Scuba Diving in Indonesia

Dive Site: Shark Point
Location: Gili Trawangan, Lombok
Description: Reef
Depth: 30 metres (98 feet)
Visibility: 5 – 20 metres (15 – 65 feet)

This hard boat dive started with very poor vis due to silty conditions stirred up by the currents in the area. However this turned out be a complete bonus as it meant the white tip reef sharks were happy to swim very close (5-10m) around us. They seemed very used to our presence although they’re not always guaranteed to be there or come to close to divers. The coral in this area is pretty smashed up and dead due its unsheltered location on the west coast of the island, however the reefs are teaming with other life including Napoleon wrasse, shoals of jacks and batfish, triggers, sweetlips, pufferfish.

Just returned from a week diving Padang Bai, Gekko dive, Bali and the Gili Islands with Dream Divers (Jan / Feb 2006). The sharks and turtles are always a treat and the proliferation of nudibranchs had me hanging upside down enjoying the feeling of weightlessness. Leaf fish, frog fish, titan triggerfish, morays, boxfish, large napoleon wrasse and many other aquatic animals can be seen.

Scuba Diving at Mabul Island, Borneo

Dive Site: Old House Reef
Location: Mabul Island
Description: Reef
Depth: 20 metres (65 feet)
Visibility: 15 metres (50 feet)

Old House Reef is about 2 minutes boat ride from the main jetty on Mabul and is a relatively shallow dive (20m). In just outside the floating resort, “Sipadan Water Village” or “SWV” onto a sandy seabed at around 20m. The water temperature was 27 degrees, there was no current and here, which were obviously part of an old jetty or the foundation structure for a previous part of the floating village. The first thing which strikes you is the sheer number of fish. Almost anywhere else in the world this would have been a less than average dive – (around 15m) the topography was nothing out of the ordinary and much of the dive was over a predominantly sandy seabed. However there was an astounding amount of sea life. In the shallows were shoals of silver jacks, numbering in their hundreds. On the wooden structure were 2 of the biggest frogfish, one who kindly opened his mouth just at the right time for a photo (see the photograph on the left). There were small moray eels and a lovely bright red frogfish, almost completely hidden. There was also a small wreck of what looked to be an old fishing boat and it was here we came across the unusual sight a of ghost pipefish (around 2 inches in length). The second probably no larger than a few millimetres . These creatures are usually found in pairs and the smaller one would have been the male. There was also a proliferation of clearfin lionfish here. On across the sand and first was a small green leaffish and then another small green frogfish. Amongst some coral formations we found a giant moray

Scuba diving in Tanzania – Three Sisters, Panza Point, Pemba

Dive Site: Three Sisters

Location: Panza Point, Pemba, Tanzania

Description: Reef / wall

Depth: 31 metres (102 feet)

Visibility: 25 – 30 metres (65 – 100 feet)

Rating: ****

The Three Sisters is so called because it is made up of three large pinnacles of rock coming up steeply from the sea floor at around 300m to 1.5m from the surface. Marine life consists of triggerfish sleeping in small holes in the reef, leaf fish, coral crabs, lots of lizardfish, a whole group of moray eels in holes in the reef complete with cleaner shrimps, a lot of clams and pristine coral.