Ever seen a Long Fin Banner Fish and a Moorish Idol in the same room? The Moorish Idol is a common Indo-Pacific fish that we often see in Bunaken National Marine Park and is the only member left of the family Zanclidae. We see them here on most dive sites but in some parts of the Indo-Pacific they are less common and even confused with the Long Fin Banner Fish, due to the elongated dorsal fin which is actually 6 or 7 spines that form a trailing, sickle shaped crest. The Moorish Idol differs from the Banner Fish and other butterflyfish in having a prominent black, triangular anal fin and if you look closely at the snout, you can see the yellow band that is unique to the Moorish Idol. Did you know, the Moorish Idol gets its name from the Moors of Africa, who believed the fish to be a bringer of happiness? The Long Fin Banner Fish is sometimes called the Poor Man’s Moorish Idol as it is easier to keep in an aquarium and cheaper to buy.
When we aren’t busy doing Fish I.D. in Bunaken we are busy doing other things like, diving with fish we have already I.D’d! This week Ben completed his Divemaster course with us and is excited to head back to Malta and put his new skills to the test with some part time or full time work before going back to the “real job”. Good luck Ben, we will miss you!
Some long term guests left earlier this week and some are leaving today and tomorrow. Jorg and Britta from Germany have been diving mostly with Kres and relaxing at our resort for a couple of weeks, Stew and Chris from England have spent 10 days diving with guide Rian and Cynthia and David started their adventures in Lembeh and then came here to dive with guide Jecky for 2 weeks. The conditions have been excellent for the duration of their stay and they have managed to see a variety of amazing tiny macro critters that our guides are famous for finding, not to mention the turtles and reef fish that crowd the dive sites. We look forward to seeing you all again soon! We have also enjoyed the company of newly weds Loic and Madeline, who decided a Refresher and the PADI Enriched Air Nitrox course was a great way to stay together for longer, underwater I mean!
Daniel has moved onto his next location, Amed to continue his Divemaster training, but before he left him and Ben arranged another underwater clean up or Dive Against Debris as the Project Aware activity is properly called. They took guests Jorg and Britta, Stew and Chris, and guides Kres, Jecky, Egan and Rian to Lekuan III to grab over 10kg of rubbish that has ended up in the sea, great job guys! The data has been uploaded to the Project AWARE database to be used in the discussion for better protection of our oceans.
With a few other short term guests coming and going too, we have had another wonderful week of diving, snorkeling, relaxing by the pool, sun-bathing, massages and enjoying delicious Indonesian cuisine. What more could you want?
