Lembeh Strait, Kungkungan Bay Resort Every Creature You Can Imagine! (and some that you can't)

Waterlogged Date: 3/16/97

Top this for a first dive! We saw cockatoo waspfish, two pegasus sea moths, pygmy seahorses, a devil scorpionfish and mating nudibranchs on a 55 minute dive at Nudi Retreat. Most of these creatures were just under the boat between 80 and 35 feet. The pegagus and pygmy seahorses were on my list of the creatures I want to photograph while staying at Kungkungan Bay Resort. Larry Smith, the divemaster at the resort, accepts lists of creatures the guests want to see and sets to work making sure that by the time they leave, they have crossed off most of the items on their list. In spite of continuing rain, poor visability and strong currents that limit our choice of dive sites, we have seen more rare creatures in 6 days than one would see in months at other locations. The frogfish are abundant and come in your choice of colors. To date I have seen frog fish that are black, butterscotch, bright yellow, bright orange, gold, white, pink and green with red stripes. They have ranged in size from mouse sized to house cat size. We seem to find more ghost pipefish than seahorses. Although I photographed harlequin ghost pipefish on my last trip here, I have not seen them as yet on this trip. Instead, we have seen longtail, ornate and some unidentified ghost pipefish. Tonight we found a beautiful transparent one with rainbow colored markings on a wide fan-like tail. A spiny white seahorse at the Petting Zoo (a dive site) is the only non-pygmy seahorse spotted this week. The Petting Zoo (formerly the Police Pier) is the favorite dive site of the photographers. Today the divers found 6 frogfish, a seahorse, nudibranchs and many other photo ops due to Semuel Bukasiang, a veteran guide with exceptionally sharp eyes and knowledge of where these particular creatures live. Greg Gapp, KBR's assistant manager, is also a pretty good dive guide. He spotted the seahorse on two previous dives and found the transparent ghost pipefish tonight. KBR provides two boat dives per day as part of the dive package with beach diving at the discretion of the divemaster (which means according to your abilities and the currents). Boat night dives are available at additional cost and so far a boat has gone out night diving every day this week. I would recommend that anyone visiting KBR plan on spending their extra cash on night dives. You can see more creatures in one night here that in a week of diving in other areas. KBR is definately a place for critters and macro photography. It would be disappointing for those looking for clear water, large fish and wide angle photography. Photos for this page were processed in Bitung at a one-hour print lab. No E6 processing is available in the area. For long stays, film can be sent to Singapore for processing. The Lembeh Strait has very fine black sand (like Oreo dust) an enemy of underwater photographers. Plan on cleaning o-rings frequently here. Voltage is 220V and a plug with 2 round pins (standard for Indonesia) is needed for the outlets. I'll be at KBR for another week, so check back in a few days for the next report. Kungkungan Bay Resort can be reached at kbresort@mdo.mega.net.id on the Lembeh Strait in North Sulawesi, Indonesia. Article and photos by Deb Fugitt

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