We returned to Batam Reefs this weekend on a two day one night trip. Catching the morning ferry from Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal our six divers headed over to Nongsa Batam, and set out for our days diving at Kerang Gelang Reef, Indonesia.
Arriving at the reef to some high swell highlighed the benefit of Kerang Gelang’s size, meaning there is always one or more sides protected and calm.
Aiming to do 5 dives on Saturday we only managed 4 day dives as due to the conditions and the swell which made it unsafe to do a night dive.
No current on the Unnamed Wreck (we found a few weekends ago) on Saturday afternoon meant we could thoroughly investigate the north eastern side of the wreck. It also allowed me to finally retrieve the bottle of wine which I had been spying for some time, but unfortunately it turned out to be full of sand. However the purple stain on the interior of the bottle meant it was still a nice artifact to have acquired and will be cherished furthermore.
The marine life this weekend was really nice, with a surprising . . . nurse shark! It was found resting during the day in a hole next to a rather worried looking parrot fish. The parrot fish is normally prey for the nurse shark and as the nurse shark is nocturnal the parrot fish is diurnal. The sharks hunt out sleeping parrot fish at night by utilising electronic sensors on their noses called ampules of lorenzini, and to counteract this sense the parrot fish has the ability to cover itself in a mucus sac which dulls down the electronic signals emanating from its heart. So to have both of these side by side during the day was extraordinary.
There was also a Hawksbill turtle! A huge Pipefish! Loads of Nudis! Stingrays! And coral fish!
After celebrating my birthday on Saturday night with the help of a cake from the boss, we awoke Sunday morning to find ourselves feeling surprisingly fresh and set out nice and early to dive Nongsa Point Island Reef.
We did two dives on Sunday morning and the conditions were really rather nice. We had no current and about 8m viz. We saw lots of nudis, crocodile fish, flatworms, moray eels, tube worms and polychaete worms. So there was lots to see.
We caught the midday ferry back from Nongsa and we got back into Singapore ready for a lazy Sunday afternoon.
Cheers, James