August 2006 :
Australia
- Rhinopias on the Ribbon Reefs
- Diving with living fossils
- Minke Whales 2006
- Minke Girl
- Cyclone Larry: It is not only bad news
Papua New Guinea
Indonesia
Diversion Marine Conservation Fund
news@diversion
DIVERSION DIVE TRAVEL Newsletter August 2006
Online HTML version (English) | Online HTML Version (deutsch)
It
has been a while since our last newsletter and a lot of things have happened.
In April Claudia and Dirk went on the fly/dive cruise with Spoilsport
and found an elusive creature that usualy lives in the waters of PNG and
Indonesia.
Our Minke Whales have concluded another successful season of studying
human behaviour in the water (or was it the other way round?) Two articles
bring you deeper insights.
Most people holidaying in the tropics may find their beautiful shells
on the sand, but have you ever seen a Nautilus alive? Sybille even adopted
one of these cute fellows.
From the remote Ninigo and Hermit Islands we received a story of hope
that not all the reefs are going to be lost.
Back in Indonesia, a group of very happy travellers sent us feedback about
their experience around Manado. Sybille brought back a story and pictures
from her recent cruise to Komodo National Park and has some travel tips
for Bali, too!
Pindito cruises have been added to our programme. Now you can explore
Raja Ampat with one of the most experienced operators.
The Diversion Marine Conservation Fund has received some feedback on existing
projects and helped with two new initiatives.
On the internal front, our good colleague Phil Page left Diversion after
almost 8 years! He felt it was time for a big change and left Cairns.
We wish Phil all the best for his new life in France! Only a few days
after he left, Cyclone Larry came and brought limited destruction and
some relief for the Great Barrier Reef. The cyclone also helped to clean
up Phil's desk for a new face in our office. Welcome Bettina!
Keep blowin' bubbles
Your Diversion Team
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Rhinopias
Aphanes on the Ribbon Reefs
Now
that Spoilsport offers the new Fly/dive itineraries from Cairns, Claudia
and I had a good excuse to go diving on our favourite reefs along the
Ribbon Reefs between Cooktown and Lizard Island.
On day three at a dive site called Andy's postcard, something amazing
happened. Andy's postcard is a sizeable bommie with lots of schooling
fish action. Half way during the dive I saw Craig, the trip director swimming
around very excitedly, continuously pointing to a piece of Coral. Well,
it wasn't coral. It was one 
of
the strangest fish that live in the shallow tropical reefs: Meet Rhinopias
Aphanes, commonly named lacy scorpion fish. We are fortunate enough to
have seen this fish on many occasions in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia.
However, to see this animal on our doorstep just added to the excitement!
Claudia has taken this photo of it.
We both have been on a number of dive trips along the Ribbon Reefs, but
this trip was special and will stick in our memory. We enjoyed every part
of the trip, starting with the flight to Lizard, the welcome on board
Spoilsport, the fantastic food prepared by Peter, the general setup and
good condition of Spoilsport....
What
stood out above all this for me personally was the diligent and effortless
preparation for each dive site by the entire crew. There was always a
line in the water when needed, the briefings were great - I always felt
that each diver was looked after for their particular needs. The fact
that we were only 15 guests certainly did help, but the way everyone was
doing their job showed that even with a full boat, everyone will
be looked after.
http://diversionOZ.com/en/spoilsport.htm
Diving
With Living Fossils
No,
we are not talking about Sybille - although she did indeed recently return
from one of our favourite excursions, the 6 Night Osprey Reef Shark Encounter.
Before divers see the first small, medium and large sharks that prowl
the massive, vertical coral walls of Osprey Reef, they come face to face
with one of the oldest known inhabitants of the deep ocean: the nautilus.
Undersea Explorer's marine scientists have been conducting nautilus research
for many years. Normally, divers would never encounter these elusive animals,
as they live exclusively between 200-800 metres/600-2400ft - deep enough
to escape many predators but still shallow enough not to be crushed by
the increasing water pressure.
