Total Eclipse of the Sun – March 2016
On March 9, 2016, a total eclipse of the sun will begin in Indonesia and end in the northern Pacific. The path of the eclipse will pass through the northern parts of the country, with the point of greatest duration located in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Philippines and north of Papua New Guinea.
In Triton Bay, we will get a partial eclipse lasting almost 3 hours, and 80% of the sun’s area will be obscured! We hope you can join us for that week. It will certainly be memorable!
For the exact path of the eclipse, please see the following site prepared by NASA:
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogle/SEgoogle2001/SE2016Mar09Tgoogle.html
End of our first season in Triton Bay
We certainly had our hands full when our first guests arrived on Aiduma island, with our building contractors still hard at work and the restaurant not yet finished, but we got lucky with two fabulous and chilled out guests from Spain – Maria & Guillem and some lovely weather!
All meals were served on the beach in front of the guest bungalows under the sun and stars, with only one night of rain which was the night we finally had half the roofing on the restaurant, so luckily manged to stay dry. During their visit we also managed to go and experience an event which only takes place once every 2 years – the collecting of Conch or at least the Indonesian equivalent. And Maria and Guillen jumped in to give a helping hand.
This was followed by guests: Martin from Switzerland, Theresa & Joe from USA, my parents from the UK, Gordon & Ian from USA, Katherine, Lilly, Steve, Anthony and Telly from Hong Kong, Charlie from UK, Connie from Germany, Aurelio from Spain and finally Paul and Jenny from the USA…. Not a bad start and I’m pleased to say everyone seems to have enjoyed themselves with some great photos and video to show for it!!
We even managed to find some time to check out some new dive sites and had some great finds, including Harlequin Shrimp, the endemic Flasher wrasse to this region, Mandarin fish, hairy shrimp and Pontohi and Bargibanty Pygmy seahorse. We even spotted the blue ringed octopus on a couple of occasions.
But we should not forget our larger encounters. Our guest Charlie was the luckiest of all and spent several hours hanging out with 5 whale sharks at the local bagans in our area. One extremely lucky lady! We have also had close encounters with mantas, devil rays, eagle rays, mobular rays as well as lazy wobbegong sharks! On top of this the soft coral and marine life here still blows my mind even after all this time!
We are now closed for the East Monsoon season, carrying out some general maintenance and doing some landscaping etc and will be opening again in September. We are looking forward to calmer weather and warmer waters, so we can get out diving again and find some more new sites and great critters. And of course to welcoming our new guests to this little piece of paradise.
Thank you to everyone involved for making the first half of this year fabulous! And thank you to our guests for some great photos!
Pygmy Paradise?
Over the past few months we have been diving in Triton Bay, we have been fortunate to see our fair share of pygmy seahorses. They have been found on almost every site we dive – though not on every dive as they sometimes are just not there, having moved on or for whatever reason. Most common by far are the Bargibanti, both pink and yellow, but we have also seen Denise, Pontohi (in various colors), and Severns. On one sea fan in Bo’s Rainbow we counted more than 20 Bargibanti, and it is common for us to find sea fans with families of 5~8 individuals. Below are a few pics taken over two dives last week. Enjoy!
Diving the House Reef
Here’s a gallery of the animals we’ve found on our house reef so far. Still missing pictures of the LSD Mandarin Fish (or Picturesque Dragonette). Photos of the Flasher Wrasse and Harlequin Shrimp by Lily Cheng. We do have Flasher Wrasse on the house reef, but her picture was taken at another location. Only three pictures of the Saron (Marble) Shrimp so far, but we know there are at least 5 different species here. This blog entry will be updated as we get more pictures!
Update June 2: Two pictures of the Flasher Wrasses found on our house reef by recent guest Connie Thieme. One is the standard P. Nursalim and the other is a hybrid (part P. Nursalim, part Blue Flasher). The other addition is a Saron Shrimp (Marble Shrimp) taken under black light – very cool! To see more of Connie’s pics from her stay with us, please see the Guest Galleries page.
Update June 21: picture of mating Mandarin fish added!
Building Triton Bay Divers
“Come my friends, tis not too late to seek a newer world” – Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Perhaps we do not need, like Tennyson’s Ulysses and his mariners, to look for a new world but rather renew the one we live in now. We are a global community, connected like never before, and with an inter-continental flight we can go from our ultra-modern cities to the most remote lands. The mistakes made by first world countries in our rush to economic development are being made everywhere around the planet, and sadly there are few places like Triton Bay now. Such places need to be accessible to all but they also need to be preserved, and it was in this spirit that this project was conceived.
Building this resort was an act of faith, a daily test of patience, a compromise between different visions. Speaking strictly for myself, there were many times I thought it was not supposed to be this hard. Before construction even began I had almost given up a dozen times. But I believe the Universe doesn’t give us more than we can handle, and somehow this project that has taken the last two and a half years is finally almost complete.
To nature lovers everywhere, we humbly present Triton Bay Divers. If all who come here can escape from their busy lives and find peace and tranquility, our purpose will be achieved.
Jimmy
