June 2020

This is the most famous vista on the island with tourists waiting hours normally to get this shot; with coronavirus there were so few tourists on the island I practically had the place to myself

After more than a week on the island I finally spotted a turtle!; this hawksbill turtle will struggle to find a nesting place since there are very few undeveloped sandy beaches left on the island

The small island of Koh Tao has more than 50 dive shops and is one of the world's most popular places to get certified; I took advantage and completed my Advanced Open Water certification

Juvenile batfish mimic leafs floating near the ocean's surface to avoid being eaten; some other batfish species mimic flatworms which don't taste good as one of their defense mechanisms

Definitely the Christmas tree worm capital of the world!; underwater structures are just covered in the worms which will disappear inside their host when you get too close

I saw a small group of 6 juvenile blacktip reef sharks in the shallows near Nang Yuan Island; they don't allow fins or water shoes on the island but I showed the staff my feet and they made an exception for me

I must have delicious skin since I attracted another sharksucker today; this one would not leave and stayed with me around Shark Island

I enjoyed a long kayak trip to Shark Island where I spent the afternoon; I snorkeled around the island a few times when I wasn't on the rock reading

The waters around Koh Tao suffered a severe coral bleaching event caused by El Nino about 5 yrs ago so most of the coral is now dead

A few tourists walking on the sand bar connecting two of the three islets that make up Nang Yuan Island; the island is just off the NW corner of Koh Tao

This barrel sponge is covered in banded white sea cucumbers; these critters were on every sponge and look more like transparent worms than sea cucumbers

I opted to stay on the quieter, southern end of Koh Tao; this is the view from my hotel looking at the shallow, peaceful waters of Chalok Baan Kao Bay

Hin Yaai Mae is one of the local spirit rocks that locals believe to be gods who will protect them from natural disasters and bad luck, especially when traveling at sea

I'd see an occasional grouper snorkeling or diving, typically hiding during the day; they can live more than 50 years although excessive fishing is causing their numbers to decrease

On most dives I saw large schools of juvenile barracuda; in general, the visibility on the dives wasn't very good and there wasn't a great deal of note in the species seen

Aow Leuk Bay had the best snorkeling on the island of the places I visited; it was a strenuous walk from my hotel on streets where cars have to use first gear most of the way

This Australian spotted jellyfish was the first jellyfish I've seen in Thailand; supposedly they have only a mild venom but I steered clear and didn't find out myself

The thicklip wrasse takes in mouthfuls of sand to sift out invertebrates before passing the sand out through the gill openings; Koh Tao is pretty remote with its nearest neighbor almost 50 kms away

I saw this critically endangered hawksbill turtle at Tanote Bay; like other sea turtles, hawksbills are solitary for most of their lives; they meet only to mate

Prior to 1943, Koh Tao was uninhabited; it served first as a political prison and then local fisherman moved onto the island; the first tourists arrived in 1977 and the first resort was built in 1984

I visited Tanote Bay on my last day; it's on the east side of the island and would have been a brutal walk so I was a whimp and took a taxi

Six-banded angelfish; I saw plenty of angelfish snorkeling but they live at depths that make it difficult to photograph them; they are also super shy and immediately leave when they see the camera

A school of surf parrotfish enjoying their lunch; most parrotfish are solitary creatures, but this particular species likes to stay in a large group

Both sides of Aow Leuk Bay had good snorkeling; that's Shark Island in the distance; the beaches are empty as much of the island has shut down due to lack of tourists

Naun Yang Island was my favorite spot around Koh Tao for its beauty and uniqueness; it helped considerably that there were so few tourists on the island thanks to coronavirus restrictions

Koh Tao's economy is based around scuba diving schools with a local population of only 1500; the granite boulders around the island and on the beaches reminded me of the Seychelles

Two km long Sairee Beach is the island's most popular and where most of the lodging and dive shops are located; the ferries also use piers on Sairee Beach

This blotched pufferfish was huge!; members of this species are solitary, except during mating periods; it is nocturnal while during the day it normally hides in caves or under ledges

The island had a couple of small markets but it seemed the most popular places were the 7-11's; during my stay a policy was implemented where you had to wear a face mask in order to enter the stores

I had never seen banded white sea cucumbers before; this guy was alone but usually they congregate in large colonies on any sponge

One of the more common sights in the waters here was the longfin bannerfish; the weather was awesome throughout my visit with a few clouds, nice breeze and warm temperatures

The orange spot rabbitfish is one of the most common species around Koh Tao yet just one of them will cost around $50 for your aquarium at home

Batfish; a long boat to Nang Yuan Island from Sairee Beach cost about $8 round-trip; admission to the island was a little more than $3; no plastic is allowed on the island but they forgot to check my bag

Tanote Bay is known for having this huge boulder on the beach; the snorkeling on the east side of the island was far superior to the south end where I stayed

