Charlie's Diving Blog
Tuesday, May 19, 2026
Fifth day of diving at Lembeh, Three day dives and a night dive, p.r. dives 925, 26, 27,28 May 6, 2026
We dived at these sites, Aw Shucks at 8 am, Punta Parigi at 10:45 am, and Tanjung Kush-kush at 2:30 pm. Then we wrapped up the day with a night dive departing at 7:15 pm, returning for a late dinner at 8:30 pm. Below are some photos from our first dive at Aw Shucks, to see the rest, please go to:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/veDeqrPkC6YDj9q87
A beautiful, tiny, maybe 3/4 inch nudibranch, followed by another, larger, maybe 2 inch nudibranch. Below:
A juvenile Broadclub Cuttlefish, below:
Below: A Moray Eel face
A Ghost Goby on a sponge, below:
A beautiful transparent Anemone Shrimp with eggs. Below:
Pink Eyed Gobies, about 1/2 inch long, on hard coral. Below:
Our second dive of the morning was at Pante Parigi 1. Below are some photos from the dive, to see more, go to:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/quukxY8NUYfTsCiAA
A tiny, maybe 1/2 inch, Squat Lobster on soft coral. Below:
Below: Soft Coral Shrimp
Another Squat Lobster on a sponge. Below:
Giant Mantis, below:
Tiny, how does Obo'k see them? Soft Coral Cowries, about 1/8 inch, below:
Boxer Crab with Sea Anemones, below:
Our third dive was at Tanjung Kush-kush. Below are some photos from the dive. To see the rest, please go to:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/NSWkxWk2GuLvcb847
Cowfish, about 4 inches, below:
Blue Ring Octopus,about 3 inches high, below:
Pink Eyed Gobies, about 3/4 inches long. Below:
Transparent Anemone Shrimp, below:
Painted Rock Lobster, body about 5 inches long, below:
Below: Bobtail Squid
Orange Spotted Pipefish, below:
Night Dive, our fourth dive on May 6. Some photos below, to see the rest, please go to:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/qft27c8uwgPrkkf49
A Bobbit Worm, a burrowing ambush predator worm. Below:
A beautiful juvenile Bigfin Squid. I can swiftly change the settings on my camera and my 60 mm Canon macro lens lets me shift from very small subjects very close to larger subjects further away like this 7 -8 inch squid. Below:
A pair of amorous crabs. Below:
Monday, May 18, 2026
Fourth day at Lembeh, three day dives and a Black Water Dive (post retirement dives 921,22,23,24) May 5, 2026
Each morning the Lembeh Resort Dive Center fills out its dive boat board so everyone can see which boat they are on, the boat's crew, the dive guides and the scheduled dive sites for their boat, sometimes there are dive boats from liveaboards or other dive resorts on the scheduled dive site and the resort limits the total number of divers on a site to 15 so then your boat takes you to another nearby dive site. Again, Guy and I were on the Andrea dive boat most days with dive guides Eldo and Obo'k. Below:
At each dive site, we are given a dive briefing with a dive plan escovering depths, directions, and most likely photographic subjects.
Below: Eldo gives us our dive briefing for Nudi Falls, the most popular and in demand dive site in Lembeh Strait due to its combination of a beautiful wall, sea fans with Pygmy Sea Horses and, of course, nudibranchs.
Our first dive was a Nudi Falls. Below are some photos from this dive, so see the rest, go to:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/DMhptWAfaTQB49DAA
Opo'k's list of the subjects he showed us on this dive, below:
Tiny, maybe 1/4 inch, Whip Coral Shrimp. Below:
Pgymy Sea Horses, these are tiny, 1/8 to 3/16 inches, tucked into a colorful sea fan. Opo'k carefully pointed them out to us. I could barely see them, let alone see which way the head was facing, etc..Then you have to carefully hover without making contact with the sea fan while focusing and taking pictures.Below:
A beautiful irrestiably cute, constantly wriggling juvenile Harlequin Sweet Lips, about 2 inches long, was my next subject. Below:
A beautiful Nebrotha nudibranch, below:
Beautiful, dense, rich, invertebrate life along the wall at Nudi Falls. Below:
Juvenile File Fish, about 1 inch long. Below:
Below are some photos from our dive at Pintu Colorado and Jahir 1. To see more, please go to:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/nF1dXvWXVVYHgTbd7
https://photos.app.goo.gl/ANkJQ2VZE6fh2pYp7
A beautiful transparent Anemone Shrimp, about 1/2 inches long, hovers over her Sea Anemone. Below:
A striking Starry Flatworm, below:
Below: A different kind of Whip Coral Shrimp, maybe 1/4 inch long.
Whip Coral Gobies, about 3/4 inches long, below:
A well camouflaged Sea Moth and a pair of Sea Moths, about 1 inch long, below:
A small, about 2-3 inch, highly venemous Blue Ring Octopus, initially well camouflaged when pointed out by OPo'k, then prominently displaying its blue rings after being agitated by our close approach and my flashing strobes. Below:
Below: A Mimic Octopus
A beautiful small Blowfish shelters in trash on the sea floor. Below:
Below: A Spiny Devilfish
Our fourth and final dive of the day was a Black Water drift dive where you drift with a free floating buoy with hanging lights in hundreds of feet of water. This kind of uw photography is challenging because you are floating in black water trying to spot small organisms that have risen from the deep during the night. Some surface pictures and some dive photos from this outing below. To see all (not that many) of my dive photos from this dive, please go to:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/nLkynuhiwRW4DeLB7
This is the buoy, which has a light on its top and has lights spaced out on a weighted line below, which we will drift with on this dive. The boat drifts along staying near the buoy and on the alert for other passing vessels in Lembeh Strait.
Guy excited to start our Black Water Dive, his first ever. Below:
Our dive guides, Opo'k and Eldo, have just deployed the buoy and its lights. Below:
Opo'k gives us our dive briefing, we're drifting off a dive site called Hairball. Below:
A drifting snail called a Veliger, the shell is about 3/16 inches across. Below:
Below: A drifting juvenile needlefish
A drifting small shrimp, maybe 1/4 to 1/2 inches long. Below:
A juvenile Moorish Idol, maybe 3 inches high. Below:
A tiny, maybe 1/2 inch, drifting juvenile Octopus, possibly a wunderpus. Below:
A drifting juvenile smapping shrimp, maybe 1/2 inch. Below:
A wonderful fourth day of diving at Lembeh Resort!!
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