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Diving Twilight Zone – Ambon, Moluccas

8 December 2009

We finally got on board the lovely Pindito and an old friend of Yogi’s  Edi Frommenwiler, Pindito owner and Raja Ampat pioneer made it to be with us with his brand new RED camera and Gates housing. Our first and second dives were in Ambon in what is famously known as Twilight Zone. It was FANTASTIC!!!

Not one minute into the dive was a snake eel fully out of its hole and not shy at all

Not one minute into the dive was a snake eel fully out of its hole and not shy at all, ready to have his picture taken!

There were loads of critters in the rocky muck. Cowfish, eels, razor fish or shrimpfish, hairy seahorses and more moray eels.

Big Seahorse on a branch. Can you see the smaller seahorse?

Big Seahorse on a tree branch. Can you find its smaller partner?

Crocodile snake eel peeking out of the rubble

Strange looking Crocodile snake eel peeking out of the rubble

Loads of eels in the Twilight Zone. Here are two white-eyed moray eels with a rubber tire as its home

Loads of eels in the Twilight Zone. Here are two white-eyed moray eels with a fully encrusted car tire as its home

We followed Clay Wiseman our instant friend, underwater. He’s an American filmmaker without a camera for this trip so he was a critter finder for all his dives with Edi and us tagging along. He brought us to thousands of schooling scads and BIG catfishes.

Thousands of scads under the docked big purse seiner ships

Stella with thousands of scads under the docked big purse seiner ships

The catfish swirled like a tornado, it was incredible! Too bad Yogi ran out of air and it was time to ascend

Like the head of Medusa, massive catfish swirled around us like a tornado — it was hair-raising incredible! Too bad Yogi ran out of air and it was time to ascend

Second dive was again in Twilight Zone with Edi and this time we stayed where the scads and catfish were the whole dive.

Edi Frommenwiler filming the school of huge catfishes with his brand new RED camera we called the "Hell Boy". Keel of a fishing boat in the background

Edi Frommenwiler filming the school of huge catfishes with his brand new RED camera we called “Hell Boy”. Keel of a fishing boat in the background

Moluccan kids clowning around catching our attention to take their picture during our dive!

Moluccan kids clowning around catching our attention to take their picture during our dive!

With no camera to occupy his time, Clay made a table setting underwater!

With no camera to occupy his time, Clay made a table setting underwater! Yes, there were loads of interesting trash down there

Wonderful first dive day! Twilight Zone – how aptly named!

We lifted anchor after the dive and off to Banda Neira. We’ll be there by tomorrow morning.

About the Author:

Stella was born in Manila, Philippines in 1965. She studied anthropology but ended up in advertising, producing radio and TV commercials for 7 years. After quitting advertising, she ventured into the freelance world in Manila producing video documentaries for a publishing house, government agencies, non govenmental organisations, and the academe. She moved on to producing books and had a stint at working with foreign production companies visiting Manila. Stella, now based in Cairns, produces photo stories with her husband Jürgen Freund.