PADI Sea Slugs & Nudi Awareness Specialty

Posted on November 1, 2024November 1, 2024 by Annabel Thomas

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Sea Slugs & Nudi Awareness Specialty

There are over 3,000 species of sea slugs and nudibranchs worldwide, with new species being identified all the time. The Indo-Pacific region, including Bali, is one of the richest areas in the world for nudibranch diversity. Researchers have found nearly 2,000 species in this region alone, with hotspots like Raja Ampat, Bunaken, and Tulamben recognized for their variety of sea slugs.

AquaMarine Diving – Bali (AMD-B) is offering the PADI Sea Slugs & Nudi Awareness Specialty, where you will learn general knowledge about sea slugs and nudibranchs and their fascinating traits.

What You Will Learn

In this course, you will enhance your general knowledge of sea slugs and nudibranchs while learning about their morphology, physiology, reproductive habits, and lifecycle. You will also explore their key features, habitats, diets, and the important role they play in the aquatic ecosystem. With some nudibranch populations declining due to environmental pressures, this course emphasizes the need for conservation efforts to protect these colourful creatures.

Our instructors are skilled at helping you identify the different species found in Bali’s waters, making sure that you can recognize both common and rare nudibranchs.

Practice What You Learn

You can make the decision to only learn the theory or if you would like to have a first hand experience to observe these fascinating creatures in their natural habitat, and we will take you to Tulamben Bay, home to the 120m USAT Liberty Shipwreck applying everything you’ve learned.

Exclusively available at AquaMarine Diving – Bali (because we wrote it!), the PADI Indonesia Sea Slugs and Nudibranchs Awareness Distinctive Specialty will answer all those wiggly-niggly questions you have 🙂

Dive Sites: Nusa Penida & Lembongan

Posted on August 2, 2024August 2, 2024 by Annabel Thomas

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Nusa Penida & Lembongan Dive Sites

Nusa Penida and Nusa Lembongan offer drift-diving in mild to strong currents. The water can be chilly but is often startlingly clear, with gorgeous corals, prolific fish, turtles, sharks and, from July to mid-November, Mola-Mola (Ocean sunfish).

Note: AquaMarine’s 2024 Mola-Mola Special Offer is available to book 🙂

The three main north coast sites SD, Ped and Sental have many soft corals and fish such as sweetlips, lionfish, moray eels, scorpionfish and reef sharks, in addition to turtles, nudibranchs and crabs.

Toyapakeh, Nusa Penida’s most popular dive site, has good visibility with rich, impressive coral formations and big bommies. The profusion of colourful soft corals provides hiding places for many kinds of marinelife including Ribbon eels, Banded sea snakes, turtles and nudibranchs. Late afternoon you may be lucky enough to see Mandarinfish.

Gamat Bay, although a small area, with its soft corals, Gorgonian seafans and hard corals (including table corals), is full of reef fish and some quite rare commensals and nudibranchs. On the outside slope are big bommies, overhangs and small caves, that provide resting places for larger fish. Gamat Bay is also known as a cleaning station for Mola-Mola in season.

Malibu Point on south east Penida lies on a very steep slope, with table corals and big bommies. Marinelife here includes rays, big trevallys and huge schools of Rainbow runners. This is Penida’s best location to see a variety of sharks.

Manta and Mola-Mola Diving

Crystal Bay is best known for sightings of Mola-Mola (see sidebar) in the July to mid-November season when water temperatures can drop dramatically! While the bay itself is beautiful, with good numbers and variety of fish as well as gorgeous corals, it also has a Bat Cave: enter from underwater, surface inside the cave (which is open to the sky) and watch the bats overhead. On the deep wall after the Bat Cave we often see Eagle rays and (if you are lucky) the Bali Wobbegong shark – yes really, it’s endemic to Bali.

South west Penida has two Manta Points, both of which have dramatic limestone cliffs descending straight into the ocean. Manta Point I, the further site, has slightly larger Mantas (2-4m width), but can be surgy and is not always reachable due to waves. Neither site has currents, and at both sites the Mantas are seen at 5-10m depth. Mola-Molas, Bamboo and Nurse sharks, tunas, Tiger mackerels and smaller rays may also be seen.

Batu Abah on the far side of Penida is known for Mantas and Mola-Mola.
Note: Despite the distance, all three of AquaMarine’s boats can reach Batu Abah in a reasonable time.

Lembongan’s Blue Corner, although deep, is a very popular drift dive, the highlight being a wall that is usually full of fish, sharks, big Napoleon wrasse, sometimes Eagle rays and Mola-Mola. This site is for more experienced divers.

