Recently We’ve hosted Marco and Leopardo from Italy’s SUB dive magazine as well as Serggio of Mondo Sommerdo. They were on a tight schedule and have only 3 day’s diving with us, and they have a tall list of critters to photograph.  Thankfully we were’nt too busy, therefore in 3 day’s diving we tried our best to help them get all they need for their work. The KBR Dive Team did not disappoint.

Serggio Riccardo:  ”Dear Stefan, I want to thank you and all your Great Staff for your kind cooperation. Was a very pleasure dive with you. As soon all photos will be ready, I’ll inform you. See you soon with a new Italian groups…KBR’s Diving: 100 % guaranteed !!!”

This week we are hosting a lot of repeat guests. A great, jovial  group from Reef Photos & Video of fort Lauderdale and a team of good divers from the UK. I’ve invited their participation on our blog, and the first ones just started coming in.

Martin Roberts:  ”Breaking the water and emerging into the sunshine, the grins & chatter tell their own story of another great dive in Lembeh. Mating blue ring octopus have so overawed our group that the two frogfish, many nudibranch, ornate ghost pipefish and the variety of other critters have been all but forgotten until the photos are reviewed to be discussed over a cold Bintang later this evening. Friends old and new are here with us on our fifth trip to KBR in as many years; we were hooked on day one when visiting  before a liveaboard trip onboard Dewi Nusantara; this time around we’ve talked some friends into joining us, several associated with Reef Photo & Video out of fort Lauderdale – great contacts! For many it’s their first trip to Lembeh and an introduction to the wonders of muck & critter diving. Reactions are great as is the usual initial sight of disappointment turning rapidly into amazement at the diversity of life to be discovered in these waters. Those on a first trip to Indonesia, used more to Caribbean life, are amazed at the diversity of the little talked about reef top life here in Lembeh and want to spend as much time there as in the muck with the rest, no problem at all of course when you’re diving with such a high number of outstanding dive guides. I could review the sealife we have seen here, but the blogs already published are an accurate reflection of the phenomenal sights to be seen. The highest quality of service from Kungkungan bay resort and their excellent guides ensure there will be many repeat visits as is usually the case here.”

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When we travel, we would try to seek out places or properties that welcome us, sensitive to our needs, make us feel comfortable and at home. Afterall when we travel, we’re guests and we might not know the best things to do, or see, the best foods or how we might get around. Touch wood but if we catch a cold on trip or even bitten by a centipede, who and how we might seek help. Every hotel and resort will tout service excellence, so who do you believe? If I have a friend or family who live at the destination I wish to visit, chances are that’s where I’ll go, to be assured of a great holiday.

After 10 years in Thailand and 2 contracts in the Maldives, i am no stranger to premium services, great hospitality and a warm smile. KBR is different, and more. With 76 members on staff for 17 villas and suites, it’s as good as saying there is a full time staff of 4 members to tend to your needs around the clock. Probably no other resorts in the world that keep this staff ratio. Once you get pass the usual welcome greetings and warm smiles, you’ll slowly notice the little differences. If you prefer your pancakes less sweet you’ll notice it the next morning’s breakfast, if you prefer papayas than bananas you’ll see more of it the next time you order the fruit platter, if you move your soap from the shower tray to the faucet, you’ll see an extra bar the next day, and if the weather report’s not so great the next day, you’ll find umbrellas outside your doorstep before it even rain.

As the Dive manager here, if a guest request to see or photograph a certain critter, i will try to plan the best sites for him where it had been spotted most recently, weather and tide permitting. Then it’s down to the guides. Last week we had several requests for the elusive Blue-Ring Octopus. Many previous dive trips to Lembeh and some guests have yet to seen it. We had 3 full days of Blue Ring Octopi, and everyone is very happy. On one of the dives, after finding the Blue Ring, the guide quietly show me his gauge – 60 bar left. I was almost in tears. An experienced diver doesn’t get to 60 bar in 20 minutes of shallow, zero-current waters. Much less a guide with more than 10 years experience. He had worked very hard to find that Blue Ring.

