Ghost Pipefish Galore!

Trip Date: Mar 9th - Mar 16th, 2013 - Comments

For this trip we had a group from Oklahoma, a couple from the UK and a couple from Russia via Boston.

We found more Ghost pipefish this week than we have on all of the trips combined so far this year! Although Nora and I were spotting some, the main part of the credit for the pipefish frenzy should go to our Divemaster, Joe.

He found quite a few pairs and single specimens of both the more commonly seen Robust and the usually rare Halimeda Ghost pipefish, more hairy Ghost pipefishes this week (in addition to the ones we found on the previous trip) and even a few Ornates. As well as this we had some that were not too easy to identify but may have been another variation of the roughsnout or halimeda varieties. Many of these were spotted on night dives.

When we went back to Rick’s Rocks in Makogai to visit the Pygmy Ghost pipedragon, we found that it had a mate! I spent almost my whole dive with them, just watching. I observed as they swam together and one even held on to the other with it’s tail! Beautiful little things.

Photo by Steve Z.

Pygmy Pipe Dragon. Screen Grab by Erwin Filius

They were not the only highlights though. We spotted a Eagle ray on North Save-A-Tack, a Manta ray in Nigali Passage and a Hammerhead on E6.

We had some stunning conditions this week too. The dive we did on Tetons II on South Save-A-Tack was too perfect and the last day of diving in the Bligh Waters was magical with flat seas and clear water, letting the beautiful sun rays shine down into the Cathedral on E6 and light up all the lovely colours on Mount Mutiny.

Another hard week at the office..