Feb 2009 This February brought in mixed weather some bad days and some wonderful days for diving, due to big waves we dived some closer sites and found a host of wonderful smaller critters from ghost pipe fish, needle shrimps, viper morays, strange nudis (Asteronotus cespitosus) not a very nice name for such a crazy nudibranch! mushroom coral pipefish, solor slug, snake eels, but also some unexpected larger marine life in the shape of bumphead parrot fish, schools of thicklipped trevally, turtles, silverbat fish, crocodile fish, barracuda and cuttlefish to name a few;o))  But we also got into the park most of the time and had wonderful visits with the Manta rays, sharks, napoleons, quite a lot of bamboo sharks around, nice dives down South at Cannibal, bringing in the usual suspects of frog fish etc.,  photo of clown snake eel, compliments of Peter Herzel, together with a group of friends they dived a total of 17days with us;o))

Reefseekers wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year 2009

They'rrreee back;o)) Lots of Mantas around now, viz not too good with the rains starting, but who cares when the black and white beauties are around, some chilly dives too with 24c at Batu bolong one morning;o( Speaking of BB 6 devil rays swooped in and somersaulted out into the current, quite a few sightings of Eagle rays, as well as 3 huge porcupine rays at Coral Garden, one dive in the north had over 15-20 white tip sharks swimming around in the current with 4 Greys;o) Lots of nice small critters too;o)) Photo of wall to wall fish by Trent Burkholder

Huge, huge, dog tooth tunas looming in out of the blue, they really never look happy and their teeth look very sharp, yikes;o) Another Dugong spotted, what a thrill for everyone on the dive;o) Not many Mantas around this month, not sure where they've wandered off to, but they started making the odd appearance by the end of the month, phew;o) But how about 17 dolphins on one dive, squeaking and chirping and rubbing themselves in the sand, wow what an experience;o) Finding quite a few octopus and 4 beautiful tiny yellow and black striped cowries. 4 Black tips on one dive, coming in quite close instead of the usual skittish head for the hills;o)found 2 tiny black ribbon eels, so slim we nearly missed them and a zebra moray swimming from one coral head to another. Tons of fusiliers around with the shepherding trevalies in tow. Photo by Trent Burkholder

Welcome to our new Divemaster Tono, originally from Sulawesi so he's used to spotting the critters, he's already found us a new place for Pygmy seahorses and a beautiful clown anglerfish;o) Huge Napoleons at Lighthouse and a Giant black frog fish found at Coral Garden, with Mantas checking us out, a bamboo shark, white tip sharks and a school of Giant trevally it was a nice welcome to August;o)
Quite a few Grey sharks now and spotting sea snakes regularly, a new Nudibranch found at Snapper point;o) with a nice group of Chevron barracuda in the shallows. Dolphins again, this time with a baby.
Windy, water Temp 27c, Viz 25mts

Huge Honeycomb whipray spotted in Coral garden, first time we've ever seen one;o) Dolphins have paid a visit on the dives 3 times this month, so beautiful to see. Still quite a few mantas about and a 20 minute showing yesterday with two feeding in the current, lots of shark action at full moon. Sea snakes around with a huge one looking for dinner at Batu bolong. Schools of fusiliers everywhere and of course with their following of Giant and blue fin trevallys. Viz 20-30 mts. Temp 27c. Windy.

Papaya nudibranch? never heard of it, well here she is, 3 found at the airstrip, but first one goes to Nina, thanks to Christian for the photo. Lovely dives at Cannibal and Nurdins spirit down south for more incredible nudis and a lovely wee black frog fish with brown spots and white toenails. 2 teeny pygmy seahorses and lots of Mandarin fish to be found, nice reindeer wrasse at full moon. Very nice visibility now and the schools of fish are just beautiful. A few sea snakes around the reefs, 5 cuttle fish in the shallows of orange grove putting on a wonderful show. Huge Cowtail ray in Coral Garden and quite a few black tips in the Hanging Gardens, a lot of pickhandle barracudas and the biggest Great barracuda getting cleaned at Crystal rock, he was massive! Still seeing a couple of Mantas at some sites;o)