Underwater Menagerie in Mabul

Yesterday I wrote about my lack of enthusiasm for Mabul Island. But once I get underwater, it’s a different story — this place is teeming with a variety of sea life.

Check out this nudibranch, or sea slug. It’s colorful and very tiny:

I have no idea what this is — it’s transparent, neon, and pulsing.

This tiny white creature is a worm or slug of sorts:

Again, I have no idea what this circular thing is below. Is it an animal? A plant? My mind is routinely blown while scuba diving. Nature, you are impressive.

Here are two more nudibranches / sea slugs. The one on the right is a little difficult to see because it blends in so well with its background.

These giant cage-like structures on the ocean floor are a gathering place for sea life.

It’s a little hard to tell, but this is a fish… perhaps a frog fish?

Our second dive of the day is at Kapalai, an island near Mabul with similar resorts and overwater bungalows. I don’t take my camera on this dive but it’s a good one. In my dive log I note there are lots of turtles, boats sunk as dive sites, and colorful fish.

We return back to Mabul for our third and final dive of the day, and it’s a good one.

While at first glance this appears to be a snake, it’s actually a kind of seahorse:

I have no idea what kind of creatures these are, but I’m terrified. They have an elongated trunks for a nose, giant eyes, and are practically transparent. We see a whole bunch but this is the only photograph that (sort of) turns out.