Therefore,
wire traps are set at these depths overnight, and a generous serving of
chicken bait proves to be most effective to attract a small number each
week. These are then measured and catalogued while being kept in a small
ice water tank during the day. As a cephalopod, a member of the squid
and octopus family, the nautilus is certainly not the most aqua dynamic
water creature you have ever seen. However, lacking fins or tails they
use jet propulsion to move horizontally and vertically in every direction
at surprising speed, and their multi-chambered shell is built to withstand
a sudden change of pressure much better than most fish. 
Research
has shown that a nautilus can travel approx. 400 metres/1200ft up and
down the water column in search for food at night. They exist very similar
to their present form since the dinosaur age.
At the end of this interesting and informative day every nautilus is gently
released into the deep blue - to safely return to the bottom of the sea
with the chilling tale about being abducted and prodded by aliens - and,
as usual, none of their mates will believe them....
http://diversionOZ.com/en/underseaexplorernautilus.htm
Minke Whales on the Barrier Reef 24-30 June 2006
The
long anticipated Diversion group excursion finally got under way a few
weeks ago. 12 very excited divers and snorkellers boarded Undersea Explorer
on our 6 night minke whale expedition to the Great Barrier Reef on 24-30
June 2006. For Dirk and myself it had been two years since we last came
face to face with these fascinating creatures and we couldn't wait for
the boat to leave. Apparently, we are not the only minke enthusiasts.
Though the season is quite short -from June to early August- we were still
surprised to see familiar faces among our fellow passengers. On this trip
we encountered Mark again, a diver whom we had first met on our very first
Minke Whale safari on Undersea Explorer.
We
left Port Douglas after dinner and steamed out to the Ribbon Reefs overnight.
The minke whales were expecting us already; and the first sighting was
announced at the crack of dawn before we even had time to sit down for
breakfast. Everybody ran to the back deck, grabbed wetsuits and snorkel
gear and jumped into the water. Undersea Explorer pioneered the least
intrusive way of interacting with Minke whales by attaching long ropes
to the boat for snorkellers to hold on to. While the boat idles in the
waves trailing the passengers behind, the whales are free to approach
as close as they dare and take a good look at us funny creatures in rubber
suits lining up in 2 neat rows on the water surface.
Frequently,
minke whales approach snorkellers within a few metres, however, they don't
seem to like divers' bubbles, and usually they keep their distance from
everybody on scuba. Dwarf minke whales grow to 4-8 metres/12-24ft and
are more or less easily distinguishable through individual markings on
their body. Some of them approach the boat numerous times during one season
and return again the following years.
On some encounters, there were so many minkes swimming simultaneously
below us, next to us and way off in the distance that we sometimes wished
we had 3 pairs of eyes to take it all in. We felt like greeting old friends,
and to see their intelligent and inquiring eyes acknowledging our presence
at such close range was time and time again a truly thrilling experience.
I had to ask myself who was studying whom on many occasions.
Here
the bare statistics of our whale trip:
- 6 days at sea with daily minke whale sightings
- 64 individual minke whales counted
- 9 in-water interactions between snorkellers and minkes
- 12 exciting scuba dives on the best dive sites along the Ribbon Reefs
- 20 joyful passengers who all vowed to be back!
Want to be
there next year, instead of merely watching the Discovery Channel? Then
you better start planning now for the 2007 season. Many departures are
already fully booked.
http://diversionOZ.com/en/underseaexplorerschedule07.htm
Minke Girl - the career of a former Diversion client
It
sounds a bit like a fairytale, but this one is true:
Susan Sobzick from Berlin, a former client of Diversion Dive Travel, now
lives in Townsville, where she is working at her PhD about Minke Whales.
Here in Australia many people call her "Susan, the Minke Girl".
It was the dream of Susan's dad to dive on the Great Barrier Reef. In
2000 the whole family wanted to travel together and Susan was the one
who started to organise the trip. She found our website on the Internet
and contacted us. We recommended the Undersea Explorer Excursion, because
we love their approach to combine tourism with research. At the time,
we did not know that Susan had an interest in marine biology and that
this trip would be very important for her future career.
...more
online
CYCLONE LARRY - IMPACT ON GREAT BARRIER REEF
No doubt
you would have heard about the Category 4 cyclone that hit Tropical North
Queensland on March 20, 2006. Thanks to all our concerned friends and
clients who contacted us to see if we were still standing!
