• Photo by Rantje Allen

  • Photo by William Tan

  • Photo by Rantje Allen

  • Photo by William Tan

  • Photo by Rantje Allen

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Category Archives: Marine Life

Home Sweet Home

Divers from various countries are not the only ones visiting Gorontalo these days. During a surface interval last week guests were fascinated to watch a juvenile trevally pushing a large jellyfishby nuzzling itself under the jelly’s bell. Sometimes it would dart entirely inside where it could be seen through the semi-transparent jellyfish. Shooting a picture inContinue Reading

Bouncing Baby Barnacles!

After a couple days of rain that provided a break in the stiff winds, Miguel’s Diving crew were able to venture out to do some reef cleanup yesterday. To our amazement billions of freckle-sized dots were in the water column. These turned out to be baby barnacles whose early life is pelagic. Some were visibly moving;Continue Reading

Anemonefish Eggs: Look Them in the Eyes

Diving in Gorontalo never ceases to amaze guests of Miguel’s Diving. The other day our dive master spotted a Clark’s anemonefish fanning a large patch of mature eggs in order to aerate them. Unlike the reddish eggs of Saddleback anemonefish, these are golden green. The photo shows the pair of eyes in each egg andContinue Reading

Shocking surprise

While out looking for a new muck site, Miguel’s Diving staff came across a Spiny devilfish (Inimicus didactylus). Although not as venomous as the deadly stonefish, devilfish will give anything touching its venomous spines a nasty shock. Devilfish are not only camouflaged but also like to stay semi-buried in the sand. This is one more reason forContinue Reading

Surprise off a northern island

Last week Miguel’s Diving staff took a survey trip to one of the islands off Gorontalo’s northern coastline in the Sulawesi Sea. These waters are a different ocean that the one we usually dive and marine life is different. While absorbed in photographing Grape stalk tunicates that are not found in our southern dive sites,Continue Reading

Durban hinge-beak shrimp

Durban shrimp (Rhynchocinetes durbanensis) are a favorite of divers not only because of their striking color pattern but also because of their behavior. The high rostrum (nose) is distinctive of hinge-beak shrimp. They are found in deep crevices and holes, usually living together in large numbers. When they move, they tend to hop about, whichContinue Reading

Baby Cuttlefish & Big Mama

Miguel’s Diving staff gets a little stir crazy during off-season. This week we braved the growing swells of May to check out a new muck site. Directly below the dive boat, hiding in the shadow of a pink sea pen was the first of three baby cuttlefish we found during the dive. All were merely theContinue Reading

The Big & the Bold

With no macro photographers in sight, Miguel’s Diving concentrated by request on larger marine life and current diving over the last several days. From the first dive’s glimpse of a Scalloped hammerhead to today’s jumping marlin, Gorontalo delivered big time. We stopped counting Nap.olean wrasse and couldn’t count the hundreds of Bigeye trevally spirally up theContinue Reading

By the Dozen

Diving in Gorontalo brings surprises every day. On the way to the second dive site this morning, we encountered several pods of Risso’s dolphins, basking on the surface and shallow diving. One was even a baby! Risso’s lack a protruding nose and become whiter in color with age. Distinctive scarring occurs when attacking deep-sea squid andContinue Reading

Mating Sea Turtles

Yesterday’s diving in Gorontalo included encounters with Green sea turtles. On the way to our first dive site,Miguel’s Diving crew spotted some unusual flapping on the still blue ocean surface: a pair of turtles mating. We proceeded past the happy couple then stopped in order to watch them from a discreet distance and so not toContinue Reading

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