18 Apr 2023
Last night was rough- we hit some rocky seas and the boat pitched back and forth for most of the ride. Unfortunately, the Amira is a wooden boat so it creaked, incessantly, and I don’t sleep well with noise. Here’s a recording I made just sitting in my room:
I tried sleeping up on the sundeck, but the rain returned and I had to settle for a couch in the library. Still loud, but not quite as bad as my room.
The rain had mostly stopped by morning and we were greeted by a new island, Nila, where we would be diving today:
Today’s schedule:
This will be our schedule for most of the trip- wake up and eat a light breakfast, dive, eat a big breakfast, dive, eat lunch, dive, snack and share pictures/ID critters while our boat starts heading to our next site, eat dinner, sleep.
Dive #3 – Karang Dusbourgh Selatan
Map by Nora Niggs
Bicolor angelfish:
So pretty, yet so skittish!
Coral hawkfish:
A pair of Fire dartfish:
Pink anemonefish in a pink (and green) anemone:
This is one of those pictures that surprised me with how colorful it was when hit with light!
Reticulated sandperch:
Latticed sandperch:
I like the false eye-spot on these guys
Blacklip butterflyfish:
Coryphellina expotata:
Chromodoris annae:
Dive #4 – Karang Dusbourgh Barat
Basically the same site as the first dive, just a little further west (barat=west).
Spotted this little guy as soon as I dropped- a young Phyllidia coelestis:
A very well camouflaged Foursaddle grouper:
Ugh, this Lyretail hogfish was doing circles near me, but I couldn’t get my camera to focus fast enough to get a shot of his face 🙁
Longfin batfish:
So close to a nice picture of these beautiful Princess anthias:
Golden damselfish:
Threeband pennantfish:
There was actually a pair, but they wouldn’t cooperate for a group shot:
A whole school of Randall’s Fusilier!
Hypselodoris bullockii:
This guy was especially active!
A small giant clam making a face:
Barred filefish:
Checkerboard wrasse:
Pinktail triggerfish:
Dive #5 – Karang Dusbourgh Utara
Our fearless guides on their way to scope out the next site:
Same topography as the first two, just on the north end of the island (utara=north)
Map by Nora Niggs
Pyramid butterflyfish:
Purple firefish:
His fins are so pretty when they’re open, but he shot off pretty quickly after I snapped this 🙁
A Pyramid butterflyfish amid a school of Dark-banded fusilier:
Two stripe damselfish:
When the get startled, they all duck back into their coral as one- it’s pretty neat to watch.
A happy Regal angelfish:
Coral hawkfish:
Threeband pennantfish:
A pair of Fire dartfish:
A lobster missing one of his antenna:
Phyllidia elegans:
Juvenile Blackbelt hogfish:
Juvenile Mimic surgeonfish:
Bicolor cleaner wrasse:
Humphead bannerfish:
A very well hidden scorpionfish- his red outline only shows up when hit with light:
Sixline wrasse (and chromis friend):
Whitecheek surgeonfish:
Latticed sandperch:
Juvenile wrasse:
Farewell, Nila!
Hello, pod of dolphins!
One jumped (like 7-8′ up- he got some serious air!), but they were just far enough away that my phone couldn’t get any good shots. Maybe next time I should bring the big camera?
Another beautiful sunset from the sundeck:
After dinner, we always go over charts- Nora shows us where we’ve been and where we’re going:
Up in the top right is Nila, where we dove today, in the middle is where we’ll dive tomorrow (Terbang Selatan- the little island off the south coast), and on the left is where we’ll head next (Nyata- the tiny island off the west coast).
But that means another open-sea crossing, and the winds haven’t died down, so I’m going to try sleeping on the sundeck again- fingers crossed it doesn’t rain!