That’s the KBR difference for you. Their dedication is second to none.

If you’re looking for a friend in the Lembeh Straits, come feel the KBR difference. We’re family.

Just this week, KBR had won the TripAdvisor’s Certificate of Excellence 2013. Congratulations everyone

at KBR, 20 good years of excellence and more to come!

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‘Hidden Paradise’ is a dive and travel program aired on Indonesian TV network, KOMPAS TV. For an episode next month featuring the Lembeh Straits, KOMPAS TV crew came to film KBR and dived with us last week. The program presenter, Nadine Chandrawinata, Model, Actress and 2006 Miss Universe Indonesia, is a big hit among the Indonesians. She is also an avid diver and marine conservationist.

Beside filming the resort, the markets and other tours, Nadine and her crew did 3 days of diving with us. The critters did not disappoint, from Harleyquinn Shrimps to Hairy Frogfish and Wonderpus, we showed the KOMPAS team the diversity of Lembeh’s diving. Their only complain is since they have only 1 filming dive crew member, and he had to film Nadine underwater some, thus on certain dives he is on wide angle and couldn’t film the critters. They can’t get enough of Lembeh’s diving. For the program, Nadine had dived many many destinations, but the Lembeh Straits remained very special for her. I’m sure we will see more of you here Nadine.

Coming back on a dive earlier today, as the boat turned into the Kungkungan Bay and KBR slowly came into view among the greens i thought to myself, "Hidden Paradise at KBR"… how aptly named.

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Having been working in the diving community for more than 10 years, the renowned Lembeh Straits had always been on my wishlist. Thus a few months back when Kaj and Barb are leaving and the owner needs someone to take over, i jumped at the opportunity in a heartbeat.

The critter and muck diving here is nothing short of amazing. After 10,000 dives or so, i used to think nothing much can surprise me. How naive I was. Lembeh Strait’s diving changed all that. There are so many weird creatures we can find in a dive that it put all other macro destinations to shame. Besides strange creatures that i’ve never seen before in my life, i get to witness first-hand some natural behaviors and activities rare in occurrance anywhere else. In my first month here at KBR, i’ve witnessed flamboyant cuttlefish babies hatched from eggs, tozeuma shrimp with eggs and hatchlings, longarm octopus mating, banggai cardinalfish incubating eggs and juveniles in the mouth…etc      

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I used to played with a Nikon D70 setup ten years back. Though it proved under-utilised as i was teaching scuba full-time. I ended up using Olympus C5050Z for quite awhile running liveaboards safari boats, but the camera’s limits were obvious. Given this opportunity now at KBR, the macro haven; its the perfect opportunity to indulge in what i truely love best when diving, underwater photography. I splurged on a new DSLR setup and in time, will accumulate the lenses, strobes and other dream toys. My hope is to hone my shooting skills some, and make some good, worthy pictures…

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The time has come, and I can hardly believe it. Barb and I have been at KBR for the last three years and it has been an amazing experience. Enjoy Barb’s last week of photos…

First of all (to get the Hollywood acceptance speech out of the way) I would like to thank to owners, Mark and his mother Kathryn, for hiring us. KBR is a unique resort, the original resort in Lembeh, the pioneer in the Strait and it has been an honour to have been part of the team here.

Then there are other managers, Linda, Beary and Ais. They work tirelessly to ensure your rooms are beautiful, so food delicious and every aspect of your stay perfect. They have become great friends and have always gone out of their way to help us. Thank you..

And the wonderful restaurant and Front Desk girls (and Frtiz), who always have a genuine and beautiful smile of their faces, and how also join the guests on the local tours. They are quite rightly legendary…the KBR Girls are the best!

And then there are all the staff that you don’t see..the cooks, gardeners, maintenance, tailors, housekeeping, security and accounting..all of them keeping the resort running smoothly and efficiently. Resorts are big places and there is always a big team of people working 24 hours a day to hopefully make your trip a memorable one.

