Ramping Up

I am so excited to lock in on searching and shooting these nudis today.  I was glad to get into the water yesterday and ensure all the gear was working, but now I really want to get going on nudi counts.

After breakfast, we finally got on the boat.  OMG, I have never been on such a big skiff/day boat.  They have this wonky ramp that gets set up temporarily (with a human held handrail) we use to go from the dock to the boat.  It's a little nervewracking.

All 13 of us went on the one boat to the same dive site, but at least they divided us up into four groups and Anne-Li and I got the snorkeler in our group so we really just have the dive guide JR to ourselves.  That is good.

The ride to the site was 45 minutes and at some point I knew my bladder wasn't going to make it.  They actually have a toilet on this boat.  It is rudimentary, but I used it successfully.  The other side has a mini kitchen.  

This dive site was WAY better and we dove it twice.  I definitely upped my species count.  It was pretty mucky and silty but it was fun to find stuff.

After making the journey back, it was already 2:30pm which is when the resort told us to be ready for the afternoon dives.  WTF?

We quickly ate lunch and then did an afternoon dive nearby.  Once we returned, it was the time the resort said to be ready for the night dive.  I was exhausted and really with the special morning trip, nobody was going on any night dive.

I had about an hour to work on my nudis and get my list ready for Gary.  He is merging this list with his recent PNG trip list.  I am not really sure why.  I am of course keeping my own list.

I wore my nudi headband to dinner and it took a REALLY long time for anyone to notice it.  But when they did it was pretty funny.  Caroline was so sweet and brought candy from Sweden for everyone to share.

We had lots of friendly banter and story telling at dinner but I left as soon as it was over to go crash.

Slug Count

3 - Pteraeolidia semperi

4 - Phyllidia ocellata

5 - Nembrotha kubaryana

6 - Thuridilla gracilis

7 - Phyllidiella pustulosa

8 - Glossodoris pallida

9 - Miamira sinuata

10 - Jorunna funebris

11 - Sagaminopteron psychedelicum

12 - Glossodoris rufomarginata

13 - Phyllidia sp. 1

14 - Phyllidia varicosa

15 - Plakobranchus ocellatus

16 - Glossodoris sp. 1

17 - Gymnodoris sp. 23

18 - Nembrotha lineolata

19 - Hypselodoris bullockii

20 - Phyllidia coelestis

21 - Phyllidiella granulata

22 - Phyllidia elegans

23 - Doriprismatica atromarginata

Tagged to TAG

I slept many hours, but still woke up early.  I am excited for this trip, but I am not really sure what to expect diving with a new group of people.

The LBH is not in our group.  Thank God.  From the looks of him, he would have been a nightmare.

I went down to the lobby a little early and picked up my breakfast to go and went in search of another coffee.  I met one woman in the group name Annelee from Sweden living in Thailand.  We chatted a bit.  She went on Gary's trip to PNG.  Then some others came down to the lobby too.  I found out that a few of the divers were already there and that there are 13 of us total.

Gary gave me a big hug and acted like we had met before.  I asked him if we had ever met in person and he said no... just Facebook.  Funny how we live in this digital world today.  I told him it was so great to actually meet him in person finally.

We had an arranged shuttle for all of us to the airport and it was a short flight to Tagbilaran (TAG).  We claimed our bags and had another two and half hours in a van to the Ocean Magic Resort.  Gary kept trying to take pictures of these little shelters where they sell lotto tickets out of a miniscule window.

When we arrived at Magic Oceans we were greeted with watermelon juice.  It seems like a really nice place.  They even have a beautiful pool.

I noticed down by the dock that the waves were pretty rough.  I ordered a chicken cashew salad for lunch that was pretty good.  I found out that the night before, there had been some flooding/tsunami warnings.  Yikes!

We had a QR code to fill out out information and I learned that Nitrox was an extra $30 per day.  Ugh, I decided to start with it but can switch to air anytime.  I couldn't really tell if we were diving that afternoon or not and nobody seemed to be making a decision, so I just went to the front office and asked to check into my bungalow.  Then I worked on setting up my camera.  

