This week we’ve been lucky enough to watch one of our favourite fish in both of our South Lombok locations, Belongas Bay as well as on the reefs around the “dive farm” in Sekotong (South Gili’s). The fish in question is the bluefin trevally (Caranx melampygus) or jackfish. Some divers make the mistake of thinking that the bluefin trevally is just “nice to see” but lacking the wow factor of some of the other visitors to these parts. We beg to differ, this trevally is a stunning fish to watch in the water! They have a thin, silver torpedo-like body with sharp, electric blue fins similar to the wings on fighter jets. This is by design as these stylings are what make the jack an awesome predator and an incredibly important part of the reef. In Sekotong this week we had the privilege of seeing two jacks working together as a team to “push” smaller fish into a barrel sponge, they then darted in to snatch the fish from inside the sponge and darted out again, all in the blink of an eye. In Belongas, where there’s even less fishing stress on the reef than Sekotong, I found myself surrounded by schools of 50 to 100 jacks all swimming together in a stunning formation (image below). It’s great to see these healthy fish stocks remain in South Lombok as they’ve been over-fished in other parts of the world, leading to the degradation of the reef as a whole. Seeing healthy stocks of predatory fish, such as the trevally, is a good indicator of the overall health of the marine ecosystems, as well as being a pleasure to watch on a dive.

Schooling trevally (jackfish) in South Lombok
Also joining us this week we had the lovely duo of Beth and Chris who learnt to dive during their PADI Open Water course with Kate and they also got to witness the completion of Hazel’s PADI Divemaster training with the ritual “snorkel test”. During this global diving rite of passage Hazel (successfully) answered diving related questions, showed us all how easy it is to put together dive equipment whilst blindfolded and consumed a little bit of the local firewater… through a snorkel. A great ending to another great week here on the dive farm.
Are you interested in diving South Lombok? Diving Belongas Bay and Sekotong offer two different diving experiences in one trip! Experience the pinnacles, currents, schooling fish and pelagic predators of Belongas and then kick back and relax over kaleidoscopic, pristine reefs, accompanied by a plethora of critters in Sekotong. For more information about diving, staying or taking a PADI Course with us, fill in the contact form below and we will get right back to you.
We look forward to diving in Lombok with you soon!
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