MATING LEOPARD SHARKS!

Liveaboard trip 13/01/09 – 22/01/09

BURMA SAFARI

Mermaid I

Wow, what a great ending to the trip that was! Two mating Leopard Sharks at the very last dive. Completely oblivious to us, busy as they were, we spent almost 20 minutes with these beautiful sharks, watching their underwater ballet. Eventually, they took off into the blue, giving us a chance to look around the reef for other creatures. A huge pink Whiptail Ray passed by with its entourage of 15 Cobias, a Hawksbill Turtle had its breakfast of yummy green algae, a Napoleon Wrasse kept an eye at us (and its distance) while the Chevron Barracudas didn’t mind us at all.

It’s critter time in Burma at the moment, and we pretty much got the whole catalogue: Harlequin Shrimps, Ghost Pipefish, Tigertail Seahorses, Pineconefish, loads and loads of Nudibranchs and no less than three Toadfish, rarely encountered in this part of the world.

The nightdives delivered as well, with hunting Marble Rays, big Barracudas, Nursesharks and Spanish Dancers.

For the last month, we have been lucky with the Manta Rays up at Black Rock, and we were, of course, excited, hoping to see them again this trip. And, sure enough, there they were -  two mighty Mantas, gracefully circling us, making sure everybody got a good look, before going back to whatever it was they were doing prior to us getting in the water.

A very lucky trip indeed, with an astonishing range of sightings, from small to big!

PJ Widestrand

Video-Pro
Mermaid I

Liveaboard diving Thailand, Myanmar, Bali - Komodo and the Andaman Islands.