Siladen: Last Hatch

On the 31st of may 2008, 111 new baby turtles have born, This has been one of the most successful hatch as in the nest there were 112 eggs.

As usual , the kind of turtle born were Olive Ridley (  Lepidochelys olivacea ). This time the turtles have born during day time, but to avoid that all predators in the sea were going to eat them we have released them after sunset.

This years we have been witnessing about 300 new born turtles going to the sea, from three hatch in Siladen Island. Since we have started the hatchery program, It has been now three years in a row that the peak season is between january and june.

It has been lovely to see them swimming out for their first time.

Bunaken Marine Park: Hippocampus Pontohi

The Hippocampus Pontohi has been classified as a new spieces of seahorse after being discovered in 2003 by Hence Pontoh, dive guide in the Bunaken Marine Park. Today, this little critters just 1 cm in size, is often found attached to hydroids and often can be seen in pairs. The color variation range from white and yellow to dark brown.

In the pictures above you can see its big round belly as it is pregnant. I really wonder if its babies can reach a couple of mm in size. :-) 

It is not so easy to take pictures of this animal as the size is very small and often is in movement. 105mm lens is reccomended. This picture was taken with my Nikon D80 with a 60mm lens.

I really appreciate how my diveguides patiently every time while diving look for it.  Today, it si quite common to find this Hippocampus and you can make sure that you will be able to see at least one of them during your holiday here at our resort with us.

Siladen: It has been a surprise !!!

Yesterday morning at 01:00 AM 70 babies turtles emerged to the surface from their nest and have taken their way to the sea. It has been really a big surprise as we did not know that there was a turtle nest right in the premises of our Resort.

In the main time we are still waiting for the nest we have found the 9th of Feb. It should hatch in a few days. We are all really looking for . 

The birth of babies turtles is always a special event that gives joy to everybody involved.

You can make sure I will keep you post on the next hatch.

Siladen: Turtle nesting

Right now we are in the nesting season here in Siladen and also this year on the 9th of Feb. a turtle came all the way back to Siladen Island to lie down her eggs.
The kind of the turtle was an Olive Riddley and it is know that the incubation time of its egg is about 50 days. Around the 30 of march we will start our night checks in order to be present when the little hatchlings will surface and go all the way to the sea.
The “babies”, then will take their chances in the sea and those female that will be able to reach maturity after about 35 years will swim back for hundreds of Km to lie down their eggs exactly on the same beach were they were born.
I am really amazed that after such a long time drifting who knows where, their orientation will take them back to their birth place .

Whaleshark!!!!!

What a great morning for our new guests arrived yesterday to our resort .

The dive took place in Tanjung Parigi in the nearby island of Bunaken. Around 9:00 o’clock, Thomas, Sandra, Katja and Hella were gearing up ready to have their morning dive. Something for sure that was not in their minds was…… to be able to be playing with a whaleshark for about half hour. The whaleshark had a strong interested for the bubbles exhaled from the divers, probably thinking that it was food. Well, this magnificent fish was keeping coming back and it was so close that all divers had to swim away in order to do not touch it.

In bahasa Indonesia they call the whaleshark: hiu bintang. It is a very lovely name that means the shark with the stars, in fact the white spots on its back resemble the stars .

Dear Sandra, thank you very much for this beautiful picture. 

An other great day in the Bunaken Marine Park!!!!!

Rainy Season Weather??????!!!

January and February are supposed to be the wettest month in the North Sulawesi. However, The Bunaken Marine Park has a different weather pattern than the Mainland of the Sulawesi. In fact ,as the islands are mostly flat, there is  less evaporation therefore less clouds are able to be formed. In the picture you can see that the most of clouds are in the left, where the mainland is.

Today in the afternoon I will go to have a nice dive !!!

Getting to know Siladen Resort&Spa’s dive guides

Parman, 26 years old (Left) and Noldy, 24 years old (right), are two of my dive guides in Siladen Resort&Spa. Their specialty is finding small seahorse (hippocampus pontohi), sometime as small as just 0.5mm ( 0.15inch). I truly respect their dedication in finding such as small critters, as since I have been here I could just spot 5 of these little seahorse.

They both come from the nearby village in Siladen Island and they both have logged more than 1500 dives with Parman being the most experience of all my dive guides having logged more than 3000 dives.

Beside being very good in conducting the dives, They are very funny and friendly guys. It’s a pleasure being able to work with such a lovely peoples!!!

Look at this couple!!!

Not far from Siladen Island along the coast of the mainland of North Sulawesi, there is a great dive site where we can see many Mandarinefish. The best time to be there is just before sunset as all the mandarinefish will start to mate. Like this couple that came up in front of my camera’s lens.

I have heard that in other places of the world the mandarinefish have a mating season, like in the islands of Okinawa (Japan) where they mate for just few month during the year. Probably given by the optimal conditions, in the Bunaken Marine Park mandarinefish mate almost everyday!!!

Observing their behavior I personally find them very funny