Underwater World
The Lamalera Whale Hunters
By Tony on February 7, 2012 | 6 Comments »
Dolphin heads on the beach
When do indigenous hunting rights become a danger to the environment? Do we want whale hunting to become a tourist attraction? Should we eat in a restaurant that primarily serves dolphin meat? So many questions.
As we, along with our friends Elma and Marnix, approached the remote island of Lembata, Thomas and I were highly undecided about whether we wanted to visit Lamalera, the controversial whale hunting village on the south coast of the island.
Visitors to our site know we are very interested in the indigenous peoples of the world. But we are also dedicated wildlife lovers as well as avid divers. Lembata is really the first place where these interests have collided in such a dramatic way.
As we sat in Lemabata’s tiny capital Lewoleba, I was still torn » Continue reading this post »
UPDATE – El Nido Coral
By Tony on February 5, 2012 | 5 Comments »
We just received this very detailed letter from one of our readers named Johnny, who took the time to update us on the condition of the coral in El Nido on the island of Palawan in the Philippines.
If you were following our blog while we were traveling through Palawan, you might remember that our post 100 Ways to Kill Coral generated some controversy among the locals and we received several informative comments from Lee Goldman at S.E.Asia Kayak Tours.
According to Johnny, not much has improved since then and he even seems to suggest that the situation has worsened. If anyone has any additional opinions (including El Nido locals), we would love to hear them in this post’s comment section.
Here is a copy of Johnny’s letter:
Hello Tony,
Thank you for the report.
I have been to El Nido twice… in November 2010 and more recently, last week. On my first visit, I did island hopping tour A (Miniloc Island and surroundings) and found that most of the coral was dead, and consisted mainly of rubble. The snorkelling sites were shallow and I assumed the rubble was due to the daily stamping of careless tourists.
Last week, I did tour C (Matinloc and Tapuitan Islands). The tour operator collected both the tour fee and Eco Tourism Development Fee (P200) from each person the day before. The operator did not » Continue reading this post »
Muck Diving in Maumere
By Tony and Thomas on January 29, 2012 | 2 Comments »
Warning: This post contains cool footage
of the spectacular mimic octopus
If you see something swimming by in the video above which looks like an underwater Far Side cartoon creature wearing horn-rimmed glasses, that would be the mimic octopus. Mimic octopus? If you are wondering where you heard that name before, it might be that you read a recent National Geographic article about the discovery of a species of jaw fish which, ironically enough, mimics the mimic octopus. (That’s a lot of mimicry!)
We spent a couple of days at Ankermi Happy Dive Resort in northern Flores diving their world-famous muck sites. Lucky finds included: mimic octopus, long-arm octopus, a dazzling variety of nudibranchs, cuttlefish, yellow and black seahorses, an adult painted frogfish, 4 large harlequin ghost pipefish… it’s like a muck diving miracle.
There were also several extremely small animals we had never seen before such as bizarrely tiny pipefish and micro-nudibranchs. These animals were so small that we actually dove with a magnifying glass. Filming during muck dives is always a challenge as, unlike the jaw fish and the mimic octopus, we don’t have the ability to mimic our surroundings. Despite the challenges, of all our dive videos, this just might be one of our favorites.
Seventeen Islands Marine Park
By Thomas on January 19, 2012 | 4 Comments »
After sitting in a car for several days, we’ve decided to mix it up a little and change our mode of transportation. From Riung town, located on the northern coast of Flores, we chartered a boat to take us around the Seventeen Islands Marine Park known for its beaches, coral gardens and interesting wildlife. For $45, our motley group of four was promised » Continue reading this post »
Captivating Kanawa
By Tony on December 13, 2011 | No Comments »
Ten days on Seraya just whet our appetite for more tropical bliss here on Kanawa, a tiny island located between Labuanbajo and Komodo. In addition to lazing on more white-sand beaches, we also came here to do some night dives on the house reef as well as the wall off of neighboring Sebayur Besar.
As with Seraya, Kanawa is not a luxury destination but simple huts on a desert island where you can live out your Gilligan’s Island fantasy with a motley crew of fellow dreamers. In fact, dinner with our little group of travelers here on Kanawa was half the fun (despite the fact that » Continue reading this post »
