April 17th 2000
Observation Point - Papua New Guinea

… an early start this morning, 4am! We pulled up the anchor to head off to our next site five hours away. Fortunately those of us not on watch were able to grab a few more hours of sleep before getting up for breakfast. 

Dawn on passage to Taulu.

We arrived at Taulu around 8.30am. A beautiful and peaceful little village, just a few thatched huts amongst the palms, and backed by jungle-clad hills. Right away we were surrounded by curious young kids in little outrigger canoes, all with big grins … keen to see what we were all about! While Michael and DJ sorted out some food gifts for the village, James and I made friends with the kids, and I was soon in the water in my mask and fins to watch one of them hunting small fish with a small hand spear. He was just like a fish in the water, totally at home, so I went back to Starship to grab a video camera and housing to film him hunting amongst the seagrass … I have never seen someone smile so much underwater as ‘Lawrence’ did! 

A serene crocodile fish.

Michael, Rico, DJ, Trevor and James went for the first dive, and came back pleased with the site. Michael had filmed a rare ‘Lacy Scorpionfish, (Rhinopias aphanes) - a bizarre looking fish covered in twiggy protuberances and striking patterns. DJ saw a Leaf Scorpionfish, a Striped Pipefish, and a juvenile Blue Ribbon eel, “they are so cute!” I jumped in when they came back, and took the video with me. In contrast to the rubble bottom of Lawadi this site, known as ‘Ayers Rock’, was a big coral bommie dropping off on the outside to 20m or more. There were some beautiful reef fish congregated here, of every colour and shape imaginable! The coolest one I found though was called a Crocodile fish, which (you guessed it) looked just like a crocodile. This species belongs to the family ‘Flatheads’ which lack swimbladders, as they spend most of their time lying on the bottom waiting to ambush their prey.  If you look closely at their eyes you can see they have a fringing membrane to hide the pupil from prospective prey…isn’t nature is amazing! Trumpetfish are also cool, sort of like a small vacuum cleaner fitting with fins! To cut a long story short, it was a good dive, I hope Papuan waters stay relatively unexploited so that future divers can enjoy such sites. 

Enrico with a frenzy of of kids brandishing the National Geographics 
and crayons we gave them. 

Before we left for our next site I had a quick go in one of the kid’s outrigger canoes, it was a case of in one side and out the other! After bailing it out I tried again, and soon got the hang of it, definitely not as stable as our kayaks though! Our second site was called Observation Point, and was a beautiful, eerie place; jungle down to dark, calm water, and with heavy clouds on the horizon. Earlier we had had some thunder and lightening, but luckily the rain didn’t last long at all. I dived with Michael this time, and all though the underwater terrain was a little boring, (a dark sand slope) we saw some interesting creatures. Sand divers …a small eel-like fish which burrow into sand so that just their eyes are visible; and an incredibly well camouflaged flounder…if you took your eyes of it for too long it ‘disappeared! 

As I write this everyone is getting ready to get in for a night dive, the mission tonight is to film a Flamboyant Cuttlefish, and a Mimic Octopus…I’m keen to jump in myself so I am going to finish up now and jump back into the water, the sooner I grow gills and webbed feet, the better! Let you know how it goes tomorrow.

Seeya, 

Diver Dave.