tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42529964575893961882024-03-04T21:13:12.939-08:00Dive Travel ServicesAdventures in ParadiseJanethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08060628909151908330noreply@blogger.comBlogger125125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4252996457589396188.post-41049436575823324522011-11-26T20:39:00.000-08:002011-11-26T20:55:03.738-08:00Maluku Divers in Ambon<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaJU6B3JtrAwbOjbpnrfZ_I_FH3W5iN4il6NEw6F8eGhx8nVsAJqC-d9fz4JD-rhWlqnhzUAGKTPvUWV0NO6T5IxNV8pZnw10cCJCJyCK14nCnMUU_349AP7u1eF1xvHxD8kCm99U4oGw/s1600/DAM_3776.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaJU6B3JtrAwbOjbpnrfZ_I_FH3W5iN4il6NEw6F8eGhx8nVsAJqC-d9fz4JD-rhWlqnhzUAGKTPvUWV0NO6T5IxNV8pZnw10cCJCJyCK14nCnMUU_349AP7u1eF1xvHxD8kCm99U4oGw/s200/DAM_3776.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5679533771066652562" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifeNMci22GWADJ5oemEfL3DihIw_dlgNCNsW-qfIxAdv26KTblzNbKND96brIGq5sDjliJ0XvJkSd7n3SasLDc3ZQmVU8f7PglqynjbwShfDvNdPk6QoyA-XH3LJtbWfgPcPJuFHW53rg/s1600/DAM_3761.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 146px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifeNMci22GWADJ5oemEfL3DihIw_dlgNCNsW-qfIxAdv26KTblzNbKND96brIGq5sDjliJ0XvJkSd7n3SasLDc3ZQmVU8f7PglqynjbwShfDvNdPk6QoyA-XH3LJtbWfgPcPJuFHW53rg/s200/DAM_3761.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5679533766607221394" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSYvWLRPrKeyS9rcHc5pwjE9HgJ6GThMZW1s9RUFbwARdAicWTw5L8ZO8DnjqJgRsB5g3OEqgec6oflBBIA36tsAkcC6HmqgfxayWy7xJvhP078HAO1ED1pR7q9LbrQlVjKUmfQP2MH-o/s1600/DAM_3692.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSYvWLRPrKeyS9rcHc5pwjE9HgJ6GThMZW1s9RUFbwARdAicWTw5L8ZO8DnjqJgRsB5g3OEqgec6oflBBIA36tsAkcC6HmqgfxayWy7xJvhP078HAO1ED1pR7q9LbrQlVjKUmfQP2MH-o/s200/DAM_3692.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5679533760946272914" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVXcUrgERcZo-aIBlkZo8yqEjzsk4IQx6oXyWoeNj7DzDduFl1fKG0TaKTxg7DWKhv7EpMCHEc6YFx0-1p1ikPXO4AT7HIN0l2QUkCFRgrJv3SHuSq7Bb8ZSLEFi9k30Xs-XgIvCXdVUw/s1600/DAM_3371.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVXcUrgERcZo-aIBlkZo8yqEjzsk4IQx6oXyWoeNj7DzDduFl1fKG0TaKTxg7DWKhv7EpMCHEc6YFx0-1p1ikPXO4AT7HIN0l2QUkCFRgrJv3SHuSq7Bb8ZSLEFi9k30Xs-XgIvCXdVUw/s200/DAM_3371.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5679533763941220818" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_jRZum3TumbOBSuuwirjj26XW4vAacMxAWg5BUMUrzdd6dRLdz33cH63NcV_v9pOIBt9fKohhMoxJ-PXNTj4m3TgEd6WA6KqY7zEcQ8Ee0C3MWgw8CePMmDY-C_xjza-yMM_2jpjFF1U/s1600/DAM_3861.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_jRZum3TumbOBSuuwirjj26XW4vAacMxAWg5BUMUrzdd6dRLdz33cH63NcV_v9pOIBt9fKohhMoxJ-PXNTj4m3TgEd6WA6KqY7zEcQ8Ee0C3MWgw8CePMmDY-C_xjza-yMM_2jpjFF1U/s200/DAM_3861.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5679533776388038754" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:courier new;">Our departure from the Damai on 22NOV was accomplished by the dive boat from Maluku arriving at the Damai and our gear being transferred onto their dive boat! The Damai tenders later delivered our luggage to the Resort and when we arrived at the Resort after our two morning dives, everything was already in our cottages!<br /><br />Maluku Divers Resort is a two-year old property on the south side of Ambon just outside a major harbour. It's comprised of 10 guest cottages, a lovely outdoor covered dining/reception area, huge camera room with lots of space to set up your camera gear. They have a covered lounge area with lots of comfortable seating and an outdoor seating area to enjoy sunsets from. They have 3 dive boats and can accommodate 20 guests at a time. Their dive storage/preparation area is well organized as well and they handled unsettling gear issues with organized competence and we had some major personal gear issues on this long trip! Marcel is the Manager there with a staff of 37, and his partner, Lili, was our dive guide for our 3 days of diving there, and what critter eyes she has! The first thing she asked us was "would you like to see a rhinopias"? and away we went! We had 9 wonderful dives with her at various sites that were muck slopes, mini walls, diving under the fishing boats at the big pier and a lovely wall across the bay. We saw more on each dive individually than we've seen on many, many, many dives combined. Ambon is "muck heaven" as far as we were concerned!<br /><br />We left Maluku on the 26th and flew back to Bali for one night...tonight is our Bali departure and the five weeks I've been here in Indonesia have literally flown by! All of the dive operators here have been top-notch and we've had so many wonderful dives....thank you Scuba Seraya; MSY Damai and its fabulous, marvelous crew; and Maluku Divers for a wonderful ending to our Holiday. Can't wait to come back and do it again and again and again! Terimakasih from my heart to everyone!<br /></span></span></span>Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08060628909151908330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4252996457589396188.post-24696740552200421482011-11-26T20:11:00.000-08:002011-11-26T20:39:23.528-08:00MSY Damai<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibf32Da8rGtQCVRpWGWbKfMVh4yq6PQdFEr102PWX1UqDbtqCg3Cm1oDU3cnj8kJMeWcQE4IUEa2MQSxaPeNIElBU4uEsp31DVNGl6KjZHCE0QXL3fUFixnClwRHEDjty-bz7D6usm-nU/s1600/IND_2388.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibf32Da8rGtQCVRpWGWbKfMVh4yq6PQdFEr102PWX1UqDbtqCg3Cm1oDU3cnj8kJMeWcQE4IUEa2MQSxaPeNIElBU4uEsp31DVNGl6KjZHCE0QXL3fUFixnClwRHEDjty-bz7D6usm-nU/s200/IND_2388.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5679528278380288226" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKQqPqIrvLK_m6_zqATQf6czgw2TfO6qdS9GHjyUZHQvkh9tpwETt6nEElDsDnEpw-jQTrAxKYj3rhUDuQ4ur8mslac_3MvV9DSS6v6rjUlTGNTh3MPTdpC8yFAfYFq4L0Ep0Pw3LyxQk/s1600/DAM_2449.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 138px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKQqPqIrvLK_m6_zqATQf6czgw2TfO6qdS9GHjyUZHQvkh9tpwETt6nEElDsDnEpw-jQTrAxKYj3rhUDuQ4ur8mslac_3MvV9DSS6v6rjUlTGNTh3MPTdpC8yFAfYFq4L0Ep0Pw3LyxQk/s200/DAM_2449.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5679528272415611554" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLfxscVRIBSymEfUW4W8mZmu51_KJ0spGmGwzf2M0lmJFyDBzZBYCTiWsD5WJz-9fH7F-jQzfxlC5jfzV_YIEuOPeIcTsKS6aR1kQzdJucTXyd0iA-SUF69kfQm2jTN-GmqQ-IqPkQTaA/s1600/DAM_2088.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLfxscVRIBSymEfUW4W8mZmu51_KJ0spGmGwzf2M0lmJFyDBzZBYCTiWsD5WJz-9fH7F-jQzfxlC5jfzV_YIEuOPeIcTsKS6aR1kQzdJucTXyd0iA-SUF69kfQm2jTN-GmqQ-IqPkQTaA/s200/DAM_2088.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5679528268008222082" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Hrmov9DZOyW5cPvYVT-_pIiDV6Lekwrw10xItoi4PXPTkZ5HRAhGXw3_Kbw8stDjyzWS7E8lxKehL3BWGRhMmdeizcyV2f563ihhwDVzSjk8GhOalgpP9jdFJot4krD-iLW78qgDCCo/s1600/DAM_2350.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Hrmov9DZOyW5cPvYVT-_pIiDV6Lekwrw10xItoi4PXPTkZ5HRAhGXw3_Kbw8stDjyzWS7E8lxKehL3BWGRhMmdeizcyV2f563ihhwDVzSjk8GhOalgpP9jdFJot4krD-iLW78qgDCCo/s200/DAM_2350.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5679528261002317858" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8qYVMhIJbeujGTCFSJQhZUYnK08nYtbeVpikVDmrmfPE-FisO79F2UoPbL2xJhWGAZdkFK7ethaRW0Df1T8_T-rNrVOaCEzRLKggor_RO88kzwSPK81nLOyIDbU6x86cMzj_JIBNg_u4/s1600/DAM_2281.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8qYVMhIJbeujGTCFSJQhZUYnK08nYtbeVpikVDmrmfPE-FisO79F2UoPbL2xJhWGAZdkFK7ethaRW0Df1T8_T-rNrVOaCEzRLKggor_RO88kzwSPK81nLOyIDbU6x86cMzj_JIBNg_u4/s200/DAM_2281.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5679528281446664226" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-family:courier new;">I have to say that this was the easiest arrival to a dive boat we've ever had! The plan was for the Damai to sail up the east coast of Bali from Benoa Harbour and have the tenders come right to Scuba Seraya and pick us up and it worked to perfection! After our 2 morning dives on 08NOV, we just bundled each of our dive gear set-ups into a neat package and left them right at the edge of the dive area; the tenders motored in from the big boat and loaded dive bags & camera boxes along with dive gear and took them off to the boat! We stepped into the tenders and disembarked right onto the boat...dive gear already situated in our individual dive stations! We didn't have to break down camera set-ups; we just carried camera/housings right onto the boat like we were returning from a dive....can't get any better than that!<br /><br />We set sail for Satonda but currents were running against us in the Lombok Strait so we ended up doing our first 2 dives the next morning at Moyo Island with a dusk dive at Satonda...then we headed for Bima. We covered 2200 nautical miles in 14 nights from Bali to Ambon, diving muck slopes, pinnacles, walls, exploratory sites and even 4 dives off of Komba Island which is an ACTIVE volcano! Imagine waking up one morning and looking out your cabin door to a volcano erupting 1/4 mile away! We enjoyed its rumbles, belches and burps all day long! We could see the ash trailing down the mountain slope which got greyer and greyer as the day went on but it was spectacularly impressive as dusk set in! A bunch of us opted to skip the night dive and just watch the volcano from the upper deck....erupting with showers of red sparks, ash and lava flowing down the slope about every 30 minutes. The image I'm including is courtesy of Linda because she pulled her camera out of the housing to catch the spectacle! How many of you can say you've been diving next to an erupting volcano?<br /><br />We were lucky enough to be able to spend 2 nights in South Komodo in Horseshoe Bay, home of Cannibal Rock and many other signature dive sites there. The water was unusually warm (79 degrees instead of being in the 60's....brr) so we had some awesome dives there....I was able to find again and again the tiny ladybug amphipods that are ONLY seen there at Cannibal Rock, along with sea apples that had the amphipods on them and were profusely feeding. I wish we'd had more time to spend in the South/North Komodo region and we all hated to leave there, but we had a lot of territory still to cover! We were even able to get close to the beach to see the Komodo dragons walking along the shore!<br /><br />Another signature dive was Gunung Api which means volcano (or fire mountain) in Indonesian. It's famous for its immense population of sea snakes, green ones that we'd never seen before and the "usual" banded sea snakes. We dove with dozens of them over 3 dives that day.....I have to say, they were very curious and came right up to our masks and camera ports and it was a bit unsettling at times, but it's another signature Indonesian dive site and we all managed at least two dives with the snakes!<br /><br />Our crossing across the Banda Sea was absolutely fabulous with dives at atolls, walls and islands along the way. We had flat calm seas, light breezes and sunny days...and knew we were very fortunate because they are heading into the rainy/windy season and it could have been very uncomfortable for us. Our final dives were at Ambon before we disembarked and again, had a tender transfer with our gear to Maluku Divers Resort...how cool is that?<br /><br />Our 4 night stay in Ambon will be in the next post update!<br /></span></span>Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08060628909151908330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4252996457589396188.post-32708051728701960842011-11-06T06:29:00.000-08:002011-11-06T06:38:48.312-08:00Ubud to Scuba Seraya<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio8C83KZoUiKNKhLKZoD3yOd2Rzzj1fby2xwnWuhKohBpGjFnpy7aA2t6YGd6NXmCCIX7CR-LrmM5_VTbrjebCq3v2gCQpw5GXjQCrNkHArND-IoE9Yih9u1gTuJg-IXle0jbRTHRtaGg/s1600/SCU_1652.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 136px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio8C83KZoUiKNKhLKZoD3yOd2Rzzj1fby2xwnWuhKohBpGjFnpy7aA2t6YGd6NXmCCIX7CR-LrmM5_VTbrjebCq3v2gCQpw5GXjQCrNkHArND-IoE9Yih9u1gTuJg-IXle0jbRTHRtaGg/s200/SCU_1652.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5671892017548375074" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrY1z4UnLX7pfbVTUnI4kDAUHEHy1RDPi11ABkBhnDug6gVGNIwkI5cXxszRCAywkxSmfsiKxSh7pFMCGbEHyXhm72_jwRRABBQY5FTJFK_ktc8JQzWydwYLsKFgAMPMA-ePNoxeDbzlE/s1600/SCU_1612.