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This year our route went from Singapore, across the Java Sea
to Bali. In Singapore, we spent a few days before the trip, mainly
to buy camera equipment for underwater photography. The
latest word in the business of taking digital pictures in depths
to 45 m is the SONY T1 with an underwater housing (with all the
bits that go with it, you are looking at roughly 750 US$). The
whole thing has the size of a pocket calculator and even I could
use it (which means it is almost idiot proof). OK ok, the fact
I flooded the camera on the very last day was my fault really.
Anyway, the place to buy camera equipment in Singapore in my
opinion is at "Lucky Centre" in "Lucky Plaza",
Orchard Road 304, tel. 62359820, ask for Charlie Tay. The fact
I am advertising this place here is not because I am getting
paid for it but it is my conviction after talking and negotiating
for quite a while.
We spent 20 days on sea, travelling
2400 km at an average speed of 7 knots. There were ten divers
on board the MV Empress,
plus a crew of four.
The Empress is a comfortable liveaboard perfectly
equipped for diving and the kind of collecting and reasearch
we are doing. It has a decompression chamber and a lift that
takes divers and gear up on deck, as well as enough space to
do the necessary cleaning and processing of our finds. The food
is excellent and, according to Captain Vidar, the bar is open
from 9:00 to 8:59
The coral reefs along our route were mostly damaged
due to excessive dynamite fishing and the input of nitrates and
phosphates from pollution and the destruction of the tropical
rain forrests along the coast on Indonesia. For this reason,
our trips aiming at recording what is left of the molluscan biodiversity
of the reef communities may be the last such expeditions to these
regions before their ecosystems collapse completely. Time is
definitely running out. In some areas we have visited, it is
apparent that the collapse is already happening. On a total of
60 stations visited, only the northern coast of Bali still has
reasonably intact reefs, especially in the vicinity of Menjangan
(green dot) and Tulamben in the northwest of Bali.
The team of mine consisted of three divers, my companion
Jana Kratzsch who took many of the photos shown below, Dietmar
Amon, owner of Lissenung,
Kavieng (New Ireland, PNG), and myself. The second team of
shell-divers was that of Hugh Morrison of Australian
Seashells cooperating closely with us.
Our main target were the Cowries and Ovulids, and
certain Conidae to be studies in a Conidae-genome project at
the Zoological Institute of the University of Giessen. On this
trip, we have encountered 57 species of Cowries, including martini,
bistrinotata keelingensis, a possibly new Mauritia,
a new Purpuradusta and P. hammondae, and at least
45 species of Ovulidae, including Prosimnia piriei, Dentiovula
clava and several possibly new species. Most species of Ovulidae
were photographed alive, mostly in their natural habitat. A more
detailed study on these is in progress.
After the trip onboard the Empress, Jana and I spent
a wonderful week at the Pondok Sari Resort near Menjangan (approx.
20 US$ a night). Around the corner of the resort there is "Archipelago
Divers" who organize daily trips to Menjangan. Two dives
along beautiful drop-offs cost 60 US$ per person including a
lunch. If you are an experienced diver, Mr. Komang Astika will
take you to good spots to enjoy your dive in privacy, without
being bothered by a dozen other dive-tourists.
The pictures shown here may have a different meaning
to those who were on this trip, but hopefully they will give
everybody an idea of the beauty of the Java Sea. I would like
to leave them uncommented.
A selection of the shells we have brought back will
be offered for sale shortly.
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