Diving For Earth Touch at Koh Phi Phi

When I first started posting here on C/ASEAN HIVE COMMUNITY My intention was to focus mainly on all the underwater videos that I have shot around S.E. Asia. I have also posted other content too of my travels around Thailand and Indonesia but for today I would like to return below the surface and show you a great little dive I had on one of my favourite dive sites on Phi Phi - Maya Nui and on this occasion just the north section. As always I'd like to draw your attention to some of the cool things I encountered on the dive and have added some screenshots here with a little information....

Firstly I'd like to talk about the amazing changes that many fish go through as they progress from juvenile to adult. Many divers mistakenly think they are looking at two different species of fish when actually it's just the baby and the adult. A great example of this is the Yellow Boxfish. The image below is a frame grab from the video of the juvenile (at the end of the post) and an image from the internet of an adult (source below image). The difference is remarkable. The yellow colouration completely fades away and then a beautiful hexagon pattern appears. Awesome!

Adult Yellow Boxfish Source: https://images.reeflifesurvey.com

Hawksbill Turtles are a critically endangered species. Their numbers are dwindling around the world as a result of illegal fishing, habitat loss for laying of eggs and boat encounters. Turtles have to surface regularly to breathe. Often they will spend a little time at the surface before plunging back below the waves. It's this sudden surfacing that can cause turtles to become injured from boat propellors. Quite often I encounter sea turtles with evidence of severe injury and this guy is well-known on Phi Phi - the poor guy obviously got struck by a propeller and sadly lost a flipper. He has recovered well enough though and is often seen limping around the reef feeding on his favourite food...:)

All coral reefs have what we call indicator species. These are species that give an overall indication of the general health of the reef. One of the key indicator species on a healthy coral reef are Snappers. Snappers are a schooling fish and many different species can be found on a typical coral reef. Marine reserves that are protected from fishing and pollution with very quickly attract large schools of Snapper and most of the reefs around Phi Phi have many different species of them. At the beginning of this dive I descended through a large school of Twin Spot Snapper. Just pretty awesome seeing them framed against blue water with bright coloured coral all around!

Many fish have ingenious camouflage techniques that we don't understand when seeing them underwater as a diver or snorkeler. Take for example the false eye that is very common of many species of Butterflyfish. Add the fact that many of the Butterflyfish species are always hanging out in pairs. The desired effect is these two fish together firm the illusion of a much large fish with dark black eyes. A sure deterrent for a good sized predator looking for an easy meal. This screen shot from the video shows this perfectly.

The underwater world of S.E. Asia has so many cool, amazing and fun facts. I never get tired of diving and hardly a dive goes by where I don't see something new. Hope you like the video! Have a great week Hivers.