Jonnie 0 Posted January 10, 2006 The Divesites Seraya Secrets Seraya Secrets is the house reef of Scuba Seraya Resort, located a few kilometers from Tulamben Bay. (See my previous report for a full-description of this resort and diving in the Tulamben Bay area.) This is an amazing muck dive site, with a black sand and rocky bottom accessed from the shore. It is primarily of interest to those seeking unusual fish and invertebrate life as there is nothing scenic about the site itself. On this trip, I had the good fortune to dive with Renault, the dive master at Bali Hai Scuba, the resort’s dive operator. I have never dived with someone with such a sharp eye for spotting life on a reef, especially tiny macro treasures. I was amazed to find out that he has developed this “eye†with only 300 dives under his weight belt…I was expecting the usual “Oh, I stopped counting after 2000 dives…†Shortly after my arrival on our first dive of the afternoon, Renault was off to the races spotting rare and unusual decorator and spider crabs, comensal shrimps, nudibranchs, squat lobsters, crinoid shrimps, you name it. Another highlight were a couple of orange frogfish of a type I had never seen before…having rounded humped backs and no real dorsal fin. One was nestled-up next to an orange sponge and about 12-15 cm and the other much smaller (a juvenile perhaps) at about 4 cm and perched on the tip of a rock. During the afternoon dives there was a fairly strong current, however, a few hours later during nite dives, it was gone. This site is great during the day, but at nite, a whole new crew of reef actors comes on stage to take their bow before the camera. The variety and quantity of the invertebrate life at nite is nothing short of astonishing…and with Renault there to point it all out, be sure to have a large storage card in your camera…I maxed out a 128 gig card during one dive. This would definitely be a site worth doing multiple evening dives on…maybe a sunset dive and then a nite dive a few hours later. The Seraya Secrets site is filled with many types of nudibranchs, eels, and commensal crabs and shrimps of all types. All of this is found along a black sandy and rocky bottom going down to 35 meters. As noted above, there can be strong currents at this site and visibility is usually between 3-10 meters. During some times of the year, the shore entry can be tricky due to the surf (see previous report). Reviewing my logbook, I noted the following from 2 day diving: Dozens of morays of many varieties, including Black-spotted, Yellow-margin, Starry, White-eye, Giant, Golden, and Honeycomb; dozens of different nuddies, Harlequin shrimp, 3 seahorses – a yellow, a pink, and an orange one, several frogfish – the orange ones and a black giant one, many lionfish and scorpion fish, many different comensal shrimps, crabs and squat lobsters among the crinoids and urchins, and finally a peacock flounder. This is one sites where the nite dives equal or even exceed what is seen during the day. I did 2 nite dives and noted that “80% never seen before…†There were many unusual spider, hermit, and decorator crabs, morays, frogfish, “strange†nudibranchs, squat lobsters, purple urchin commensal shrimp (shaped like the urchin’s spine), Bumble-bee shrimp, clown frogfish, cowry shells, sea-grass shrimp, ornate multi-hued ghost pipefish, ORANGATANG CRAB, round crabs, “daddy long-legs†crab. Renaut and I were spotting so many things on the second nite dive that I surfaced with about 10-15 bar left in the tank…good for me but not so good for the tank! The 2nd nite dive here was by a wide margin the best such dive I have ever done and one of the best dives period (day or nite). Alan Anda This is a coral and sandy bottom slope dive. Visibility was 5-10 meters. The main reason we went here was to see the resident pigmy seahorse and yes, we found him. Red-fire gobys, anthias, butterfly fish, and rabbit fish and porcelain crabs were also seen. Soft and hard coral growth was limited. Batu Kelebit This site is located between Seraya Secrets and Tulamben Bay proper…about 5 minutes by covered dingy from Seraya Resort. The dive here is along a black volcanic rock wall, which slopes down to very deep water. The area (especially the deeper parts) is renowned for sharks. Our group saw 4 white-tipped reef sharks. The coral outcroppings here are nicely covered in hard and soft corals and include the usual tropical reef fish inhabitants. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rocha 0 Posted January 12, 2006 Another great report, thanks for posting! Luiz Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Scubaskeeter 3 Posted January 12, 2006 Thanks Jonnie - I can hardly wait to return to Bali! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
james 0 Posted January 12, 2006 There was a wonderful pair of ornate ghost pipefish at Seraya when I was there in Sept. They were awesome! Cheers James Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
