Lembeh Strait
The muck diving capital of Indonesia attracts the curious diver and macro underwater photographers. This type of diving rewards the patient, slow moving diver having near perfect buoyancy and good air consumption with amazing critters and their habitat on a black sand or silty bottom. Good buoyancy control and etiquette is essential for good visibility and diver harmony to take care not to stir up the bottom with your fins.
Most of us depend on dive guides that know the sites well and have a super-power for spotting the sometimes miniscule, well camouflaged and unusual bottom dwelling creatures.
My favourites seen are the velvet Rhinopias, hairy frog fish, well any frog fish really, ghost pipe fish, seahorses and coconut octopus as they are all a good size for my camera set-up. The blue-ring octopus and mimic octopus are amazing to watch and so much smaller than one expects.
Most dive sites seem to be a special hangout for a particular species. You may spend 20-30 minutes searching before it is found by your guides. So meanwhile you mooch around until your own eyes become accustomed to the black sands and the small bits of fluff that hide their special jewels, just like a treasure hunt really.