DIVE LOG AUSTRALASIA ISSUE 413 AUGUST 25

of information. In this environment, the real challenge is to transform this perfectly organised, infinite chaos underwater - which looks on a first glimpse quite distracting for the eye - into a pleasant picture. But if you are at the right time at the right place this unbelievable abundance of schooling fish streaming around will add intrigue and the glowing rainbow colours of the reef scenes will add sparkle into such wide-angle images. Together these puzzles can create a multidimensional sense of space. Such complex images are telling then a much more profound story about the area. When you are looking deeper into those images then the eyes will linger over it trying to absorb everything that’s going on. It is quite understandable that this enormous fish wealth has influenced the local people. Such gigantic schools of anchovies (baitfish, silversides) are meanwhile in tropic areas a rare sighting but not in Triton Bay. Therefore, a lot

of local fishermen are anchoring with their Bagans (fishing platforms) in the Area, lowering the lifting nets at night time and attracts the anchovies with lights. This attracts also bigger predators like whale sharks, dolphins and sometimes also tunas, swordfish and marlins. Triton Bay Divers is the only diving lodge in West Papua where you can easily observe this spectacle on a weekly half day trip with two dives! A really great experience and you can get some attractive images in and out of water. The marine biodiversity in Triton Bay is second to none, which means that almost all of the rare and elusive critters found in other parts of Indonesia, can also be found here. The experienced eyes of the TBD dive guides, coming from Manado and trained in the Lembeh strait are able to spot these cryptic creatures, which are so famous in the diving community. We also have some locally trained guides who were able to

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Dive Log Australasia #413 AUGUST’25

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