June 2011

Unlike the first two dives, the landscape of this dive was a sandy bottom which demanded both solid buoyancy and limited movement to keep the sand from being agitated. This dive lacked the captivating colors of a soft coral reef wall, but was still rewarding with a few seahorses clinging onto a staghorn coral surrounded by numerous squid eggs. In between smaller corals with varying species of nudibranch, spotted blue stingrays could be seen chasing each other across the sandy bottom. A ghost pipefish was barely seen as it was well camouflaged and dancing among a feather star and camouflage seemed to be the common theme on this sandy bottom as an Aligator fish (a type of scorpion fish) remained patient and motionless, ready to strike. Only a couple of lionfish announced their presence with their bring colors as we finished a great first day in Bunaken.

While the dive began with no current, that quickly changed and we understand that is typical of the region. The dive was a cornucopia of marine life with pipefish, stonefish, and boxfish seen at various stages throughout the dive. Large anemones were obvious with resident clown triggers and a napoleon wrasse cruised by in the open sea as though it was the supervisor overseeing all activity. Valentini puffers were the highlight of the dive at 18m (60 ft) and swimming amongst a plethora of bubble coral, leather coral and flowerpots, wrasses and schools of anthias rounded out another fantastic dive.