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 137px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrY1z4UnLX7pfbVTUnI4kDAUHEHy1RDPi11ABkBhnDug6gVGNIwkI5cXxszRCAywkxSmfsiKxSh7pFMCGbEHyXhm72_jwRRABBQY5FTJFK_ktc8JQzWydwYLsKFgAMPMA-ePNoxeDbzlE/s200/SCU_1612.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5671892011607353746" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3CeShQbydCXd_56GAZeDaRgnVpEKMTBJvxKDXNi_5zgAevApWla_MAVa4T29ZgAWcq6cGOgHMuBXnaM-WQkRcipRqhGRSl2jjyrhS0dsu47o-SciOERfEULSoRWwy_XgBlncQuHLAjS4/s1600/SCU_1595.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 148px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3CeShQbydCXd_56GAZeDaRgnVpEKMTBJvxKDXNi_5zgAevApWla_MAVa4T29ZgAWcq6cGOgHMuBXnaM-WQkRcipRqhGRSl2jjyrhS0dsu47o-SciOERfEULSoRWwy_XgBlncQuHLAjS4/s200/SCU_1595.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5671892006604335522" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxlk019fBBrt71dxatCaKfhBVUnXfvss9STTwTBUAZ3Q3tx_OMOX0EauRBcbksPXJxxQ5n6cWFidALIXCbub7NvPoCNYMPIVZiAZNi93hlhPpRZ7Qra7yjtz23ul2sAad_6mLf8g8k5Go/s1600/SCU_1567.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxlk019fBBrt71dxatCaKfhBVUnXfvss9STTwTBUAZ3Q3tx_OMOX0EauRBcbksPXJxxQ5n6cWFidALIXCbub7NvPoCNYMPIVZiAZNi93hlhPpRZ7Qra7yjtz23ul2sAad_6mLf8g8k5Go/s200/SCU_1567.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5671892005566379970" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGkSNjXC-e4r1NjoPYtIPPLfe9dsidmkuEOTiwRa4R2JDrQ58fQ9wHkf4_CXlnVBLBVfMfbqM1KZ52uPIpd5SWANAsLbTMIiCnFvbkoDy8ymwy_wL17P5RDKVBV_RXf9dQfAqQ5-Kgu_E/s1600/SCU_1677.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 130px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGkSNjXC-e4r1NjoPYtIPPLfe9dsidmkuEOTiwRa4R2JDrQ58fQ9wHkf4_CXlnVBLBVfMfbqM1KZ52uPIpd5SWANAsLbTMIiCnFvbkoDy8ymwy_wL17P5RDKVBV_RXf9dQfAqQ5-Kgu_E/s200/SCU_1677.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5671892021065456818" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:courier new;">On Saturday we traveled from Ubud to the NE Coast of Bali....visiting a local village doing loom weaving, entering another of the nine major Bali temples called Goa Lawah (Bat Cave Temple), a Bali Aga traditional village and Tirta Gangga, a water garden that used to be part of a Royal Palace.....ending up at Scuba Seraya.<br /><br />Today we did 3 dives, first one to the Liberty Wreck, second to a site called Coral Garden and last to do a dusk dive on the house reef, Seraya Secrets. All three were awesome with a huge school of jacks off the wreck, nudibranchs, frogfish and soft coral on top of the wreck and Coral Gardens lived up to its name....lots and lots of soft corals....many with resident soft coral crabs....delightful! We also saw a robust ghostpipefish, crinoid squat lobsters, many varieties of shrimp, juvenile Emperor Angelfish and lots of other cool critters....even two ribbon eels in the same hole...one blue and the other almost changed over to yellow.<br /><br />Seraya Secrets had more nudis, coconut octopus, two giant black-spotted moray in a big cleaning station, more juvenile Emperor angelfish and too many other subjects to list! We can't wait to dive again tomorrow! Bob, Dave and Roberta will finally complete the group; Mike & Linda arrived safely this afternoon....enjoy the images! </span></span></span>Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08060628909151908330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4252996457589396188.post-68874809192842228052011-11-04T03:50:00.000-07:002011-11-04T04:08:24.800-07:00The Serenity of Ubud<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFi0uHPmtRr_e3LphWcs8ZiW6TJSBe1TxHf6OAMC4SuVHbzCe9t8PwHJuwNXjbqChNDpEs90fdgSHjTDfzqXCTq4dxP5W3ffjCykF_Jno-oP5_IrPPgL5ZyCBJotR5wKLJalYae3hLvQk/s1600/BAL_9174.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFi0uHPmtRr_e3LphWcs8ZiW6TJSBe1TxHf6OAMC4SuVHbzCe9t8PwHJuwNXjbqChNDpEs90fdgSHjTDfzqXCTq4dxP5W3ffjCykF_Jno-oP5_IrPPgL5ZyCBJotR5wKLJalYae3hLvQk/s200/BAL_9174.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5671094359105117442" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIn-x5vk7k7w6PuyIQmHdnXGygCxeMvVbUfEtaLoPfJmrU8J-DCR_xRKNECSIUtNGrVn0bZyciRgvkikekPLh6mQYiiqNFTg5bhHtre4k0TBXfD9rkHxZZgn_MAe0ATKHmNlFH3K-MleM/s1600/BAL_9168.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIn-x5vk7k7w6PuyIQmHdnXGygCxeMvVbUfEtaLoPfJmrU8J-DCR_xRKNECSIUtNGrVn0bZyciRgvkikekPLh6mQYiiqNFTg5bhHtre4k0TBXfD9rkHxZZgn_MAe0ATKHmNlFH3K-MleM/s200/BAL_9168.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5671094334646806834" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBs7ZsZT1v-fTbqNMZIQydxz9r_UuYM9pZFzE-oXA038xUs_7OLycwrF4sPvCgY0WTfKHL1yXu78Ihyphenhyphen66k8Edxl6rlKS7GBRuKtpUIxKkZOWplvR6pvmRcoDpTx5BlwpGzExUkcvaiqPo/s1600/BAL_9166.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBs7ZsZT1v-fTbqNMZIQydxz9r_UuYM9pZFzE-oXA038xUs_7OLycwrF4sPvCgY0WTfKHL1yXu78Ihyphenhyphen66k8Edxl6rlKS7GBRuKtpUIxKkZOWplvR6pvmRcoDpTx5BlwpGzExUkcvaiqPo/s200/BAL_9166.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5671094330726329506" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3MSEwf3U5OKYxVJveH_v2McFG_HdZDQMFsNKCWV6oF0eCsZh9JXr5dLdQWsHVVjYKE3vl_trwXRfM6WKsl5UoQdH-ZO-0ARfQQ6iQVoXxvpudHLVB7eyQH88KJo53wLTyqPaARtnjotc/s1600/BAL_9163.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3MSEwf3U5OKYxVJveH_v2McFG_HdZDQMFsNKCWV6oF0eCsZh9JXr5dLdQWsHVVjYKE3vl_trwXRfM6WKsl5UoQdH-ZO-0ARfQQ6iQVoXxvpudHLVB7eyQH88KJo53wLTyqPaARtnjotc/s200/BAL_9163.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5671094321669444834" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi97gC8Wpef_b1vcyRtMOTNvlHIHZ-vejGHkSdONkXYebrfBwd7uz-Ee0obUVrMr0La_C89HuYAz5GJRy64LNtuGr1NH4gmwTowf2wnRC8dziEFBc7snmI2EXYqwKQ1-vKYxMjPQbPQmrs/s1600/BAL_9176.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 136px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi97gC8Wpef_b1vcyRtMOTNvlHIHZ-vejGHkSdONkXYebrfBwd7uz-Ee0obUVrMr0La_C89HuYAz5GJRy64LNtuGr1NH4gmwTowf2wnRC8dziEFBc7snmI2EXYqwKQ1-vKYxMjPQbPQmrs/s200/BAL_9176.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5671094370579337666" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:courier new;">If one can't find their inner spirit in Ubud, something is wrong! Alam Indah is a gorgeous, small boutique-style hotel set in the rolling hills just outside Monkey Forest and away from the craziness of City Centre Ubud. This is a family owned property with an attentive, caring staff. Their meal offerings are simple but superb and there's restaurants and cafes within a few minutes walking distance (shopping too!)<br /><br />After a restful sleep last night, we were up and raring to do some shopping today! The Ubud Market is a conglomeration of vendors selling everything from t-shirts to food items to high quality handcrafted wooden carvings, handmade woven items and textiles...it's more than enough to make your heads spin! Bargaining with the vendors is a learned art and Loretta mastered it very quickly....we all decided to let her negotiate our pricing for us! After we were shopped out, we walked along Monkey Forest Road gazing into the "regular" shops; designer clothing, art galleries, silver shops, and lots of restaurants and cafes. We decided to stop at Cafe Wayan, also owned by the same family that owns Alam Indah and lunch was delightfully delicious. We just wished we'd had more time to spare because they offer traditional Balinese cooking classes there and that would have been something we all would have loved to try.<br /><br />Next on our agenda was the spa across the street from the hotel...traditional Balinese massages, reflexology, facials were enjoyed by all and after returning to the hotel and a relaxing swim in the pool, dinnertime is approaching.<br /><br />Tomorrow is, fortunately and also unfortunately, a day of travel. We'll sadly be leaving Alam Indah but traveling along the East Coast of Bali, visiting some "not to be missed sights" on our way to Amed and Scuba Seraya. Over the next three days we'll start our diving and the rest of the group will join us....our pick up by the Damai is on the 8th of November so our Bali "land time" is drawing to a close......<br /></span></span></span>Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08060628909151908330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4252996457589396188.post-27997828397450446662011-11-03T06:11:00.000-07:002011-11-03T06:34:46.347-07:00Mengwi to Ubud<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYvYdvV9zaRerGcJtbPzby-Ht9dET5Z_VRRS3nVMyFuITvQZm02iYAFCarLjoYYOipmTqPYYi5JTJmg71mVVjWMzuFaNbMMLZq5Gy1PZg-geVHFqoWAEYVTij91_1arvkSQQpuyfyjGNY/s1600/BAL_9109.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYvYdvV9zaRerGcJtbPzby-Ht9dET5Z_VRRS3nVMyFuITvQZm02iYAFCarLjoYYOipmTqPYYi5JTJmg71mVVjWMzuFaNbMMLZq5Gy1PZg-geVHFqoWAEYVTij91_1arvkSQQpuyfyjGNY/s200/BAL_9109.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670761251362496706" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJL8ofEYXTbul4OUKJqs9WvTq2k2qCEo3kpJmumr1NsOkfVayd4ONIvq_crnsajctAtrJ3oHv5UGhqkE0WJuYV5-M7atMxFHINCwjzM19aHtj9IqORCypBSPODHFHuLK815OMheejggPM/s1600/BAL_8996.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJL8ofEYXTbul4OUKJqs9WvTq2k2qCEo3kpJmumr1NsOkfVayd4ONIvq_crnsajctAtrJ3oHv5UGhqkE0WJuYV5-M7atMxFHINCwjzM19aHtj9IqORCypBSPODHFHuLK815OMheejggPM/s200/BAL_8996.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670761240975834034" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoqqrEfdrrWgyj4nNGpv1pRA-idMYtJpG3x6N3p_D1dyHrLsP7NZscl7NRJYZhKKva69Z6dKsJAYb1In0V6xTNi9xMYX1TV2jtVvZNKvDBf8Us7fYFyLoFOQkjAKhZiFNaiEYGR00WsZ4/s1600/BAL_8935.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoqqrEfdrrWgyj4nNGpv1pRA-idMYtJpG3x6N3p_D1dyHrLsP7NZscl7NRJYZhKKva69Z6dKsJAYb1In0V6xTNi9xMYX1TV2jtVvZNKvDBf8Us7fYFyLoFOQkjAKhZiFNaiEYGR00WsZ4/s200/BAL_8935.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670761224210077826" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjumYG9Zn13IO0Al_MYlz9hgwl1VMW_Ww7oV671LHxBllHXgJ6tyCVlLkDIH_vC4cLbuWf_35uAx1dXO01wDf7AIipVfpZ27hqaBHzG5wVXeEwE7rLc-rWPVRHN2JPHD2eMBhcrWDLzorI/s1600/BAL_1457.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjumYG9Zn13IO0Al_MYlz9hgwl1VMW_Ww7oV671LHxBllHXgJ6tyCVlLkDIH_vC4cLbuWf_35uAx1dXO01wDf7AIipVfpZ27hqaBHzG5wVXeEwE7rLc-rWPVRHN2JPHD2eMBhcrWDLzorI/s200/BAL_1457.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670761214201280386" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwWf5XjgawluZ2vddJJJHDcNOC41u6FWWhO3ypjeTDVIjbN1HWS_Uw6k2ExzmkjOC23Ygr9jr-Q90MgXsk1O2sLeGY_hJ1VD1U8RMT-4YOv2cSSKuMRMZ2kgmH-L4EP36ROt_RMjzCCQc/s1600/BAL_9110.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwWf5XjgawluZ2vddJJJHDcNOC41u6FWWhO3ypjeTDVIjbN1HWS_Uw6k2ExzmkjOC23Ygr9jr-Q90MgXsk1O2sLeGY_hJ1VD1U8RMT-4YOv2cSSKuMRMZ2kgmH-L4EP36ROt_RMjzCCQc/s200/BAL_9110.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670761266364403890" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:courier new;">Deni, Loretta, Mardel & Michele all arrived safely on the 1st of November and joined me at Puri Taman Sari....they loved the villa and the private pool! After a quick dinner, it was off to bed for them because I had a big day planned for the 2nd! I strongly feel that anyone visiting a new country should at least absorb a bit of the culture and at 8:30 the next morning and we were off!<br /><br />First stop was a silver gallery where we watched silver jewelry being made....one must have very good eyesight to be able to work on the tiny pieces of silver they were etching and carving out in the workshop. After a quick stop in the shopping area, off we went again! Next stop was a batik factory and we got to watch the ladies hand applying the wax to the fabrics in preparation for dyeing. There was also a lady working a foot loom weaving gorgeous fabric that could be made into tablecloths, napkins, placemats, etc. Some serious shopping was accomplished here! Third stop of the morning was the woodcarvers studio. There was a lovely elephant carving that was about 5' tall and maybe 2' wide...wonderful detail. They told me that it would take one man 4-5 months to carve such a beautiful piece.<br /><br />We also visited the family temple of the Resort Owner, Pura Taman Sari, which is the only temple on Bali surrounded by two moats...one outside the main walls and another one just inside the temple walls. We couldn't visit inside the temple walls of this one, just walked around the walkway and were able to look in to see the beautiful temple buildings and carvings.