Lembongan and Sanur
The Mantas and Blue Spotted Rays have moved on. When the Mantas were at Manta Bay and Manta Point the water was murky with algae and plankton and the seabed was covered in small groups of Blue Spotted Rays all over the place, then nothing. The swell picked up and it was difficult to get back there but from what I’ve heard they have all gone for now.
We dove on the north side of Nusa Penita for my last two dives, sites I had already been on but this time strangely there was no current and Wakary, our dive guide went into ‘little stuff’ mode and we managed to see lots of Nudibranch, Scorpion Fish, crab of all sizes and all within maybe 100 meters. The water was too warm to bother looking into the blue for much. A large tuna did grace our presents but that was about it for the big stuff. Again coral bleaching is on the rise but not where we were diving and looking around.
Both dives were about an hour each and everybody had a good time searching versus drifting. Of course the clown fish put on a show of protective defiance even at their meager size they get in your face as if to rough you up.
When all was said and done we headed back to Big Fish Diving and washed our gear and hung it up to dry. I was done with Lembongan for now except for my adopted Manta.
If you want to see Big Dipper's online profile, please go to http://mantamatcher.org/individuals.jsp?number=INNLP0397A.
Here are some of the websites and social media pages you can have a look at if you like;
Global MMF website: www.marinemegafauna.org
Global FB page: https://www.facebook.com/MarineMegafauna/?fref=ts
SE Asia FB page: https://www.facebook.com/MarineMegafaunaFoundationSEAsia/?fref=ts
I had dinner at Mickey’s Sports Bar with a stack of Australians watching the first Game of Origins, a footy match of all-stars that play they heart out for a match and then return to their squads and then again join up a few weeks later for the second match and again for the third a few weeks later. It’s good fun. The only segment of Australians that don’t seem to care one bit are all from Victoria.
I had a couple quiet ones with my Finnish friend and a woman I just met from South Africa and that was the end of my time in Lembongan. I’ll be back but not until next year. I have a lot on my plate at the moment and it’s going to take a while to clear.
I took the morning ferry to Sanur, just across the strait and am sort of hunkering down the best I know how. The second day here I went diving at Tulamben, The Liberty wreck. It was a nice dive but the visibility due to the swell was less than expected, maybe 10 meters.
We did manage to see a couple turtles, leaf fish, Scorpion Fish, Banded shrimp, a dwarf Frog Fish, Garden Eels, Mantis Shrimp, and a Pigmy Sea Horse among other aquatic creatures. All in all it was a nice day with All 4 Diving and four folks from Switzerland. www.all4diving.com. Sanur is bigger than this blog so it’ll be addressed in a couple days after I get some good shots of the surfers here with the swell once again on the rise.
Go to my site listed below for more travels:
