Back among jacks

Dive #9 [ 9:25 | 64' | max.21m, avg.12m | Natural Reef ]
Dive #10 [ 14:11 | 68' | max.13m, avg.7m | House Reef ]
Dive #11 [ 18:38 | 68' | max.13m, avg.8m | House Reef * NIGHT ]

Back-rolled in again as soon as I could. Got some catching up to do!


Sightings by day: cuttlefish, blue spotted stingrays and my favorite schooling fish: silver jacks!

Sightings by night: lots of basket stars, unknown something, camouflage crab, lion- & scorpionfish and whirling plankton.

Grounded

Three dry days due to a nasty ear infection. With the sea at my feet that's like an eternity.

So I picked up a 900 pages thick book, my first novel in german as a matter of fact, there being hardly any english ones in the resort's library. And I actually sat on the beach, underneath a straw roof, for a few hours every day, thereby getting a shade of a tan while waiting to submerge again below the inviting waves.

By my self

Dive #7 [ 9:17 | 69' | max.15m, avg.9m | House Reef ]
Dive #8 [ 14:40 | 57' | max.15m, avg.9m | Anchor Reef ]

Lost my group again - I must have a knack for it. Probably too independent & impatient to just hang onto a guide's fins without a good reason. The cause this time was lack of communication from the guide's part: no briefing above nor clear signals underwater, poor visibility and current that picked up shortly after we submerged. And of course me refusing to just hover nearby without there apparently being anything interesting to see and thus wandering off...

Housereef by night

Dive #4 [ 9:23 | 62' | max.21m, avg.12m | Natural Reef ]
Dive #5 [ 14:08 | 65' | max.29m, avg.14m | Green Wall ]
Dive #6 [ 18:41 | 63' | max.13m, avg.8m | House Reef ** NIGHT ]

While I quite enjoy the relaxed reef dives here, it's the wonderful encounters by night that really get me thrilled.


Sightings by day: shy napoleon, lots of gardens eels, crocodile fish, various nudibranchs, small sea snake and a cuttlefish a.o.

Sightings by night: two small false stonefish & a juvenile lionfish snapping at sardines attracted by my light, snow white & wine red basket stars hypnotically weaving their numerous arms around, lots of crinoids, several crabs & shrimps, flashy squids, cuttlefish & tiny octopus on the hunt, palm sized nudibranchs, scorpionfish lying in ambush, baby sole, flat worm and loads of micro-organisms.

South atoll

Dive #2 [ 10:33 | 61' | max.32m, avg.14m | viz~10m | South Atoll ]
Dive #3 [ 13:04 | 63' | max.24m, avg.12m | viz~10m | Pasi Kawe ]


Day trip around the corner with the big boat, to a sandy atoll barely sticking out of the sea and a submerged seamount. Visibility could have been better but both sites offer beautiful reef tops and I got to have a peek at a tiny squat lobster, two pygmy seahorses and three leaf scorpionfish.

Prince John Dive Resort

Got a nice hill side category 1 bungalow with private tree shaded sea view terrace and cold water mandi. Electricity only from 6pm to 6am, but for charging purposes there's 24h power in the dive center.


Prince John Dive Resort is currently being managed by Gaby & Alex, a german couple doing a pretty good job catering mostly for german tourists in this relatively remote location.

Took the morning off, just hanging around, enjoying the sunny weather and meeting the other guests.


I actually already passed by here back in 1994, but didn't get to dive then due to financial disagreements with the former manager. The snorkeling however, especially at night, made enough of an impression to get me to return for another look.

Dive #1 [ 14:16 | 64' | max.20m, avg.8m | viz~10m | 28°C | Alex's Point ]

Despite the proximity of Donggala and other smaller coastal villages, the wonderful reef top is still pretty intact and vibrating with an healthy amount of coral fish life. Not to mention trash of all kinds.

Sightings: octopus, cuttlefish, mantis shrimps and a small school of juvenile jacks a.o.

Lembeh - Donggala

It's supposedly possible to fly directly from Manado (dept.tax: 30'000 Rupiah) to Palu in about half an hour. However, the responsible? Indonesian carrier being too unreliable to count upon for getting tourists to their destination on a specific day, a longer journey, via Makassar (S-Sulawesi) with Lion air, needs to be undertaken.

Meaning my transfer from Two Fish Divers to Prince John Dive Resort took 13h in stead of 5h. Both resort-airport transfers take a bit more than an hour by not-for-easily-unnerved-people kamikaze-like taxi.

Note that whereas the plane from Singapore to Manado was mostly filled with international underwater tourists, I was the only foreigner on the plane from Makassar to Palu. In my case, that's a good sign.

Upon arrival around 11pm I'm met by Bruno, a swiss scuba instructor in charge of the dive operation, and shown into my private wooden bungalow, where after a quick mandi-shower I just crash into bed.

