After two days on the island of Bali (Indonesia), we arrived at the MSY Seahorse, our dive boat for the next 11 days, and were enthusiastically greeted by the 17 crew members who would be caring for us 17 scuba divers. After lunch, we received a safety briefing and dive orientation, learning how things worked on this particular boat, plus a photography orientation, since this dive trip was a photo workshop led by Erik (from Bluewater), with whom we have dived before.





The routine on the boat was consistent most days—up around 6:00 a.m. for a small continental breakfast and dive briefing. Hop into one of the two speed boats to be whisked to the dive site for the first dive around 6:30 or 7:00, followed by second breakfast (like hobbits). Second dive around 10:30 a.m., followed by lunch (usually Indonesian-style food). The afternoon dive was around 2:30 p.m., followed by a snack. After the third dive, the ship might depart to head toward the next set of dive sites, sometimes traversing all night. At 5:00 pm, we had a photo workshop and/or image review (people sharing their photos and videos from the day), followed by a Western-style dinner at 7:00 p.m. (or maybe dinner at 8:30 after a night dive at 6:30 p.m.) Then fall into bed. Repeat for over a week. This is why they say, “Eat, sleep, dive.” That is pretty much all you do on a liveaboard dive boat.


Hank and I had our own cabin with a queen-size bed, bathroom, and plenty of nooks and crannies for all of our stuff. Crew would clean our cabins each morning while we were out diving, and other crew members took care of all our diving needs—loading our gear onto the speed boat, cleaning the gear after each dive, etc. We got pretty spoiled.




Diving locations (heading east from Bali and moving toward Komodo):

Diving Day 1–Lombok and the Gili Islands — located across the Lombok Strait from Bali. We enjoyed two muck dives and a reef dive on our first day. Muck diving is either in sand or mud. There is not usually much coral on a muck dive, but often very interesting creatures. We were thrilled to see cuttlefish, ghost pipefish, frogfish, razorfish, a spotfin lionfish, a Wonderful Favorinus nudibranch, and turtles on our first day. Except for the turtles, these other critters are not animals we see very often while diving.









Diving Day 2–Reefs near the island of Moyo — These were beautiful coral reefs with a huge variety of fish, including leaf scorpionfish and everyone’s favorite clown anemonefish (Nemo). We also did a combination muck/wreck dive near shore, where we saw beautiful spadefish, spotted porcelain crabs, anemone shrimp, and other uncommon sea creatures, plus some of our favorites: Emperor angelfish, butterflyfish, and giant clams.










Diving Days 3 and 4–Reefs near the volcanic island of Sangeang — Bubble Reef, Deep Purple, and Techno Reef. What an amazing place, diving in the volcanic sand next to an active volcano. We liked these dive sites so much the first day we dove them that the boat crew changed the itinerary to give us a second day diving these three beautiful and varied locations. Highlights of these mostly-muck dives included: a ribbon eel, blue-spotted stingrays, a mantis shrimp, a bluestriped fangblenny, a tiny painted frogfish, tasseled scorpionfish, lots of nudibranchs (sea slugs) and flatworms with wild colors and shapes, and a teeny-tiny pygmy seahorse.















And on the second day at Sangeang, we did a night dive near the village of Bontoh. The Seahorse trip leader said that we had a good chance of seeing octopuses on this night dive, and we did! In fact, we saw several of them. We also saw cuttlefish, a shortfin lionfish and a gurnard lionfish (different from the lionfish we usually see), an ornate ghost pipefish, and lots of other weird things that come out at night. Hank and I don’t always like night dives, and we don’t do very many of them. This was our best night dive ever!




What a great way to get to the halfway point of our diving on this trip (13 dives in 4 days). The rest of our dives would all be in or near Komodo National Park–and that’s what we’ll focus on for the next blog post. Stay tuned for those Komodo dragons, manta rays, and a whole lot more!

Sounds amazing. Wish I was a diver.
it’s not too late!
Fascinating! Hi Hank and Cindy!
Fascinating! Go Hank and Cindy!
What beautiful photos. The two of you are amazing!!!
A SUPERB diving experience! The pictures are so great – I am especially happy you outlined some of the different and unusual fish. Their camouflage is incredible, I would have missed them completely if I had been underwater even looking for them. The boat looks pretty nice as well. I can hardly wait for your next update.
spectacular! How unique and special this diving experience was. Really professional looking photos, and helpful to all who don’t recognize all of the sea life. Thank you for sharing. Diane
colorful critters inderd!
What a trip!! Wow!! Every time you send these messages I dream of going to visit those places. But I don’t dive so it is safer for me to read all about it!!
Love,
Phyllis
These are amazing photos. Even though I am a diver, I’ve never seen these fish. Is so v great to be able to follow your adventures. What a great dive trip!
These are amazing photos. Even though I am a diver, I’ve never seen these fish. It is so great to be able to follow your adventures. What a great dive trip!