411 Dive Log Australasia April 2025

A pod of rare Fraser’s Dolphins.

The next day was to be our first day of whale watching, but unseasonal strong winds cancelled our departure until after lunch. Heading out into the Ombai-Wetar Strait our hopes were high for seeing a Pygmy Blue Whale as one had been sighted the day before. Unfortunately, after sixty minutes all we had seen were seabirds and flying fish. Then from nowhere we were surrounded by cetaceans, a mixed pod of Pygmy Killer Whales, Short-finned Pilot Whales, Spinner Dolphins and Fraser’s Dolphins. For the next two hours we had this big group of whales and dolphins around the boat, riding our bow wave and sometimes feed ing. We managed to slip in the water a few times to get glimpses of the Short-finned Pilot Whales, but we never managed to get closer than 10m and each time they saw us they dived. No Pygmy Blue Whales, but it was an incredible two hours of cetaceans that are rarely seen elsewhere. Over the next two days we enjoyed more coastal shore dives. Heading west we dived Bubble Beach, which has vol canic gas bubbles issuing from its grey sand, and enjoyed a muck dive at La Casa. While Bubble Beach was a lovely dive with jawfish, razorfish and dartfish, La Casa was the highlight. The sandy slope at this site has seagrass where Dugongs are often seen. Unfortunately, no Dugong for us, but we did see a purple Paddleflap Scorpionfish, Painted Frogfish, Longhorn Cowfish, garden eels, shrimpgobies, pufferfish, ra zorfish and lots of cheeky Saddleback Anemonefish. Heading east again we explored lovely sandy slopes and coral gardens at Marble Rock and Behau Village. Here we saw trevally, tuna, triggerfish, angelfish, damsels, blennies, nudibranchs and leaf scorpionfish. We had planned to do a day of boat diving to Atauro Island, on the other side of the Ombai-Wetar Strait, but having missed half a day of whale watching we decided to spend both of our final days looking for Pygmy Blue Whales. We once again found the mix pod of Short-finned Pilot Whales, Pygmy Killer Whales and Fraser’s Dolphins. However, this time they also had Risso Dolphins and Melon-headed Whales with them. We only spent 30 minutes with this pod as we got news that a Pygmy Blue Whale had been sighted.

We raced east, and quickly saw a gathering of boats, indi cating the location of the Pygmy Blue Whale. Our guide, Marti Walton, explained that the six whale watching oper ators work closely together, sharing information and whales. They also have rules that only four people are allowed in the water with a guide, and that mothers and calves and feeding whales are left alone. We then spotted the whale as surface and breathed, seeing a cloud of mist, a long back and a small hooked dorsal fin before it submerged. Marti explained that they follow the whale to observe its breathing and diving pattern, and if calm the whale will take two to four breaths before diving for four to ten minutes. The skipper then aims to drop snorkellers about 50m in front of the whale and wait for the whale to swim past. We followed the whale for 30 minutes and then it came our time to drop. The whale took two breaths and then we were told to jump in. I finned madly in the direction of the whale, looking down, left, right and in every other direction. The vis ibility was 30m, so I was pretty sure I would see the whale, if it didn’t change course. Suddenly I spotted it, it was deep below, so I freedived to 8m to see this massive marine mammal. It was an incredible sight, a 20m long whale slowly gliding along about 15m below. I snapped a few quick photos, but was more im pressed at having seen this immense animal. I surfaced with a huge smile, overwhelmed to have seen a Pygmy Blue Whale underwater. Only half our group saw the whale on that first drop, so we got in the queue for another go. Unfortunately, this whale then lost interested in the boats and snorkellers, and for the next hour regularly dived deep for 30 minutes and kept ran domly changing course. We finally gave up on this elusive whale and decided to look for Sperm Whales, that feed in the deep water of the Ombai-Wetar Strait. However, they thwarted us, and an afternoon storm forced us back into port a little early. The next morning, we had perfect weather for our last day of whale watching, and leaving port we got the good news that two Pygmy Blue Whales had already been sighted. We raced east and 30 minutes later we spotted our first whale. We then followed it for the next 30 minutes and soon real ised that we were following a group of three.

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DIVE LOG Australasia #411 - April ‘25

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