Sulawesi 2003

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Sulawesi by Boat

the Empress Indonesia-Trip 2003

Actually, our plan for this year was to take a journey from Makassar eastward and the up to Manado along the eastern coast of Sulawesi. The weather situation did not allow this, so we changed plans and left Makassar westward on Oct. 2nd 2003. The map above describes the route we have taken.

001, 006: Makassar the day before departure. 007-009: TenggaTengga Reef, off Makassar

011: Notice something? The EMPRESS now has a decompression chamber! 013-014: A 250 years old Chinese wreck with lots of (mostly broken) porcellain on board!

032: Off the coast of Kalimantan, the Captain discovered a Japanese WW2 Wreck: The Amagiri, waiting for us at 25 m depth.

033: A successful dive's catch. 033b: a beautiful Leporicypraea geographica in a ledge of the wreck.

035: Hugh and Vidar are excited: the wreck still has lots of nautical stuff to salvage. 036: now this is the stuff that excites me!

Shipwrecks attract big fish. These large rays were very friendly and inquisitive. 045: on our way back to the coast of Sulawesi we did a dive on flat sand. Under a large sponge a lot of interesting empty shells had accumulated.

Reaching the aequator. The landscape of Sulawesi is very variable, so was the weather.

064: OK gentlemen, here is the proof: Conus marmoreus and Conus bandanus found alongside, and yes, the ARE distinct! 065: a superbe Chicoreus palmarosae found in a ledge at 35 m.

Ovulids are my new favorites. It takes a lot of luck to find a place where they are, and it is rare to find a place where there are so many as at Point Loboe in the north of Sulawesi. 069 shows the result of a bonanza-dive at 25 m. 079a, 080: Dentiovula clava, one of the very rare species in the family.

079h: Crenavolva dorsuosa. Finding these on the large red gorgonians takes luck and patience.

Bunaken National Park and Lembeh Street, N. Sulawesi. The divesites are magic, many strange and spectacular creatures live here. 170a-c shows a giant "Spanish Dancer"-nudibranch. Beneath the mantle edge, tiny commensal shrimps were hovering up and down.

180: an "Anglerfish", a bizarre creature that walks on its fins.

184: A Napoleon Fish. It takes a National Park such as that of Bunaken to see these majestic creatures.

210-216: The resort of Gangga Island is very beautiful, perfectly organized and extremely friendly. The food is about the best we have encountered anywhere outside Europe. To relax, spend a great time snorkling around Gangga and the neighboring Islands we really recommend the place. The only shortcoming is the diving. Let me conclude with a comment on picture No. 195 which shows a typical dive with the team of the Gangga Dive Centre: a turbulent scratching of fins and banging of cylinders, a big dive family. Well, at least for my part I can say that I am not a family man.

200a-e: A Blue-Ringed Octopus. This poisonous 4 cm long creature changes color within a fracture of a second and perfectly adapts to its surrounding. We found it in the ankle-deep intertidal of Gangga Island, where we spent a wonderful time relaxing after our Empress-adventure.