This gallery is from a recent trip to Ambon from 10/30-11/3/17. It was great to be back at Maluku Divers Resort. We stayed in Ambon for 5 days before boarding the Damai and sailing to Alor and Flores. The resort now has a great pier for boarding the dive boats. A nice upgrade from previous trips!
There was no shortage of critters this year. As you can see from the gallery, there were great subjects for macro photography. I was pleased to see several Rinopias including a wonderful purple one on the very first dive. There were multiple frog fish including a dice-sized juvenile psychedelic frog fish. My favorite encounter was two Coleman shrimp on a large fire urchin. Close inspection also showed two Brook's urchin shrimp clinging below near the sand.
The guides at Maluku are great. I spent most of my dives with Lucky and Ali. There were several ornate ghost pipefish each day. Ali showed me a male with hundreds of eggs in his pouch. As we watched closely, you could see a cloud of sperm fertilizing the eggs and streaming out of the pouch.
It was great to be back in Ambon with Fred and company. We were awoken one night by 3 earthquakes. The strongest was 6.7 and woke most of us from sleeping. No tsunami
thankfully!
Addendum: I was saddened to hear that Maluku Divers Resort recently closed in May, 2018. This was a great resort for UW photographers and one of the best for accommodations for cameras and divers. I wish all the best for the staff and dive guides who have been so helpful during my trips to Ambon. Hopefully the resort will reopen in the future.
© Mark Etter Underwater Photography
