Nikoi Island's Micro World Day 2

Nikoi Island [ Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 ]

We had a very short snooze after a whole day of shooting, but I found myself up again at 2am and 3am to check out the stars. Quite unfortunately, the stars were visible at 2am, but the clouds came rolling in by the time I had my camera set up. Was hoping to do some star trails and get pictures of the milky way! Our next consolation came when we trotted out again before 6am to see if we could get a glimpse of the rising sun.

Behind the scenes photos courtesy of James and my Galaxy S4. :)

1. Predawn, the first hints of sunrise at the eastern mangroves


2. There were many mangrove trees and rock formations that make ideal subjects for a sunrise shot


3. I just kept myself busy taking 1 or 2 shots and walking around to shoot from various angles. I didn't have any filters so these are just basic snap shots.


4. At low tide, the mangroves allowed me to walk really far away from land!


5. Looking back at Nikoi Island, it was actually already quite a distance away - this picture was cropped.


6. Sun peeking out from behind the rocks with birds flying past


7. Had enough of the sunrise and went back for some record shots of the mangrove trees


8. James was contented with shooting from afar


9. There was a long stretch of the mangrove trees


10. Interesting patterns can be observed on the exposed roots


11. Interesting face we found on some of the dead corals


12. Went back to the cabin for a break and found a Land Hermit Crab (Coenobita sp.) loitering around. Yup thats our cabin in the background!


13. Kissing the grass to get close-up shots of the visiting Land Hermit Crab


14. Good morning stretch


15. Going even closer. The Land Hermit Crab (Coenobita sp.) had a very vibrant purple hue.


16. Decided not to entertain me anymore and walked away...


17. Oops, almost tripped!


18. James found this Boring Clam (Tridacna crocea). Looks boring alright.


19. I tried to get closer shots of the boring clam.


20. Looking up close at the Boring Clam (Tridacna crocea)... not boring at all with the vibrant blue!


21. As the tide came up, the Boring Clam (Tridacna crocea) got submerged in water, revealing even more of the "lips".


22. James also found this tiny Hermit Crab (Paguroidea)


23. There was also a Long Black Sea Cucumber (Holothuria leucospilota) crawling around


24. We found a Ghost Crab (Ocypode sp.) scurrying about on the sands. It wouldn't stay still for us to shoot until it got onto my hand!


25. In a bid to escape from us, it got rather dirty in a different patch of sand.


26. Ghost Crab (Ocypode sp.) adjusting it's eye.. lol


27. Digger Wasp (Sphecidae) that I was chasing all over the sandy paths. Meanwhile, many walked by giving me strange stares.


28. Spider Wasp (Pompilidae). This wasp hunts spiders in a rather cruel manner - by dismembering them.


29. Orb Web Spider (Aaraneus sp.)


30. An unidentified spider that walked up to me while I was trying to shoot the antlion larvae beside our cabin


31. There were many sand pits beside our cabin, which belonged to antlion larvae. Occasionally the monitor lizards would also come by to visit us.


32. The staff said that the monitor lizards liked to stay beneath the owners' cabins. That's me playing hide and seek with the antlions.


33. Antlion larva (Myrmeleontidae) hiding in the sand


34. Managed to lure one Antlion larva (Myrmeleontidae) out, all ready to pince on any passer-by!


35. The Antlion larva (Myrmeleontidae) slowly backed into the sand when it realized it was just some irritating human...

It was a short day as we hardly got to sleep the night before. Decided to hit the sack earlier and do a solid walk the next day before we leave Nikoi. Check out the photos from Day 3 here.

The complete album for Day 2 can be viewed here (sunrise) and here (macro).

Nikoi Island [ Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 ]