Honorable Mention Reefscapes

Fred Bavendam

"Piscine Poetry at Two Tree"

The Story: We had dived at Two Tree Rock five days previously and had found huge schools of baitfish swimming around the island. The baitfish flowed among the island’s sea fans and corals like a silver river.  Periodically predators, small tunas or jacks, would attack the edges of the baitfish school, eating some and forcing the rest to stay close to the walls of the little island.  

Early during the first morning dive on November 12th, I found a table of acropora coral with its resident reef fish, damselfish and dascyllus, and was able to squeeze between the coral table and the island’s wall, which gave me a blue water background for the picture.  As I waited, the baitfish swam by three or four times as they circled the small rock.  On one occasion they enveloped the hard coral colony, totally obscuring both it and the resident fish. On another pass they swam by too high above the coral for the picture I envisioned.  But on this pass, the leading edge of the school swam directly above the coral table and its resident fish. To me the baitfish school looks like a shimmering bridge spanning the coral table, the silver and reds of the baitfish contrasting beautifully with the blue water.

Location:  Raja Ampat, Indonesia

Equipment Used:  Nikon D800 Camera, Subal Housing, Nikon 16mm Fisheye Lens, Dual Ikelite DS-161 Strobes 

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