And finally, almost with tears in my eyes, the Dive Team. I have never met or worked with a more hardworking, dedicated, talented and friendly bunch of guys. Junior who keeps the equipment serviced and the tanks filled with his assistant Fian, who also drives the boats. Alfrets, Stenly, Nando, Irfin and Irwan, our boat captains who setup all your gear, drive the boats and carry your cameras. And the guides themselves, Liberty, Ade, Jeff, Jony, Risman, Rony, Ungke and Jenly. What can you say about these guys? They are an unbelievable team, they work together, find the most incredible critters, help you see them, take photos or video, look after you and they never complain, are always happy….without doubt the best Divemasters and Guides in the world. Thank you all!!! And we had a great night out in Bitung!

So, my most memorable dive? It’s impossible to say, there have been so many good ones. Seeing any underwater creature for the first time of always special, and I saw so many things for the first time in Lembeh. Things that really stick in my mind are the Transparent Larval Moray, the Pygmy Squid laying eggs, the Coconut Octopus giving birth, finally finding a Hairy Octopus, finding a Blue Ring by myself…the list goes on and on.

I’m often asked which is my favourite dive in Lembeh. Another very difficult question, but  the honest answer is ‘the next one’. To still be able to see things for the first time, after three years and over 1000 dives here, is a testament to the incredible biodiversity that exists in Lembeh. OK, the vis is not great, but without the particles in the water, bringing in all the nutrition, most of the critters would not be here.

And it’s been a great last week’s diving. We’ve seen Mototi Octopus, huge Harlequin Shrimp, Lembeh Seadragons, Tiger Shrimp, the legendary purple Ambon Scorpionfish, Frogfish, Red-Headed Coral Gobies, Golden Wentletrap Snails and so much more had a two hour dive at Nudi Falls to say goodbye….it’s hard to leave.

And a final final thank you to all the amazing guests we’ve met over the the three years. Lembeh is remote and without all you guys making the effort to travel to see us, we wouldn’t exist. We feel very fortunate to have made so many good friends from around the globe. I know that many of you are coming back again and though Barb and I won’t be here, everyone one else will be and the Dive Team is go to be very ably managed by Stefan, the new manager. Stefan is a great guy, loves his diving and will continue to make KBR the best dive resort!

And thanks to all our guests in our last week here, from Canada (great to see you again M&M), the States, Australia, the UK, Switzerland and Germany.

Enjoy Barb’s final photos. To see them all, click on the photo strip at the top or bottom of this blog.

Terima kasih banyak KBR!

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As the end gets closer, Lembeh is still astounding me. This week I did one of the most incredibly dives of my life.

The weather has been really calm so I thought it would be nice to go and do a dive at the far north end of Lembeh that I had only dome once before, along a wall called Jicoyance. While I was I discussing it with my guides, one of our new guides, Ungke, who worked at another resort previously, said why didn’t we go to a site called Dante’s Wall. It’s only a couple of minutes past Jicoyance, so that seem like a good idea, especially as none of my other guides had ever been there.

Then Ungke mentioned there was a cave there and then he said that it had ‘the fish that flashes’ inside. That got my attention! I asked him a little more about it as I couldn’t believe what I had heard. I knew vaguely about flashlight Fish but never suspected they existed in Lembeh. Wow, this was too good to be true.

So we went up to Dante’s Wall. The cave goes into the wall with the entrance around 10m (30ft) deep. It’s a really big cave, flat bottom and reaches about 20m (60ft) back. You can always see the entrance and we were, of course, equipped with torches.

So in we go. When the your lights are on there you cannot see the Flashlight Fish. We swam slowly to the back of the cave, settled down then turned our lights off. At first it is just pitch-black. All the flashlight Fish have been pushed right to the back of the cavern

After a few moments suddenly there starts one of the most beautiful and surreal shows I have every seen. Your eyes start to pick up little white lights in the distance, flashing on and off and swirling around as the fish move around in their school. Then they start to get closer and closer and you are surrounded my a natural light show as the large light organ under each eye can be turned on and off using a black membrane like an eyelid.

