Thursday, March 30, 2023

Three more excellent dives in the Misool regulated area: Magic Mountain, Nudi Rock, and Yuliet Cecil January 30, 2023

Our first dive site, Magic Mountain (dive briefing diagram below) lived up to its name and reputation. It was incredible.
Starting the dive at Magic Mountain I immediately saw a unicorn, and I got its picture, and I'm not talking about a Narwhal! Below: Unicornfish
The Unicornfish was quickly followed by a pretty close visit from a Chevron Barracuda, soon followed by a Black Tipped Reef Shark below:
The fish just kept on coming in quick succession. A beautiful curious Napoleon Wrasse followed by a Cornetfish with a striped Pinnatus Batfish, below:
Then, a school of Big Eyed Trevalle. Below:
Magic Mountain's parade continued, here's Dennis with a school of Chevron Barracuda:
Throughout the dive site there are beautiful Sea Anemones and their Anemonefish:
Finally, another beautiful Steephead Parrotfish followed by another Green Moray. Below:
After second breakfast, our second dive was at Nudi Rock. Again, lots of schooling fish, especially Fusiliers. Below hare Blue Finned Trevale Jacks with Fusiliers.
Beautiful Lionfish:
Lots of Anemones and Anemonefish on this site, too. Here's a couple:
Donna with beautiful invertebrate life:
Huge, beautiful Sea Fan has Donna screened, below:
Beautiful Seascape, below:
Donna with a sample of the beautiful variety of coral which is everywhere on this site:
Donna with a cool Pincushion Urchin, carefully handled, gently returned to its place:
Moorish Idols, below:
Our guide, Gui, has an amazing skill of creating bubble circles my exahaling bubbles and then making a sharp chopping motion with his hands. Some of these bubble circles would travel horizontally through the water for at least 30 ft! Below:
Our third dive of the day was at Yuliet Kecil (little Juliet). We had schools of Fusiliers, Jacks, a really cool encounter with a Barramundi, Chevron Barracuda, sharks (don't know what species), and lots more beautiful Sea Anemones and Anemonefish.
Dennis with a Chevron Barracuda. Below:
Below: Sharks, type TBD.
Big Jacks, I think Crevalle, below:
Barramundi, parked behind a Sea Fan, on a cleaner station, you can see the cleaner wrasse going into his open mouth. Below:
Beautiful Sea Anemone and its Anemonefish:
Sea Fans with a beautiful Peacock Grouper:
Dennis found a Scorpionfish, here he's getting pictures, then some pictures I took after Dennis was finished. Below:
I can't resist sea anemones and their anemonefish: