The full moon has come and gone this week leaving us with a fairly calm surface and currents next to nothing. This has not meant that all our big beauties of the ocean have disappeared alongside with them. On our dives out in Belongas Bay, South Lombok this week we have been lucky enough to encounter groups of white tip reef sharks, at least four each time. Some gracefully chilling out in the blue next to reef while other’s were spotted taking it easy under an overhang. Soenke a rescue diver from Germany was engrossed trying to get the best shot possible by the overhang only to have his heart skip a beat when he noticed another swimming up the reef from 35m towards him and settle next to its relative. This shows just how friendly and non-threatening these beauties can be when treated with respect.
Our sharks are not the only biggies that have been spotted. We have had massive schools of Blackfin barracudas (Sphyraena genie) circulating the reefs throughout the dives which is unusual without currents but very lucky for our divers. The school held around 100-150 barracuda’s. There was not just the one school, at multiple dive sites we kept bumping in to more and more. The team here in south Lombok are of the opinion that the strong currents have left the waters full of nutrition, feeding entire communities from the corals themselves up to the outstanding whalesharks. Alongside the Barracudas we have encountered 6 white spotted eagle rays, 1 giant grouper, tons and tons of reef fishes, red tooth triggerfish and an abundance of nudies. No doubt more will come as the water temperature drops!!