The last parade

Dive #14 [ 8:26 | 61' | max.23m, avg.13m | Makawide island ]
Dive #15 [ 10:43 | 63' | max.20m, avg.12m | Police Pier II ]

Strangely missing in action on this trip: warty, hispid & hairy frogfish; reef & estuary stonefish; pygmy seahorses; seamoths and mimic & wonder octopus a.o. Maybe next time?


Critters: red seahorse swimming around, pink seahorse, false stonefish, scorpionfish, orange painted frogfish on the move, and of course various lionfish.

Lembeh at its best

Dive #11 [ 8:27 | 63' | max.21m, avg.13m | Batu Sandar * ]
Dive #12 [ 10:37 | 71' | max.18m, avg.11m | Jahir ** ]
Dive #13 [ 15:12 | 75' | max.11m, avg.9m | Aer Prang *** ]


Highlights of the day: a supermodel anemone crab, a crazy devil scorpionfish scratching a false stonefish's humpback and a much looked after weedy scorpionfish posing with yet another devil scorpionfish. Yes, that weedy was a rhinopias frondosa indeed, a first sighting for me, so I took my time with it :o)


Critters: various lionfish, emperor shrimp, juvenile batfish, camouflaged box crab, tiny flamboyant cuttlefish, ambon scorpionfish, orang utan crab on the sand, brown seahorses, handful of cockatoo waspfish, anemone crab & shrimps, several devil scorpionfish & false stonefish, a rhinopias and various sea urchins.

The art of guiding

Dive #8 [ 8:18 | 48' | max.23m, avg.13m | Critter Hunt - ]
Dive #9 [ 10:33 | 81' | max.17m, avg.9m | Tandu Rusa ]
Dive #10 [ 15:20 | 73' | max.19m, avg.11m | Makawide shallows ** ]

Lost my group at Tandu Rusa, meaning I did not get to photograph the seahorses there. With visibility varying between 5 and 10m, it's inevitable to get out of sight while trying to get a shot. A good guide however would return and get you back on track. Having the guide just for me on the third dive made everything alright again :o)


Critters: false stonefish, nudibranchs, various shrimps, waspfish, sand eel, lots of anemones, lionfish, pair of ambon scorpionfish, long-arm octopus on the hunt, flying gurnard, small brown frogfish, various scorpionfish, crab carrying an urchin on its back and a velvetfish.

Muck diving extraordinaire!

Dive #5 [ 8:34 | 61' | max.21m, avg.12m | Hairball ** ]
Dive #6 [ 10:48 | 75' | max.17m, avg.12m | Tandu Rusa ** ]
Dive #7 [ 18:01 | 64' | max.15m, avg.10m | Nudifalls * NIGHT ]

Today I got what I came for: Lembeh diving as I remembered it :o)


Critters: colony of hingebeak shrimps, various lionfish, trio of whitish harlequin ghostpipefish, cockatoo waspfish, pair of devil scorpionfish, several flounders, tiny bristle? worms, sea snake, brown, red and yellow seahorses, false stonefish, autumn-orange juvenile batfish, tiny orange frogfish, anemone shrimps, emperor shrimp, banded pipefish, cardinalfish, nudibranchs, crabs, blue spotted stingrays, flat worm and blooming corals during the night dive.

Not quite like the first time

While I do enjoy spotting critters myself, I do find it kind of weird that I'm actually stumbling upon more creatures than my guide... and I must say I'm slightly disappointed with the relatively little we've seen so far, that is, compared to the many extraordinary sightings during my first trip here in July 2005. Time to lower my expectations?

Dive #3 [ 8:33 | 58' | max.30m, avg.15m | viz~10m | Angel's Window - ]
Dive #4 [ 10:58 | 66' | max.21m, avg.12m | viz<10 | Batu Sandar * ]

Whereas yesterday I just point-n-snapped a few macro shots with my five year old Sea&Sea DX8000G, today I tried out some underwater close-up videography with a housed Panasonic FS5. In both cases using a TillyTec LED 2000 VIDEO light for illumination.

Critters: octopus, pair of orang utan crabs on a bubble coral, short-tail pipefish, 2 relatively big crabs, 2 small brown seahorses, tiny ambon scorpionfish (3cm) and a small robust ghostpipefish.

Two Fish Divers Lembeh

After having been welcomed and briefed yesterday by Helen & Gizmo, the two new managers of Two Fish Divers Lembeh, I made myself comfy in my budget room directly above the dive center, unpacked, set up my gear and met some of the other international guests.

The room's raher spartan & not very charming, but it's clean, with two basic hot! water bathrooms and toilets downstairs around the corner. To my surprise there's no mosquito net, but an electric dispenser does a great job at keeping any would-be-stingers outside. There's 24h power, so charging lights, strobes and cameras can be done around the clock. A must be for any photo- or videographers.


Activity being the best remedy against jet-lag, I immediately went for two morning dives right after breakfast.

