Biodiversity Cruise Indonesia Misool area. Cruise from Banda island took 16 hours. Smooth crossing. Misool area has many small islands covered with vegetation. The current funnels through these areas so on some sites there is alot of current. The depth of the water between island is 125 feet deep which makes anchoring boat easy but the sand bottom brings a bit of sand into the water column so visibility on most days is 60 feet. Macro or wide angle closeup unless you get a good visibility day. The reefs are very healthy with no bare patches. As we get into the raja ampat area we are now finding many new species to photograph. Misool Eco resort and the local communities in 2005 established a marine protection zone which forbids fishing and the taking of turtle eggs. Working with the local communities the reefs are starting to have more fish and bigger fish. Sharks are now being seen and turtles more frequent sightings. It is very noticeable the work they are doing. Full compliments to Misool Eco resort and the local communities as the heavy fishing is the foreign fishing fleets coming in and taking everything is the problem. Not the local fishermen who fish for their families. No fishing boats seen in the misool area. Misool Eco resort also has all the liveaboards check in with them so no more than one boat at each site. We had five liveaboards and misool eco resort and there was no more than one boat at each site. Its a very large area with many divsites. As we get closer to the equator we start to get rain showers just about every afternoon. Usually a short heavy rain shower then sunny skies again. Water temperature is 82 degree. On my website there is a misool section as well as banda islands and alor from the biodiversity trip.
reefscenics' Photos | SmugMug
reefscenics' Photos | SmugMug
