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A
message on the UW Photo Forum woke me up one cold February
evening; "I'm going on a trip to Indonesia on a live-a-board
for 21 nights in the Banda Sea. This is a special charter,
dedicated to photography and visiting some remote spots that
have not been dived for 5 or more years. There has been a
last minute cancellation of one of the group, so there is
ONE space available at a heavily discounted price."
Frantic
e-maiIs back and forth to the USA and by 1 arn I was almost
certainly going. So, it was only ten days away - no problem.
Problem was booking a flight to Bali as it was Chinese New
Year.
At least Qantas was no hassle with all my luggage so I made
it to the Bali hotel at 1 arn for a 9 arn flight to West Timor.
Unfortunately there had been delays with vital spare parts,
and the start of the cruise was delayed. A few days later
we duly flew out to Eastern Indonesia with rather a lot of
excess baggage. Divers carry a lot but ten photographers go
rather mad. Yes we were charged a modest amount for some of
the excess. Once on board the 37m Sea Contacts I and settled
in we headed northeast to Alor before heading out into the
Banda Sea.
Nexus
housings predominated (7), mainly with the Nikon F4 inside
along with a couple of F90s. Not surprising as the US importer
was on board along with several friends. Mine was the only
Subal/F90 but there was another F90 in an Ikelite. This suffered
the only housing leak due to a rushed port change trapping
the O-ring. A brand new F5 in a Sea & Sea made an interesting
contrast to a large old Canon FI/Aquatica combination, well
used by a major San Francisco UW photo shop owner. Everyone
made extensive use of the fantastic 105mm lens, with a couple
on NW15mms making a charge to the housed 16mm for wide angle.
Rather a lot of expensive equipment.
A
typical day was up with the sun at about 6 am for a light
breakfast of cereal or Danish pastries before a 7 o'clock
dive. We were welcomed back with a full individually cooked
breakfast as ordered beforehand. Out again before lunch, dive
afterwards, snack and dive again. Depending on travel arrangements
we sometimes had a night dive, either before or after dinner.
Many evenings we left for the voyage to the next island, which
was sometimes a ten or more hour trip. We covered over 1500
miles in eighteen days
We
were all very experienced divers so (after a good briefing
at the sites they had dived before we were allowed to dive
as we wanted to. We also did some exploratory diving at unknown
sites. When conditions allowed, a time limit of 70 minutes
was requested. Being photographers, most of us preferred to
dive on our own, which they were quite happy with, spread
out over a reasonable area. No problems of possibly getting
lost as we were picked up where we surfaced.
Incidentally a different idea for the RIB9 they used - how
about filling the tubes with polyurethane foam and covering
them with fibreglass with an added non-slip top surface. Not
as bouncy, but much more reliable in the tropical climate.
Their
systems were excellent with tanks filled in place in a long
bench along one side of the boat, from a large air bank, and
then loaded on to the relevant RIB along with your fins and
cameras. These were well looked after with dedicated fresh
water barrels for soaking. The starboard side of the boat
was set up with camera cupboards with non-slip surfaces and
charging points. Everything was unloaded by the crew after
the dive and put away, while we used the deck showers and
waiting towels. At the end of the cruise they thoroughly washed
and aired everything for us.
One
of the highlights was the incredible aggregations of sea snakes
at Gunung Api, an isolated island in the west of the Banda
Sea. Rather than repeat myself I refer you all to Dive magazine
for a full article.
Another
fantastic site had a pair of blue ribbon eels, lots of dragonets,
mantis shrimps, juvenile scorpion fish and lionfish along
with a pair of ornate ghost pipefish and all the usual tropical
fish. We did seven dives here, finding different creatures
every time. Looking around after admiring some little orang-utan
crabs hiding in corals I spotted a large 15cm/6in nudibranch
feeding on hydroids. It is described as being rare with a
bizarre shape, having sheaths protecting the base of the gills
and rhinophores and a pointed head. I showed this to one of
the others who took more photos of it before scanning the
surrounding area and spotting another movement. This time
it was an amazing green ghost pipefish matching the Halitneda
algae perfectly. None of us had seen anything like it before
so there was a rush to photograph it on the next dive. Imagine
our surprise to find a smaller skinny male lurking nearby.
West
near Komodo Island were bright red sea apples. These are very
colourful sea cucumbers with a large mouth of feathery tentacles
- another new species for me. They were everywhere, but hiding
on just the odd small fan corals were tiny pygmy sea horses.
Less than an inch long they matched the pink nodules of the
coral perfectly. Larry and Mik did a great spotting job, finding
fifteen on one fan and holding a light on ones that we wanted
to photograph. They were down below 25m, with lots to see
on the way back up, crowned off with tiny golden Wentletrap
Shells on a small wall at about 6m. This innocent looking
shell is both very clever and very ruthless. It feeds exclusively
on the lovely orange tube coral, by inserting its long proboscis
into the coral polyp. While feeding it also lays its eggs
beside the polyp in yellow whorls, mimicking the stinging
tentacles as a protection for the eggs.
We
also saw a whale shark under the boat, spinner dolphins cavorting,
leaping marlin and melon headed whales. A pair of sperm whales
made a dramatic finale with majestic flukes raised as they
dived.
These
comments actually apply to two cruises as I stayed on for
a second shorter one, as the first was so fantastic. An unspoilt
area with amazing diving and great creatures.
Reproduced
from in focus 69 (October
2002) |
