Three Great Dives around Arborek Island, Melissa's Garden, Arborek Jetty, and Sandy Manta January 24, 2023

Here's my diving blog for the three dives we did on January 24, our sixth day of our 17 day driving trip on the Raja Laut in Raja Ampat, Indonesia. Our first dive of the day was at Melissa's Garden, well named for the coral gardens at this site, the coral here is spectacular. Below: Six Barred Angelfish with beautiful Staghorn Coral

Below: Donna shooting Gopro video of beautiful coral and invertebrate life including a Blue Linkia Sea Star

I obviously can't resist taking shots of large Zebra Pufferfish. This one is sheltering in the shade of a large stand of Table Coral wishing I'd go away with my bright flashing strobe. It's about 16 inches long, below:

I stay on the look out for unusual or strange behaviors on the reef during a dive. Below is a shot of a Spotted Sweetlips and Dorothy playing hide and seek:

More reef behavior, Donna in her Conehead hood taking a close look at a Wobbegong Shark, below:

Above: Dennis working with his favorite model to get some Wobbegong shots: Closer Dorothy, Closer! Below: Dennis getting his Dorothy with the Wobbegong photo, look how well the shark's pattern camouflages him.

More unusual reef behavior: Donna clowning around with Anemonefish!

Beautiful Sea Fan and Coral:

Below: Anemonefish in White Anemone with small blue edged anemone shrimp two fish body lengths to the right of the Anemonefish.

Below: Parrotfish with cleaner wrasse

Below: I caught a Parrotfish grazing on some coral!

Same Parrotfish with cleaner wrasse:

Our second dive of the day was at Arborek Jetty. It's a wonderful dive, we had multiple Cuttlefish, Crocodilefish, Giant Clams, and beautiful coral. Below, the board describing diving at Arborek Island:

I always look forward to seeing Crocodile Fish, below:

Cuttlefish can change their colors and textures in an eyeblink, here's several sequential shots:

Spotted this Scorpionfish while shooting the Cuttlefish:

Another cool Cuttlefish, below:

Near the jetty we found some Giant Clams, here's Dorothy and Dennis with two:

The jetty is a really cool site:

Our third dive of the day was "Sandy Manta", we saw several Manta's but they didn't come real close and visibility prevented good pictures. Here's a couple, one in black and white:

While waiting for Mantas I shot pictures of Gobies that are teamed with Bulldozer shrimp, a challenge because they are small and I was shooting with my 10-17 Tokina wide angle. Below:

Finally, yes, there were lots of fish, too!