The Coral Sea: A dwarf, a pigmy and a genie

Troy Mayne · Issue 51, Nov/Dec 2009 · pp. 50–54

Products mentioned: Nikon D200, Sea & Sea housing, Nikon 18-70mm, Sigma 10-20mm, Nikon 105mm VR, Sea & Sea YS 250 strobes, MV Spoilsport

After all the planning for a photographic dive trip has been completed, most photographers comprise a wish list of the subjects they most wish to photograph. Rarely wish lists are fulfilled. I normally aim high with three shots or subjects, but they are difficult shots or rare subjects. If I manage to get one out of three I am content. Two out of three, extremely happy, one hundred percent, well I I’ve never experienced that luck. I had booked a one week live-a-board dive trip with Mike Ball Dive Expeditions (MBDE) on Australia’s far northern Great Barrier Reef. I had high expectations, but my wish list was a tough one, Dwarf Minke whales, Lacy Scorpion fish and the Pigmy Seahorse. All but the Minke Whales are very tough to find, and it was at the end of the Minke Whale season so all three were a big ask. My dive trip was to the Ribbon Reefs on the Northern Great Barrier Reef and Osprey …