John also was in the camera bay working on his huge camera setup and let me know that around 4pm, we'd be gathering to do a shore dive.  OK, that's good as I really want to get wet today.

The shore dive entry to the house reef was pretty tough, but it was good to get underwater.  I brought my light but the battery wasn't charged enough and it died pretty quickly.  I tried to use my spotter light, but it wasn't ideal.  

Once I found my first nudi, I went to show Anne-Li and I lost it.  I had such a hard time getting her attention that I couldn't find it again.  I need to put a marker down when I try to show people stuff!

Unfortunately, my group only found two nudis in total.  Yikes.  But we did see lots of other great marine life: turtle, a huge cuttlefish, mantis shrimp, frogfish, flatworm.  

I was glad to get the kinks out and start on this adventure.

Everyone gathered at the bar for a drink before dinner.  Gary handed out these great ball caps and stickers to everyone.  

Jeremy shared a picture of a nudi he wanted an ID for and Gary called it a Goniobranchus "Co-Eye".  What the fuck is a Co-I?  I looked it up and it was the Goniobranchis coi.  He just says it in a funny way.  I teased him about it and he said the the guy it is named after's last name was "Co" and with the latin addition of the male "i" it is pronounced Co-I.  To me, that just sounds like a stutter!  I say "Koi" like the fish pond.  It's good to learn!

I corraled everyone to dinner at 7pm and we came across this crazy spider!  OMG.  I didn't want to be anywhere near it, but our cute waiter grabbed it and took it over to the bushes.

Anne-Li has many dietary restrictions, so it will be interesting to see how the kitchen crew can accommodate.  She was a little frustrated, but I thought the food was pretty good.  I even liked the starter soup made out of lentils.

I asked Gary if he knew Neville Coleman.  He said that he lived with him for a while and helped him launch some Apps.  He was also there when he died.  How sad.

By the end of dinner, I was so tired... I asked for some ice water and extra coffee packets and retired for the night.

I'm still piecing it all together, but here is the list of divers:

Gary - born in Miami, lived in California, now resides in Australia diving the Mooloola River frequently.

John - Australian

Karen and Jeanette - Australians 

Elisha and Vanessa - Australians

Caroline - Swedish 

Roxy - English

Anne-Li - Swedish living in Thailand

Jeremy and Kristen - live in Colorado and also went on Gary's PNG trip, flew in earlier

Karolle - Snorkeler from Canada, flew in earlier

Here are the nudis from the house reef dive today:

1 - Thuridilla lineolata

2 - Nembrotha chamberlaini

Up in the Air

My flight from Chicago to San Francisco was pretty easy.  I was asked by a husband if I would swap with his wife so they could sit together.  I told the guy that as long as he could get my rollerbag over that row, I'm in.  So he fought through the passengers and got it up there.  I still had a window seat and I was closer to the front.  

I finally finished this book Blade by Wendy Walker about murder in the figure skating community.  I have been trying to slog through it and I finally got to the end.  It was way too slow and hard to read for me but I did appreciate the ending so I am glad I finished.

I forgot that it is Superbowl weekend in San Francisco.  There was a big display and merch everywhere.

I had the most delicious salmon and bacon sandwich at a place called Mustard's near my gate.  I swear I have been eating the most boring meals lately compared to this one!  

The flight to Manila wasn't too bad.  There was the LBH (Loser Back Home) guy who had a tie dye tank top on and was balding but had just enough hair to have some of it in dreadlocks.  OMG.  I do wonder what the heck his story is and why he feels this is an acceptable fashion statement.  I sat in the second to last row where there are only two seats in the row.  There was a younger guy next to me and I mostly just watched some shows on my noise canceling headphones and napped.  At one point, I thought I smelled buttered popcorn.  I thought that was weird as we were on a plane... then I realized it was the butter I had stashed in my jacket pocket in case I wanted to eat this bread roll later.  Doh!

