This past week has seen various celebrations and amazing critter spotting here in Lembeh, as well as a lot of fun and laughter.
On New Year’s eve, all the guests and staff in the resort got together for some games, silly hat wearing and singing, which made for some entertaining photos as I’m sure you will have seen on Facebook already! When the clock struck 11:30 we all gathered on the beach for fireworks set off by the staff, with an unofficial competition with the neighbours (I think Two Fish won by far!). When 12 o’clock came around, the other side of the Strait lit up for hours. We saw spectacular fireworks that rivalled any large city in the world and they showed no signs of stopping even as all the divers dragged themselves to bed before another day of diving.
With the New Year came some wonderful discoveries, including the elusive Rhinopia at Nudi Falls, a lot of frogfish including the hairy, and multiple critters with eggs. Amongst those were Skeleton Shrimp, Hairy Shrimp, Hairy Squat Lobsters and even a Coconut octopus with eggs! We even witnessed a Peacock Mantis Shrimp trying to surreptitiously draw a wrasse into its cave.
There are also lots of “Shaun the Sheep” sap-sucking slugs around; Sacoglossans live by ingesting the cellular contents of algae, hence the adjective “sap-sucking”. They miniature to look at but make for some amazing photos, as attached herein; thanks to guest Cindy Liu for the sensational photography and slideshows we have been enjoying every evening.
We have also discovered a new cure for a rough day – we call it Thera-puppy! After diving, you go back to where they are kept and sit on the grass, and Pepper’s puppies run around and climb all over or fall asleep on you. We have had a few guests quite reluctant to return home after a few sessions of Thera-puppy!
All our best wishes for your 2017 – here’s to more muck diving and more incredible discoveries!
