Jemeluk

        It was our last morning on the Amed coast.  We had asked our driver, Ketut, to pick us up at 11 so we all had time for one more snorkel in Jemeluk Bay before heading west.  All of our snorkeling at

Mt Agung rising over Jemeluk.  That little ridge is deemed protective.

Jemeluk had been out in front of our resort.  Villa Coral is not the newest place, or the fanciest, and

the food was just so so. But the kids that ran the place were nice enough, the air conditioning worked like a charm and the resort sat right in front of the best fish watching we had found so far on the trip.

    I had been pretty discouraged both at Japanese Wreck and at Lipah Bay.  Those sites that had epitomized rich coral growth were now much reduced by the bleaching brought on by climate change.  There were still lots of good fish and invertebrates to be sure, but those locations had, over the past ten years set a pretty high standard.  We had last visited in 2014, three years ago, and we left both of those bays in excellent condition.

Coral Villas.  Come for the fish, live for the AC.

   We didn't know what to expect when we arrived in Jemeluk...more of the same, I suppose.  So we were pleasantly surprised to find that the hard corals here were about as good as we remembered.  Its impossible to tell why a location not so far from others has not suffered the same ravages.  Nevertheless, we were happy to take it.

    Another thing that had not changed was the unfettered development along the shore of this small pearl of a bay.  In 2009 the hundred meter strand of pebbles had been fronted by untended grass.  By 2014 every nature of ramshackle home stay and restaurant was sprouting up.  Indonesia, or Bali at least, does not seem to grasp the

Extreme juvenile of the Many Spotted Sweetlips.  He flutters in the night like a moth.

concept of permits and zoning.  So as I walked down the beach, I was walking between the tables of seaside restaurants, around dogs, greeting pet roosters.

    One thing that had changed, at least transiently, were the number of young Australians.  Bali is only a scant 3 hours and 40 minutes from Perth by air. The flight is cheap, and once here a vacation is

Randall shows the Lined Wrasse juvenile

a third the price of a similar experience in Oz.  As a consequence, on previous visits we had been surrounded by young Aussies blowing off steam, as it were.  With the eruptive activity of Mt Agung, Australia issued a stern travel warning and it seems to have had an effect.  The number of inebriated Aussies had shrunk to an unnoticeable number. Divers Cafe, which was my destination, had been one of their favorite haunts and I was hoping for a peaceful morning.

    I put on my gear beside a jukung, the twenty five foot lateen rigged outriggers the Balinese use for fishing, and was soon in the water looking at fish.  Immediately I encountered a couple baby wrasses.  One was a tiny sprout with multiple projections top and bottom, that I had encountered in Hawaii thirty years ago.  At the time, the experts had thrown up their hands, but allowed that it might be the beginning iteration of a dragon wrasse, which in turn would become a rockmover.  We had seen both rockmovers  and dragon wrasses over the previous week, so I was happy to file this one away as

Tiny gray wrasse, the shape of the  Lined Wrasse juvenile.

such.

    The other was far more interesting.  This, of course, depends on how much you like extremely small, easily ignored fish. This fellow was also about an inch long.  He was chalky gray and shaped like an arrowhead.  Later, looking at the field guide, I noted that the shape was exactly like the lined wrasse juvenile.  However, that (more interesting) juvenile makes the book by being brown with custard curlicues, the sort of fish that was made popular in Haight-Ashbury back in the 60s.  For the record I have recorded this sighting as "similar to a line wrasse".  It never ceases to amaze me when the Olympus T4 focuses on tiny mid-water objects. In this case, I got a picture in pretty good focus, but the dorsal fin and tail are bent away, hence you do not see the complete profile.  Regardless, I was really pleased with the image.  

Key tip for night snorkeling...Don't cross the beams!

    In as much as you can't see the whole profile of my fish, I have purloined an internet image of the lined wrasse from my nonagenarian friend Jack Randall to complement my study in gray.  Hopefully you get the idea. 

    As a pertinent aside,the previous evening , while the Redoubtable SKG and I were on a night snorkel, we had seen an amazing baby fish, the progeny of the many spotted sweetlips.  It was a tiny thing, less than an inch long and attracted our attention by fluttering like a moth in the beams of our flashlights.  I was very lucky that the camera focused on this tiny delight and the flash stopped his fluttering perfectly.  Needless to say, the trick in a situation like this is   (as sent down to us from on high by Dan Akroyd

Lionfish On Parade  Jemeluk 2017

in Ghostbusters)  "Don't cross the beams."  The whole reef could end up like the ballroom in the Excelsior Hotel, for goodness sake.

     As I moved along, it became apparent that the reef in front of Diver's Cafe had not survived as well as its counterpart on the far end of this small bay.  One has to remember that coral death here preceded climate change.  It was my opinion that the Diver's Cafe management got a head start with straight forward pollution.  Nevertheless, the remaining coral has, over the last ten years, provided us with more than a few thrills.  For example, I saw my first lionfish on the reef outside the cafe.  Seeing a lionfish in Jemeluk Bay is not a big trick this year.  The day before, Sandra and I logged seven, most of them during the day.  The picture I'm including here is of a lionfish parading across the bay with its fins in full extension.  What a treat that was.

    There were not any lionfish in the vicinity of Diver's Cafe.  And only one small oriental sweetlips.  Three years ago there had been many large sweetlips and in 2009 this was where we spotted the older

Two Tone Dottyback  Jemeluk 2017

juvenile many spotted sweetlips.  As I swam around the point the coral death became much more apparent and there were few fish to keep me there, so I turned back.

     On the bay side of the cafe I found a pair of pretty fish that I had seen in 2014 and failed to identify.  They were in exactly the same spot and permitted the photo you see here.  With help from a pro (Wayan at Sea Rovers in Pemuteran) we can now put a provisional name on this fish, two tone dottyback.  When you were growing up and learning to watch fish didn't you always want to see a dottyback?  Is it possible that I am turning into a dottering idiot?

     As I floated off the point I noticed a sudden shift in the fish around me.  Looking over my shoulder I noticed that we had company.  A four foot ulua was looking at me as if I might be lunch.  This was a little unnerving, in part because I hadn't even had breakfast yet.  Eventually he decided

Blue is the color of my true love's Lobster.  Tommy Smothers, loosely.

that I was insufficiently tasty and moved on, leaving me to a bit more exploring.

   

   Around a tall coral head I saw two large white antenna.  Brave lobsters are virtually unknown in Hawaii, but even an inexperienced observer like myself had to be suspicious.  After scouting the situation, I selected a handhold about five feet down on an adjoining coral.  I dove down , grabbed

Sri Blesses the stone.  Bali 2017

on, and looked left.  Less than six inches away were two lionfish in a coral window.  This had happened the day before, so I wasn't entirely surprised.  I took my picture (it was indeed a handsome blue lobster) and surfaced.  I decided on a different technique, but first dove the lionfish and took their picture, thus moving them a bit deeper into their small cave. My second dive, with the lionfish hand hold is here for your lobster loving pleasure.

    And remember, if you need those letters of transit check with Ferrari over at the Blue Lobster.

     That is my best fish story for today.

      As this is Bali, land of magical Hinduism, I'll leave you with a picture of Sri blessing the rock outside our unit at Villa Coral.  May your life be full of blessings as well.