Halimeda Ghost Pipefish We have just arrived back from running one of our 10day live-aboard trips from Sumbawa to Flores in eastern Indonesia, and what a fantastic trip! We flew into Bima on the eastern part of Sumbawa Island, where the crew had bought our live-aboard vessel to meet us.
Only minutes from boarding the boat, we were diving at a fantastic muck site in Bima Bay, where we photographed an endless list of critters; frogfish, ornate ghost pipefish, inimicus walking scorpion fish, hundreds of fire urchins - some with Coleman shrimps, lots of nudibranchs, sea horses, crabs, shrimps, large white pipefish, bubble corals with shrimps and orangutan crabs, pegasus sea moths, allied cowries..... and these were just the exotic critters. There were also more common fish and crustaceans as well!!
Only minutes from boarding the boat, we were diving at a fantastic muck site in Bima Bay, where we photographed an endless list of critters; frogfish, ornate ghost pipefish, inimicus walking scorpion fish, hundreds of fire urchins - some with Coleman shrimps, lots of nudibranchs, sea horses, crabs, shrimps, large white pipefish, bubble corals with shrimps and orangutan crabs, pegasus sea moths, allied cowries..... and these were just the exotic critters. There were also more common fish and crustaceans as well!!
| We dived the north coast of Sumbawa and discovered two sites with lots more critters, and mostly in quite shallow water. My computer hadn't been below 14 meters at the end of day two! A short run out to Sangeang Island, a magnificent active volcanic island that towers from the sea. We dropped onto a shallow black sand slope dotted with beautiful bommies, each loaded with nudibranchs, anemone fish, sea whips with commensal shrimps and gobies. Everyone liked this place so much we came back for an afternoon dive. We stayed around Sangeang for two days, exploring more sites and finding pygmy seahorses, some pretty exotic nudibranchs and one of our guests (Amanda Blanksby) discovered a very nice Halimeda ghost pipefish in a white colour, quite a rare find - thanks Amanda! |  Goby on Star Coral - Sangeang Island |
We then headed east to Banta Island and then the last half of the trip in the northern Komodo area. We had some awesome Manta dives, we sat on the bottom next to one huge Manta as it was being cleaned. He was so close , we could easily touch him, he stayed with us for 15 minutes...... truly mind-blowing. Then there were the patrol of sharks.... 12 cruising around us, along with the usual giant trevally and a thousand fusiliers.
We loved this 10 day trip so much we have already organised three more for 2013, one in June (FULLY BOOKED), one in September and another in November. See our Sumbawa to Flores page for more details or use our Contact Us - Live Aboard page for more information
We loved this 10 day trip so much we have already organised three more for 2013, one in June (FULLY BOOKED), one in September and another in November. See our Sumbawa to Flores page for more details or use our Contact Us - Live Aboard page for more information
 Manta Ray at Cleaning Station - Komodo Island |  Sangeang Island - Sumbawa |
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