This week in the South Gili Islands, Lombok … we saw a growing number of Flabellina funeka. The purple lady nudibranch or Flabellina funeka, is a species of aeolid nudibranch, and is a very colourful sea slug. It is usually smaller than 45 mm. It has annulate purple rhinophores with pale tips.
The bright colours of the purple lady serve to advertise to predators that it is toxic.
We also saw our resident frogfish family in different colours of black, green and red. The muck diving extravaganza was rounded out by a pygmy seahorse; ornate ghost pipefish; critters and crustaceans of all kinds. Larger species included marble rays; blue spotted stingrays; white-tip reef sharks, and many more!
Our PADI Divemasters did an exploration dive at a few new dive sites in the South Gilis as well. They discovered a wall going down to 30 meters. The variation of nudibranches at this spot is unbelievable. Colonies of these coloured critters are decorating large coral bommies and all different kinds of corals. And to make the symphony complete, amongst the hard corals are soft corals sticking out in blue, orange and pink.
Carol and Rudolf had a great comeback. Our guests from Germany didn’t dive for many years after their PADI Open Water Course. They joined Two Fish Divers for a PADI scuba review and quickly got back into the swing of things. Both of them were just amazed by the ease and beauty of diving in the South Gilis. The conditions here are very good at the moment. Calm seas and crystal clear visibility await those here in Indonesia’s best kept secret.
Hope to see you with us in South Lombok soon…