Dive #1 [ 67' | max.20m, avg.12m | viz<10m | Tanjung Tebal ]
Dive #2 [ 70' | max.18m, avg.11m | viz~5m | Teluk Kembahu ]

Visibility ain't too good, but for artificially lighted macro & close-up snapshots that doesn't really matter too much. Water temperature's a nice 28°C, meaning my 3mm wetsuit and hooded-vest are enough to keep me relatively warm. I'd recommend a 5mm though.

Critters: small devil scorpion fish in the open, small brown frogfish pretending not to be there, four squids hovering in formation, several parading lionfish, two anemone crabs apparently not minding my attention and a tiny cuttlefish scuttling over the sandy bottom.

Sonthofen - Lembeh

After a 26h journey by car, 3 trains (to Munich), 2 planes (to Manado via Singapore), van and boat I find myself on Two Fish Divers Lembeh's black sand beach. Tomorrow the diving begins!

Food Is Power

As long as we, as consumers, just buy & eat without second thought, there'll be providers eager to supply & sell, without any scruples, whatever we pay for, no matter the price & consequences.

Nutrition is ruthless business. A fact proven once again at this year's CITES world conference, attended by over 1500 delegates from more than 170 governments, where China, Japan and their bribed allies defeated every proposal to protect various endangered shark species and the overfished atlantic bluefin tuna a.o. Shark fin soup & sushi are big money. Way too lucrative to restrict harvesting in any way.

They won't stop until it's too late, unless we can change our feeding habits. Be aware of the far reaching impact of your shopping list!

TillyTec LED 2000 underwater VIDEO light

Took advantage of TillyTec's fairly unique offer to upgrade almost any of its light-heads or battery-packs to a newer more powerful one.

That is, I exchanged my outdated-technology HID 35 not just for one, but for two new LED 2000 VIDEO light-heads, in order to have a dual evenly illuminated video lighting solution.

TillyTec's standard LED 2000 has a 175W halogen equivalent 10° beam ideal for technical diving, whereas the non-focussed VIDEO version has a more diffused 110° wide beam optimal for videography.


⊕ Modular & expandable underwater lighting system configurable to one's needs.

⊕ Power: Seven hi-tech LEDs delivering 175W of halogen equivalent output according to TillyTec's specifications (5500°K, 45000 Lux).

∅ Despite its power, the VIDEO version has a rather limited range.

⊕ Burn time: two LED 2000 light-heads can shine for more than 100' on one TT 3 NiMh battery-pack. (note that it is not possible to connect two LED 2000s to a single Flexi II or TT 2 battery)

⊕ Robustness.

∅ It's not possible to dim the output, nor change the beam's angle.

⊕ A diffuser is available that can be popped on or off underwater. While not needed for the VIDEO version (except maybe for reducing its intensity), it can be useful for softening the SPOT version's beam.

∅ Note that, even with diffuser, the LED 2000 SPOT has a hotspot when pointed towards nearby subjects or surfaces, so this option is not recommended for e.g. macro photography or close-up videography.

⊕ A Goodman handle and flexible arms are available as accessory. Both can hold e.g. TillyTec's HID 35, LED 1000 or LED 2000.

⊕ IMO, TillyTec's LED 2000 VIDEO produces nice hotspot-free illumination for macro photography or close-up videography.

→ macro photography illuminated by just one LED 2000 VIDEO
→ close-up videography illuminated by one LED 2000 VIDEO

Dive trip booked!

Got a pretty good offer for a dive trip to Indonesia from Aquaventure Tauchreisen which I readily accepted :o)

Planned are six muck diving days with Two Fish Divers in Lembeh (N-Sulawesi) and ten reef diving days with Prince John Dive Resort near Donggala (C-Sulawesi).

I need to submerge and soak up some sun

After seeing an ad in tauchen, I requested a quote from Aquaventure Tauchreisen for a 3 week combo-trip to north & central Sulawesi, for some extraordinary muck & relaxed reef diving.

boot 2010: TaucherTraum

TaucherTraum having several special tours I'd just love to join, we immediately headed for its booth to get some more information.

Michael, the owner, being the specialist for Polynesia, answered all our questions regarding snorkeling with whales, diving with sharks, accommodation & living costs and even presented some of the dive guides for some first-hand impressions. After which we had a friendly chat with Steffi & Stefan whom I'd met two years ago among sharks.

Besides Polynesia, I also gathered some info about Baja California and enquired about the situation in the Galapagos. The latter's alas getting more expensive and more restrictive every year, with dive tours not allowed on land and land tours not allowed in the water?

Still, plenty of wonderful dreams indeed, waiting to be dived into...

HybriDiving?

Via Wetpixel I came upon a product presentation video for the Lunocet monofin. While I sure would like to try one out myself, the reason I'm actually referring to this advertisement is its wonderful initial 40" sequence featuring dolphins - without a doubt some of the best footage of this kind I've ever seen.