This week at “The Magnet” in Belongas, South Lombok we have been blessed with a huge school of Bigeye Trevally (also known as the big eye jack, great trevally, six-banded trevally and dusty jack). The school was so big that they blocked out the rays of sun shimmering through the water and the divers Simon and Josi had no choice but to hover and stare at the glistering silver bodies as the circled around them. “An outstanding dive site and experience” is what Simon said to his old friend our dive master Kiko.

Bigeye trevally’s form large schools on clear outer reefs reaching depths of 50meters plus, they have a small black spot on upper end gill and a white tip on the dorsal fin. The males will turn black when courting and they reach a size of 3 ¼ ft. No wonder the light rays had no chance with all that swimming around!!!

Alongside the Trevally we have seen plenty of Devil rays, white tip reef Sharks Red tooth Triggerfish and on the small side we have encountered the ever so cute Pygmy Seahorse, Harliquin Shrimp, Nudibranch’s and our locals the Roundbelly Cowfish.

The Roundbelly Cowfish is a local at “Gili Sarang” and what a character they are usually spotted Bobbing around doing 360º turns. Great for underwater videography but a bit of a nightmare for photography which Simon from Switzerland soon understood. Not disappointed he quickly switched to video setting and shot away.

Simon and Josi joined us for a day trip from Kuta, Lombok. Simon is an old friend of Kiko and heard all about Belongas so it was decided to have a reunion underwater.

Simon said “what a fantastic day, great to share these extreme and beautiful dive sites with an old friend”. They are currently booking the next trip for next week.

All round another great week!!