So our season season ends…and what a great time we’ve had. Fantastic diving, wonderful island, we’ve seen old friends and met new ones. A huge thank you to everyone who has dived with us.
The highlights, and there have been many, include finding the Psychedelic Frogfish, the Transparent Larval Eel, Lembeh Seadragons, plenty of Rhinopias, Santa Claus Pygmy Seahorse, Ox Heart Ascidian Shrimps and, of course, the amazing cave we discovered.
None of this would have been possible without our amazing Dive Team, from our eagle-eyed guides (Fadly, Alan, Doan, Benny, Billy and Jenly), our super helpful Captains (Iwan, Decy and Jeff) with our great crew/mechanics (Itok, Teis, Edy), our tank filler (Yusri) and cook (Nelli). For Barb and I it has been a joy to see everyone work so well together.
So even though we are really in monsoon now, we have just said goodbye to our last two guests, Gareth and Lorna. We stayed opened for them, even though we were a little worried that the weather would mean a rather wet and cold time. The day they arrived it was raining. Not only was it raining, it had been raining hard for the last two weeks. However the gods of diving were watching, and for their entire stay the sun was out and the diving perfect (though perhaps the water temp a little cold…).
As those of you know who’ve dived with us before, we always give our departing guests a dive log and map. Below is their dive log from our last dives of this season.
As you can see they had some great dives and great days, especially as they were the only people underwater in Ambon for their entire stay.
Barb did get into the water a few weeks back, and the following gallery is from then. She was particularly happy to see the yellow Weedy Rhinopias.
In other huge news, we are leaving the lovely Natsepa Hotel from next season. We are staying close by and will be in a smaller boutique hotel, so expect even better service. The hotel is still being renovated, so more news and photos will follow when everything is finished. We’ve had a great time at the Natsepa and would like to thank the owner, management and staff for making us and our guests feel so welcome.
And finally to the most important members of our team, Neo, Prene and Bamboo. As many of you know, we brought Neo with us from Lembeh. He settled in extremely well, but the biggest challenge he faced was when we rescued two little kittens, Prene and Bamboo, here in Ambon, at the beginning of the year. Despite some initial misgivings, they are now a happy little family. Neo has taken them under his wing, teaches them how to hunt and seems to genuinely love them. Now it’s monsoon, it seems it time for them to relax too…here are some recent photos….