<br /><br />After a FAST lunch back at the Resort, we were off to Uluwatu Temple, which is another of Bali's nine main temples surrounding the island. Uluwatu is situated up on a very high cliff overlooking the beautiful ocean. The temple is "guarded" by some very naughty, aggressive monkeys! Everyone is advised to remove their glasses and hang onto their bags/backpacks. We spotted several monkeys grabbing sandals and shoes off of folks and jumping up onto the rooftops! They are bribed by bananas to throw the stolen objects back to the owners!<br /><br />We then proceeded from the temple area into an arena area where the traditional Kecak Dance was performed, accompanied by a chorus of 70 men chanting throughout the performance. Long story short, the guy gets in the girl in the end, but the costumes and dancing are a fabulous introduction into the culture.<br /><br />Today brought us to a coffee plantation where we sampled Bali cocoa, Bali coffee, ginseng coffee, lemongrass tea, white ginger and red ginger tea. We were able to also sample the Luawk coffee which is the "poop" coffee...the animal eats the red coffee beans and once they are digested, the beans are harvested off the ground, cleaned & dried & roasted and honestly, I was amazed at how delicious the coffee tasted! Deni and Loretta bought a couple of bags to bring home! Indonesian coffee is traditionally very, very strong coffee....<br /><br />Enjoy the images...we're shopping the markets of Ubud tomorrow and getting massages in the afternoon. Alam Indah is a 10-room property just outside of Monkey Forest and it's our beautiful home for the next two nights....sweet dreams!<br /></span></span></span>Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08060628909151908330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4252996457589396188.post-37257111219008722932011-10-31T04:13:00.000-07:002011-10-31T04:28:22.364-07:00Menjangan to Mengwi<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnH2HHyNBoOHk5Pnk_feV0btkY07A786Uex4oJzydBkO8MZ2Rf1tB3p4L5UdcNMM3nCUg_SE2m-n-S8arccSRtVYcqV085e5brn7C0YTBWiJlARW9HvriUhrlbDIHTJYdzHS9jKrq3lHM/s1600/BAL_1423.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnH2HHyNBoOHk5Pnk_feV0btkY07A786Uex4oJzydBkO8MZ2Rf1tB3p4L5UdcNMM3nCUg_SE2m-n-S8arccSRtVYcqV085e5brn7C0YTBWiJlARW9HvriUhrlbDIHTJYdzHS9jKrq3lHM/s200/BAL_1423.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5669616246781301810" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmNmeTaGsUrUcUqXD6Fu-Q4IRjLaMxdsqGKps93grRNcbrM6rKJHTnEByQM8WDAuP-dfJB3hVfbiotRDpRTeowbC2JGjc9tQozWbfOLMNq3oLMn2rx6_VDBJp8LdDq4SVpsURPOgiqoC4/s1600/IMG_1586.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 149px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmNmeTaGsUrUcUqXD6Fu-Q4IRjLaMxdsqGKps93grRNcbrM6rKJHTnEByQM8WDAuP-dfJB3hVfbiotRDpRTeowbC2JGjc9tQozWbfOLMNq3oLMn2rx6_VDBJp8LdDq4SVpsURPOgiqoC4/s200/IMG_1586.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5669616240999370466" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilu_NRBblpHWHudoSHRAs-t326R7vnePK9ZgJbCgoF3eLlrehRgAHYcukQP7xkx_kwvdSL4o-0LRfK8BDkz84zTS0whR2tjSOXCRcOaob28Aw1X7sRyP-kbrzMDWVVhaX3safcnADhhQ4/s1600/IMG_1573.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilu_NRBblpHWHudoSHRAs-t326R7vnePK9ZgJbCgoF3eLlrehRgAHYcukQP7xkx_kwvdSL4o-0LRfK8BDkz84zTS0whR2tjSOXCRcOaob28Aw1X7sRyP-kbrzMDWVVhaX3safcnADhhQ4/s200/IMG_1573.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5669616237628253602" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIGEsBVm-8fmwqzbHdlNWo-AWtoPawou7hXc_0Dy9mQvkJ8pebZ6rN9YEyD3Y6xdDLRXc4hy22vpuQ6OaK45IOWKlvJbpNjLi0xVOJAYeCiqXipiUPHgXIzLFNGBBmoBIpUaZHCKcPevY/s1600/IMG_1564.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 147px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIGEsBVm-8fmwqzbHdlNWo-AWtoPawou7hXc_0Dy9mQvkJ8pebZ6rN9YEyD3Y6xdDLRXc4hy22vpuQ6OaK45IOWKlvJbpNjLi0xVOJAYeCiqXipiUPHgXIzLFNGBBmoBIpUaZHCKcPevY/s200/IMG_1564.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5669616227027197058" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWIcTpFlZaDDB9V2AINNkvXo9mSyk-aFkkzhZe03jKRq9ACYXpmT0AWy_yD08L39QvTIkIWlHgC1bL36m5bSw5MrSrJEtX4tn0pSxFXOu9yfA4OS-jFXILXOT-Aw7MH4JXNBPRj6G-esQ/s1600/IMG_1592.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWIcTpFlZaDDB9V2AINNkvXo9mSyk-aFkkzhZe03jKRq9ACYXpmT0AWy_yD08L39QvTIkIWlHgC1bL36m5bSw5MrSrJEtX4tn0pSxFXOu9yfA4OS-jFXILXOT-Aw7MH4JXNBPRj6G-esQ/s200/IMG_1592.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5669616258082022274" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:courier new;">Early this morning Nyoman picked me up at Mimpi and we headed east and then south; first another beautiful temple overlooking the sea...and lots of silver monkeys to guard the temple. Most of them were nice but a few were naughty and I got some close attention from a bunch of the babies...I don't think they were happy that I wasn't feeding them!<br /><br />We headed south near Singaraga and visited the Munduk Golden Valley Waterfall which is beautiful...it's 246 meters from the road...down dirt and bamboo steps! Thankfully the young man at the entrance gave me a walking stick...helped a lot with no rails!<br /><br />We also visited two crater lakes at the top of the mountain...one facing east and just across a fairly narrow stretch of land, another facing west...very beautiful with the mist on the top of the mountains and the blue, blue lakes.<br /><br />We stopped to visit another gorgeous temple which is also on the water and then arrived at Puri Taman Sari, my home for the next three nights. It's located in Mengwi and was the palace of a royal family and has been turned into a 5-Star Property. They put me in a 4-bedroom villa with a private pool...good thing some of the group is arriving tomorrow to share this beautiful place with me. The private infinity pool overlooks a love rice terrace as well....I think I'm in heaven!<br /></span></span></span>Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08060628909151908330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4252996457589396188.post-26410279399737033972011-10-30T02:02:00.000-07:002011-10-30T02:16:53.197-07:00Diving in Secret Bay<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV6MDzouZEtUL8QWLoIlGL_EbGa7ku22JDzI26oOFOCMgNMl45OA8hHY3V-Ek4P-RPjhRI5bsffElet-tXOOWULP8sOBMXmrEBh9GvOFwyAeTM4TgBq1bWnhnTEBEVS0qklg9G2-syJ5U/s1600/SEC_1411.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 136px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV6MDzouZEtUL8QWLoIlGL_EbGa7ku22JDzI26oOFOCMgNMl45OA8hHY3V-Ek4P-RPjhRI5bsffElet-tXOOWULP8sOBMXmrEBh9GvOFwyAeTM4TgBq1bWnhnTEBEVS0qklg9G2-syJ5U/s200/SEC_1411.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5669210801403539538" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2vA-1OAvps4Rl6GAspsHUVBGGVPVaxH_hyphenhyphenTgbuTw2jV7qSnbmeOn53Es77gxp8UgOdLGYdmkFQvkkRGBaTpoiCajhr8x0dEn0VbMZQK_pP6o3OVYe4-zSx5QZgW7LxycLsG4DYN2Xqvg/s1600/SEC_1347.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 132px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2vA-1OAvps4Rl6GAspsHUVBGGVPVaxH_hyphenhyphenTgbuTw2jV7qSnbmeOn53Es77gxp8UgOdLGYdmkFQvkkRGBaTpoiCajhr8x0dEn0VbMZQK_pP6o3OVYe4-zSx5QZgW7LxycLsG4DYN2Xqvg/s200/SEC_1347.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5669210794220015810" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCtofwjyIkifj6k5bBU_-C9KwQvtAFdlZHW13CBAWIeRz8-2RBu_9TuSuyKM2IDWyt5hIDn5xTHJWOzl5yOGgT2yaBsXoFee4PMP_AOjZYsYbFtzVdmM3USj23lB0VVpvzlg9g9UP_yVE/s1600/SEC_1326.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 121px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCtofwjyIkifj6k5bBU_-C9KwQvtAFdlZHW13CBAWIeRz8-2RBu_9TuSuyKM2IDWyt5hIDn5xTHJWOzl5yOGgT2yaBsXoFee4PMP_AOjZYsYbFtzVdmM3USj23lB0VVpvzlg9g9UP_yVE/s200/SEC_1326.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5669210788405373762" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtJMGmpoYIeduqbO1k3hYAOLFTNDfSycJqUveWJsWF3L6igyuPLkHy0n5BZxvZZaYlUfrW0o5DQfRs70HNnO3f-7f9KlSylTJ6S_nploV61BC4j-hU28fHMi7lV-s5N_z3DGvd8N-YsU4/s1600/SEC_1323.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 142px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtJMGmpoYIeduqbO1k3hYAOLFTNDfSycJqUveWJsWF3L6igyuPLkHy0n5BZxvZZaYlUfrW0o5DQfRs70HNnO3f-7f9KlSylTJ6S_nploV61BC4j-hU28fHMi7lV-s5N_z3DGvd8N-YsU4/s200/SEC_1323.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5669210781272709666" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggDQ6P-8ITS6X7h-QbJdbN7eLM8uQUTpjXnfoXGR0JJyg6IMheNxAGiPwam0JvbuAvLleZtkY3Jm_y7x1h6qpG95uJT6lPbu9rs_yaCPJ4BQQjY7ml2ijzGSAH3C3gKzl_W30gaMuNN_U/s1600/SEC_1294.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 151px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggDQ6P-8ITS6X7h-QbJdbN7eLM8uQUTpjXnfoXGR0JJyg6IMheNxAGiPwam0JvbuAvLleZtkY3Jm_y7x1h6qpG95uJT6lPbu9rs_yaCPJ4BQQjY7ml2ijzGSAH3C3gKzl_W30gaMuNN_U/s200/SEC_1294.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5669210777962237106" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:courier new;">Secret Bay was discovered a number of years ago by a well-known photographer and he was so captured by its amazing diversity that he kept it "secret" for a long time, but word is out and it hosts small numbers of divers daily. Today it was ONLY Anton & I....amazing! It's near the ferry port of Gilimanuk, which is the crossing point between Bali & Java and it has good water flow so it's a bit cooler water (like 77 degrees today!).<br /><br />It's an easy shore entry and they have a nice shore support facility right there with bathrooms, showers, camera and gear rinse tanks and benches in the shade so it's a simple dive. It's also shallow...our maximum depth for both dives was only 25' so we had lots of bottom time....the only problem, of course, is that I got cold so we limited both dives to 60 minutes and I came back with chattering teeth & lots of air left in my tanks!<br /><br />It's a dark sandy bottom with bright green algae covering a lot of the sand...lots of places for critters to hide! The algae is large-leafed like Romaine lettuce and quite attractive as a photographic background I found! It's also good perches for nudibranchs and other small critters.<br /><br />They also have put out concrete "structures" with holes in them which are covered in sponges and offer safe haven for schools of striped catfish, shrimp, cardinal fish and lots of other creatures.<br /><br />We saw three different species of pipefish including a Halameda ghostpipefish in only 5' of water on our way back to shore after the last dive....it's a beautiful green and did some lovely posing for our cameras! All the nudibranchs we saw today were new species for me and the other "usual suspects" like dragonets, lionfish, anemonefish, fang blennies inside of bottles...you name it, we saw it...except for any frogfish which are usually present here...oh well, maybe next time! Enjoy the images, I'm back to land touring tomorrow and won't be diving again until we get to Scuba Seraya near Ahmed on the 5th of Nov.<br /></span></span></span>Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08060628909151908330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4252996457589396188.post-87207403447323409332011-10-29T16:36:00.000-07:002011-10-29T16:39:14.102-07:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHvsy6KCBT2E-3DvGl7xTryGtUWrjB2Bdiph3IY7OURydnjzSv_t6zI7RuCgg80coAeCyvGMXd48N6apZLFA65ZX7sj2A9c-uOW5sULl4undBFRMTZIxhSKd-5GLwn5uscNL8c2c2_QTo/s1600/BAL_1261.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 154px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHvsy6KCBT2E-3DvGl7xTryGtUWrjB2Bdiph3IY7OURydnjzSv_t6zI7RuCgg80coAeCyvGMXd48N6apZLFA65ZX7sj2A9c-uOW5sULl4undBFRMTZIxhSKd-5GLwn5uscNL8c2c2_QTo/s200/BAL_1261.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5669062732821427298" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM1WZeSGKVNc8lY-QqC95PLP2srlnGF-9hk9gmTgTEUXKKIgiUqr4w1NG8I9aGjPe2VYGpUrjTBi-d_XEoU5FaxUjQY5LYRzF_MRSk8lkKBlebeT6-0mWgXKHWAqcJaYHBrlIMnN6Yii8/s1600/BAL_1212.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM1WZeSGKVNc8lY-QqC95PLP2srlnGF-9hk9gmTgTEUXKKIgiUqr4w1NG8I9aGjPe2VYGpUrjTBi-d_XEoU5FaxUjQY5LYRzF_MRSk8lkKBlebeT6-0mWgXKHWAqcJaYHBrlIMnN6Yii8/s200/BAL_1212.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5669062720465836450" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6CbqrY2E0AeHlpf9KW3BpGYhE6BhpVj8gDHgeakoCJcE8PzNYSxaEC5FxnjW6jov-oS7vX0ZuDaVZYtSN6kuEwfGzQObhPizdP6WknPYZZ97k3CAcU_OsKFN5oulI6AtXZVvhMfCQh-I/s1600/BAL_1208.