I was mesmerised and it was truly one of the most wonderful things I have seen anywhere.

I did manage to rouse myself and think about trying to take some video. I managed to capture some of the action, so please enjoy the clip. I turned my lights on right at the end, so you can get a glimpse of the fish.

Click here to see the video in a new window

Barb has taken some really incredible photos this week (when does she not). Macro lens is back on and the results are stunning.

It’s been a great week. We’ve seen Wonderpus, Mimics, Long Arm, Algae and Coconut Octopus. There have been Flamboyant (including eggs hatching), Broadclub, Pygmy, Crinoid and Reef Cuttlefish, as well as Reef Squid and Bobtail Squid on night dives. We have seen Ornate, Halimeda, Rough Snout and Robust Ghost Pipefish. There have been yellow and pink Bargabantis, Denise, Pontohi and Severn’s Pygmy Seahorses, as well as Common, Moluccas and Estuary Seahorse. We’ve also seen Pipehorses, Pipefish (some lovely Winged Pipefish) and Lembeh Pygmy Seadragons. Crustaceans have been fab, with Harlequin Shrimp, Bumblebee Shrimp, Urchin Bumblebee Shrimp, Little Green Shrimp, Tiger Shrimp, Boxing Crabs, Donald Duck Shrimp, Xenia Swimming Crabs, Zanzibar Shrimp, Crinoid Shrimp, Emperor Shrimp, Hairy Shrimp, Orang Utan Shrimp, Tozeuma Shrimp, Carry Crabs, Candy Crabs, Hairy Squat Lobster, Squat Shrimp, Elegant Squat Lobster, Skeleton Shrimp, Mantis Shrimp, Porcelain Crabs, Superb Coral Shrimp, Cleaner Shrimp, Sea Spiders and many more. And we’ve seen Giant, Warty, Painted, and Occellated Frogfish. There have been Leaf Scorpionfish, Bubble Shells, Bobbit Worms, Pegasus Sea Moths, Spiny Devilfish, Ambon Scorpionfish, Solar Powered Nudis, Pickachi Nudis, Crocodile Snake Eels, Cockatoo Flounder, Flatworms, Electric Clams, Zebra Batfish and much much more.

Thanks to all our great guests from the States, Canada, the UK, Turkey, France, New Zealand and Switzerland. Another wonderful week.

To enjoy all of Barb’s photos from this week, click on the photo strip at the top or bottom of this blog.

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As some of you know by now, Barb and I will sadly be leaving KBR at the end of this month. We have had an incredible time, met wonderful guests from all over the world, been privileged to work with the most lovely, friendly, skilful and hardworking crew and we have, of course, seen the most fantastic creatures underwater.

There are not many things I have left to see on my wish list…there are a few, I think it’s impossible to see everything Lembeh has to offer no matter how long you live or work here. One of the things that I had never seen and never thought I would be lucky enough to see, I finally saw this week!

I cannot, unfortunately, be on every boat on every dive, so inevitably there are going to be critters that the guests see that I do not. It’s why I dive so much here, as there is not a lot worse than being in the dive center when guests come back saying ‘oh wow, we saw a Wonderpus with eggs’, or ‘what a huge manta ray that was!’.

One of the things that I twice missed, twice had to hear ‘You can’t believe what we just saw….’ was a Coconut Octopus giving birth. This is something that I have really really really wanted to witness, but though I never would.

Well this week we went to a dive site I had never been to before, in the south of Lembeh, on the mainland. It was very mucky but, as seems to be the case when going somewhere for the first time, very productive. Two Mimics, Ghost Pipefish, Pipehorses and then Ade (my wonderful trusty Dive Supervisor) came over to me and started making the sign for an octopus and then the ‘pregnant/eggs’ sign. ‘OK’, I thought, ‘I’ve seen octopus eggs before’ so I slowly made my way over.

