Greetings Friends
In our previous newsletter, sent around the globe over November-December last year, I pledged to put out shorter and more frequent bulletins. So here we are again, much shorter and slightly less delayed. This is the updated internet version of the official newsletter, which was distributed recently.
The previous newsletter has been posted on the Lembeh Resort web site and I've added some pictures to augment the words - a new octopus and pygmy seahorse species, harlequin shrimp during the "Larry Smith Week", a splendid tiger shrimp from the House Reef and more. Check it out. I will also add pictures to this newsletter when it is posted for internet viewers, so please have a look at the web site. We try to update and improve the site continuously, so it's interesting to check out from time to time regardless. And the Murex web site has undergone a complete overhaul, with plenty of excellent pictures, some from Lembeh, so let your mouse wander over in that direction as well for some visual gratification.
So what's (relatively) new? The two additional stand-alone units were available for use from just before Christmas '03. So now the resort has eight units, two of them quads. On the dive side, we have undergone some remodeling, adding tables and work stations in our already expansive camera room as well as individual equipment "closets" in the staging area along with towel drying bars. In the dive center we've added furniture along with coffee/tea facilities so that between dives guests can enjoy a drink and go through our fish ID books along with the guides to better understand what they've been seeing. We've had a third dive boat since April and repeat guests should notice some new faces as we expand our staff.
Our excellent House Reef continues to amaze. The plethora of mandarinfish remain the top draw, but the numbers of interesting critter sightings rival any of the more famous sites. The cleaning station remains active. Clown, painted and giant frogfish have been sighted (a juvenile clown and giant black froggie are on site as I type), as have flamboyant cuttlefish, tiger shrimp, "hairy", "fuzzy", "regular", white-v, starry night, blue ring and wonderpus octopus species, flying gunards, waspfish species, saron shrimps, crocodilefish, robust ghost pipefish, juvenile batfish and barramundi, bobtail squid, seahorses, estuarine and reef stonefish, devilfish, banggai cardinalfish, … the list goes on and on. We're very proud of our "front yard" and our guests, once they try it out, inevitably return over and over again.
As for the rest of the strait, there are always new things to see and the seasonal fluctuations keep life interesting. We have two fabulous new sites we now jump regularly. There's a deep wall near the northern tip of the island that offers clouds of reef fish, plenty of pygmy seahorses and a few surprises, such as the monstrous spanish dancer we saw there on our very first jump last Christmas, carrying three commensal shrimp; one of them a white imperial shrimp, oversized to match its host. And we've found a new muck site that has been very popular, with wonderpus, mimic and coconut octopus, multiple flamboyant cuttlefish, various ghost pipefish including filamented, ambon scorpionfish, hairy and painted frogfish and even a "shaggy" filefish. A neglected site south of Bitung Harbour has also proved interesting, with odd scorpionfish and lionfish species, the usual muck assortment, plenty of juvenile species, a friendly cobia, a variety of pipefish, a decent nudi and crustacean selection, and Ronald even found a pair of almost-invisible slender sea moths - a first for all of us on that dive!
There was yellow Rhinopias frondosa that made itself available regularly for over six months in the TK area until disappearing early summertime. The Hippocampus pontohi returned (or were just re-found) late last year at Angel's Window after some weeks "on walkabout". We identified four individuals, but considering their mobility and wee size, we were happy if we could locate even just two of them on any jump. With resident H. denisii and H. bargibanti
(sometimes in the yellow variation as well) on the pinnacle, the chance to see three species on a single dive over the past year has been quite a thrill for many. The new odd "fuzzy" octopus species that was reported from Pantai Parigi and Nudi Falls in my last newsletter has been elusive. I've seen only a single one until recently and I was alone at the time on California Dreaming, just after Christmas, enjoying a mindless safety stop on the down line when I saw it out foraging and went down for further examination - so we've learned that it lives on
coral as well as sand. Then in Sept-Oct we've been seeing two specimens from time to time at Nudi Retreat. We do continue to find new or at least new-to-us nudibranchs with regularity. There's been mushroom coral pipefish and coleman shrimp at Batu Merah. Up to six thorny seahorses per dive at Magic Crack. Bobbit worms continue to be reported occasionally at Air Prang on night dives, two as I type are in residence.
Wonderpus all over, far more than last year. Ronald has the magic touch for finding boxer crabs at Nudi Falls and California Dreaming as has Hengki for finding tiger shrimp at Police Pier.
With the south-east monsoon winds a-blowin' from June on, the weather was mixed, with plenty of rain and choppy seas, as expected until September. But the winds brought critters along with cooler water, so there were few complaints. Mid-July was the turning point, with critter overload going into full gear as we approached August. In early August, we had groups see eight ambon scorpionfish on a single dive at Hairball, various filamented ghost pipefish at Retak Larry and Slow Poke,
two and possibly even three wonderpus at Aw Shucks along with "only" one at Magic Crack and TK3. Mimic sightings at Air Prang, TK3, Aw Shucks and Pantai Parigi. We had lucky folks see both mimics and wonderpus on the same dive! Even the elusive hairy octopus has been seen at Batu Sandar. The entire Kambahu Bay continues to keep visitors enthralled, wherever they venture. Flamboyant cuttlefish,
hairy frogfish and ghost pipefish and are sprinkled throughout the strait and I spotted an out-of-season halimeda ghost pipefish at Hey Nus. Plenty of great nudi action all over.
We certainly weren't bored and there's always new quality sites awaiting discovery. Often the numbers of boats operating in the strait compels us to dive between established sites and we invariably find much to see.
So for all of our valued friends, we hope you are presently enjoying a splendid autumn wherever you are and we look forward to diving with you again.
All Our Best From the Murex Divers family
Dive Guides - Ronald, Hengki, Heri, Jandri, Abner & Paulus
Boat Crew - Karman, Vadly, Steni, Benyamin, Kisman, Nikson & Indra
Compressor Crew - Maxi & Boni
Danny, Angelique & myself,
Bruce Moore
October '04
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 at Air Prang'))
 that has picked up a pair of cleaner shrimp (Periclimenes sp.) as it meandered past an anemone at Aw Shucks'))
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