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The Coral Reefs of Buyat Bay

15 – 17 October 2009

A relatively unknown dive destination not far from Lembeh is slowly getting its share of the limelight. Buyat Bay is about five hours from Manado located south of Lembeh. It used to be a gold mining operation that shut down recently. Now the mining facility’s skeleton staff are seeing a different face – the face of divers vs. that of miners.

Danny Charlton of Lembeh Divers insisted we include Buyat Bay in our North Sulawesi itinerary, and now we understand why he didn’t take no for an answer. It was a coral reef revelation!

Here are several images to show how different it was from Lembeh’s muck.

Monstrously big hard boulder coral in 5 meter depth

Monstrously big hard boulder coral in 5 meter depth

Crinoid studded sponge decorating the reef floor of Buyat Bay

Crinoid studded sponge decorating the reef floor of Buyat Bay

Cabbage coral forest

Cabbage coral forest that went on and on and on

Bright red soft corals definitely posed well for us

Bright red soft corals definitely posed well for us

 

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.