Cool Diving in Sulawesi – Really!

During the diving season in Gorontalo, the waters of Tomini Bay formed by Sulawesi’s central arms are quite warm. Temperatures at safe diving depths are between 29 and 30 degrees Celsius. This is indeed warm when compared with other Sulawesi diving locations. However, Miguel’s Diving staff slipped into a sheltered bay to do some muck diving on Saturday and found that temperatures had plunged to 26 degrees. But in the mud at 20 meters we found a waving colony of Dusky garden eels (Heteroconger enigmaticus). Endemic to eastern Indonesian waters and Papua New Guinea, these dark, speckled eels are a relatively new scientific discovery, having only been named in 1999. Not far away among scattered pebbles a Snake blenny (Xiphasia setifer) peered from its burrow. With a body length reaching over half a meter, this strange fish has distinctive, large opaque eyes.

A black ball wobbled in a sudden rush of cold down current from the disturbed surface. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a juvenile puffer with its tail carefully curled around its body. At shallower depths, isolated stands of bushy green coral were crowded with white-striped shrimps with long claws. Among the rocks in a meter of water, a Flying gurnard (Dactyloptena orientalis) spread its wings. Cool Sulawesi diving indeed.