In actual fact, Cairns escaped relatively unscathed with only minor damage-
fallen trees etc. The worst hit area was Innisfail which is almost 100km
south of Cairns. This community has been virtually wiped out, and it is
amazing to see the community spirit that has enabled the residents of
this region to rebuild their lives.
A large number
of you wrote to us enquiring about the impact Larry had on the surrounding
reefs and, of course, the dive sites.
Some
media reported extensive damage to the Great Barrier Reef, with some even
claiming that Larry has reduced big parts of the reef to rubble. Thankfully
this is far from the truth.
Doctor David Wachenfield, the Director for Science at the Great Barrier
Reef Marine Park Authority - "(Claims about widespread destruction
of the reef are) absolutely not true. The overwhelming majority of
the Great Barrier Reef hasn't been affected at all."
Research conducted by the University of Queensland showed Cyclone Larry had left its mark on the land but had moved too quickly to cause any major damage on the reef. Moving at about 25kph and crossing the reef within hours, Larry moved inland before destructive waves had time to develop.
Cyclone
Larry's path in March 2006
University of Queensland coral reef expert Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg said the occurrence of Cyclone Larry has actually been beneficial by mixing the water columns and cooling the ocean temperatures. This has helped the Great Barrier Reef avoid a major bleaching event by lowering the water temperature. The coming winter has moved the GBR into the "safe zone" for widespread coral bleaching that is a concern during the hotter parts of the year.
There is
some broken and damaged coral in the immediate path of the cyclone, estimated
to include a 20km radius. Obviously, this is an incredibly small part
of the Great Barrier Reef, located far to the south of all diving operations
from Cairns and Port Douglas.(See map)
For
more information: http://www.bom.gov.au/weather/qld/cyclone/tc_larry/
Papua New Guinea
Islanders looking after their reefs
The
Hermit and Ninigo Island group is probably one of the remotest dive destination
in Papua New Guinea.
Situated just south of the Equator in the Bismarck sea they are about
200 miles away from any population centres. Golden Dawn cruises these
waters in August/September, and during her visits provides a vital link
to the rest of the world. Three years ago, a guest who also was a medical
doctor could help a villager by performing an emergency operation. But
the regular and less spectacular benefits, like trade goods, donations
for community projects, and shared technical expertise which make the
visits by "MV Golden Dawn" so valuable to the islanders.
Over
the years, Craig DeWit, the skipper and owner of Golden Dawn, has convinced
the villagers that their reefs and the creatures living there are a valuable
resource, and as long as the fishing is sustainable, the area will provide
them with regular incomes from visiting dive boats and divers.
As there are so many sad stories about reefs being fished out by local
people, or by illegal overseas fishing trawlers, it is good to see that
there are other stories of wisdom and insight. The people of Hermit and
Ninigo Islands have kept poachers at bay, and have also resisted the temptation
to sell out their reefs for short term gain. Instead they are actively
preserving their traditional fishing methods and are now developing a
concept for eco-tourism on their islands. With transport being a major
problem, it will be some time until the place becomes more accessible.
However, this isolation can be seen as a blessing in disguise as the locals
can learn from the mistakes some other Pacific Island
nations have made.
http://diversionOZ.com/en/goldendawn.htm
Paradise Sport - The Final Countdown
Mike
Ball's second boat, the PARADISE SPORT will only be operating in Papua
New Guinea until early January next year. I'm sure there are 100's of
divers out there who are as sad as we are to see this beautiful boat leave
PNG. Up until January, Mike Ball and his crew still offer 20 cruises in
beautiful Milne Bay. This is your last chance to be pampered aboard Paradise
Sport. Contact us for the last remaining spaces.
http://diversionOZ.com/en/paradisesport.htm
New Service Hongkong-Port Moresby
Every Wednesday, Air Niugini is now offering a flight from Hongkong to Port Moresby via Manila. This is a welcome addition to the two weekly flights from Singapore (Mo, Thu) for all our Asian and European divers. There is of course always the daily service from Cairns, 3 times/week from Brisbane and one weekly flight from Sydney to bring you to PNG.
