Minahasa Lagoon Resort & Dive Club - Day 4

  Tanahwangko, Sulawesi, Indonesia
Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Wow.  Day 4 already.  After another wonderful breakfast the gang boarded our dive panda and headed back out to Bunaken Island for a couple more wall dives.  Can't get enough of those!  The seas were calm except for a couple of small rollers, the sun was hot, and we had a nice leisurely hour long ride to our first dive destination on the back side of Bunaken, simply referred to as Mike's.

Amazing coral sea fan!

Back rolling off the boat into the really clear water, we could see the wonderful corals and schools of fish.  Picking our depth we cruised along in the slight current pausing to take pictures, watch a colorful fish or peek into crevaces in the wall for hiding critters. Although its hard to imagine, the schools of fish were greater in number and of different varieties than the other spots on Bunaken.  We spotted many more nudibranchs (sea slugs), too.

Nudibranch pair, even!

One of the many Indonesian nudibranchs

   

After swimming a great length along the wall, we spent a lot of time on top of the wall which was only about 15 feet from the surface.  The corals on top of this wall were amazing.

Just a shot of the reef

More reef

The shapes, sizes, and colors were so amazing and the fish, wow, were covering the reef like carpet.

Hideaway clownfish

It was fun hovering just inches above the corals swaying gently in the light surge.

The most colorful and amazing fish!

We could have spent all day doing that!  But after an hour it was time to make the short ascent to the surface, board the boat, and off-gas before another dive.

Dive 2 was another wall site called Denan Kampung.  The visibility again was great and sticking our faces in the water before descending, we could see large schools of what we think were Jacks swimming right below.  Sweet!

The current was a bit stronger on this wall than it was on the first dive, so it was a little harder to stop when taking pictures or checking out a critter.  Soon all of us got the hang of it though.  After just a few minutes, we found a beautiful nudibranch and I think a large pregnant puffer fish or parrot fish that measured about two feet long.

Very large, possibly pregnant parrot fish

 

More colorful sea life!

There were also many fish, a couple of turtles, and more spectacular corals! 

Giant clam

Time goes by so fast when you're having fun and it was once again time for our dive to end.  

Yet another nudibranch!

 

Amazing soft coral!

We boarded the boat, doffed our gear, and settled down to another delicious lunch of beef satay, cucumber salad, rice, and pasta.  It was awesome!  Time to head back in and later, some of us will go on a Madarin Fish dive.

Three of us went out for the twilight mandarin fish dive.  These fish are incredibly beautiful, apparently having gotten their name from ornate Chinese clothing.  The rise from the corals here and there only briefly in their nightly mating dance, which occurs only during twilight hours.  Very beautiful, and very challenging to get a picture of! 
 

The elusive Mandarin fish

 

Mandarin fish

Tomorrow brings about our last full day here in Minahasa.  Back to Bunaken for one last fix!  Andy has been trying to convince Pam that we could sell our house and just live at the resort permanently considering the tradeoff of the resort cost versus a mortgage.   Of course we would still have to work, and the 23 hour commute by plane just isn't gonna cut it!  Sigh.  Going to have to wait for retirement.