If you ask me why I learn scuba dive, I'll simply reply that fish is my sign. But the truth is because of 'Finding Nemo" :-) I took an open water course in June 2004, a year after I saw the movie :-) And up until now, am still exciting when find nemo during my dives. You never feel bored with nemo! Usually, we can find nemo in the shallow water (5m - 10m) or during the safety stop. Their bright-orange-color are very eye-catching. But its not easy to take picture of nemo (for me). They never stay still, keep moving with lots of energy!
One of the interesting fact about nemo or false clown anemone fish is: they have ability to change their sex from male to female. In one anemone there will be a dominant female and when this female dies then a dominant male will change sex and replaced the position.
My NEMO pictures from various diving trips;
Taken in Donggala, Palu
Same site as number 1
Taken in Raja Ampat, forgot the name of the site
From my recent dive in Menjangan
When its too difficult to take a picture, I take the video instead :-)
Last Saturday, we did a little walk to Gunung Pancar. Last time I hiked at Gunung Pancar was August 2009, before the Nepal trip. This time we did in a big group! From 2 people then 4 people then grow-up to 10 people, the more the merrier! Eddy still be our guide. A bit lost and found and lots of photo sessions :-) We walked about 3 hours starting at 10:30am, up and down the hills. Weather was great, too hot for me though.
Gunung Pancar is about 30 - 45 minutes drive from Jakarta, depends on the traffic and how fast you drive :-)
But it's easy to get there. The trek we did on Saturday was the easy one, not as steep as Cisadon , but the view was awesome! We can see many faces of Gunung Pancar; from savana, kebun singkong, pine forest and the paddy field. We also pass by a small village.
Please bring your own snack, lots of water, lunch pack and sunblock. We plan to have lunch at Giri Tirta ( a hot spring spa around that area), but their services was really disappointed. Sentul City has lots places to have lunch though.
On April 2007 I went to Derawan looking for manta ray. 5 days LOB with Sea Safari III, we only saw the invisible manta! "No luck", "No Manta", "Manta, where are you?", those what I wrote in my logbook. But eventhough we have no luck with the manta, the barracuda at Maratua Channel was stunning! That was the highlight of our trip, not the invisible manta!
First time I saw manta was on October 2007, when we dive with Grand Komodo in Raja Ampat. We dive in a slope, 12m depth, the site named as Manta Point. After waiting for couple min, we saw what we're waiting for. Finally I saw manta!! So big and swam gracefully. Looks like they were flying or dancing for me and I fell in love with manta :-)
In June 2008, we dive to Komodo, We saw 6 mantas at Manta Alley, but there were current and surge :-( The enjoyable dive with manta was at Tatawa Kecil. Only saw 2 mantas but the mantas were more friendly, they swam closer to us, so close! It was long and enjoyable dive.
@ Manta Alley, Komodo
@Tatawa Kecil, Komodo
in June 2009, I dive at Manta Point, Nusa Penida, Bali, where you can see manta all year around. But when we dive there, there were lots of divers and viz was not that good (maybe because of the plankton). And the worst was two divers with big cameras chased the manta away :-(
In January 2010, again I went to Raja Ampat. We met 6 mantas at Black Bird, dive about 70 min. On the last 10min, it were only me, my buddy, our lovely guide, Noak, and the mantas! After that dive, my love with manta became deeper:-) Some pictures of mantas here Close encounters with the Mantas.
And here is the video of 4 mantas playing around us.
I really hope I can dive with lots of mantas very soon!
This photo taken on Aug 10. We stayed over at Baluran National Park for one night after
Bromo's trip and before continued our trip to Bali. Baluran located in East Java, its about 15min by bus to Ketapang (ferry terminal to cross to Gilimanuk, Bali). Every bus from Bromo or Ijen to Bali will pass by Baluran. Its really worth a visit.
