Night Dive in Siaba Besar

Diving malam hari selalu menyenangkan. Berbeda dengan anggapan menakutkan, dingin dan sebagainya, night dive justru lebih banyak terasa fun dan rileks

Night dive is always fun. Different with the common assumption that night dive is cold and scary, actually diving in the night is fun and more relaxed.

Ada beberapa alasan, pertama biasanya malam hari suhu air justru lebih hangat, selain itu untuk mengambil foto atau video di malam hari saya tidak perlu repot mensiasati kamera agar gambar tidak bluish, cukup dengan lighting yang ada maka warna sudah sesuai aslinya

There are several reasons for that, first: the water usually warmer at the night. Beside that, taking photos or videos at night is easier. I don't have to anticipate bluish images, only with the lighting and voila I got the original color mostly.

Flash light and you're ready to explore during night

Selain itu diving di malam hari dilakukan di area yang tidak berarus tentunya, kalaupun ada arus hanya sedikit dan tentunya ini untuk alasan keamanan. Dengan kondisi air yang cenderung tenang, lighting yang cukup maka saya dapat melihat sekeliling dan tentunya ada keseruan tersendiri melihat di batas yang cahaya senter dapat naungi sementara area lain pitch black.

Besides that, the location for night dive is carefully chosen, no currents for safety reason. With that kind of water conditions and sufficient lighting then we can look around and enjoy the excitement. Also you'll find a sensation when looking with a limited vision, there are some area which is pitch black since it doesn't covered with lights.

Saat menyelam malam haripun biasanya kita akan menemukan makhluk makhluk unik yang jarang keluar di siang hari, atau melihat ikan ikan yang aktif berseliweran di saat siang, kini tertidur nyenyak dengan mata terbuka di saat malam.

Also, during night dive we'll see unique creatures which you cannot find at the daylight. You'll also see fishes sleeping with its eyes open.

 

Saw cuttlefish attack brushtail tang during night dive Minahasa, see this video above

Jika beruntung, andapun dapat melihat moment binatang binatang laut ini memangsa binatang lain karena sebagian makhluk laut berburu di malam hari, dan jangan khawatir, anda tidak ada dalam daftar menu makanan mereka sama sekali.

If you're lucky, you might see moments when these creatures hunt since some sea animals hunting at night. Don't worry, you're not on their menu at all.

Corals in Siaba Besar

Salah satu spot penyelaman malam hari saat saya mengunjungi area Komodo di Flores adalah Siaba Besar. Ini adalah area yang ideal untuk penyelaman malam karena kondisi arus tenang dan kedalaman sekitar 15 meter dengan topografi bawah pasir putih yang cenderung rata.

One of our night dive spot during my trip to Komodo in Flores is Siaba Besar. This is an ideal location for night dive because of the calm water and 15 meters depth with flat white sandy bottom.

Stingray

Star puffer fish

Horned sea star

Selama sekitar 50 menit penyelaman kami menemukan ikan pari, bintang laut jenis horned yang ada cukup banyak dan terlihat jelas di pasir putih serta puffer fish jenis star dan bristly.

For about 50 minutes we found stingray, horned sea star which is easily found in this sandy bottom and also star puffer and bristly pufferfish.

The smooth flutemouth pipefish keeps on following us

His flat face :D

Yang menarik ada pipefish jenis smotth flutemouth yang terus menerus mengikuti cahaya senter kami. Saya menyaksikan saat pipefish ini berburu ikan kecil, rupanya ia memanfaatkan cahaya untuk memudahkan perburuannya.

One of the interesting part is when a smooth flutemouth pipefish is following us for quite some time. I watch when this pipefish attack small fish and apparently it uses the light from my flashlight to help the hunting.

Weird looking scrawled filefish

Bonus dari diving malam ini yaitu menemukan scrawled filefish yang jarang ditemui, saya hanya pernah sekali melihat "saudara"nya di Lembeh, Sulawesi Utara. Filefish ini cenderung tenang bahkan saat saya mendekat untuk mengambil close up. Selain itu bonus terakhir adalah bertemu penyu, ini pertama kalinya saya bertemu penyu di malam hari. So it is fun, dark is not always bad, you'll find fun in dark at the sea.

Then, the bonus from this night dive is finding scrawled filefish which is not often to be found. I only see its "brother" in Lembeh, North Sulawesi. This filefish is calm and even when I got so close to get the detail image, its not moving much. The additional bonus is finding a sea turtle, that was my first encounter with sea turtle at night. So it is fun, dark is not always bad, you'll find fun in dark at the sea.

@marischkaprue - sleep better with pitch black environment

See the video from our night dive in Siaba Besar, here:

NOTES:

• I dive with Komodo Cruise, cek info harga untuk paket live aboard (LOB) dan diving di info@komodocruises.com
• I dive with Komodo Cruise, for live aboard (LOB) and dive in Komodo, contact info@komodocruises.com

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