Manado, Bangka and Lembeh

Field account

My dive buddy Dan and I had been discussing destinations for a Pacific dive trip when we learned through correspondence with John Hoover that he had signed up for Murex Resorts’ Passport to Paradise, a REEF Field Survey Trip around the northern tip of Sulawesi. It didn’t take Dan long to convince me that this was the trip we should take. REEF, the Reef Environmental Education Foundation, runs these trips so that volunteer divers can record the fish on reefs that few people survey. This one took us to four days at Murex Manado, three at Murex Bangka, and four at Lembeh Resort on the strait. The schedule had 26 boat dives with unlimited shore diving on top, and I logged 31 in all.

REEF volunteers typically record fish sightings underwater using a slate, noting each species as they encounter it. I considered doing the same, but managing a camera and an underwater notepad at the same time seemed a bit cumbersome and could take away from opportunities to capture some of the more challenging shots. Instead, I focused on photography and recorded my observations on iNaturalist after the trip. This also gave me the opportunity to review my identifications and benefit from the community’s input. The species tally on this page is based on those observations.

The people I shared this trip with made it all the more memorable. Dan and John had been dive buddies on Oʻahu for years before I arrived in 2004. Fifteen years later, I met Dan through a mutual dive buddy and before long we were diving together nearly every weekend. This was my first time diving with John, though it didn’t take long to appreciate why the two had been such good dive buddies. Both are incredibly knowledgeable fish nerds, in the best sense of the word. They know an astonishing number of species by their scientific names, and after every dive they surface with the enthusiasm of people who have just discovered something new.

John also had a particular goal for the trip. He was developing a reef-fish identification app for Sulawesi and had already compiled a list of species that still needed photographs. He hoped to find and photograph as many of them as possible so he could complete the app and make it available to others. The Sulawesi app is now available, and several of my photographs are included, with credit listed on the Credits page.

This was my third visit to Lembeh, after trips in 2013 and 2019, and I had a fair idea of what to expect. The bottom there is dark volcanic sand and silt with little coral, and the animals rely on disguise, borrowed shelter, or a variety of defensive adaptations to survive. Even so, the trip as a whole turned up several animals I had never seen before. The first was the Hairy Squat Lobster in the photos below, a tiny crustacean covered in fine bristles that lives on giant barrel sponges and is easy to overlook even when you know where to search. We found it on the first of two dives on the way from Manado to Bangka, at a site called Manado Budo off the coastal village of Budo. The Tiger Butterfly Sea Slug came next, on the Bangka leg. The Wonderpus at the top of this page was photographed at Lembeh on the same day as the Bigfin Reef Squid below. Its rusty brown body, marked with white bands and spots, makes it easy to recognize.

On the way home, Dan and I added two days in Singapore. I had hiked around Bukit Timah Nature Reserve on an earlier visit and wanted to explore similar natural areas, so we spent both days on the island’s trails. Since 2012 I have treated nearly every trip as a nature survey, and a two-day stopover on the way home is part of the trip like most others. Thank you for the memories, Dan and John.