Indonesia
Ocean
Rover
A few days ago, Cheryl Jones from Virginia, USA, sent us a message that
we would like to share with you. She is one of our 'busiest' divers and
takes her groups of intrepid adventurers to the far corners of the globe
in search of the best liveaboards. We have known her for many years and
now regard her as part of the Diversion family. Cheryl just returned from
a 10-day cruise onboard Ocean Rover to the best dive sites in North Sulawesi,
Indonesia. After many happy days of discovery around Bunaken, Bangka &
Sangihe Islands and, of course, Lembeh Strait this is what she told us:
"The
diving was excellent -- we all saw so many critters new to us, and we've
all got hundreds of dives in many destinations in the Pacific. The Ocean
Rover dive guides really had eyes for the unusual, the camouflaged, the
tiny, and the rare! The reefs around were buzzing with fish life, and
richly decorated with a fabulous array of sponges and hard and soft corals.
The colors, textures, shapes, and sizes were stunning. We did not expect
to like the muck diving in Lembeh Strait. We had done some in PNG, but
not being photographers, didn't really see the excitement. 
However,
now we're muck diving enthusiasts. The gray and black sands of North Sulawesi,
and its village piers and shallow grasses were rich with unexpected, and
often bizarre life.
All of us are now big fans of Ocean Rover. Taken individually the boat
and the crew would each be outstanding, so the combination is fantastic.
Head and shoulders above our other live-aboard experiences. We're ready
to go wherever OR is headed, no questions asked, and are already checking
our calendars for Thailand and Malaysia"
http://diversionOZ.com/en/sea/oceanrover.htm
For
the last two years I had spent my holidays in Sulawesi, diving at Bunaken
and Lembeh Strait. To break the growing addiction to muck diving, I decided
to check out the dive scene in Bali, and to join Mermaid I on a seven
night live-aboard to Komodo.
Bali
To
get away from the Kuta/Legian crowds, and to avoid having to spend 3+
hours each day traveling to and from dive sites, I decided to base myself
in Padang Bai, half way up the East Coast of Bali. Padang Bai is a small
fishing village, and until recently, most visitors only came here to catch
the ferry to Lombok.
Over
the last few years a healthy diving industry has developed in Padang Bai,
and for good reasons. Easy access to some 20 dive sites, with the furthest
being Nusa Penida, is only a 30 minutes boat ride away. Tulamben, the
location of the famous Liberty wreck, is reached by road in about 90 minutes.
From 
turtles,
to eagle rays, reef sharks, nudibranch, leaf scorpion fish, ribbon eels,
the amazing molo-mola, and the most elegant inhabitants of the underwater
world, manta rays, it's all there for you to admire.
Accommodation
ranges from good quality hotels with air conditioning, television, private
facilities to smaller inns, all at a very reasonable price. Talking about
price, there are not many places in the world where you can get 6 nights
accommodation in a good quality hotel with breakfast, 10 boat dives, airport
transfers, incl. of all taxes for US$470 twin/double or US$545 single.
http://diversionOZ.com/en/sea/balidiving.htm
Mermaid I
Mermaid
I is one of the very well known Thai boats, which spends June to October
in Indonesia, offering 7 night live-aboard trips to the Komodo National
Park. Mermaid I is probably one of the most comfortable boats I have been
on. The cabins are spacious, with ensuite facilities, a small fridge,
and TV/DVD. A nice mix of Thai, and western cuisine tantalises your taste
buds, and there is always plenty of fresh fruit to finish off a meal.
Saturday departures and arrivals are at Bali's Benoa Harbour, which is
easily reached from Kuta/Legian, Sanur, Nusa Dua or directly from Denpasar
airport. Mermaid arranges these transfers, and the cost is included in
the total price.