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 128px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6CbqrY2E0AeHlpf9KW3BpGYhE6BhpVj8gDHgeakoCJcE8PzNYSxaEC5FxnjW6jov-oS7vX0ZuDaVZYtSN6kuEwfGzQObhPizdP6WknPYZZ97k3CAcU_OsKFN5oulI6AtXZVvhMfCQh-I/s200/BAL_1208.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5669062716319594402" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVYEu6lq0T_ruUGLSIGTLk6GgmpCUrt_tf47UpKxT04ykkSTWZ3N58asbtMPR_MR2Le_Zy3dGUt784HdrgnRtbn79WUc2YUmuQVHrscvhyphenhyphen6FFa3rZEP_7vrDVt4wo25Wkh0IrEFD5BC8E/s1600/BAL_1204.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVYEu6lq0T_ruUGLSIGTLk6GgmpCUrt_tf47UpKxT04ykkSTWZ3N58asbtMPR_MR2Le_Zy3dGUt784HdrgnRtbn79WUc2YUmuQVHrscvhyphenhyphen6FFa3rZEP_7vrDVt4wo25Wkh0IrEFD5BC8E/s200/BAL_1204.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5669062718751951074" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbixRcYf_K8Oj9wkEBWGYqSZ7-YS6JAkQ4wjVQcSqekpHK9_N4QzpMJEnH3GRw-WyU6eVtlGZDVSoGiSOIYXC-6RQVzUzeqPMtCm-mJO4nH9l69uFhRJPwbdFQ1LuzgoXj4p2VXkU5674/s1600/BAL_1198.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbixRcYf_K8Oj9wkEBWGYqSZ7-YS6JAkQ4wjVQcSqekpHK9_N4QzpMJEnH3GRw-WyU6eVtlGZDVSoGiSOIYXC-6RQVzUzeqPMtCm-mJO4nH9l69uFhRJPwbdFQ1LuzgoXj4p2VXkU5674/s200/BAL_1198.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5669062711625298050" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:courier new;">QUICK BALI UPDATE!<br />I'm going diving in Secret Bay today with my long-time friend and dive guide, Anton Kusmayanto...here's a few images from the past two days. I'll update with some critter images later today...this is supposed to be "critter heaven"!<br /></span></span></span>Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08060628909151908330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4252996457589396188.post-7651054487513942502011-10-28T17:04:00.000-07:002011-10-28T17:24:18.703-07:00Bali's NW Coast<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjViOgQOdD8DiMp-hFAbwH7E0TSdOk77BgYHCc0QlbJvf0KDJ0S8rHjWZXqMT-u_T2Vn-KxBtPJzD7ociIqD2nZyQVTLI9xLDumidcO4L-9P_IVBSuSoqsO37NsRJiP0DMKpXfmxnEKQ9E/s1600/BAL_1137.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjViOgQOdD8DiMp-hFAbwH7E0TSdOk77BgYHCc0QlbJvf0KDJ0S8rHjWZXqMT-u_T2Vn-KxBtPJzD7ociIqD2nZyQVTLI9xLDumidcO4L-9P_IVBSuSoqsO37NsRJiP0DMKpXfmxnEKQ9E/s200/BAL_1137.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5668702359758970498" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw1Kpzj5pCuheL2U-mL8SN4BeMQbaNaR2oTQ52ZuTAFfM7wDXpGFdN0ZqtIuDkvYoy262CIsrskWyzXJ1j88bB7M4YluaMLCA-hpFpAmwtWK5t4Ef3Ksvbi0c43J5Rs6JQfekYpuZ9LTs/s1600/BAL_1104.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw1Kpzj5pCuheL2U-mL8SN4BeMQbaNaR2oTQ52ZuTAFfM7wDXpGFdN0ZqtIuDkvYoy262CIsrskWyzXJ1j88bB7M4YluaMLCA-hpFpAmwtWK5t4Ef3Ksvbi0c43J5Rs6JQfekYpuZ9LTs/s200/BAL_1104.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5668702352512237890" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD7EZhQJ4wyhAx0mNPl-xwBTj1-WKKrFUQ9hjSsy3C1fCvdwejt2gp1NQx62ZQ9YVoxhpWdK7vZSz_9m9gU0TonJ7vReL2u3MLz-Vx4YZSxEm2t70bDn1_y8Nfo3CEZ2P5x8RA9HtZGeM/s1600/BAL_1094.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD7EZhQJ4wyhAx0mNPl-xwBTj1-WKKrFUQ9hjSsy3C1fCvdwejt2gp1NQx62ZQ9YVoxhpWdK7vZSz_9m9gU0TonJ7vReL2u3MLz-Vx4YZSxEm2t70bDn1_y8Nfo3CEZ2P5x8RA9HtZGeM/s200/BAL_1094.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5668702350170291426" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZQQY0lSJIVDkCBfN3e4QJa_g6WpeddNBYuocDfmFVREl_dnKoZIrvqDtqDT8UpSpsp8XQ7gTSFjxI7Q-XrfYnIrYOSa7V0nZr3EwGQAkgKK8b7Jh3BL0eGuC7x9ZXMTzl5CnS0wDZsN0/s1600/BAL_1081.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZQQY0lSJIVDkCBfN3e4QJa_g6WpeddNBYuocDfmFVREl_dnKoZIrvqDtqDT8UpSpsp8XQ7gTSFjxI7Q-XrfYnIrYOSa7V0nZr3EwGQAkgKK8b7Jh3BL0eGuC7x9ZXMTzl5CnS0wDZsN0/s200/BAL_1081.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5668702345732661986" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyes4pivxNOeKB85AZlKYCxdZkYqDWEwXL4RF__9PwVfhyphenhyphenP2iinPAphty6W8_NvRF9oV1hUWjofug0hLzvgu_T0V6FzpZHKQcqa9JHovlsKeZiZooRMMEfLpo_AA6nSqnj3uVzo9t6kFU/s1600/BAL_1051.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyes4pivxNOeKB85AZlKYCxdZkYqDWEwXL4RF__9PwVfhyphenhyphenP2iinPAphty6W8_NvRF9oV1hUWjofug0hLzvgu_T0V6FzpZHKQcqa9JHovlsKeZiZooRMMEfLpo_AA6nSqnj3uVzo9t6kFU/s200/BAL_1051.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5668702339249613218" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0);"><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-family:courier new;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Upon my arrival on Bali on Wednesday, I was met outside the arrivals area by my driver & guide, Nyoman Dana. I also was able to meet up with Agung, the adminstrator extraordinare for Dive Damai! He's been working with me for months on practicing my Bahasa Indonesian and it's great to finally meet him face to face!<br /><br />After loading all my gear, we headed out of Denpasar with a quick stop to visit a long-time friend and dive guide, Anton Kusmayanto, who now owns Bali Dive Travel. We spent a short while having tea and catching up but with traffic picking up, it was time to head north! The road north out of Denpasar is called the Sunset Road, but there's so many buildings and so much construction going on, I haven't a clue how one could possible see the sunset from that road! Traffic on Bali is tremendous and short looking distances on a map take forever to travel. My first stop on Bali was Medewi Beach Cottages, about a 3 hour drive north of Denpasar. Medewi Beach is known as a hot surfing spot with a famous "left-hand" wave. There were a few surfers waiting to catch a wave but the sea was pretty calm while I was there...needless to say, the surfers from around the world were slightly disappointed!<br /><br />Thursday's drives included a stop at Bunut Bolong, a huge Banyan-type tree that has had a road carved through the middle of it...looks very healthy and has put out many, many more roots outside the roadbed so it's thriving!<br /><br />We then headed farther north to one of Bali's nine seaside temples which surround and protect the Island. Pura Rambut Siwi is made up of six separate temples all situated on a cliffside overlooking a peaceful stretch of black sand beach. One of the temples is actually located down many, many steps right at the water's edge.<br /><br />Next we headed further north to Pura (Temple) Gede Perancak, another of the seaside temples. It's closed to visitors right now because of ongoing refurbishment, but my "find of the day" just past the temple was a whole fleet of Javanese-style fishing boats! These fishing boats are all painted in vibrant colors and all sport decorated icons on their masts...it's a gorgeous spectacle to behold and I was able to speak (through Nyoman, of course) to some of the fishermen. They go out at least 50 miles to fish for "small tuna"...each boat holds 60 men! The catch for his boat the night before yielded 20 ton of fish! As a diver, such huge harvests makes me sad to think they do this night after night? Soon there will be NO fish left in our oceans!<br /><br />Friday morning's drive was 1-1/2 hours north to the NW tip of Bali, driving through Bali Barat National Park. The park is over 74,000 hectares plus over 7,000 hectares of protected coral reef offshore. The Park is home to many birds, 200 different species of plants and lots of wildlife. We saw lots of macaque monkeys sitting by the side of the road but none of their signature "mouse deer" but it was the middle of the day and hot, hot, hot there! It's the end of the dry season on Bali so it's quite dry up in the Park, not as lush as farther south where it's a more tropical climate.<br /><br />Today's plan is a 2-tank boat dive with Mimpi Divers here at Mimpi Menjagan Resort. I have a lovely walled villa with a private natural hot spring pool in my courtyard! It will be something to look foward to jumping into after my dives today.....</span><br /></span></span></span>Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08060628909151908330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4252996457589396188.post-67666320668461804412011-10-22T09:53:00.000-07:002011-10-22T09:58:42.841-07:00Back to Bali, Indonesia<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqvEHZ5e2I9e9Nl71cYwpUX3cu7MePGVGRwgUUUK3al0wmw_zw5j0LTrMJk9Y6UGe2jkkptzZEcW7DsiQvsA7PJ47kX7XEgzIeFtEUdfSJBQaouAZJpM448WUiHMrv94NXtrItFjegOkQ/s1600/DSC_0236.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqvEHZ5e2I9e9Nl71cYwpUX3cu7MePGVGRwgUUUK3al0wmw_zw5j0LTrMJk9Y6UGe2jkkptzZEcW7DsiQvsA7PJ47kX7XEgzIeFtEUdfSJBQaouAZJpM448WUiHMrv94NXtrItFjegOkQ/s200/DSC_0236.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5666361038712512898" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijC4-MH5eIq2MRIUZ4DwpIjwFjpGRHqidcCmVGc0apShnEAsvB4OSMxoXaOU-pPHJhqShzOEBq7Hzv-gIzM8xVJIFXD82NEILtGGffkFhFqDoLfEYcWEXjHSjMiZPHrSe2jXaD7cULl9k/s1600/DSC_0134-2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 134px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijC4-MH5eIq2MRIUZ4DwpIjwFjpGRHqidcCmVGc0apShnEAsvB4OSMxoXaOU-pPHJhqShzOEBq7Hzv-gIzM8xVJIFXD82NEILtGGffkFhFqDoLfEYcWEXjHSjMiZPHrSe2jXaD7cULl9k/s200/DSC_0134-2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5666361028622381554" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhayG7BFEYcjuwhtYlj10xDCIPnPQ_9_PyydEfh7NNGWZDTKDgxydvA4Jlv6oI33wvjd2Aq1NtIVqTmOPBi7YPsXueycBdZzL31pplP9PkE0SqzlrfIUjzd6vPQp8za9kMLMr65l6W1jj0/s1600/DSC_0084.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhayG7BFEYcjuwhtYlj10xDCIPnPQ_9_PyydEfh7NNGWZDTKDgxydvA4Jlv6oI33wvjd2Aq1NtIVqTmOPBi7YPsXueycBdZzL31pplP9PkE0SqzlrfIUjzd6vPQp8za9kMLMr65l6W1jj0/s200/DSC_0084.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5666361040740717170" border="0" /></a>I'll be back in Bali on October 26 and the first 5 days will be spent with a guide and my cameras, exploring the NW coast of Bali....including diving at Menjangan! I'll be visiting temples and other cultural areas and trying to immerse myself in their culture...can't wait! The rest of the dive group arrives on November 1st and we'll do more temple visits, Barong & Kecak dance performances and let them learn about the fabulous Balinese culture that I so love! By the 7th of November, the whole group will be gathered at Scuba Seraya, on the East Coast of Bali, doing some signature Bali shore dives and awaiting the arrival of the MSY Damai, our home for FOURTEEN fabulous nights! We'll be traveling from Bali, through the Komodo/Rinca (Cannibal Rock) regions and end up on Ambon so follow along and share the adventure with us!Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08060628909151908330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4252996457589396188.post-12967408809905129852011-04-13T07:30:00.000-07:002011-04-13T07:35:28.136-07:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkwveIFoUW6Wym-UJeEjo6k5O2AYxvkoBiBYnS-3MqXAobRjr6727oSFU1_O8fGPDFFnZUDmcEQbgzOvoJ-d8qYk-wV0IIvsPtj8N3kkT5qeU5o7Y-cTjbGlrJP5BFxazFUGrZn8IrXls/s1600/MKhermit+crab.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkwveIFoUW6Wym-UJeEjo6k5O2AYxvkoBiBYnS-3MqXAobRjr6727oSFU1_O8fGPDFFnZUDmcEQbgzOvoJ-d8qYk-wV0IIvsPtj8N3kkT5qeU5o7Y-cTjbGlrJP5BFxazFUGrZn8IrXls/s200/MKhermit+crab.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595076054331972146" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhexQsNtrFahY4mQlHWDJ-uHfu_MKnrJGRJegA4RocVZ1BuKOVBVi11vATdHZmmb1Jr8U_BMqzFQ72lj1lv2O8PgSYbOh3MOZqdZxT3aLiAeCp8tjh_mPinWf84LdtC1yWMcxPzH15JdII/s1600/MKsnail.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhexQsNtrFahY4mQlHWDJ-uHfu_MKnrJGRJegA4RocVZ1BuKOVBVi11vATdHZmmb1Jr8U_BMqzFQ72lj1lv2O8PgSYbOh3MOZqdZxT3aLiAeCp8tjh_mPinWf84LdtC1yWMcxPzH15JdII/s200/MKsnail.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595076062795826674" /></a><br />Sea the World Scuba Center is diving from Scuba Club Cozumel this week and they tell me the weather is hot & sunny! Diving has been great and Mike K sent me a few images to share with you....enjoy!Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08060628909151908330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4252996457589396188.post-5599617374488979862011-03-15T18:41:00.000-07:002011-03-15T19:13:27.188-07:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvPp05vJ5RwP3MS9bDjzaU5MRjEDsNYMw8yf_2An306odHxT6wNEf2FVJnl6MHjqyo1nuq_1yEOu_BctqGukYaaRr3IhA2sFOpD5sMs3eoQcADf_F7z7DOlVlpj0GDT3dkuJANA62gpHo/s1600/MDC_8165.