23 Apr 2023
Today, for the first and only time this trip, we got to do four dives!
Dive #18 – Sekolah Desa
Just to the left of the mosque is a school, so that’s the landmark for today’s dive:
Map by Nora Niggs
We found lots of cool critters on the yesterday’s dives, so we added a few new guys to the board- the one on the right is my contribution: a baby mola-mola (no chance we’ll see one, but maybe?!).
Three moray eels sharing a hiding space!
Blue dragon nudibranch- Pteraeolidia semperi:
I’ve never seen an actual blue one- they’ve always been either purple or gray, so this tan one was a new-to-me variation:
Orangutan crab:
Porcelain crab profile:
I didn’t notice the little guy when I snapped this picture of this urchin shrimp:
Also on this urchin- a tiny crab and shells (I don’t know if they’re occupied or not- they were facing the wrong way):
The face of a Pteraeolidia semperi nudibranch:
for some reason, my camera struggled to focus on these guys when I tried to take a top-down shot of their whole body.
Sea horse:
Phyllodesmium colemani:
There were two little anemone shrimp in this anemone:
I liked how this guy folded his claws:
A juvenile sweetlips:
The tiniest little juvenile Yellow boxfish- he was about the size of a large pea:
Strapweed filefish:
Peacock mantis shrimp:
Octopus:
Giant cuttlefish!
Porcupinefish:
Ok, so this Urchin clingfish does have a tail (it’s yellow and quite pretty!), but he just curved at the wrong moment:
Snowflake moray eel (and small friend!):
Seahorse:
This little blenny was hiding in this pipe and wouldn’t stick more than his face out, so I’m not sure who he is, but he sure was cute!
Chromodoris magnifica:
Seahorse:
We’re always greeted with a drink when we come up from a dive (hot tea in the mornings, which is my favorite! or fresh juice), but today we got whole coconuts!
Dive #15 – Jembatan Kalabahi
Our plan was to dive the jetty just past the school, but the current shifted and we basically end up at the first dive site again.
Map by Kevin
I spotted this new-to-me nudibranch (Phyllodesmium serratum) as soon as I dropped!
Striped pufferfish:
Giant frogfish!
Sea krait!
(we saw a lot of exciting things on this dive 🙂 )
Rhino filefish:
the downside of muck diving is that the sandy bottom is easily stirred up, so getting shots of anything in the distance is next to impossible
Pteraeolidia semperi:
Cornetfish:
Ornate ghost pipefish!
and another one!
Ringed pipefish:
This blobby guy is a nudibranch…
he’s a Phyllodesmium longicirrum, but the guides just call him a Solar-powered nudibranch.
Another Pteraeolidia semperi:
these guys ended up being quite common
Juvenile sweetlips:
Cylindrical sandperch:
Little yellow boxfish!
A well, camouflaged octopus:
Another Solar-powered nudibranch:
and another!
Phyllodesmium longicirrum
Sharpnose puffer:
Ribbon eel (male):
I was so excited when I spotted him!
Finally! a decent whole-body shot of a Pteraeolidia semperi:
this was one of the longer guys I had seen- maybe 9-10″
Devil scorpionfish:
Twospot wrasse:
Apparently, it had rained during our dive- we came up just in time to catch the end of the rainbow:
The weather didn’t stop some more boys from visiting our our boat:
Dive #16 – Lemalu
We still have a few more dives here in the bay before heading out- this site is a bit to the right of the mosque:
Map by Kevin
Bluespotted stingray:
Peacock mantis shrimp, out and about!
Spotted porcelain crab:
Two different eels sharing a nook:
Squat anemone shrimp:
Strapweed filefish:
A stretchy sea horse trying to get away from my camera:
A new-to-me pipefish!
Ribbon sweetlips:
Tiny yellow boxfish:
Another male Ribbon eel!
and another!
These guys can be lured out of their holes as well, so Leanna (one of the divers in my group) is just off screen with a pointer. I tried to return the favor so she could get a good picture too, but he wouldn’t come out for me 🙁
Sea krait, on the hunt:
Another new-to-me nudibranch, Phyllidia ocellata:
This octopus was “hiding” on the side of this concrete block:
Floral wrasse:
Juvenile Oriental sweetlips:
Orange-dashed goby:
Leaf scorpionfish:
most are fairly sedate, but this guy was not a fan of my camera and kept trying to wander away
Flying gurnard!
I’ve never seen one before- look at his pretty “wings”!
Flounder:
Peacock mantis shrimp- this guy was quite active, flashing his arms and “ears” (not sure what the proper term for the green parts is):
I’ve learned if you waggle your pointer stick in front of them, they’ll sometimes chase after it so I lured this guy out of his hole:
Cuttlefish:
Juvenile Harlequin sweetlips:
Dive #17 – Sekolah Desa (at night!)
Tonight, we headed back to the school for one last night dive here in the bay.
This octopus was flashing through some cool colorations:
A WHOLE SCHOOL OF PIPEFISH!!!!
I was so excited by how many I had seen so far this trip, but to find a whole pack of them!? AHHH!!!
A family of bannerfishes:
A fuzzy little decorator(?) crab:
Bigfin reef squid:
One of the biggest nudibranchs I’ve ever seen- he was 4-5″ long and chunky- a Spanish dancer, Hexabranchus sanguineus:
This little Shortfin lionfish was about the same size as that nudibranch- maybe 5″ with his tail:
This blob is also a nudibranch:
An adorable little Twinspot lionfish:
Two orangutan crabs:
Seahorse:
And now, a collection of new-to-me nudibranchs that I would never guess were nudibranchs-
Pleurobranchus peroni:
Pleurobranchus forskalii:
Atagema intecta:
Marionia sp:
I think this guy is the same, just a different coloration:
Balloonfish:
Thornback cowfish:
Solar-powered nudibranch (Phyllodesmium longicirrum):
Striped pufferfish:
Jorunna funebris:
Fingerprint toby:
Bigfin reef squid:
Tonight was our last night diving in the bay and while we sleep, the boat will be repositioning to the coast of Pura, the island where Nora’s pointer is:
Even though it isn’t an open-ocean crossing, the boat still creaked a bit too much for me, so back up to the sundeck I went to sleep out again under the stars.