Thornback cowfish; this uncommon fish is a species of poisonous boxfish which has hexagonal, plate-like scales which are fused together to form a solid, box-like carapace, from which the eyes, mouth, fins and tail protrude

Spotfin lionfish; this species lives in lagoons and on reefs, where it hides during the day and hunts shrimp and crab at night; the spiny dorsal fins are venomous (like other lionfish)

Tasselled wobbegong; reaching 6 ft in length, this species of carpet shark has a broad and flattened body and head; its most distinctive trait is a fringe of branching dermal flaps around its head, which extends onto its chin

Helmet gurnard; often confused with flying fish, this species walks along sandy sea floors while looking for crustaceans, other small invertebrates and small fish by using their pelvic fins

Thecacera pacifica; this species of sea slug is sometimes also nicknamed Pikachu nudibranch due to its resemblance to the Pokémon character Pikachu

Bristle-tail filefish; this species has the ability to rapidly change color and skin texture and patterns to avoid detection and consequently predation

Ornate ghost pipefish; this species lives among the branches of gorgonians, in floating weeds, or on crinoids where they feed on mysids and small benthic shrimp

Halgerda batangas nudibranch; our divemaster always carried a flashlight so that we could better see small creatures like this that tended to live in crevices or otherwise hidden from predators

Christmas tree worms; my camera typically takes very poor photos of small creatures in the sea; this photo was an exception but there were so many cool, small creatures we saw (like pygmy seahorses) that didn't photograph clearly

This ferry is approaching Waisai; for some reason the clouds were often very low throughout our trip; the clouds were appreciated though since the sun was extremely strong

Plakobranchus ocellatus; searching for colorful sea slugs is quite popular with divers but while all nudibranchs are sea slugs, not all sea slugs are nudibranchs

Filefish; this species is often camouflaged to match its environment; interestingly, the slender spine crowning the head is retractable

Longspine lionfish; this is a large lionfish, up to 40 cm, and has much taller dorsal spines than common lionfish; we tended to see a couple of lionfish on each of our dives in Raja Ampat

At times there were so many small fish that you felt as if you were in a snow globe; Raja Ampat means four kings which comes from local mythology where each large island had a king

The first recorded sighting and landing by Europeans of the Ampat Islands was by the Portuguese navigator Jorge de Menezes and his crew in 1526

Green turtle; these animals eat sea grass, allowing new shoots to flourish; without turtles to trim the sea grass it would become overgrown and prone to disease

We usually did our night dives just after sunset; we each carried a flashlight which became necessary about halfway through the dive; trying to manage the flashlight and a camera was quite a challenge

Crocodilefish; though well-camouflaged, you can see the snout and beady eyes of this guy; I had never seen this species before this trip

When diving I try to periodically look in all directions so I'm less likely to miss something; often in Raja Ampat you would look up to just see a huge cloud of fish

These cabins looked pretty nice and even had a sandy beach; Raja Ampat is generally recommended only for advanced divers due to strong currents but we only experienced them a couple of times and they were very manageable

Bluespotted ribbontail ray; fortunately for both of us, this ray saw me descending close to him and moved out of the way

Just as with the species of fish, the varieties of corals and sponges was vast; you could spot so many unique animals in a relatively small area so sometimes kicking wasn't required

Anemone closed for the day; all divers are required to buy a Raja Ampat park permit which is good for one year and costs roughly $70

Some islands had fairly primitive cabins for tourists but then how do you get air tanks and transport to the dive sites?; you could snorkel I suppose but most dive sites weren't within swimming distance of land

Gardens by the Bay opened in 2012 and is home to 2000 exotic species of more than 7,000,000 natural plants; built on 250 acres, the attraction sees more than 10 million visitors each year

View of Gardens by the Bay from the top of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel next door; incredible sights for any tourist and definite must sees

The world's tallest indoor waterfall (30m) is in the Cloud Forest Greenhouse which focuses on plant life from tropical highlands up to 2,000 m above sea level

The dazzling light show of the art installation on Dragonfly Lake was a surprise for us since it's just a temporary exhibit; the scale of the projects reflects the same vision required to build Gardens by the Bay in the first place

Atop this supertree is the new observatory with the highest point in the gardens at 50m and offers an unblocked 360° view; an open air rooftop deck allows you to relax and take in the amazing views

This Marc Quinn sculpture depicts his son when he was a baby; what’s remarkable about this colossal bronze statue is that the weight of the statue is balanced so perfectly that it creates the illusion that the baby is balancing on his right hand

The Singapore Kindness Movement was noticeable on posters everywhere aimed at inspiring graciousness one kind act at a time; Motto: By sparing a thought for the people around us, we hope to create a gracious society, and make life better for you and me