After
an overnight steam, passing the north coast of Lombok, we woke up to a
light breakfast and our first dive at Moyo Island, from where we continued
our trip in an easterly direction. I was amazed by the wealth of soft
corals throughout this trip. A dive site called "golden wall"
was exactly that - a wall covered in soft coral in every shade of yellow,
orange and gold, just incredibly beautiful. Although there were some sharks,
they didn't seem to be terribly abundant, which I think is a legacy of
shark fishing/finning world wide. We saw mantas, eagle rays, and after
our last dive at "angels window", two mola-mola appeared out
of the blue and stayed close to the boat for quite some time. Some hearty
souls jumped back into the water with 
mask
and snorkel, but the strong current and the alertness of the fish made
a close encounter impossible. Diving at Sangean Island was one of my favourites
as the dive site is a volcanoe crater with black sand. It reminded me
a little of Lembeh (without the rubbish/trash in the water)! As added
bonus I saw some nudibranch which I had not seen before. Most diving was
done off the two tenders which, I am happy to say, had ladders to climb
back onto after the dive. We also had the opportunity to actually visit
Komodo Island and came face to face with a three metre Komodo dragon!
http://diversionOZ.com/en/sea/mermaid.htm
Recent
renovations have ensured that Pindito remains the #1 choice for diving
the remote waters of Indonesia.
Pindito was launched in the Indonesian Sea for the first time in March
1992. After many years and several thousand dives in Indonesia, Edi, Pindito's
skipper/owner and his crew know the best dive sites in Eastern Indonesia,
namely West Papua (Raja Ampat), the Moluccas, Nusa Tenggara and Bali.
Their expertise and dedication to this beautiful region guarantees an
unforgettable liveaboard experience.
http://diversionOZ.com/en/sea/pindito.htm
Diversion Marine Conservation Fund (DMCF)
All
the nice dive trips you have booked over the last months have brought
so much good to the world. Not only have you had a ball (we hope!) - you
also have contributed to our Marine Conservation Fund (Diversion donates
1.5% of profits to DMCF)
From Andaman Island we received this short report from the Green Life
Society:
"Hi
Dirk,
Well we have completed the building of the boat, the monsoon season is
on us and we are having our holidays as not much is done in these months
in the rough seas. We will send you pictures of the boat in mid september
by that time we have all come back to work. Life in Nicobar's is ongoing
we had last year in May a 2 degree increase in sea temperatures which
all but bleached (70%) corals that were 5 metres or less from the surface
water.
We had the cyclones this year and who knows what else lies for these idylic
islands.
We are restructuring our efforts your help has been very valuable to our
survival.
As for the plans in sept, we will finalise all the Tsunami projects by
November and will start monitoring the corals and seagrass areas for coral
reef alliance and seagrass net. The Dugong project will restart with a
bigger team 
in
collaboration with the Botanical Survey of India and monitor the feeding
sites while at the same time monitoring the Dugong population by aerial
surveys in 2007."
New recipients of our conservation funds have been the campaign to stop illegal fishing around the Pacific by the Australian Marine Conservation Society and, you might have guessed it, the Minke Whale Project Fund which supports the work of Alistair Birtles and his team to study and protect those beautiful whales.
news@diversion
New
face: Bettina Schmidberger has joined the team this month. She is
an enthusiastic diver and an even better travel agent. She has been working
in travel since 1990 and brings a bag of experience to our office. Since
1997 she has been living in Cairns and had ample opportunities to sample
our beautiful reefs.
Monthly
draw to continue in 2006.
When you book your dive vacation with us you will get a chance to win
a travel voucher for AU$ 500 in the monthly draw.
The voucher is transferable, so you can use it for you or your friends'
travel.
The odds are very good, as each monthly draw has only those names, who
booked in that month.
At the End of the year, all eligible bookings will enter a draw to win one of two fabulous dive cruises:
Undersea
Explorer, Australia
6 night/ 6 days Osprey Reef Shark Encounter
Australia's ultimate Adventure dive expedition
Value AU$ 1950-2650
Ocean
Hunter 2, Palau
7 night/7 days dive cruise
Experience
the magic of Palau in style!
Value US$ 2895 (~ AU$ 3860)
For more information and conditions of this promotion, please check out http://diversionoz.com/en/win500voucher.htm
Feedback
Please
let us know if you like or dislike any of our stories or have additional
comments you'd like to share. After all we publish the DIVERSION NEWS
with the hope that it will be useful for you.
Specials
Please bookmark the following link for all the latest and greatest specials.
http://diversionOZ.com/en/specials.htm
You are welcome to forward this newsletter to a friend or dive buddy.