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvPp05vJ5RwP3MS9bDjzaU5MRjEDsNYMw8yf_2An306odHxT6wNEf2FVJnl6MHjqyo1nuq_1yEOu_BctqGukYaaRr3IhA2sFOpD5sMs3eoQcADf_F7z7DOlVlpj0GDT3dkuJANA62gpHo/s200/MDC_8165.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5584494933489924578" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiZVZF5PvnYLCm8JyEOlsRrqVGjLiQ2UE2P8x4YTGy8akz1mjwyvVHru5-gy4_rw2fkcYfz8eT9ufjfm89eSxrZGCHfm32iw_02yWTYya2HXEKXBAqV1ZxHpsPnIJwJ4TTSmgpTBMtxOk/s1600/_LEM9334-2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 130px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiZVZF5PvnYLCm8JyEOlsRrqVGjLiQ2UE2P8x4YTGy8akz1mjwyvVHru5-gy4_rw2fkcYfz8eT9ufjfm89eSxrZGCHfm32iw_02yWTYya2HXEKXBAqV1ZxHpsPnIJwJ4TTSmgpTBMtxOk/s200/_LEM9334-2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5584494928092682002" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqLh4vfgzbvwt5TGmOcgQ_BmcOzo4SPD0MhuLzIvc8ypJSd6dsEZNg-A9A_UiAFmF2rcxVBTgnLYukIUD4YHtV0WvNNHJk8ReGWRxXtums3EVWcHrVmM6V91IksXMkxfGJAZ0OgyhMV7s/s1600/_IDX2746.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqLh4vfgzbvwt5TGmOcgQ_BmcOzo4SPD0MhuLzIvc8ypJSd6dsEZNg-A9A_UiAFmF2rcxVBTgnLYukIUD4YHtV0WvNNHJk8ReGWRxXtums3EVWcHrVmM6V91IksXMkxfGJAZ0OgyhMV7s/s200/_IDX2746.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5584494922120527074" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQY6pytt7sjEpkuheG1hVkOiYRXSAo6GcI6JDEwTN7j2s08H-BVQSHUV1AW_jrHOrrFoMtgsh_2MiXItoHM47fY7MQkaybErxkmn46i9s1jfKRIEIT0ya0AqWU7ps5cJN5FORMnYVQLcI/s1600/_LEM9043-2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQY6pytt7sjEpkuheG1hVkOiYRXSAo6GcI6JDEwTN7j2s08H-BVQSHUV1AW_jrHOrrFoMtgsh_2MiXItoHM47fY7MQkaybErxkmn46i9s1jfKRIEIT0ya0AqWU7ps5cJN5FORMnYVQLcI/s200/_LEM9043-2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5584494918968645714" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdtIHKbU1TimBGrJQC6nPAkUmLgBBxlu2Ry3TWtBtiyl7mqQ0QlvSp0i8kvo39Fo3uK2BNJ8E1YxTuF8SxloVILDmy3KlPZhyJV_0mlFvPQX2vGynaHHfUE0lwy-v8uOGT5eb3GS9K4sc/s1600/_LEM8838-2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 111px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdtIHKbU1TimBGrJQC6nPAkUmLgBBxlu2Ry3TWtBtiyl7mqQ0QlvSp0i8kvo39Fo3uK2BNJ8E1YxTuF8SxloVILDmy3KlPZhyJV_0mlFvPQX2vGynaHHfUE0lwy-v8uOGT5eb3GS9K4sc/s200/_LEM8838-2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5584494915546814866" /></a><br />Eleven days of heaven onboard the Damai! It's a 5-star floating hotel with beautiful rooms, a crew of 18 to cater to the 10 guests' needs, 4 dive guides for the divers, food that could easily be served in any fine restaurant anywhere in the world! Wow, it was an amazing trip!<br /><br />From the black sand "muck" dives in Ambon right under the main pier with eels, frogfish, shrimp, gobies and lots of other critters to the schools of jacks and snapper circling around us....then on to Air Laut & Banda to dive coral slopes, sheer walls, hard coral gardens and more sandy rubble slopes looking for critters! Off the island of Banda we dove the volcano lava slope. The hard coral gardens there are acres and acres of gorgeous, unbleached, corals. Scientists have been amazed at the sheer amount of the numerous varieties of hard corals that have covered this slope in a little more than 20 years since the last eruption! While on Banda, Paul & I took a break from diving to visit the little town of Banda Nasaira and a lovely spice plantation, the local Museum and the Dutch fort built in the early 1600's! We saw cinnamon trees, nutmeg trees, almond &cocoa trees and other amazing growing spices. I bought a bag of nutmeg, mace, cinnamon and nutmeg candy for just under $10!<br /><br />After leaving Banda we visited Koon, Run (roon), Momon and then finally arrived at Triton Bay. We visited a fabulous waterfall along the shore, saw petroglyphs carved into the limestone wall 40' above the waterline from many hundreds of years ago and, of course, did our last 3-1/2 days of diving the fabulous dive sites there. Larry's Heaven, GT Rock, Tim Rock, Davids' Rock, Little Komodo and a few exploratory "green wall" dives were logged in Triton Bay. Lots of critters were seen, huge schools of fish including some of the largest varieties of sweetlips surrounded us at times and the hard and especially soft corals were gorgeous. Everyone was excited to see "wobblies" (woebbegong sharks) under a lot of the coral heads, some blue-spotted stingrays and too many creatures to name. Another one of the highlights was a great encounter with a blue ring octopus as well. You name it, we saw it here! It's not easy to get to/from but the diving is amazing!<br /><br />Yesterday was a long day of travel...from Kaimana to Ambon to Makkasar to Manado..none of the flights are longer than 1-1/2 hours but the waiting times in hot, un-air-conditioned airports make it seem longer! We were happy to get back to the Novatel in Manado last night and snuggle into a comfortable bed after a long, cool shower! This morning we're just hanging around the hotel until late morning when we all make our way back to the Manado airport for our flight to Singapore and then we'll all split up for our homeward journeys. It was a wonderful group to spend 3 weeks with...we had a lot of fun, good food, great drinks and amazing diving! Next trip onboard the Damai is this coming November and we can't wait to get back!<br /><br />Terima kasih to Capt. Alwi; our always smiling First Officer, Sofian; Chief Engineer Joko; our 3 wonderful chefs, Rudy, Wayan, & Brida, our skiff drivers Udin, Sabang; our masseuse Hendrik; our 3 engineers Indra, Achmadun & Holan who kept our rooms cool and the compressors running smoothly; our wonderful "restaurant stewards", Ketut & Kadek, who remembered all our weird meal requests and served us always smiling; our fabulous dive guides Ketut, Chris & Inyo (with the AMAZING critter eyes) and, of course, last but not least our Cruise Director, Mike Veitch! You dealt with all the little and big glitches seamlessly and with great Canadian humour! See you all again in November...sempa jumpa lagi!Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08060628909151908330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4252996457589396188.post-81471069958150612352011-03-03T17:34:00.001-08:002011-03-03T17:36:34.474-08:00Transit Day!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNOjf_es4mLBtZLctEV0IYJ744rE8VziFte1SpoMXSDIHuft7Xaouc1tId_bvkV3Fipp0u1rgR-2l5s4pgGokrB-EfHpYxrwRU4pgTuDhHY48rsVGTmkeIzHp48NQ82OiDN0iiQALLgv8/s1600/private+terrace+web.jpg.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 130px; height: 130px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNOjf_es4mLBtZLctEV0IYJ744rE8VziFte1SpoMXSDIHuft7Xaouc1tId_bvkV3Fipp0u1rgR-2l5s4pgGokrB-EfHpYxrwRU4pgTuDhHY48rsVGTmkeIzHp48NQ82OiDN0iiQALLgv8/s200/private+terrace+web.jpg.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5580032391969042562" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQueNMyva1TvIKzkB_q8uI9HF91SWYfzXrG4AgNRR1c7QUFFc4FXlyYkdq4FEMCbR8rh-yiRId0F4zHN17wsfcvNZmu-XP216idcnE_SWGCYEeKzyGI0TYgamtEetsGcp71st82w4pdPs/s1600/_RAJ5664-1.JPG.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 130px; height: 130px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQueNMyva1TvIKzkB_q8uI9HF91SWYfzXrG4AgNRR1c7QUFFc4FXlyYkdq4FEMCbR8rh-yiRId0F4zHN17wsfcvNZmu-XP216idcnE_SWGCYEeKzyGI0TYgamtEetsGcp71st82w4pdPs/s200/_RAJ5664-1.JPG.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5580032392149112674" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF93vSLid4CcJA10R-7edte1KXK3SXiqqZy9vv5YKvMCLUQYCEC1aXwFbMctORI4xP6xhBSNJ2y-aEqhVfu3oeqOa69KfdmxeoXqOGxTp6sockd2Kng2m7G_mp5T1NKaKpYU3Pcrh3lA8/s1600/damai_cabin.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF93vSLid4CcJA10R-7edte1KXK3SXiqqZy9vv5YKvMCLUQYCEC1aXwFbMctORI4xP6xhBSNJ2y-aEqhVfu3oeqOa69KfdmxeoXqOGxTp6sockd2Kng2m7G_mp5T1NKaKpYU3Pcrh3lA8/s200/damai_cabin.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5580032386371080834" /></a><br />This morning we left Manado on a 6:45 a.m. flight to Makassar and then will travel onwards to Ambon. Garuda has a wonderful lounge here in the brand-new Makassar airport so we're hanging out here for a few hours in between our flights. Final destination today is Ambon and the beautiful MSY Damai....can't wait to get there and get onboard! <br />Our itinerary for the next 11 nights will be diving Ambon's black sand muck, the Banda region and onwards to Koon where the signature dive site is called "Too Many Fish", and then ending up in Triton Bay for 4-5 days! These are all new areas to us so we are anxious to explore and share our findings with you.....Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08060628909151908330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4252996457589396188.post-70149753804955536152011-03-02T06:18:00.000-08:002011-03-02T06:25:19.682-08:00Last dives at Lembeh!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUVYGQp-5dmcqfL8TdTevWr9rvjBzjSqj4gkeUcUptj-nm2eQa6u5mN-2Zhb64ZI881jhwrkllw4uzsHLBkADaQnt6QY9D3nRZDQSjGYgOKpnrIv8o69vaTSuOxUk7GFoS6Fx2MUaNMP0/s1600/_LEM8455-2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUVYGQp-5dmcqfL8TdTevWr9rvjBzjSqj4gkeUcUptj-nm2eQa6u5mN-2Zhb64ZI881jhwrkllw4uzsHLBkADaQnt6QY9D3nRZDQSjGYgOKpnrIv8o69vaTSuOxUk7GFoS6Fx2MUaNMP0/s200/_LEM8455-2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579488377679978482" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKZhmHXtITPLZsUThyphenhyphenSzcZX8ax3PJkP4xrvDNeNhn_81gsCOpmMB5h5Ti5OB_aXUIKS5AEl7Ckn72AuqtdQC28kjIVqmhUkGuLqw_DJXjlOqDpmXU2wwl7gbDnPaKXtlZEqmp2dQNc3Ko/s1600/_LEM8444-2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 130px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKZhmHXtITPLZsUThyphenhyphenSzcZX8ax3PJkP4xrvDNeNhn_81gsCOpmMB5h5Ti5OB_aXUIKS5AEl7Ckn72AuqtdQC28kjIVqmhUkGuLqw_DJXjlOqDpmXU2wwl7gbDnPaKXtlZEqmp2dQNc3Ko/s200/_LEM8444-2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579488376028403634" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWVHhRUqrMDtepDDBBr2mL0b6_Iv8k7wcicClLoXmJYmjF1FwbENDYs5satOABrVXZSVnPMdYWo4OrshKZ13lnujU0dlsxPv0aUG_WSYokm6MkfYHoeSda-kMw02LNKKp7CYGzgPhhdZs/s1600/_LEM8424-2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWVHhRUqrMDtepDDBBr2mL0b6_Iv8k7wcicClLoXmJYmjF1FwbENDYs5satOABrVXZSVnPMdYWo4OrshKZ13lnujU0dlsxPv0aUG_WSYokm6MkfYHoeSda-kMw02LNKKp7CYGzgPhhdZs/s200/_LEM8424-2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579488365367220018" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC-eiusgTMf-ypg3qzC_Yd-doyXBbn6cCPgPQztqf7fhmBznw3qAPeElS2C0sEkt9GkZKZ3d88bwFLZVy6Pkl9mU60Bon3495_qwzqpVhSb4hlWGk4QKic5G_wHoR8PsrH19oqmp4vXq0/s1600/_LEM8393-2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC-eiusgTMf-ypg3qzC_Yd-doyXBbn6cCPgPQztqf7fhmBznw3qAPeElS2C0sEkt9GkZKZ3d88bwFLZVy6Pkl9mU60Bon3495_qwzqpVhSb4hlWGk4QKic5G_wHoR8PsrH19oqmp4vXq0/s200/_LEM8393-2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579488363066930242" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikRy2FrAfkiCkt4Qwmo3mkl9eZ5djAVzHmXuGSqbE9X89yCSixU7t0BxFi5vBo9ZQk57XTdCYSGedLYq3ZImcKVJo_GJL9pRuQfPJztm1CM3ncnWX5RL_-IBZlVWC7In84FGXHPkCdkpc/s1600/_LEM8335-2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 123px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikRy2FrAfkiCkt4Qwmo3mkl9eZ5djAVzHmXuGSqbE9X89yCSixU7t0BxFi5vBo9ZQk57XTdCYSGedLYq3ZImcKVJo_GJL9pRuQfPJztm1CM3ncnWX5RL_-IBZlVWC7In84FGXHPkCdkpc/s200/_LEM8335-2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579488355330427314" /></a><br />Well, today we finished our diving at Lembeh...two wonderful wide-angle morning dives...first one at California Dreaming and 2nd one at Nudi Retreat, which is a mini wall that is covered in huge sea fans and soft corals. Last dive was a "muck dive" of course...can't leave the Straits without finishing off in the black sand! We weren't in the water 2 minutes and our guide, Iwan, found us another wonderful Wonderpuss! This one hung around until all the photographers got their fill...it was fabulous! Then the guys found us not one, not two, but THREE hairy frogfishes! Last but not least was a juvenile zebra batfish...they are spectacularly gorgeous....what a way to end a great week at Lembeh!<br /><br />Tomorrow we're off to Manado for the night and then an early, early morning flight to Ambon on Friday morning to board the Damai. Thanks for a wonderful time, Lembeh Resort and the critters@lembeh crew. You make it so easy to have so much fun...can't wait to come back again...and again...and again!Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08060628909151908330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4252996457589396188.post-3944996602446562922011-03-01T14:24:00.000-08:002011-03-01T14:33:46.523-08:00Mandarin Fish Dive<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgphCy7iQPgPVC-krm-BySQKn02URREbn665HtePfS2tz15lGrSVDlYLUFjQMFSADBWBvWL62c1wu6ASzYvh2UvfQOEgg7wpoyj41nBh2BHVE1qNNjJpznT0UwXm_VHMIz4JPbsWc0hg0w/s1600/_LEM8309-2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 114px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgphCy7iQPgPVC-krm-BySQKn02URREbn665HtePfS2tz15lGrSVDlYLUFjQMFSADBWBvWL62c1wu6ASzYvh2UvfQOEgg7wpoyj41nBh2BHVE1qNNjJpznT0UwXm_VHMIz4JPbsWc0hg0w/s200/_LEM8309-2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579242901395686018" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCDSWguMOl-K5PgDjT6ZoXkba8ua0bLQF_UwWxHiebY3wqWOfQyASkHJXbAF1RZXI4aNfQJHiKWTus_kHi65nFE6_uO1eOuyPMXXpvR36a7M9OL5k79zsgILpX2kBfE9k7aFxXc5-4T-U/s1600/_LEM8256-2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 124px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCDSWguMOl-K5PgDjT6ZoXkba8ua0bLQF_UwWxHiebY3wqWOfQyASkHJXbAF1RZXI4aNfQJHiKWTus_kHi65nFE6_uO1eOuyPMXXpvR36a7M9OL5k79zsgILpX2kBfE9k7aFxXc5-4T-U/s200/_LEM8256-2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579242897766427138" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvUK12Op4P3qYZ_Nyn46VLvil_iKv6AviqJaGBBaPkmUXt1zmCU7qt5Ilcnie2xZR9bnntx0e_xbZTtDsTD-t8BLW3sfDukJr8_A_7XN0glMjAck3N8ztEjGW7wvFrMOlGtSYz75f2KH4/s1600/_LEM8248-2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvUK12Op4P3qYZ_Nyn46VLvil_iKv6AviqJaGBBaPkmUXt1zmCU7qt5Ilcnie2xZR9bnntx0e_xbZTtDsTD-t8BLW3sfDukJr8_A_7XN0glMjAck3N8ztEjGW7wvFrMOlGtSYz75f2KH4/s200/_LEM8248-2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579242891843638866" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisopd3dtJ07kzJkSzC4OVW346rOqr5PsAwF607i0wel-jJrxn_xlGEuUOdO_bsJVerazwnPM4HG17cKeE9kzR7HYX4m9vNsnmFPbEynABPVnn3hLwF3IW4LmRSTYQBdlSO1Svi0Oq95us/s1600/_LEM8234-2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 126px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisopd3dtJ07kzJkSzC4OVW346rOqr5PsAwF607i0wel-jJrxn_xlGEuUOdO_bsJVerazwnPM4HG17cKeE9kzR7HYX4m9vNsnmFPbEynABPVnn3hLwF3IW4LmRSTYQBdlSO1Svi0Oq95us/s200/_LEM8234-2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579242888146652930" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnQMq2mkTOzA2Fws_PsHyjSs3CuQeD-HhqsOeGdKdwcryETr_bksivqHEIgn3dX8mT988eMoxsFaPBQhNS0jHJNHZOsKyAF9bQ43x-Ubu9LtNaVKwZHKba2mrY4Yzp19iu7MIZFmz8WhY/s1600/_LEM8220-2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 131px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnQMq2mkTOzA2Fws_PsHyjSs3CuQeD-HhqsOeGdKdwcryETr_bksivqHEIgn3dX8mT988eMoxsFaPBQhNS0jHJNHZOsKyAF9bQ43x-Ubu9LtNaVKwZHKba2mrY4Yzp19iu7MIZFmz8WhY/s200/_LEM8220-2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579242888353467490" /></a><br />Lembeh Resort has a house reef with mandarin fish living on it but they found a new dive site just two minutes out into the Straits so they are currently giving their "own" mandarin site a rest. We hopped onto the boat and quickly arrived at the dive site. The corals there are rubbly, which is what the mandarin fish prefer for a habitat, but there were some very pretty encrusting pink sponges as well so there was some contrast. We departed the dock at 4:45 so it was still very light and as soon as we dropped into the water and swam down to the corals, we could see the mandarins already starting to roam the reef to do their courting ritual. For over an hour in 16' maximum depth we watched them court....it was amazing! These are large males, a lot of them were 5" long! I had lots of opportunities to capture close-up images which was lots of fun! There was only one actual mating that I observed and this pair only rose a couple of inches into the water column, rather than the 15-18" we've observed before, so catching them "in the act" was difficult. I managed two shots but they were out of focus, darn it!<br /><br />As well as the beautiful mandarin fish, the reef there is covered in various varieties of cardinal fish, including the colorful pajama cardinals! We also saw lined pipefish and a very, very cool orange Tiger mantis shrimp peeping out of his hole watching all the action...I'm sure he managed to snare a few cardinal fish for dinner!<br /><br />Today is our last day of diving in the Straits..we're going a bit north to California Dreaming and Angel's Window for some soft coral and wide angle diving...more later!Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08060628909151908330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4252996457589396188.post-27309311871978333702011-03-01T05:07:00.001-08:002011-03-01T05:12:50.706-08:00Lembeh Days 3 & 4<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglwVzV4SLZblR1PEbxx3UKR8Kslh0E9NWqjkrQT_rXhTqB3Lfllx6r8Bw8jRhCu5peaWZ73wtw3v_XahgRzv-1gjwn3B2eSPA4o2zTVJmQNrw18RseSTRO_9xs9SC_CXX4mYZIm7IFIw4/s1600/_LEM7955-2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglwVzV4SLZblR1PEbxx3UKR8Kslh0E9NWqjkrQT_rXhTqB3Lfllx6r8Bw8jRhCu5peaWZ73wtw3v_XahgRzv-1gjwn3B2eSPA4o2zTVJmQNrw18RseSTRO_9xs9SC_CXX4mYZIm7IFIw4/s200/_LEM7955-2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579098633944491730" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG_iS7EardwiKGTqQKujndMfZBkSMLizXFwXlAdrVZ1z3A0h1K7LxMpFe3PQtPLbcpUHtLoeKzb08SZKBC-560tmx6w8TCjwgpue1o2Ypz6gVi1OH8QkzuTXENBeghz0NcAYKuxn9AHWc/s1600/_LEM7941-2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 138px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG_iS7EardwiKGTqQKujndMfZBkSMLizXFwXlAdrVZ1z3A0h1K7LxMpFe3PQtPLbcpUHtLoeKzb08SZKBC-560tmx6w8TCjwgpue1o2Ypz6gVi1OH8QkzuTXENBeghz0NcAYKuxn9AHWc/s200/_LEM7941-2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579098626058708066" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn0T8cjBB9oT4BDWNupVrpya0i75EjTajkkrPh7aH5RDz9ROyf9wLDLknjMmI9IBuPREghrRX_y2cF2ZBfzWIwhpQ6snEeRs9CppqNINZLZfkUqQ3-a8r2blVgpte2KAkLxOpE7CgYu-s/s1600/_LEM7919-2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 130px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn0T8cjBB9oT4BDWNupVrpya0i75EjTajkkrPh7aH5RDz9ROyf9wLDLknjMmI9IBuPREghrRX_y2cF2ZBfzWIwhpQ6snEeRs9CppqNINZLZfkUqQ3-a8r2blVgpte2KAkLxOpE7CgYu-s/s200/_LEM7919-2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579098621308808098" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtO-8U2kYcV4SSAClAkP_ENcwmidF-dh0CRBjxNPnktNHUJTKnErcGSYmAZzZ2GfmMMcdCQDiKidBzv_m1_YifeHbWZpyRKlyTsio02OdwpLmwUaTtrZk2bz3xm-bQPXiwUj_McidAaSI/s1600/_LEM7905-2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 124px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtO-8U2kYcV4SSAClAkP_ENcwmidF-dh0CRBjxNPnktNHUJTKnErcGSYmAZzZ2GfmMMcdCQDiKidBzv_m1_YifeHbWZpyRKlyTsio02OdwpLmwUaTtrZk2bz3xm-bQPXiwUj_McidAaSI/s200/_LEM7905-2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579098622948596434" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiEUcz0d7x_mGkOPMHrZV4FHl_9srTgOJVfHUCCK2WlZmNfbvKhuVuFMMWkdTuvLj1U3czyPiMu4Sm3V7ARZUCUowP-WdAJ9Z9KgosV8jzSTtoSSzYGoOKHTDyTdOMgN5i6W__ZXzuTzk/s1600/_LEM7899-2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 117px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiEUcz0d7x_mGkOPMHrZV4FHl_9srTgOJVfHUCCK2WlZmNfbvKhuVuFMMWkdTuvLj1U3czyPiMu4Sm3V7ARZUCUowP-WdAJ9Z9KgosV8jzSTtoSSzYGoOKHTDyTdOMgN5i6W__ZXzuTzk/s200/_LEM7899-2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579098618013110386" /></a><br />We've been so darn busy diving that I haven't had time to do any posts...sorry! Flamboyant cuttlefish, tiger shrimp, frogfish in different colors and shapes....we've been having a BLAST! We did the mandarin fish dusk dive this evening and we had the biggest mandarin fish running around the reef in front us that we've ever seen! Four dives yesterday including an amazing night dive; four dives today....we hardly have time to eat & sleep! We have 3 more dives scheduled for tomorrow including some wide angle soft coral dives in the morning and then it's time to dry the gear for our flight to Ambon early on Friday morning....I'll try and update the blog one more time before we lose our internet connection!Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08060628909151908330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4252996457589396188.post-83051626159366799912011-02-27T00:43:00.000-08:002011-02-27T00:59:12.607-08:00Lembeh Day 2<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQFg3GQw7d8l9AwCDQWuXpq4n11ucqsF5MvMyq4L1KNF5HXUW79YyazndZJBy6zf-qCjTWUxkuMpNUAscUrijUGf8KGdJqYSQLlSGf7Y1T2ePWJ-cPHpTPhIzFOpEFIAPUhMs5i5b47u0/s1600/_LEM7810-2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQFg3GQw7d8l9AwCDQWuXpq4n11ucqsF5MvMyq4L1KNF5HXUW79YyazndZJBy6zf-qCjTWUxkuMpNUAscUrijUGf8KGdJqYSQLlSGf7Y1T2ePWJ-cPHpTPhIzFOpEFIAPUhMs5i5b47u0/s200/_LEM7810-2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578291058743132178" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqtCtT67RMvJZ27D6e_ZprSTfDXjjedlgLhEn9l8EwmglpULUws-6EIefc2Ixy_dqdnBMnuhMbR1iEBhQtOuSgCJKEbMNN3PZ4Qe_kOjs2-kGYartPE_eAXo0wPOt32IJyZF_d7D2uxdc/s1600/_LEM7774-2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqtCtT67RMvJZ27D6e_ZprSTfDXjjedlgLhEn9l8EwmglpULUws-6EIefc2Ixy_dqdnBMnuhMbR1iEBhQtOuSgCJKEbMNN3PZ4Qe_kOjs2-kGYartPE_eAXo0wPOt32IJyZF_d7D2uxdc/s200/_LEM7774-2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578291053382231026" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh0b0onLEFxwaS72mR8Lo59c1aC2ANtQdEBu84dO2MsN6l9jHx106OelC9kFbqpvMufhk5JWPjQ0dLjtActzQM-Lg0M24EJsbwlkLwgkTb8QMmE689smwtpM8t1Sp0GQsD-IMCHeBENOM/s1600/_LEM7799-2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh0b0onLEFxwaS72mR8Lo59c1aC2ANtQdEBu84dO2MsN6l9jHx106OelC9kFbqpvMufhk5JWPjQ0dLjtActzQM-Lg0M24EJsbwlkLwgkTb8QMmE689smwtpM8t1Sp0GQsD-IMCHeBENOM/s200/_LEM7799-2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578291051302341474" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnl3nMMiIs5Ou8moKgZG3hC-IZ-ho0_dp1ZiE27Oh8M4XPyTHWV02KESQbARF9ZYwZqgL-Ufzh2LEyQS2mdFoNdYshMGQ6wI3oMCS1CVisvj0q-irSvSKu4joP9Hb3R5G91fAJQ6jmj4w/s1600/_LEM7767-2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 124px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnl3nMMiIs5Ou8moKgZG3hC-IZ-ho0_dp1ZiE27Oh8M4XPyTHWV02KESQbARF9ZYwZqgL-Ufzh2LEyQS2mdFoNdYshMGQ6wI3oMCS1CVisvj0q-irSvSKu4joP9Hb3R5G91fAJQ6jmj4w/s200/_LEM7767-2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578291043631523682" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpmo15k8tPjVTqPew6B_GGvXTMomb99PKet1MRHFd5FHuNLkXHxKmNsE-KvmKyJVqbQ4pdHa65V1TdskChROngYi0cM7L7n9ftbmneuGa0vkyiijBQsZ5k7aGUOI3XH4klsES6-86dM2s/s1600/_LEM7754-2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 130px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpmo15k8tPjVTqPew6B_GGvXTMomb99PKet1MRHFd5FHuNLkXHxKmNsE-KvmKyJVqbQ4pdHa65V1TdskChROngYi0cM7L7n9ftbmneuGa0vkyiijBQsZ5k7aGUOI3XH4klsES6-86dM2s/s200/_LEM7754-2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578291043878718050" /></a><br />Selamat siang (good afternoon) from Lembeh!<br />Three dives so far today and each one has gotten BETTER! What's on your wish list today??? Blue ring octopus? Check....part of the group saw one on the 1st dive today! Nudibranchs? Check! Cuttlefish? Check! Wonderpuss?????? CHECK! It seems like we saw everything on that third dive...mating bullocki nudis with yellow eggs, white ornate ghostpipefish, baby cuttlefish, 2 pairs of Pegasus sea moths, orange mantis shrimp, WONDERPUSS and then at the end of the dive in the shallows, Mandarin fish running all over the reef...at 4:00 in the afternoon in the SUNLIGHT! We all came up from the dive "whooping" at the wonder! Enjoy the images...more tomorrow after tonight's night dive....Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08060628909151908330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4252996457589396188.post-48829912122584561752011-02-26T02:36:00.000-08:002011-02-26T02:45:25.413-08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4oHZxok__ATKREyTtGR5MjZp8x2cnb4VdQVCpE5co69_a5nBAibgnD16XRCI1YybZBnNiKAtqsf79_jii-E3uIcBaIBA2XwTvLLhrrYCJvM_aseGVHQK2BDRbGQpFSXp70wdWRCZXx6o/s1600/MDC_7749-2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4oHZxok__ATKREyTtGR5MjZp8x2cnb4VdQVCpE5co69_a5nBAibgnD16XRCI1YybZBnNiKAtqsf79_jii-E3uIcBaIBA2XwTvLLhrrYCJvM_aseGVHQK2BDRbGQpFSXp70wdWRCZXx6o/s200/MDC_7749-2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5577946815705908290" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieLqCwee4zKjsqjBgLwijr7Ze_bGeHBY5z-_7p-XZ6-WaICTqDD0n0lRF5wfh1jRMC0wZIJql5fPRLbbXdtEUm3eYlJKkURSqOb2H8i2Eyf_JzVUL0k8gNJmwK6_wvfAppzjcD-bRa_Hg/s1600/MDC_7742-2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieLqCwee4zKjsqjBgLwijr7Ze_bGeHBY5z-_7p-XZ6-WaICTqDD0n0lRF5wfh1jRMC0wZIJql5fPRLbbXdtEUm3eYlJKkURSqOb2H8i2Eyf_JzVUL0k8gNJmwK6_wvfAppzjcD-bRa_Hg/s200/MDC_7742-2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5577946815627866370" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg66kkJZqVHPZw88A6tqdhMnBgC9cNO4grdL-I1TKWChxCVMLRat1AuUklaP5Uo9w0cy-_fBvxJaBPo4GNvvaya9D-afj8Jw0Y-yvJ51qTyMRjtNAQn32ck_sLBxtY1HsoywZ6HBZPO33k/s1600/MDC_7725-2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 120px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg66kkJZqVHPZw88A6tqdhMnBgC9cNO4grdL-I1TKWChxCVMLRat1AuUklaP5Uo9w0cy-_fBvxJaBPo4GNvvaya9D-afj8Jw0Y-yvJ51qTyMRjtNAQn32ck_sLBxtY1HsoywZ6HBZPO33k/s200/MDC_7725-2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5577946811647900722" /></a><br />OFF TO LEMBEH STRAITS!<br />Today after breakfast we headed out of Buyat Bay and turned north towards Lembeh. Even though the morning was clear and sunny, it was decided that we'd travel about two hours to do our first dive to get most of the "open water" traveling behind us before the winds picked up. We were traveling in a covered dive boat that sheltered us from the sun. (The pink boat image is NOT our dive boat; it was just a local-type ferry vessel!) All luggage is loaded into the bow hold and it was a piece of cake for us to move everything...the crew did it all!<br /><br />First dive site was a beautiful island in the middle of the Molukka Straits; 2nd dive site was called Pulau Dua..."Two Islands"...and after a leisurely lunch and another 1/2 hour journey, we were into Lembeh Straits "proper" with mainland N. Sulawesi and the Port of Bitung to our left and Lembeh Island to our right. After a quick check-in, it was time for our 3rd dive of the day. As I type, the rest of the group is off doing their first Lembeh Straits night dive...I'd be with them but I need to play a bit of "catch-up"!<br /><br />Here's a couple of images from our journey today, including our beautiful Lembeh Resort cottage....heavenly room with outdoor bathroom and hot, hot shower!Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08060628909151908330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4252996457589396188.post-14085530006751315202011-02-26T02:07:00.001-08:002011-02-26T02:17:27.899-08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqE0edYcbP5JKoSUhaOxVUfRGwTXodKbcxkOUPzFZ0jMCTeBOG-mlcAw-Bz0EUbiqyZao8ZNg5O7Rwg4NIqr0uvrqBFZCQX9SJdCpzukkURI-25tp3B8nrG3T4j58H02Rh8sjJwc3V1EM/s1600/_BUY7450-2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqE0edYcbP5JKoSUhaOxVUfRGwTXodKbcxkOUPzFZ0jMCTeBOG-mlcAw-Bz0EUbiqyZao8ZNg5O7Rwg4NIqr0uvrqBFZCQX9SJdCpzukkURI-25tp3B8nrG3T4j58H02Rh8sjJwc3V1EM/s200/_BUY7450-2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5577939004903504210" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGu95BSKB0syeKPYdKADIZhwpX_6z51ADvAHZiITQt27JGj0AkRfu6dA1m2j6xHPZUeS-XCMAWgMvCodlBfV185SKHDeeKiibJd3nfi3o5ZfrTNDMSsuruNmygFEfBpntkMd7rRF5Bysg/s1600/_BUY7440-2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 140px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGu95BSKB0syeKPYdKADIZhwpX_6z51ADvAHZiITQt27JGj0AkRfu6dA1m2j6xHPZUeS-XCMAWgMvCodlBfV185SKHDeeKiibJd3nfi3o5ZfrTNDMSsuruNmygFEfBpntkMd7rRF5Bysg/s200/_BUY7440-2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5577939000463873842" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbaX-_PUvaphg8vkf5P2kysI_uS0-gQ57X4JhyphenhyphenvWnAC5Mlq1cpTOeSfu60jQC8N5jkI7TTlUaj3PlFk1fRquWAe4zSdQLFD51NP-F1FCsXNRshn6_IKOS_4mmUFAc80gRI1K60BBTVkas/s1600/_BUY7389-2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbaX-_PUvaphg8vkf5P2kysI_uS0-gQ57X4JhyphenhyphenvWnAC5Mlq1cpTOeSfu60jQC8N5jkI7TTlUaj3PlFk1fRquWAe4zSdQLFD51NP-F1FCsXNRshn6_IKOS_4mmUFAc80gRI1K60BBTVkas/s200/_BUY7389-2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5577938996004987458" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3qKgp2RubzzKbkmHLI0rU1YmN-b5Ag5t2B9gieXmuhPyJR6rdYfS8aAiN3r7jTHRCmYbJVgmj2ak83J-brVUmsB5dNnju4CdkpCmVBlVfCepWM81p454-ChkLJ6jDi9uA58AJxwzxvEY/s1600/_BUY7338-2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3qKgp2RubzzKbkmHLI0rU1YmN-b5Ag5t2B9gieXmuhPyJR6rdYfS8aAiN3r7jTHRCmYbJVgmj2ak83J-brVUmsB5dNnju4CdkpCmVBlVfCepWM81p454-ChkLJ6jDi9uA58AJxwzxvEY/s200/_BUY7338-2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5577938990388200722" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdEEFdPPFeWqLsrSgq00i0y_WrVndwS9FJh9_CHc3c7MrC1M3rmAKws92opzk7wcwwBdAW_m-COUiOqAWk8RsdHn31zLz2rQaGRC4PSRE64SuAm4xjcscjp7CLCaX4cqujWdoQUB8CvFU/s1600/MDC_7697-2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdEEFdPPFeWqLsrSgq00i0y_WrVndwS9FJh9_CHc3c7MrC1M3rmAKws92opzk7wcwwBdAW_m-COUiOqAWk8RsdHn31zLz2rQaGRC4PSRE64SuAm4xjcscjp7CLCaX4cqujWdoQUB8CvFU/s200/MDC_7697-2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5577938990571619138" /></a><br />BUYAT BAY, N. SULAWESI, INDONESIA<br />One of Mother Nature’s still well-hidden secrets, a few years ago the critters@lembeh staff brought some select underwater photographers to this gem of an area to evaluate its potential for the diving market and everyone was blown away by the pristine stands of massive old-growth corals! Getting here isn’t easy, but when is getting to Paradise ever easy? It’s a four-hour drive up and down and around the volcanic region of N. Sulawesi and the Minahasans’ beautiful homeland. After a long international flight, it might be a consideration to stop overnight in either Manado or up in the highlands at Gardenia Lodge, but we opted to just “push on” and go straight to Buyat. Our driver dropped us off at the Port of Belang where the critters boat picked us up and took us the last ½ hour over water instead of the longer route by vehicle.<br />CRITTERS@BUYAT is based out of an old mining camp and it’s being billed as “dive camp with awesome diving” so folks are prepared for basic accommodations. Everyone has their own air-conditioned cottage with private bath and shower and veranda overlooking the gorgeously landscaped grounds. The gold mining operation ceased to operate over 10 years ago and numerous tests have been done over the years for ground and water quality in the region. For some reason the commercial fishermen left this area totally intact so the corals weren’t affected by over fishing and/or fish bombing as was prevalent throughout this region for many years, thus leaving pristine diving conditions for us to enjoy! Maybe the locals’ naming of some of the islands like “Poison”, “Bone” & “Antidote” had something to do with that! Meals are prepared family style in the large dining area equipped with a commercial kitchen. A compressor is on site so that tanks can be easily filled rather than bringing everything down by boat from Lembeh as was initially done.<br />Diving is, to say the least, untouched by diver impact. They have, however, for the past few months had extremely high water temperatures due to this year’s El Nino in the Pacific and some of the corals are definitely showing signs of stress from the prolonged hot waters and are bleaching. Some areas show much greater effect than others. The sponges and sea fans are gigantic and surrounded by massive schools of sweepers and cardinal fish. The sandy slopes are a treasure to discover…shrimp gobies, mantis shrimp, snake eels, flatheads, crocodile fish & pipefish to name just a few are commonly seen in different settings and as photographers, we’ve enjoyed our diving down here. It’s disheartening to see the effects of Global Warming and in no place is it more evident when you see thousands of years of coral growth slowly losing its color (and life) because of the high water temperatures. Our guides are encouraged that this phase is coming to a close because the water temperate has dropped 2 degrees in the past few weeks. One of the more encouraging signs is that corals are apparently learning to adapt to higher temperatures and if the water doesn’t stay too warm for too long, damage can be reversible. As divers, it’s incumbent upon us to continue to educate the world as to the fragility of our oceans and our basic food chain.<br />Thanks, Buyat Bay, for 3 days of splendid diving! Our guides Andi & Fandy have had “awesome critter” eyes and we’ve thoroughly enjoyed their company and their guidance…..NOW, off to Lembeh!Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08060628909151908330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4252996457589396188.post-82793000878370817882011-02-16T09:18:00.000-08:002011-02-16T09:31:12.434-08:00Off to Indonesia!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgePYE_WVrZFYYo9fVnyN1ZbnNz6AmI_wfk-SGcLZtc1K64HzwdiBIkhGitUarZo7IUn_2epAvQINxl1ucrA3zxGoBxaQTURGIdF1qOpEdF-6XTJdGiR7_9A7cGi9DPylllaGOnsuT2NpA/s1600/Tanjung+Usi+Reef+6663.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgePYE_WVrZFYYo9fVnyN1ZbnNz6AmI_wfk-SGcLZtc1K64HzwdiBIkhGitUarZo7IUn_2epAvQINxl1ucrA3zxGoBxaQTURGIdF1qOpEdF-6XTJdGiR7_9A7cGi9DPylllaGOnsuT2NpA/s200/Tanjung+Usi+Reef+6663.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5574339264868313682" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">We'll be diving Buyat Bay, Lembeh Straits and then off to Ambon to board the Damai on March 4. Traveling from Ambon to Triton Bay, we'll be diving some of the richest ocean in the world! Follow along starting next week!</span>Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08060628909151908330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4252996457589396188.post-8824892347881479892010-05-17T00:59:00.001-07:002010-05-17T01:19:43.600-07:00<span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">From Puerto Princessa, Palawan 90 nautical miles to Tubbataha Marine Reserve, 5 full days of diving there; onwards 200 nautical miles to Apo Island, Dauin off Dumaguete, Balicasag and Caibalao and then "home" to Mactan Island, it was a fantastic 14 days aboard the beautiful Philippine Siren. The ship is gorgeous and well laid out, the crew was a combination of Thai, Indonesian, Filipino, a Dutchman and an American! The ship has only been here in the Philippines for about five months now. It sailed from Bira, Indonesia where it was built with a Thai captain and combination Indonesian and Thai crew. They have been training the Filipino crew and are in the process of turning over all responsibilities for the operations to the local crew. Everyone works well together and gets along great, even given a little bit of language difficulties amongst themselves!<br /><br />We dove sheer walls, sand slopes, black sand "muck", over fields of gorgeous hard and soft corals and even identified some new fish and critters on this trip. Almost all diving is done from the inflatable "dinkies" with the exception of two dives where we were moored directly over gorgeous hard corals. Diving is generally drift diving with some swift currents and most moderate to mild.<br /><br />The food on the ship was exquisite....Thai, Indonesian, Filipino; a Japanese dinner as well as the last night barbeque! The head chef, Ivan, is an Indonesian who sailed over with the ship and is leaving with us to head back home after seven months away. He's leaving the kitchen to two very talented Filipino chefs, Jimmie & TaTa, both of whom also contributed daily to create the amazing entrees. I'm sure going to miss my nase gorem at breakfast and my fresh mangoes daily!<br /><br />Well, the internet connection here is slow, slow, slow & won't let me upload any images again....bye, bye, Philippines!<br /></span></span></span>Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08060628909151908330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4252996457589396188.post-18367166400257144432010-05-14T21:01:00.000-07:002010-05-14T21:08:55.238-07:00We're now at Cabilao Island for the last two days of diving. This afternoon the Siren will be hoisting the sails for a bit and we'll also do some sailing inbetween dives! I'm using the iPhone connection so this will be brief! It will not grab images from my phone library but I posted some images to the Facebook page!Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08060628909151908330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4252996457589396188.post-1711003236004278052010-05-11T21:40:00.000-07:002010-05-11T21:47:23.359-07:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNS15m2FuU9lau-fjbiTYGE8cDALkfzrhsfvenbFzncT12a291SH83peVDxJGGy2CzZxcdUBuHZpZhqpa-sISmrzadSNxWtmX-5xBOcKMerK1dyx3AHkgxBqX_O2ymv7sFpiF9zfehSyo/s1600/PHL_6526-2.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNS15m2FuU9lau-fjbiTYGE8cDALkfzrhsfvenbFzncT12a291SH83peVDxJGGy2CzZxcdUBuHZpZhqpa-sISmrzadSNxWtmX-5xBOcKMerK1dyx3AHkgxBqX_O2ymv7sFpiF9zfehSyo/s200/PHL_6526-2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470240222044202754" border="0" /></a>
