April 2010 Archives

Well another outstanding 2 weeks

Tania, our Lembeh Cottages Manager, and I just got back from the ADEX show in Singapore. We were helped out on our booth by one of our agents in Singapore, Freestyle Divers. That's me and Tania with Terry & Gary from Freestyle Divers in the photo. Terry's better half, Charlene, also worked the booth, as did Gary's wife, Karen.

It was the first ADEX show under new owners, Asian Diver Magazine and it was a great show. They'd put together a really good speaker program on the main stage, from Stan Waterman to William Tan and Mathieu Meur. It was a really fresh approach to dive shows, to have speakers right there in the main hall, for all to see and hear, rather than the usual practice of putting them in a side room. It created a fantastic atmosphere, where people who were into the diving hobby were able to enjoy picking up fascinating tips from experts without having to split up from their friends and family and disappear. Well done, Asian Diver, for putting on the best ADEX show I've been to so far. We're already booked to return next year.

I was able to chat to many visitors and tell them all about Eco Divers, Kima Bajo and Lembeh Cottages. There was a lot of genuine interest. We had a prize draw for a holiday with Eco Divers worth US$1250 and hundres of people entered.

Of course I also met up with many old friends, including Vimal Lekhraj from Divemasters Indonesia and Jason Isley from ScubaZoo. Thanks for the too-many drinks Jason and see you next year. I should have recovered by then...just.

The time has come, Frog fish are all happy coming out to meet others having delicious "Banquets" and so long waited "Love Dances".

Right now in our nearby waters we have 5 diving sites where we can often see this beautiful, funny, voraceus fish.

What a mix of sensational dives here at Eco Divers, Kima Bajo!!

 

 

Yes, the fish were talking to me on this dive! Actually they talk to me on most dives but this was particularly noisy. You see, the hairy frog fish wanted me to stay and take his photo, as he was so handsome. He did point out that he had " so much more hair than our guides!"

Dive date: April: Week 1

This log is put together by guests of Eco Divers and our guides. Our plan is to record what time of year we see certain animals. Hopefully over the years we will see patterns emerging that will help guests to know when to dive to see particular marine life.

Pygmy seahorse - yellow & pink

Nudibranchs ( a crazy amount) mating, laying eggs - so many different species maybe 30?

T bar nudi with eggs

T bar nudi mating 

T bar nudi with emperor shrimps.

A pair of Ambon scorpion fish

Coleman shrimp on toxic urchin

Dark pink lacy rhinopias 

One pair of halimeida ghost pipe fish

Thorny seahorses - many different colours - 9 on one dive

2 pygmy pipe fish 

Frogfish painted & warty

A 4-legged wonderpus

Mimic octopus

Hairy octopus on night dive

Juvenile flamboyant cuttle fish

Flamboyant cuttle fish eggs

Pink-eared mantis shrimp

Rainbow mantis with eggs

Dear Cary and Eco Divers team

We had a wonderful time diving and staying with you. Diving in the Lembeh Stait is always good but you made it so much better with the great service, staff and food.

Your new Cottages are very cosy, beautifully decorated and made us feel at home the moment we arrived. Org was very impressed with the photography facilities. We will definitely come again.

Johan Greyling, South Africa

I forgot just how much I love diving.

Yet another day's diving: I was really looking forward to this, as I knew we were going to dive Jahir 2. We dived there a few days ago and had a good dive but, boy, was it a great dive today! Eagle-eyed Detmon was raring to go. Well, it was amazing from start to finish. Really, where to look? From Ambon Scorpion fish to Frog fish, seahorses, snake eels, nutty little clown fish and the most amazing baby Flamboyant cuttlefish. He was about 3 cm long. They are so beautiful when they're babies; the colours are that much more vibrant.

I can't wait for the next dive....Blue Ring octopus hunting!