Recently in critters Category

I was in the Lembeh Straight, and my goal was finding a mimic octopus when, by pure luck ,I bumped into this little "fella" . Initially It was all dark and very well camouflaging with the surrounding  environment, for then turning into such as beautiful colors as you can see in the picture. He was not minding about me and It posed for few shoots before I took off to look for my priority target.

It is extraordinary how The Lembeh Straight can have so many particulars and fascinating subjects.

There it is what I was looking for..................a beautiful Hary Frog Fish!

Once again, Melky and I , this time with the help of Donny, went to look for the Hary frog.

Our destination was the Lembeh Strait. We Left in the morning about 7:30 by Car, got to Bitung Harbour and boarded on Abang Boat and by 9:00 we were in Air Bajo diving site looking for Mimic octopus that unfortunately we have not founded, however, we have seen two giant frog fish side by side, a small worthy frogfish, two Flamboyant cuttlefish, a huge Ornate Ghost pipe fish.  For the second Dive we have moved to Jahir 2 spot were we have heard from our friends from KBR that there was a nice Hary Frog, went down to the spot, searched for about 15 min and then founded. Good Job Melky!! We have taken Video and picture of it. It has been very exciting.

Once the dive was over we went to take a lunch at NAD dive Resort where our friends Managers Mike and Simon have kindly invited us. A great way of ending an excellent day.

  That's right, I have not seen yet an hary frog fish! I have been working and diving in Manado for almost 5 years and yet the little hary remains a quest for me.............it might have been due to circumstances or luck, I do not really know.

Honestly I have not been diving in Lembeh that much and unfortunately it happened to me few times to go back to the same spot without this critter.........but then............Big news...............along  the Coast of Manado has been "discovered" a divesite very good for critters such as: Hary frog fish, flamboyant cuttlefish, mimic octopus, harlequin shrimps......wow you name it!!!

 The high season has kicked in, therefore I was very busy running the operation here and did not have the time to go and have a look at this divesite, anyway,...................................

Finally, I have got the time, I wake up in the morning with that sense of adventure and that taste of last minute organization and decided to go for it .

 Melky and Hany joined me, I prepared my camera very quickly and we have loaded the equipment in the car and there we go..........

We arrive at the spot, we park the car on the side of the road (very much Manado Style), we suit up and go in from the shore. Beside the 1.5m breaking wave at the edge of the reef everything looks good. We overcome the waves and we descent for the dive. Sandy button dive but I would not call it muck dive. The visibility is pretty good . Right at the beggining three robust ghost pipefish, after that more and more ghost pipefish. We stay shallow, 6m max, because it is the "Hary" that we want to see........40 min into the dive still no sign of the Frog fish, by then I lost contact with Melky........Bang, bang, bang, bang, ding ding ding. I hear a stick hitting on a tank.......It must be Melky I tell myself, I start to swim harder and look for him.......there he is, he defenetly looks like he found it, yeah he did but............................

You cannot believe!!!......................... He could find a BOLD "hary" frogfish!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Afterwards when we have come back to Kima Bajo, we could verify that this is an Hary Frogfish, while diving Melky was taking a video of it and we could notice the tiger stripes on its side.

As conclusion Melky and I we have deiced to discribe this as a new behaviour:

"The Low Season Shaving Time Behaviour" ;-)

Look at the picture

Here is the King of the pigmy seahorses. This picture was taken on the reef of Siladen Island at just 15 min by boat from our resort.

As you can sea his belly is quite big, that signifies that his pregnant. Yes, for those that they do not know yet, is the male that actually carries the eggs of the female in his pocket. They are marsupial, like the kangaroos.

Pigmy seahorses (hippocampus bargibanti) are quite common in the Bunaken marine park.

Scientist says that the "pimples" growing on their body are actually corals of the same kind of the sea fan where they live in. WOW!! 

Found it!!! We were looking for this "pigmy" seahorse . In my opinion it is the smallest with its 4-5mm. Oh yeah, our divemasters can find even such a small critter with its perfect camouflage. Look at its color and the surrounding seafan, perfect match.

Well done Yannis, to have found it and share with all of us.

This is very rare and it has the small "pimples" like the Bargibanti .Well, well is it a Denise or a new species ? these are the dilemmas that I have to face here in Sulawesi. Anybody has any idea? 

For those that have not yet seen a pigmy seahorse of any kind , they are probably thinking that I am crazy ;-) he he hehe ;-)  

The Manadarinefish is well know for its playboy habits, in fact every time sunset is approaching it likes to swim around the red lights suburbs of the marine park. Here at Kima Bajo we are very lucky to have plenty of this hot dive sites were we can see these colorful fish at just 5 min from the Resort.

Make sure when you come to visit us to make at least one of this sunset dives.  

Our voyage into the discovery of the critters of Bunaken brings you to the attention of this little tiny seahorse called Pontohi (Ponto's hippocampus). Ponto is one of the dive guide working in the Bunaken Marine Park, the first spotting this little beautiful seahorse.

To find this little critter you need to have an eagle eye, lots of concentration and know where he likes to live.

I am very proud to say that when you will be diving with us we can guarantee you to see it, as long as your eyes can focus on a little cm moving on a colorful background.  

Bunaken island is well known for its dramatic deep walls and the pristine coral growth.......but, did you know how many special resident critters you can see in the Bunaken Marine Park? 

I have decided to come out with the title "Critters of Bunaken" to let know, the many people that have not yet dived in the Marine Park, how cool for macro is the place where I live. So many times it happened to me to hear sentences such as: Well, I did not know that you had so many critters in this place....... That is right!......... We have plenty to show you and this is what all my dive team is train for......spotting the unspottable.

Therefore, when you will be diving with us the formula will be: Look around and enjoy the thousand of coral fish swimming up and down the wall, look into the blue to see if a Turtle, Napoleon wrasse or reef Shark is passing by and let your divemaster do what he does best by spotting all the little tiny creatures such us the boxer crab in the picture above.

If you are a photographer make sure you do not forget your macro lens when you come to dive the Marine Park.

Bunaken big or small you can have it all.