Moluccas Underwater Festival '97 !

Waterlogged Date: 2/22/97

The 1997 Moluccas Underwater Festival commenced February 18 at the Lelisa Beach Resort in Latuhalat on the south coast of Ambon island in the fabled Spice Islands of Indonesia. The festival is sponsored by the Ambon Dive Center, the Department of Tourism, Post, and Telecommunication, Maluku XVI Regional Office. The Festival consists of an underwater photography shootout, big game fishing tournament, and canoe races. Fuji is providing the film and processing for the photo contest. Blood has been shed and empires built in these islands in Indonesia. Holland, England, and Portugal vied for control of the precious nutmeg, mace, and cloves. The Spice Islands of Indonesia are what Columbus was looking for when he happened upon the Americas. Today the prizes bringing the modern day adventurers to Ambon, the capital of the Maluku Province are money, trophies, and prestige. Nineteen competitors from around the world are gathered to share US $16,000.00 for the underwater photo shootout. Four days, ten dives, and a little luck will decide who goes home with the honors and prize money. Two days have finished now, and this reporter is hopeful of winning some of the prize money. There are three categories in the shootout, wide angle, macro, and animal behavior, with a best of show and a special award - the Governor's Cup for the Photographer of the Festival. The diving is done from three of Ambon Dive Center's four boats, with each of the selected sites being visited by all the competitors before the end of the competition. Eight day dives and two night dives will decide the winners. So far the weather has cooperated, but with mostly overcast skies - hard on the wide angle. The macro has been more fulfilling. The diving in Ambon has only begun to be developed, so new sites are being found regularly. I was here in 1994 for the last festival held in Ambon and we will visit only two sites from that competition. The sites are mostly slopes and walls, with good fish life. The sponges and coral are healthy and thick in the competition sites. Drift dives are the norm, with only mild currents so far. I have cuddled with a cuttlefish, meddled with some morays, shot numerous nudibranchs, confronted countless fish, and tried to sort out the winning wide angle scenic from the many I have drifted past in the last two days. So little time and so few rolls of film! Blue Face Angelfish, Semi-circular Angelfish, schooling butterfly fish, huge Bumphead Parrotfish, Volitans Lionfish, and the elegant Darter Gobies (the Decora and Magnifica, and the Arrow Darters as well) are just a few of the species I have attempted to trap in my viewfinder for that fleeting instant of fame and fortune we are all seeking. Stay tuned for more Sea Horse Tales. After the competition, I and two others are headed to Laha and the now famous "Twilight Zone" for four days of world-class muck diving. The home of many exotic and seldom seen critters, this site was discovered by Larry Smith when he was the dive master aboard the live-aboard "Cehili" when it was based here in Ambon.It is their former docking site! Then from Ambon, I go to a live-aboard to Alor, an island group with some of the best diving Indonesia has to offer, finally back to Bali for a Drivin' and Divin' Package that has to be experienced to be believed. Woody Mayhew

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