Bali’s Muck and Macro Dive Site

Posted on June 21, 2024June 21, 2024 by Annabel Thomas

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Muck and Macro Dive Site

North west Bali

Secret Bay/Gilimanuk
This was Bali’s first and so best-known muck location. 2km wide, 3-12m deep; the only bay off the narrow Bali Strait (where currents can reach 7 knots), it acts as a large catch-tank for many larval and juvenile fish, and rare marine species. The water is cold; the fish fat and healthy! Unusual nudibranchs, Banggai cardinalfish, gobies, Ambon scorpionfish, filefish, puffers, dragonets, pipefish, juvenile Batavia batfish, Mimic octopus, Hippocampus kuda and many other organisms. Elsewhere juveniles hide to avoid predators, but here there are very few large fish, so juveniles have no need to hide. The bottom is fine sand with patches of algae and seagrass, some branches, coconuts (housing for octopodes!), cans, etc. Night-diving yields Bobbit worms, cephalopods, crustaceans, and frequent surprises!

Bayu’s Place
Visibility varies (can be as low as 10m), and the water is warm. Much of the area is rubble and coral, with white sand, although there are some pinnacles. It is usually very easy to see Mandarinfish, along with Pyjama cardinalfish, ghostpipefish, batfish, Demonstinger, many kinds of gobies (inc Signal goby), nudis, Pygmy seahorses, Blue-ring octopus, and many species of shrimp (inc Whip coral shrimp).

Pemuteran Biorock
This site lies right off the beach and is made from individually-shaped metal structures through which low level electricity is run to increase the speed of coral growth. The artificial reefs sit on white sand and provide homes for Signal gobies, eels, small rays, lionfish, frogfish and scorpionfish including Leaf scorpionfish and (occasional) Pegasus seamoths and Finger dragonets. Interesting night diving.

North Bali

The Puri Jati area
Bali’s current hotspot for muck-diving, PJ itself is a wide, gentle, brown sand slope with patchy seagrass, seapens and 20cm tufts of lavender soft coral. Vis is 5-25m, and the water warm. Frequent sightings of Common and Mimic octopus, pairs of Ambon scorpionfish, Flying gurnards, Emperor shrimp, Blue-ringed octopus, frogfishes, unusual Mantis shrimps, Fingered dragonets, wide variety of ghostpipefish, seahorses, seamoths, Demon stingers, Cockatoo flounders, Veiled melibe nudibranchs, juvenile batfish and lionfish, crustaceans, cephalopods and sand dwellers, soft coral cowries, various large shells, pelagic tunicates, the list goes on!

Nearby Kalang Anyar is a gentle, dark sand slope with a variety of seapens and seagrasses. Sightings include Painted frogfish, Mimic octopus and other sought#after cephalopods, Pegasus seamoths, eels. There are noticeable differences in some of the species, quite often the nudis here are totally different from those seen on the same day at PJ.

North east Bali

Tianyar
Located a little north of Tulamben Bay; the undulating black sand topography changes due to the currents and waves that can affect the site. The marinelife can be very interesting: Ghostpipefish, seahorses, Mimic octopus and Wonderpus, eels, frogfish, gobies and many nudis.

Tulamben River Bed
Depending on the season, sightings here may include Ornate and Robust ghostpipefish, Harlequin and Skeleton shrimp (both also found in the Coral Garden), nudis, juvenile frogfish, lionfish, Mimic octopus, Halimeda ghostpipefish, and a multitude of other tiny critters.

Seraya Slope
About 5 minutes south of Tulamben Bay, this black sand slope offers Rhinopias, Harlequin / Coleman / Tiger shrimps, many nudibranchs, Yellow#spotted frogfish, Boxer crabs (although very difficult to find them out in the open with the goatfish around!), ghostpipefish, stonefish, anglerfish, seahorses, and a school of barracudas.

Amed Ghost Bay
The artificial reef and sand slopes can yield Ambon scorpionfish, Ornate and Robust ghostpipefish, Mimic octopus, Wonderpus, frogfish, stonefish – we’re never quite sure what we’ll find here!

East Bali

Jepun
An extension of Blue Lagoon, Jepun yields Leaf scorpionfish, Solar-powered nudibranchs, many varieties of ghostpipefish and frogfish, Pegasus seamoth, Flamboyant cuttlefish, Rhinopias (eschmeyeri and frondosa), shrimps, crabs, Thorny seahorse, shrimpfish and Cockatoo waspfish.