Photo by Rantje Allen
Photo by William Tan
Photo by Rantje Allen
Photo by William Tan
Photo by Rantje Allen
Porcupine fish add to the diversity of marine life in Gorontalo. About twenty species of this unusual fish are found worldwide. Divers are most likely to encounter three of them in Gorontalo. Prickly Balls Porcupinefishes are similar to puffers. They have distinctive body spines. When threatened, they will ingest water. This dramatically increases their body… Continue Reading
Canthigaster bennetti flows in schools along Gorontalo reefs, forming a magic carpet. A Magic Carpet Canthigaster bennetti, commonly called Bennett’s toby, gather in Gorontalo in huge numbers. They gather to spawn. Swimming in coordinated streams, they fly along the reefs and walls like a magic carpet. Miguel’s Diving staff have observed this rare phenomenon many… Continue Reading
Crustacean identification guide Coral Reef Crustaceans is newly available at Apple’s iBooks Store. By a Diver for Divers Mr. Andrey Ryanskiy is the author of this interactive crustacean identification guide. He is a Moscow-based financial consultant. He and his wife Irina are avid underwater photographers. The book represents countless dives over six years. The goal… Continue Reading
A killer whale cruised Gorontalo waters on New Year’s Day. Killer Whale Sightings in Gorontalo Waters off most dive sites in Gorontalo plunge to hundreds of meters. These deep waters bring large cetaceans close to land. Miguel’s Diving staff have discovered the ocean paths that large sea creatures use. One is along Olele Village Marine… Continue Reading
Basket stars can be observed on night dives in Gorontalo. Symmetrical Beauty Basket stars are beautiful marine invertebrates. Starfish and brittle stars are their distant relatives. They have a central disk and arms branching from it. The arms are many times the diameter of the central disk, which looks small in comparison. The number of… Continue Reading
Side gilled sea slugs are a delight to find during night diving in Gorontalo. Nocturnal Sea Slugs Nudibranchs usually have their gills exposed on the top of their bodies. But side gilled sea slugs have large plume-like gills tucked between the mantle and the foot. The gills are usually on the right side. They mostly… Continue Reading
That tumbling mass is really sea hare mating! Imagine the surprise of divers looking for critters at Sand Castle, one of Gorontalo’s muck diving sites. On the sand in shallow water were masses that looked like sea weeds, rocking back and forth in the gentle surge. In fact, there were patches of algae on the… Continue Reading
A Minke Whale Breaches in Gorontalo On March 27, a Minke Whale breached the perfectly flat sea off Traffic Jam dive site in Gorontalo. Our boat captain watched the 10-meter long whale jump into the air. It hit the water with the belly-flop style characteristic of this whale. The Minke jumped four times and also… Continue Reading
A Mimic Octopus glides like a lionfish The Mimic Octopus was first discovered in muck diving sites of Lembeh Straits in North Sulawesi, Indonesia. The Mimic Octopus is also found in Gorontalo. Miguel’s Diving has discovered several great muck diving sites over our years of operation. Changing Behaviors Octopi are cephalopods with eight arms. One… Continue Reading
A group of lucky Malaysian divers enjoyed an unexpected encounter with a pod of Pygmy Killer Whales in Gorontalo’s deep blue waters. After a day of great diving on November 28th, we were heading back to our dock. Miguel’s Diving staff spotted a group of dorsal fins in the waters ahead of the dive boat.… Continue Reading
