 GOING
MACRO - Lembeh Strait
LEMBEH STRAIT
has already been established as the mecca of what is known as
muck or critter diving. Professional photographers and film
crews are regular visitors to the strait, shooting award-winning
images of the extraordinary inhabitants that mesmerize divers
dive after dive.
Pygmy seahorses, mimic octopus, flamboyant cuttlefish, mandarinfish,
hairy frogfish, ghost pipefish, rhinopias, pegasus seamoths,
banggai cardinalfish, stargazers, bobbit worms, harlequin shrimp,
candy crabs, bobtail squid, devilfish, snake eels, etc. The
list seems endless, with every dive an opportunity to discover
a species new to science. The array of nudibranchs and crustaceans
is astounding. The number of cephalopod species on display amazing.
The assortment of eels and venomous fish species is limitless.
-- Lembeh Strait --
Some of the dive destinations that we go
diving in Lembeh Strait by Ms Liburan :
Police pier :
This muck dive site is common for harlequin shrimps (Hymenocera
picta) on a Linckia starfish! Under the large columns of the
pier you can find a special waspfish. There were a lot of Barramundi
cods and the Banggai cardinalfishes (Pterapogon kauderi). They
seem to be hiding between the spines of sea urchins and also
joining the anemonefish hiding in anemones. The Banggai cardinalfish
is endemic to the Banggai islands. It was probably introduced
to Lembeh strait by dumping some aquarium specimens. Since there
are a lot of orange sponges her is a really good place for the
orange painted frogfish.
Nudi Falls : is a small
vertical rock wall and below that a slope with sand and rubble
that ends at about 27m. You are abke to see rare spindle cowries
(Phenacovolva tokioi) and a flamboyant cuttlefish and Rhinopias.
At the wall there is a Muricella gorgonian where you find pygmy
seahorses and there is a crack with two fire shells hidden.
Sometimes there are strong currents around the deep section
on the rubble slope.
Nudi Retreat : This dive
site is a small and protected cove. On the top resides a pair
of pegasus sea moths and a lot of different nudibranchs. At
a night dive you are able to find a ghostpipefish in one of
the sponges. The highlight was a juvenile batfish with orange
fringe that looked just like a flatworm! Amazing! Possible encountere
a sea snake and a huge Pleurobranchus snail.
Hair ball : at this dive
site there is some of the world's best critter diving, a true
muck dive site. A gentle slope covered with black sand and algae.
There are occasional patch of sponges - those are the places
to look for hidden animals like seahorses, frogfish or the ambon
scorpion fish. All these animals are extremely well camouflaged,
the frogfish we found was brown and gray with numerous appendages,
the seahorses brown or black.
Mawali Wreck in The Lembeh Strait
:
This wreck is a sunken Japannese freighter from World War II.
The coralencrusted ship lies on its side between 17 and 35 meters.
This wreck is in very good condition. This wreck is beautifully
encrusted with crinoids, black coral trees and soft corals.
The boom sticks straight out sideways, and in this area huge
schools of fish gather. On one dive we saw a group of at least
a hundred full - grown batfish, and school of small silversides
the size of the house. Moray eels hide in iron cervices, and
it seems at times that every encrusted lump is a scorpionfish
of one species or another. Within the groove of an overgrown
iron spool we found two large octopus, perhaps interupted in
the private moment. The owners of the wreck, however are pride
of lionfishes. Group of 6 or 10 are always out, and at times
as many as 40 of these calmly majestc animals gather together.
More about diving site in North Sulawesi :
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