I did not expect to see tiny little octopus squirting out from beneath the Coconut Octopus arms!! Wow!!! I couldn’t believe it and silently offered my thanks to the Lembeh Diving God…

It was an amazing sight to watch. Tiny little babies were rising up in little swarms at times, escaping through her arms and she also was firing them out of her funnel (the tube that octopus can jet themselves through the water with, or squirt their ink). The eggs ribbons seem to contain eggs at different stages of development, from not really ready to ‘here I come!’. She also would check the eggs with the suckers on her arms, individually, as if looking for the ones that were ready to hatch.

It was another bit of behaviour that I felt privileged to watch, another amazing moment from Lembeh, and another dive I will never forget.

Click here to watch the video in a new window

Barb is still shooting with her wide angle lens, and still getting some wonderful shots…

And we’ve seen Wonderpus, Mimics, Long Arm, Algae and Coconut Octopus. There have been Flamboyant, Broadclub, Pygmy, Crinoid and Reef Cuttlefish, as well as Reef Squid and Bobtail Squid on night dives. We have seen Ornate, Rough Snout and Robust Ghost Pipefish. There have been yellow and pink Bargabantis, Denise, Pontohi and Severn’s Pygmy Seahorses, as well as Common, Moluccas and Estuary Seahorse. We’ve also seen Pipehorses, Pipefish (some lovely Winged Pipefish) and Lembeh Pygmy Seadragons. Crustaceans have been fab, with Harlequin Shrimp, Bumblebee Shrimp, Urchin Bumblebee Shrimp, Little Green Shrimp, Tiger Shrimp, Boxing Crabs, Donald Duck Shrimp, Xenia Swimming Crabs, Zanzibar Shrimp, Crinoid Shrimp, Emperor Shrimp, Hairy Shrimp, Orang Utan Shrimp, Tozeuma Shrimp, Carry Crabs, Candy Crabs, Hairy Squat Lobster, Squat Shrimp, Elegant Squat Lobster, Skeleton Shrimp, Mantis Shrimp, Porcelain Crabs, Superb Coral Shrimp, Cleaner Shrimp, Sea Spiders and many more. And we’ve seen Giant, Warty, Painted, and Occellated Frogfish. There have been Leaf Scorpionfish, Bubble Shells, Bobbit Worms, Pegasus Sea Moths, Spiny Devilfish, Ambon Scorpionfish, Solar Powered Nudis, Pickachi Nudis, Crocodile Snake Eels, Cockatoo Flounder, Flatworms, Electric Clams, Zebra Batfish and much much more.

Thanks to all our great guests, from South Africa, Japan, the UK, Turkey, the States and Hong Kong. It’s been wonderful.

To see all of Barb’s photos, just click on the photo strip at the top or bottom of this blog.

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I’ve seen many strange things, weird behaviour and odd critters while in Lembeh, but this is one of the most bizarre sights I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing…

Now I’ve seen Carry Crabs carrying Urchins, Jellyfish, banana skins, pieces of cardboard and crinoids….I’ve seen shrimp and even fish on nudibranchs…but what I had never seen and, to be honest, never expected to see, was a nudibranch on a crab!

What started out as ‘hey, look, there’s a big nudi on the sand…it’s not moving much…’ turned into ‘Holy Cow!!! That Carry Crab got hold of a Nudi!!!’

Carry Crabs usually hold on to a Urchin (if they are an Urchin Carry Crab) or an Upside-down Jellyfish (if they are a Jelly Carry Crab). They have an adapted back pair of legs that can hold onto their ‘hat’ which stops the urchin or jelly from moving away. The crab can then bury itself in the sand, leaving the unappetising urchin/jelly on the surface and thereby protecting itself.

