Enter the Kaleidoscope

Descending into the tranquil waters of Gorontalo’s Silvertip Grounds dive site was like entering a kaleidoscope. Schools of fish feasted in clear water. Schooling pyramid butterflyfish were fluttering white and yellow. Blue fusiliers (Caesio lunaris) poured down the wall from one direction while countless Yellow-dash fusiliers (Pterocaesio randalli) swam from the other direction. Troops of large Elongate unicornfish (Naso lopezi) passed in formation far from the wall. These two-tone fish are considered uncommon – except in Gorontalo! Midnight and Black snappers (Macolor macularis & Macolor niger) in the deeper waters below still sported their juvenile white spotting despite their large size. That was only the descent!

And for the ascent to the safety stop: inside a 2-meter long vase sponge a Giant moray (Gymnothorax javanicus) was getting its morning picking-over courtesy of a Banded coral shrimp (Stenopus hispidus). Visibility this morning was 20-meters and water temperature was a warm 30 degrees Celsius.