The most fun a girl can have with her wetsuit on!

This post is from 2/17, but we had spotty internet connection at Maluku Divers so I'm just posting it now from the Starbucks at the Bali Airport.

OK, I’m two days into diving at Maluku and it is great.

Marcel has worked hard to build this resort and get it up and running.  Here, he is known as “bossman”.  It is very cute.  He has over 30 Indonesians working at the resort and he convinced a beautiful woman named Lily from Singapore to lead dives (and serve as his significant other).  J 

They have room for just over 20 guests and do about three dives a day (night dives only if you specially request them).  The dives are as long as you can last and this is mostly muck diving.  Muck diving means that while you dive, you are not looking a beautiful coral but instead gross black sand (and often trash).  But in that ugliness, there are amazing little critters that are a blast to photograph!  And there are usually tons of nudibranchs.

In two days, I’ve found some new ones.

42 - Hypselodoris maculosa

This one was sooo tiny.  Look at how big the grains of sand are in the photo!

43 – Cratena sp.

This one was also very small.  It was all white with orange rhinophores and oral tentacles.

44 – Glossodoris cincta

This guy is good sized and appears to be spongy-like.  So colorful!

45 – Flabellina rubrolineata

Just gorgeous.

46 – Hypselodoris emma

I think these two were in love.  Look how they are holding each others’ rhinophores!

47 – Pectenodoris trilineata

At first I thought maybe this was a Hypselodoris bullockii but after running across the Pectenodoris trilineata, the three lines make this ID a slam dunk!

48 - Ceratosoma sinuatum 

I can’t figure this out if this is a Orodoris miamirana or a Ceratomosa sp. or Ceratosoma sinuatum.  There is a guest coming today named Jayne who is a big nudibrancher who may be able to help me out!

49 – Hypselodoris sp. 11 

This one is very small and I could try to identify it as many different nudis (mostly juvenile).

50 – Unknown aeolid (maybe a flabellina of some sort)

I love the orange underside with the white purple and pink cerata!

51 – Flabellina bilas

Look closely, this one is missing a rhinophore.

52 – Chromodoris setoensis

This one is pictured with a Chromodoris geometrica.  I need to get a better shot.

53 – Kentrodoris rubescens

I LOVE this one.  It has a very high hump on which the gills come out.  Also, you can see inside the nudi just a little bit.  I can’t seem to find this in any of the books but Jayne said that this is a Kentrodoris rubescens (or Jorunna rubescens).

Here is a color variation as well:

54 – Aeolidiella alba

This one was so tiny (that’s why it is blurry).  It was moving like a rocking chair, so I wasn’t sure it was a nudi but Soulman assured me that it is.  I cannot find anything even resembling this in the book but Jayne helped me with her super secret PDF!

NUDI COUNT = 54