resistance from Angel and I as we were dead-beat tired and sleepy.

The night was spent with people who were much younger than I am! Thank god for these two i didnt feel so out of place. Muuhuuhuu.