I had never heard of a crab grabbing a nudi and wouldn’t have believed it unless I had seen it for myself..so enjoy this very rare sight…and a big thank you to Con, who originally found this critter combo…you always seem to have a very lucky dive when Con is with you…

Click here to see the video in a new window

So as you can see Barb and I are back again..we had a lovely few weeks off, visiting Australia for a wedding and to see family. We are looking forward to April.

This week has been great. The vis hasn’t been wonderful (does it really matter in Lembeh?) but the diving has. Barb has a foggy glass port on her macro setup and so has been forced to shoot wide angle…here are few few of her efforts, proving that it is possible to shoot wide in Lembeh, but you really have to shoot close focus wide angle.

And we’ve seen ore Blue Rings..though they really are getting hard to find right now. And we’ve seen Wonderpus, Mimics, Long Arm and Coconut Octopus. There have been Broadclub, Pygmy, Crinoid and Reef Cuttlefish, as well as Reef Squid and Bobtail Squid on night dives. We have seen Ornate, Rough Snout and Robust Ghost Pipefish. There have been yellow and pink Bargabantis, Pontohi and Severn’s Pygmy Seahorses, as well as Common, Moluccas and Estuary Seahorse. We’ve also seen Pipehorses, Pipefish (some lovely Winged Pipefish) and Lembeh Pygmy Seadragons. Crustaceans have been fab, with Harlequin Shrimp, Bumblebee Shrimp, Little Green Shrimp, Tiger Shrimp, Boxing Crabs, Donald Duck Shrimp, Xenia Swimming Crabs, Zanzibar Shrimp, Crinoid Shrimp, Emperor Shrimp, Hairy Shrimp, Orang Utan Shrimp, Tozeuma Shrimp, Carry Crabs, Candy Crabs, Hairy Squat Lobster, Squat Shrimp, Elegant Squat Lobster, Skeleton Shrimp, Mantis Shrimp, Porcelain Crabs, Superb Coral Shrimp, Cleaner Shrimp, Sea Spiders and many more. And we’ve seen Giant, Warty, Painted, and Occellated Frogfish. There have been Leaf Scorpionfish, Bubble Shells, Bobbit Worms, Pegasus Sea Moths, Spiny Devilfish, Ambon Scorpionfish, Solar Powered Nudis, Pickachi Nudis, Crocodile Snake Eels, Cockatoo Flounder, Flatworms, Electric Clams, Zebra Batfish and much much more.

Thanks to all our great guests from South Africa, the States, Norway, Canada, the UK, Spain, Japan, Germany and Singapore…it’s been lovely diving with you.

To enjoy all of Barb’s photos, just click on the top or bottom photo strip.

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Constantinos Petrinos has been staying at KBR for the last 5 weeks. It has been a great pleasure to have him here, for all us of, guests and staff alike.

Con has a deep love for KBR and Lembeh and it’s been fascinating to hear him talk on all the times he has spent here. This is his last blog (until he returns…)

“Dear friends and fellow divers,

Time to go! The highlight of this week was a lizard fish that grabbed a seahorse (Hippocampus kuda) right in front of my eyes and spit it almost immediately! Who knows what made the seahorse unpalatable for the lizardfish. Due to a problem with my sync cords, I did one of my last dives without a camera. What a blessing! “Wish I could stay here forever”. With this thought in my head I was enjoying KBR’s fabulous house reef that has not been fished for the last 20 years or so. My dive guide kept finding one thing after another. We were both having fun. He was now preoccupied with some minute crustacean. I looked up to say goodbye to the Indonesian sun as it penetrates the Lembeh waters. An eagle ray swam past. WOW! What a sight. My dive guide kept looking at his crustacean oblivious to what was flying above… Makes sense, the ray was too big for his sharp eyes that are trained to distinguish the smallest critters possible.

