Day 3: Barracudas, the Meanest Looking Fish Ever

Sarah was supposed to leave with Conservation International this morning to investigate several potential manta sites in the north. Some of these sites were given to her by Max, the owner of the resort, who saw them from his aerial survey of the area. I don't think I've talked about Max yet, but I'll get into that later. Sarah's trip was postponed until the following morning instead.

Therefore, she came with us on our first dive of the day to Blue Magic. This specific site is where the oceanic mantas usually visit, although we were warned that the chance of seeing one is very low because, like I said, it was towards the end of manta season. Oceanic mantas are supposed to be a lot bigger than reef mantas. Personally, I couldn't really imagine anything bigger than what I've already seen. Probably will just blow my mind away!

We didn't get to see any mantas. Boo! But the corals were definitely beautiful, and the light was just perfect because it was a cloudless day. The most interesting part of this dive would have to be the barracudas. I've never seen one in real life, and I imagine them to look like what is depicted in Finding Nemo.

Well, it's not too far from the truth...

Don't they just look mean? Almost like they're staring you down.
Trying to eat you up alive. X_X

Look at that teeth!

A school from afar, intermingled with other fishies.

The barracudas were slightly smaller than the size and length of my leg. But the most intimidating thing about them, in my opinion, is their stillness. I don't know how they do it. They're just there. Frozen in their spot without the slightest wiggle. Just a demanding presence that could not be avoided. Combined with their wide and wakeful eyes, it's a frightening sight.

Towards the end of the dive we were hitting a pretty strong current. Eddy used a reef hook on one of the hard reefs and let us hold on. The tiny part that was hooked broke off after a bit, and we basically floated away. Technically, it was the end of the dive so we just went with the flow and made our safety stop.

The second dive was to a site called Chicken Reef, which has no resemblance to a chicken whatsoever, so don't ask why it's named that. There was about a medium strength current here, so we had to kick hard half of the time to see what anyone was pointing out. I saw a group of batfish passing by. A group of bumphead parrotfish also passed by above us. They were pretty big so it was a neat sight. Again, another group of barracudas. There was also another wobbegong, although this time I didn't find it first. Poo!

However, this time I actually made out a pygmy seahorse. Barely made it out, I should add. They're so small! I probably couldn't have known what it was until Eddy pointed with his tank banger and it moved to another branch of the coral.

It really makes you think to see a living creature this tiny. How can something so small and delicately designed exist? I mean, it's a seahorse for crying out loud! And it's not infertile or dumb or different than a regular-sized seahorse, which is probably more than 1,000 times its size. The male still squirts out little babies from its stomach during delivery. Can you imagine how small those baby pygmy seahorses must be to have at least 15 squeezed out from their father's tummy?

Hell, I probably wouldn't even notice if one got stuck on me somewhere!

Which is kind of fascinating, if you think about it. How do they survive? There are so many fish, big and small, around a reef system, which I'm sure wouldn't mind having a baby seahorse for lunch. It's amazing to think about how they survived what seems like the greatest adversity of all. I'd even say these little creatures trump the new born sea turtles' fight for survival from shore.

The will to live is just so strong!

Because we had been kicking pretty hard, my mom was running out of air and surfaced before me. I stayed under with Ismail, another guide that came with us, until around 70 bar. He, I figured after a while, loves pointing out macro stuff. Which is great! Except it's freakishly hard to see, and I'm no grandma either! He pointed out a lot of little crabs for me to see by the soft corals. Hairy ones, translucent one, etc.

Our third dive was at a site called Jetty Yebuba. The name kinda reminds me of Yubaba from Spirited Away. And you need to watch that movie if you haven't already done so! Anyway, it was a very nice site (I know I keep saying this, but that's because all the sites here are beautiful). There was a slow current so we drifted along with it quite easily.

Eddy kept pointing at this thing I couldn't make out. Turned out it was a camouflaged, huge shrimp that lives in a hole. This dive I also saw more pygmy seahorses. But this time I could totally make them out! They were a lighter color, almost white, and a little bigger than the ones I've seen before. I believe one is pregnant and holding the babies. So cute!

After that I saw this one white nudibranch. It's the biggest and most beautiful nudibranch of the whole trip, I would say. It was around four inches long and one inch wide, with this elegant flowing tail feathers (I don't know exactly what the anatomy of it is called). Such a beauty! Or maybe it's just because I like the color white, but I could probably just observe this one the whole dive if they let me.

Here's what a nudibranch generally looks like.

Here's a close up. They're so cute! :3
They're like snails with color!

There was also a black tip shark swimming by in the distance (keep in mind all the sharks I encounter are reef sharks, so they're not too big). According to Max, the black tip sharks were actually discovered in Raja Ampat not too long ago; if you consider the late 1800s not too long ago.

Max is a very interesting guy. He is originally from the Netherlands, but now lives in Indonesia, mainly at Sorido Bay with his many projects to attend to. During lunch and dinner, he would have so many stories to tell, especially of his adventures and mishaps which were usually funny and quite life threatening. He told us a story once of when he was stranded on some island in Indonesia with no food or water for two whole days. He also told us how some people he was with didn't want to use the only tarp they have to catch rainwater when it rained because they didn't want to get wet. Hahaha! It's so funny to hear how stupid people can get sometimes. Like, really? You'd rather die of thirst than get a little wet? You're stranded! Some people really just wouldn't survive in the wild... Well, lucky we've already destroyed most of nature, eh?

I think it's also true when Max said that it's nice to be able to sit down and talk instead being glued to the TV or computer screen. And, in my opinion, a smart phone. It's alarming how much time people are spending with virtual communications nowadays. While, at the same time, they don't read! Most people probably wouldn't even get this far down in this blog post. So I sincerely applaud you if you do get to this point. Most would just look at the pictures, see the long entry and ignore the words.

After all, a picture can speak a thousand words, right?

Right, maybe only if we can get past all the shallowness that seems to plague today's society. People are not having real, meaningful conversations anymore. Not that I'm saying every time we talk should be about the meaning of life or anything. But it's sad to see that most people think chatting with someone virtually can substitute for a real relationship with another human being through actual interactions. Some might argue that it keeps the relationship alive until they actually see each other, which is true if you do see each other again. But it just seems silly to me if all you talk about is nothing and post pictures of your last exquisite cuisine which you seem to be eating every freaking meal!

And honestly, I'd rather have a few friends I have real connections with than a million shallow relationships lost in my Facebook newsfeed.

Don't even get me started on games and the tablets that are flooding the market right now. Need I say more?