So, you ask, what is muck diving? Well, it is diving in muck. Muck is defined as rubbish or garbage. In diving, it means diving in a place that is dirty, and sometimes polluted with plastic and bottles. On the sixth day in Raja Ampat we headed to Batanta, an island which is one of the “4 Kings” (Raja Ampat means 4 Kings), and explored a muck dive site called Black Beauty. It had dirty old sand, trash, and it was silty. Gross, right? No! On a muck dive you find amazing wildlife! So we spent all of day 6 muck diving, and seeing animals that are normally rare to see, but on a muck dive they were plentiful. I think this photo essay will prove it was well worth it, and I hope you enjoy these animals as much as I did!
Fantastic pictures! So strange and beautiful at the same time.
Thank you! Muck diving turns out some very interesting critters!
Wow………….these are fab photos. I love seahorses…..so my fav is the pregnant seahorse! Some of these seem muckier than others!
Yes, but all of them are awesome!
These photos are amazing Tam and such an adventure going underwater. I’m hoping to do some snorkling on our cruise next week but I don’t think I will see anything as beautiful as this. Have a great week and thanks for sharing your adventures.
You never know what you’ll see, and that’s one reason it is always so exciting!
Who even knew there was such a thing as muck diving? Leave it to you, Tam! Leave it to you!
Now you know! It was my first major muck dive and it was awesome!
Love your photos Tam – and it’s nice to know that muck has some useful purpose after all 🙂
oh yes, muck has a great purpose in diving!
I have never heard of muck diving before but it sounds really interesting. Great pictures! I’d love to see seahorses, awesome! 🙂
Seahorses are so cute, and so fragile. Beautiful to see!
Wow, how do all those animals live in the muck? And how did you get such great photos through it?!
There are a lot of nutrients in muck and great places to hide. There are so many critters in the muck! some cannot be photographed because I wouldn’t want to disturb them. The trick to diving in muck is keeping your fins away from the sand, the sand is so silty it sends up clouds if your fins disturb it. There are techniques to avoid it. It was so wonderful!
You’re right about the wonderful creatures down there but it would take a lot to get me down in the muck. Glad you did, though. What great finds.
Rebecca Forstadt Olkowski recently posted…Majestic Madrid – Toledo -Valley of the Fallen and El Escorial – Spain Photo Gallery
There are many pretty things to find on muck dives! And I didn’t mean to suggest that the diver gets dirty…I mean, they don’t if they know what they are doing!
If I had many lives one of them would be to become your student and go on trips with you. I love your life with these beautiful waters and underwater creatures. I also love learning along with you. Thank you for sharing your life with us, Tam. I really mean that. xoxo
I can’t believe you not only saw A seahorse, but several. Amazing. That would be so exciting……you have such a great eye for finding the small creatures. Great photo’s as always. Thank you for sharing the dive.
the pregnant one was extra special! come with me one of these days!
Oh my! The seahorses look so mythical, hard to believe they are real! Love these pix.
Aren’t the seahorses awesome! So exciting to see!
Hey Tam,
Thanks for this post. I’d never heard of muck diving. Was there a lot of trash during the dive? The photos you posted are so beautiful. Tons of interesting looking marine life. I’d be interested in doing something like this. Is it common around the world? Thanks again.
Cheers,
Most of the muck dives productive like this are, as far as I know, in the Indian ocean mostly. That’s my impression anyway!