Those last 40 days have been amazing. There is so much more that the guides are finding now compared to ten years ago. Next time I must definitely come with a second housing. Having only one housing was a big nuisance. In Greece, I intend to practice more extreme macro shots. For 2014, we are trying to set up a group with Steve Warren from www.oceanoptics.co.uk If you are interested to learn more about this 10 day trip to KBR please send me an email at constantinos@petrinos.com

Time to go! I will miss you all lovely people. Thank you Mr. Mark and Mrs. Kathryn for the continuing support and generosity over the years. Thank you Ms. Linda, Mr. Beary and Mrs. Ais for taking care of our precious KBR and its people. Kaj and Barb for the great diving and company. The KBR Dream Team for the most amazing guiding, Stenly for his awesome snakes, the restaurant staff for the delicious food and the polite and attentive service. Everybody tries so hard to get the job done and with a smile. Also all those support staff – construction, housekeeping – that we seldom see but are crucial to making our stay memorable. Thank you all so much. I will miss you. In front of my room, 1B, I planted a coconut tree that was washed ashore. Its name is "Leon’s tree" and it is my hope for the future. I shall return. CON.”

(This week’s blog is again written by Constantinos Petrinos, the author of Realm of the Pygmy Seahorse)

Many divers and old buddies ask what I think about my critter encounters compared to my last visit 10 years ago. All those new species that have been discovered here in Lembeh this past decade were also present when I was here in 2002. But we could not see them. To make the long story short I see more critters than I used to see back then. And what is surprising is that the dive guides find those rare ones, such as the mimic, the wonderpus and the blue ringed octopus, with astonishing ease. I believe that the training and experience of the guides is responsible for the abundance of critters that we see now and that we could not see before, although they were in front of our eyes. Back then I had spent 5 months in Lembeh without managing to see a mimic octopus. Two days ago I was photographing the banggai cardinafish around a sea urchin. I was having fun. Suddenly Liberty appeared asking me to follow him for a mimic octopus. Believe it or not, I chose to stay with the banggai! Such ludicrous behavior would have been unthinkable ten years ago. But, today, I am certain that any of the KBR dive guides can spot me another mimic, so I chose to continue my banggai photography. Ten yeas ago I would not even imagine that it would have been possible to see on a single dive a wonderpus, a mimic and three hairy frogfish. You can go bananas trying to decide what to shoot. And the ease with which KBR dive guides spot the tiny blue ringed octopus, one of my favorite animals, is phenomenal. I see several a day.

My top encounter this week has been the following: I was photographing a mimic octopus when it suddenly disappeared in front of my viewfinder. What had happened? A flounder had grabbed it with unbelievable stealth and speed and was swimming away with the octopus trailing on the flounder’s body. The flounder had two of the mimic’s legs in the mouth. I swam after the flounder when another one showed up to fight for the prized prey. The mimic autotomized its two legs and fled! WOW. I have nothing on camera because it all went so fast. But I am so happy I was there!

As far as KBR is concerned, the main difference is the big clean pool and the luxury spa. It is really worth trying the hot stone massage. Don’t wait until your last non diving day to discover it! There is also a dramatic improvement in food selection, daily specials and restaurant service. The days when you would wait for hours for your meal to come are a thing of the distant past. Every day I promise myself to have a light dinner and every day I yield to the chef’s special, sometimes going for a double portion. It’s OK, I can still fit in my wetsuit and will go on diet back home.

Some friends have written about the garbage situation in the strait. Yes, I see more plastic bags and plastic garbage than ten years ago. Not all of that comes from the growing local communities. The majority is brought by the ocean currents from the Philippines and Thailand. It is a GLOBAL problem. We can all do something about it.

Finally, there is for the first time a national underwater photography competition in Indonesia. It covers DSLR as well as compact cameras. Divers can participate if their photos were taken in Indonesian waters in 2013 and while staying at a Participating Dive Operator (PDO) such as KBR. The website is www.indonesiaunderwatercontest.com and the cash prizes exceed $200,000.

Final word from me (Kaj). As always, thank you Con for your words. It is also March, so it’s time for the February Critter list..

It’s been another great month for Blue Rings. Mimics were a little quiet at the beginning, but are starting to be seen again. We saw another transparent larval Moray Eel, which was very exciting. Another fabulous month.