"Angry Clownfish"

Angry Clownfish
The biggest bully in the ocean !! This little clownfish was tormenting us as we tried to photograph it at Pango reef. Jordan (13) and Rhiana (12) have a fascination with these little fish, and wanted to see them on the dive. They got themselves close enough to the anemone that the dominant clownfish decided that enough was enough .. and they were too close ... so gave them a small bite on the hand to tell them off. Squeals of laughter from Jordan and Rhiana and the fun had only just begun as we had another 30 minutes or so of diving and clownfish searching left to do.

The Cathedral

Cathedral
The best time to do the Cathedral cavern dive is early morning, with the sun streaming down into the cavern. Otto (pictured) requested that we jump in before the rest of the divers to get the chance for photos and we had the cavern to ourselves. Visability is usually 20 meters, but on this occassion we were fortunate to have 30 meters or more. On exiting the cavern to begin the wall portion of the dive, a large eagle ray cruised passed us out into the blue ... it then turned around back towards us, and went straight over our heads, only a couple of meters above. What a shame all the other divers were still inside the cavern and missed this !!

Not one but TW0 dugong's 23/12/07

Upon setting off on an afternoon dive, we teased the staff left behind that we were going to swim with a dugong as some of them had done the week before. After nearly completing our dive at ‘Twin Bommies’ along came not 1 but 2 dugongs. ‘Dorothy’ had found a friend. It was an amazing and thrilling experience, one we will treasure forever. Thanks to all the crew at Nautilus for sharing this with us along with all the other fantastic dives we did over the past 2 weeks.

Written & Photo’s By: Rick & Leisa Perren
Rockhampton, Queensland

http://www.nautilus.com.vu/

A Visiting Dugong 17/12/07

This Dugong has become a frequent visitor to a couple of our dive site recently.
It has even been practicing fin pivots with a couple of Open Water Students. Dugongs are large grey mammals which spend their entire lives in the sea. Fully grown, they may be three metres long and weigh 400 kilograms. They have nostrils near the top of their snouts. Dugongs swim by moving their broad spade-like tail in an up and down motion, and by use of their two flippers. Dugongs' only hairs are the bristles near the mouth. Mail us with a name suggestion diving@vanuatu.com.vu

http://www.nautilus.com.vu/

Travalley at the Star Of Russia 15/12/07

Trevally - Amazing visability on the Star of Russia wreck made for a superb dive with schooling trevally and tallfin batfish cruising around the top of the wreck.

For more info on the Star of Russia Click here

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Mini Octopus 13/12/07

Mini Octopus - mooring Cowrie up at Konanda Reef this little octopus was found on the mooring line. Being no bigger than a finger nail he was rescued from the boat and quickly put back to safety in the water.