Off beaten track

The wonderful thing about diving is that you always come across something strange. A heap of sand with a slivery fish poking its head out, a spurt of sand as a ray darts past you. This however was possibly one of the strangest things I have seen. Out of the 2 meters of visibility on a small inshore wreck in Unawatuna, I spotted a tiny black shape where the sand met the wreck. As I moved in closer to take a look, the shape resolved itself into a small object with what looked like two wings on either side, splayed wide as I came closer. The shape of whatever it was so odd that I could not figure out what it was, fish or invertebrate. The surge across the wreck made it quite hard to get a good look or take a photo as no sooner had I gotten close to take a look or focused on the creature, the surge swept me past the creature. Finning furiously and almost standing almost on my head to get as close to it without inadvertently crushing it I noted with some surprise that it looked like an unde

A wildlife photo from the days I spent most of my time above land. King Gemunu walks his terrain in Yala. Sadly Gemunu has been fed by 'pilgrims' visiting Situlpahuwa and now begs for food from visitors to the park. A king transformed to a pauper and an accident waiting to happen. So much for gaining 'merit!'

Came across an interesting Tumblr site geared towards documenting the excesses in our parks and wild places, click here to see photos and also submit. There's been a lot of issues recently with idiotic jeep drivers in Yala injuring passengers and killing animals including leopards while speeding. You can visit Sri Lankan Wildlife on facebook to see some interesting discussions. The bottom line is that we who visit are those who are responsible for this. I personally was guilty and will be posting about this shortly as well. What can YOU do? 1) Ask your jeep driver to switch of their phone and not to speed. 2) Keep in mind the closing time for the park and ask your driver to make sure he is near the exit as the safari ends so he does not have to speed to get out of the park. 3) Keep in mind that a photograph is just a photograph and a leopard does not sum up Yala National Park, 4) Ask your friends to the same. 5) Take photographs of anything that is not being done correctly in the

It was an early start for ADV (the famous whale researcher) and me. 7.45am and the boat was launched smoothly onto a flat sea. There being just the two of us and Uncle Sumathi in the boat we flew out to sea coasting over the calm waters and arriving at the Taprobane East wreck in a record 45 minutes. I remember that this was one of the first dives where I navigated solo (with a  GPS of course) to the wreck so was a bit nervous about locating the wreck and hooking it. The first time we weren�t lucky so we dutifully pulled it up and tried again. Second time lucky of course and the anchor was firm. As we descended down the line, the shape of the wreck loomed out of the blue, definite success. The bright sunlight and clear water made for a kaleidoscopic dive, the soft coral shades of pink, orange and red with the glassfish shimmering over them. A giant moray, green and huge lay stretched out on part of the wreck gaping as we passed over it, giving it a respective distance. The white sand s

The bluering angelfish (Pomacanthus annularis) on Palagala reef. One of the most spectacular fish that are commonly seen on the inshore reefs. Keep an eye out for them in crevasses, hiding in the shadows.

On and off, I do take photographs above land! Sunset image taken at Salt Lake City on a trip there back in 2009.

You tend to associate blue water and crystal clear waters with the outer reefs in Colombo. The bone crunching hour plus long boat rides in the tiny boats and the surface intervals in the blistering sun. All for a few brief snatched moments of bliss in the big blue. You anticipate those days with the seemingly unending miles of visibility but are wary of them at the same time knowing you will suffer, suffer willingly but still suffer. This day on Degalmeda was different though. As I took the anchor off the rock and moved it to the sand I looked up and the vista was breathtaking. The anchor rope stretched a light blue against the canvas of the ocean waters. In one fell swoop I could see the reef, the two accompanying divers and the boat almost appearing to float magically above us with light shards dancing around us. This just a 20 minute gentle boat ride from the shore without any of the usual punishment and in November nonetheless! The perfect dive, lots of things to photograph, blue w

Ok, it's not the best image (by any stretch of the imagination), but this was my 200th dive, I was in intense pain with imploded sinuses and int he middle of a baitball with tuna and seer hitting it. I completely forgot to switch my camera to AV out of Manual but I did get this one shot that showed some recognizable fish.

It was the first trip to Gingiri for the season, three old hands, M, DJ and myself. Visibility wasn�t flash, around 10-12 meters which isn�t what we usually expect at the other reefs but this was still decent. We split off to do our own thing, DJ relaxing on the sand communing with the powers that be while I tried to (largely unsuccessfully) do some wide-angle photography. Fail on wide-angle, mostly because I don't have a wide-angle lens DJ taking a break The dive passed quite uneventfully with a huge stingray being the highlight, though a highlight kept at a safe distance and we clambered back on to the boat ready for the interminable surface interval, necessary to ensure we did not die a horrible death due to decompression illness on the next dive. This surface interval was enlivened however by being surrounded by a number of dolphins, sadly none close enough to swim with and take a peek at. Huge stingray, keep a good distance! As we geared up for the second time, little did we