Singapore’s home ownership rate is the highest in the world at 92%; that's a tad misleading though since 80% of the population live in government-subsidized homes

Singapore is one of only three surviving city-states in the world (Monaco and Vatican City); Singapore’s national anthem is in micro-text on the back of their $1,000 note

The Flower Dome has been recognized as the largest glass greenhouse in the Guinness Book of World Records; the focus here is on plants and flowers from Mediterranean and semi-arid climates

The floss silk tree has a bottle-shaped swollen trunk in which water is stored for the dry season and is known in South America as palo borracho

All 11 supertrees are embedded with environmentally sustainable functions such as photovoltaic cells to illuminate the trees at night or to serve as air exhaust receptacles

The Supertree Grove was featured in the 2018 film Crazy Rich Asians; the tallest supertree is 50m tall (about a 16 story building) with each tree containing roughly 165,000 plants

The overall master plan of Gardens by the Bay was designed to resemble the Singapore orchid, the national flower; new attractions are added each year creating lots of repeat visitors

The Floral Fantasy area included a 4D ride called Flight of the Dragonfly as well as different exhibits demonstrating the creativity of floral designers (some were very complex and impressive)

Floral Fantasy has man-made waterfalls, elaborate choreography, artist interpretations and creative displays; I just wonder how many photographs are taken at Gardens by the Bay each year!

The Cloud Mountain (in the Cloud Forest) itself is an intricate structure completely clad in epiphytes such as orchids, ferns, peacock ferns, spike- and clubmosses, bromeliads and anthuriums

The temporary exhibit, Future Together, was on display when Lee and I visited; it featured 334 large, inflated, egg-shaped lights floating on Dragonfly Lake that would change color with each egg emitting a musical note

The OCBC Skyway runs 22m above ground and connects some of the supertrees; from here we watched the cool, evening light show

Chewing gum (except dental and nicotine gums) is officially forbidden in Singapore; the country is obsessive about cleanliness and they don't want discarded gum waiting to be stepped in

Singapore has the highest percentage of millionaires in the world (almost 1 in every 6 residents); the Singapore Formula One Grand Prix race was the first Formula One event ever held at night

In the Cloud Forest you take an elevator to the top of the mountain and then walk down; even the humid air inside felt better than the hot and humid air outside that is daily life in Singapore

Singapore was a part of Malaysia until 1965 when it was thrown out by a democratic vote; Singapore has also belonged to Japan and Great Britain in the past

Ivy-leaved cyclamen; the Flower Dome has 8 distinct gardens: the Baobabs, Succulent Garden, Australian Garden, South African Garden, South American Garden, Olive Grove, California Garden and the Mediterranean Garden

Dragon tree; the exhibits are changed frequently and there are many special shows and festivals throughout the year; you could easily spend an entire day here

Diving and snorkeling with the manta rays was easily the highlight of Nusa Penida; the island had some stunning scenery but these graceful giants were my favorite sights

Large tiger cowrie; Once common, this sea snail is now much less abundant due to shell collecting and the destruction of its habitat by such processes as dynamite fishing, especially in shallower areas

Semicircle angelfish; it's amazing how much some fish change from juvenile to adult - for example, juveniles of this species are blue-black marked from top to bottom with narrow white stripes

Manta Point is one of the most iconic dive sites around Bali and about a 45 minute speedboat trip from there while less from where we started on Nusa Penida

There really weren't any noteworthy fish on our dive but the mantas were spectacular; Manta Point is the most popular dive site in the region for good reason

Chromodoris magnifica; this colorful sea slug feeds on sea sponges; Lee and I were lucky to have a divemaster to ourselves

In addition to mantas like this one, we saw a monster manta in the distance that was 15-17 ft across!; the dive site is called Manta Point since the rays come here for a cleaning station

Oriental Sweetlips; this colorful fish is usually quite shy and will hide beneath coral when they see me but this particular one was bold and unafraid

It was very cool seeing these juvenile manta rays while snorkeling!; we were told that the mantas tend to hang out around Manta Bay for socializing

Juvenile midnight snapper; you seldom see the distinctive juvenile of this species (adults are rather boring looking) because most don't survive but, fortunately, adults can live 40-50 years

Banded brown bamboo shark; my first time seeing this species; these sharks are nocturnal animals and can survive out of the water for up to 12 hrs

Large peacock mantis shrimp; I first thought this was some type of lobster since I'd never seen one before; these unique creatures can actually break the glass in an aquarium

The mantas were so close and weren't at all bothered by those of us snorkeling; there was one boat of snorkelers but other than that the site wasn't crowded at all

The visibility was good and there was a nice variety of coral but our eyes were always on the lookout for the mantas; the water temperature was fine so no wetsuit was needed

Lee and I very much enjoyed our two dives off Nusa Penida; the underwater scenery was nothing spectacular but getting to see so many manta rays made it well worth it