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<br /><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CJANETC%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PlaceName"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PlaceType"></o:smarttagtype><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal">It’s been a week since we got onboard the Philippine Siren and we’re now at <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Apo</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">Island</st1:placetype></st1:place> and connected!
<br />
<br />We spent five days diving at <st1:placename st="on">Tubbataha</st1:placename> <st1:placename st="on">Marine</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">Park</st1:placetype> out in the middle of the <st1:place st="on">Sulu Sea</st1:place>.<span style=""> </span>It’s 90 nautical miles southwest of the island of <st1:place st="on">Palawan</st1:place> and in the middle of “nowhere”!<span style=""> </span>There’s a Ranger Station on a sandbar that’s manned 12 months a year, 24 hours a day and they patrol the <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Marine</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">Park</st1:placetype></st1:place> looking for illegal fishing activities.<span style=""> </span>Their tour of duty is two months, no matter the season.<span style=""> </span>The Ranger Station looks like a squat stucco longhouse with very, very thick walls mounted on squat legs, painted a bright white.<span style=""> </span>They have covered porches outside, a small commons area with a television; bunks stacked neatly and a small kitchen with a little garden and laundry drying area outside.<span style=""> </span>They rely on a regular supply boat for food and water, but they do have collection barrels to catch the rain as well.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Tubbataha is divided into the North and South Atolls.<span style=""> </span>There are continuous dive sites along the atolls, sloping reefs into sheer, sheer walls.<span style=""> </span>The walls are covered in fan corals, some soft corals and lots of hard corals.<span style=""> </span>The reefs are teeming with fish of all varieties.<span style=""> </span>Signature dives feature schools of barracuda, schools of horse-eyed jacks, giant trevally cruising the reefs, some saw a manta or two, turtles on every dive and sharks….reef sharks, whitetip reef sharks, several “leopard” sharks were also spotted.<span style=""> </span>The water temp ranged from 82-84 degrees so it was pleasantly warm.<span style=""> </span>Large grouper were prolific….</p><p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CJANETC%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PlaceName"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PlaceType"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="address"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="Street"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="country-region"></o:smarttagtype><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal">We dove Washing Machine, Sea Fan Alley, <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Shark</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">Airport</st1:placetype></st1:place>, the Malawan Wreck, the Delsan wreck, Hans Reef, <st1:street st="on"><st1:address st="on">Wall Street, Southwest</st1:address></st1:street> Wall, Sweetlips X-press and many others.<span style=""> </span>Nightly moorings were on the leeward side of the atolls so it was calm and quiet to sleep.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">This is a beautiful vessel.<span style=""> </span>It’s an <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Indonesia</st1:place></st1:country-region> Pinisi-style with spacious cabins, plentiful closets and cupboards, beautiful polished wooden floors and cabinets.<span style=""> </span>Every cabin has a computer desk with a computer that’s wired into the main computer in the salon.<span style=""> </span>The salon features a flat panel big screen ideal for viewing slideshows & videos.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Food has been amazing; we have an Indonesian chef and two Philippine chefs so we’re getting a taste of many cultures!<span style=""> </span>Fruits and veggies are plentiful at every meal.<span style=""> </span>Chicken, fish, shrimp, pork, beef, squid are featured on a rotating basis, two main meat/fish courses per dinner plus a vegetarian entrée.<span style=""> </span>The crew is friendly and wonderfully competent.<span style=""> </span>Almost all diving is done in inflatable tenders but a couple of the dives have been off the dive platform into a site directly beneath us.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">We had a 30+ hour sail from Tubbataha to Negroes Island and then offshore to Apo Island to dive here and start our way back towards Cebu…we started our diving again this morning with a great macro dive along the east side of Apo Island at a site called Rock Point East.<span style=""> </span>Here’s a few images from our Tubbataha diving….internet connection is slow, slow, slow so uploading might be problematic!</p> <p class="MsoNormal">
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<br /></p> Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08060628909151908330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4252996457589396188.post-46207644158839497982010-05-03T04:19:00.000-07:002010-05-03T04:29:39.323-07:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicNeA1QoGs6OuK2dYQFSWV5aGMifA7mSYSnC7LOnnm5PpTZbXvoXnbp0soWV2Rc5icWWrB8T1lcq-uYIXob3YMKfCM5okbXJfKOTkKBA8D7mzXt-HRMFN8rMqvac4JY0vPaIK-1e_ey98/s1600/_PHL2069-2.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicNeA1QoGs6OuK2dYQFSWV5aGMifA7mSYSnC7LOnnm5PpTZbXvoXnbp0soWV2Rc5icWWrB8T1lcq-uYIXob3YMKfCM5okbXJfKOTkKBA8D7mzXt-HRMFN8rMqvac4JY0vPaIK-1e_ey98/s200/_PHL2069-2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5467004147963405218" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWO4JEyecqNWUR6pJiE2IqV0q4FH7mKY0tjpbi37PSargGpA57NXGdqNIU7kH19qla9gf97QrJM9MatUsUjiiednIeE1J3OZxe_ItwPW8dIJXhCC3gFVGy9YMCSkDhJGqqm9TYYIvQRRs/s1600/PHL_6388-2.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWO4JEyecqNWUR6pJiE2IqV0q4FH7mKY0tjpbi37PSargGpA57NXGdqNIU7kH19qla9gf97QrJM9MatUsUjiiednIeE1J3OZxe_ItwPW8dIJXhCC3gFVGy9YMCSkDhJGqqm9TYYIvQRRs/s200/PHL_6388-2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5467004142569217026" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGZvlv44p5AENuV13YhL119_SpBozCNXCQuOe6LV_qxXP80ry0mGzmkumLUXSv9IfPf9Cn8w9ZAO63VBWOjUIIansdwvgpweJsKuCYJEvm2MAnpeKdkArGoR8z4SKisfm7oyqoM4BeFwc/s1600/PHL_6357-2.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGZvlv44p5AENuV13YhL119_SpBozCNXCQuOe6LV_qxXP80ry0mGzmkumLUXSv9IfPf9Cn8w9ZAO63VBWOjUIIansdwvgpweJsKuCYJEvm2MAnpeKdkArGoR8z4SKisfm7oyqoM4BeFwc/s200/PHL_6357-2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5467004137720913634" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi2CcY2Bsnv9Y-dvifdH5jNOM-AEL2iH0awDcXIexDy1OF7aGo42p0vwMHLtvYV1scCMNqh1baqH_VpQ1oUOuGPClTKDDZ6CgTK7vBn7hN9uyhC_MACPG9iBaW9k8KY9SC8V_6N8A5WGs/s1600/PHL_6341-2.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi2CcY2Bsnv9Y-dvifdH5jNOM-AEL2iH0awDcXIexDy1OF7aGo42p0vwMHLtvYV1scCMNqh1baqH_VpQ1oUOuGPClTKDDZ6CgTK7vBn7hN9uyhC_MACPG9iBaW9k8KY9SC8V_6N8A5WGs/s200/PHL_6341-2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5467004130109224786" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg90ywAg_mf8kcPsBGDYC6Rhfeeyu6Z2V7gx1GvyWR4jb6RcPtzvtdNbUYgzLtRlJji7aqkgYt01c1ilnMMTEEcucZBWwavkxfRoPj4KV6NJk07SVlOkIZaaHarxNFPHY8f2goZN94ro_s/s1600/PHL_6236-2.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg90ywAg_mf8kcPsBGDYC6Rhfeeyu6Z2V7gx1GvyWR4jb6RcPtzvtdNbUYgzLtRlJji7aqkgYt01c1ilnMMTEEcucZBWwavkxfRoPj4KV6NJk07SVlOkIZaaHarxNFPHY8f2goZN94ro_s/s200/PHL_6236-2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5467004122465148434" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 204);"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:courier new;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 153);">Sunrise at 5:00 a.m. - sunset at 6:30 p.m. with a trip to the Underground River in between! It's a two-hour drive across Palawan to Sabang Beach and the beginning of the World Heritage Site Underground River. The highest point in the caves is 65 meters and it's a totally awesome experience! There are over 64,000 bats that live in the caves, 8 species in all. The colors of the marble are incredibly beautiful and it's quiet except for the paddling of the driver and the chattering of the bats! They limit the timing in between the boats so you truly get to experience feeling like you're all alone deep inside the beautiful caves...it was quite the experience!<br /><br />We also spent some time on Sabang Beach until our permit time, got to enjoy watching the local kids fish and play in the water. Today was the Philippines Labor Day so families were out enjoying the beautiful day.<br /><br />Tomorrow we board the Siren after lunch and internet contact will be limited so this will be our last post for several days at least.....<br /></span></span></span></span>Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08060628909151908330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4252996457589396188.post-91489198341375114552010-05-02T15:33:00.000-07:002010-05-02T15:39:30.786-07:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtZWQaVVqo4CFBs6rVOcfmzET1epVMD67l149wVC0-FlrGSzV3BoY2mwuAZk7o3Sn-oCWZf9vE9TG5wYskWJDJrKoU_k_ypPvIz7ai8OU7rVWZI66Q0W043BJrYS-HqWNe9Qu4Qh36GDE/s1600/PHL_6182-2.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtZWQaVVqo4CFBs6rVOcfmzET1epVMD67l149wVC0-FlrGSzV3BoY2mwuAZk7o3Sn-oCWZf9vE9TG5wYskWJDJrKoU_k_ypPvIz7ai8OU7rVWZI66Q0W043BJrYS-HqWNe9Qu4Qh36GDE/s200/PHL_6182-2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466805463952048162" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilNfZA0RiVgmz_0oIc4dSpqN54wJgIblnaTLVZOiDhx_4sSyWcev7PH-22ZfsQflwCSfl3wF0aoR3c4_a7Td5cjEn9GTmPche9rTM8m-QHdwshhUDMlC48qGOGdlktFaWQX4lmAZwAbpY/s1600/PHL_6177-2.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilNfZA0RiVgmz_0oIc4dSpqN54wJgIblnaTLVZOiDhx_4sSyWcev7PH-22ZfsQflwCSfl3wF0aoR3c4_a7Td5cjEn9GTmPche9rTM8m-QHdwshhUDMlC48qGOGdlktFaWQX4lmAZwAbpY/s200/PHL_6177-2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466805456840409602" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjQmNLlf0-beiY3ly3IPalNynjnqV8QP4umqqNWC9vbZExU6YVh_IZiOiduvbFtmd7laR0wRwRg5xp-wpQtdDbp67zm1g7dsqdC1v3RDQwyP_AAp3EwCVIJUxvb0KyUXLqvmzYAmWYb38/s1600/PHL_6174-2.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjQmNLlf0-beiY3ly3IPalNynjnqV8QP4umqqNWC9vbZExU6YVh_IZiOiduvbFtmd7laR0wRwRg5xp-wpQtdDbp67zm1g7dsqdC1v3RDQwyP_AAp3EwCVIJUxvb0KyUXLqvmzYAmWYb38/s200/PHL_6174-2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466805449635434722" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAUeC9zU8AgXJpPTqwGnDne9TO5_LdNJofbJsCFFXZJqDYbrrySYDJh9KthTa57IegH-surhtfZhh1l9fJ70FM6oNJwKrFYNE5iFVqnmsrdbPeHrV7YpswhTnJGAeBCM4j-9BOm-Urjkw/s1600/PHL_6159-2.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAUeC9zU8AgXJpPTqwGnDne9TO5_LdNJofbJsCFFXZJqDYbrrySYDJh9KthTa57IegH-surhtfZhh1l9fJ70FM6oNJwKrFYNE5iFVqnmsrdbPeHrV7YpswhTnJGAeBCM4j-9BOm-Urjkw/s200/PHL_6159-2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466805446376057170" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">While you are eating dinner, I'm walking the beach at 5:00 a.m. watching the pre-sunrise! What a gorgeous morning....low tide again so after taking a few shots from our balcony while Bob was snoozing away, downstairs I went and picked up a cup of coffee and headed outside to sit and watch Mother Nature at Her finest! And since the tide was so low again, I could walk about 1/4 mile out to where the fishing boats were just barely in water....enjoy!<br /></span></span></span>Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08060628909151908330noreply@blogger.com0