Wait a minute...this isn't Timor-Leste!

Right. It's Bali. I had a vacation with my son, Raeph, and his mother (I think that I am entitled). We had a great time exploring the water worlds along the Bali coast (for those who may not know, Bali is part of Indonesia).


I went diving with a good group of people at Crystal Dive in Sanur. I can recommend them to anyone heading here. I went diving at some very cool places: Suraya (muck dive with VERY cool critters - see below), Tulamben (USS Liberty Wreck - totally awesome) and 2 dives at areas in and around "Blue Lagoon" 1 hour up the East Coast from Sanur. Raeph and Christie had a great snorkel at the USS Liberty wreck and saw a school of perhaps1000 Big-eye Trevally (I was diving at 4m at the time and had the entire school above me - Amazing!) Sadly for Raephy, when we tried to take him on an "Intro to Scuda" dive, some medication questions derailed the idea. Sorry Raephy! Next time.


Here is what I saw...

Hypselodoris whitei (I think). There were many of these at my first dive site, Suraya (about 2 hours up the coast from Sanur)

And these glorious Harlequin Shrimp were perfect for those with cameras! They are the weirdest crustaceans I have seen. I'm not sure what these were doing (there were 2 of them and this is the smallest) but he seems to be munching on a starfish limb. Possible?

And another from the genus Hypselodoris. In this case, I think that it is Hypselodoris zephyra.  

And this very cool little shrimp had lots of shrimpy friends. But he was the only one hanging around for a photo.

Still working on the name of this one. Any ideas? Professor? Chromodoris aureopurpurea?

And there were a bunch of these guys at Suraya too. Mexichromis multituberculata.

I have no idea what this is. Dive Master Tony found this 5mm piece of fluff.

And here is an odd trio: 2 Hypselordoris whitei with a lone Mexichromis multituberculata. In fact, at the time of the photo, I thought the Mexi was a piece of coral!

Chromodoris aureopurpurea?

Glossodoris atromarginata

At Tulamben, Amin found this Ornate Ghost Pipefish. See how he matches the soft coral next to him. This is a fantastic little critter. Pity I didn't get a good shot. He must have been only about 20mm long. Simply beautiful!

Large Hermit crab on my dive at Padangbai

And the irrepressible Chromodoris annae made an appearance too. Compare him with the Nudi below.

Not Chromodoris annae. More likely Chromodoris  elisabethina (no black spots in the blue)

And if Harlequin Shrimp were photogenic, this guy was the opposite. It took 2 dives finally to capture this enormous frog fish (as far as frog fish go) at about 22m. He was about the size of a football and was determined to stay inside his artificial cage away from prying divers' eyes. Luckily I managed to get him..sort of.

When I get a program to remove backscatter, I'll be happy. Here is a small ragged scorpion fish perched nicely on the top of some coral. The dark background makes a nice contrast.

Not sure what sort of Pipefish this is. There were a couple and they must have been between 30-60 cm. But they simply refused to remain still for a decent shot.

And this was a surprise at Blue Lagoon (Padangbai) - a large Octopus out in the middle of the day.

On my last dive, I managed to get this Crocodile fish. He is an awesome predator and so well camouflaged. Even his eyes have the camo treatment!