The transfer was waiting for me in the arrivals hall and I was taken to the Kingsford Hotel.  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the LBH Dreads guy.  Oh crap, what if he is on my trip?!?!?!

I ordered some room service and drifted off to sleep.

Bohol Bound

Well, here I go again.  I feel like I just got back from Alor... in fact I still have many updates to do to the blog.  I think I only have 219 species on that last trip (not 222).

This trip is with a different group of sluggers - mostly from Australia.

The time of year was right and I was in the market for a trip in early 2026, so this one fit the bill.  Here is my itinerary:

Thursday 2/5/2026

9:00am United Airlines Flight 1883 Chicago (ORD) to San Francisco (SFO) departs

12:10pm United Airlines Flight 1883 Chicago (ORD) to San Francisco (SFO) arrives

2:00pm United Airlines Flight 809 San Francisco (SFO) to Manila (MNL) departs

Friday 2/6/2026

9:00pm United Airlines Flight 809 San Francisco (SFO) to Manila (MNL) arrives

Overnight in Manila at Kingsford Hotel (meet up with the rest of the folks on the trip)

Saturday 2/7/2026

8:45am Philippines Airlines Flight PR2773 from Manila (MNL) to Tagbilaran (TAG) leaves

10:20am Philippines Airlines Flight PR2773 from Manila (MNL) to Tagbilaran (TAG) arrives

We dive at Magic Oceans Dive Resort in Bohol.  I am excited to try a new location.

I had my MiniFlash serviced and I bought a new one.  I realized that I could assemble the snoot with the extra MiniFlash and just pop off the fiber optic cable.  Then I wouldn't have all of the set up/take down each time I wanted to snoot.  But it does mean carrying around even more stuff underwater.  

 

Slug Stats

I am mostly packed and sitting at the dining room table drinking coffee one last time.  I feel very good about the trip.  I have a broken strobe to deal with but I was able to avoid this awful virus that made its way though the resort.  I only skipped one dive… which I SHOULD have gone on… they saw some good things on the house reef in the rain.

Here are the stats for this trip:

222 Unique Species of Nudibranchs.  That is down from 233 in 2023, but it beat all other years.  

Disclaimer: I went fast and made some mistakes.  I know at least two are probably cowries, not nudis.  I also looked at the nudis in a slide show and I feel like many of them seemed to be repeats... with just a different name.  I’ll review and adjust.

I believe over 40 of these are the first time I am seeing them in Alor.  

I will circle back with how many species are new to me on this trip.  I know that Bornella Anguilla and Kaloplocamus acutus and Goniobranchus sp. 15.

I did 76 Dives bringing me to a lifetime total of 2537.  I did 146 dives this year (not including any volunteer dives at Shedd).  That’s four more than last year.

Until next time!

Two Two Two

So today is the last day of diving.  It really has been a great trip and I still don’t have Alor out of my system, so I am glad to be coming back next year, just a week earlier.  Nikko assured me he will be here.  Hooray!

Here is fun topside shot of Pirjo, Nikko and me:

We had two nice last mucky dives and even found a few new ones.

Of course, as soon as we got back it started raining so our gear will not dry.  Oof.

It rained all afternoon.  It seemed to take me longer to pack things up than usual.

I dressed up a little for dinner, but they don’t really have a big goodbye night since groups come and go every day.  We just happen to be the last set of guests before the season here ends.  The staff has their big holiday party tomorrow.  Then they are off for three months.

Pirjo arranged a special cake with Alex to celebrate my birthday and 10 years of us diving together.  So sweet!  And the cake was so delicious.  Alex baked it herself, which is no small feat here in Alor!

I also got to chat a bit with Max and Lauren, the resort owners, over the phone.  They were so darling and glad to hear we had a great time.

Final Frontier

219 - Verconia sp. 5

220 - Elysia pusilla

221 - Goniobranchus hintuanensis

222 - Unknown

Stats will be coming in tomorrow's post, but I landed at 222.

All Righta Aurita

I woke up a couple times in the night because my fan kept going off.  I guess there was a power cut or two overnight.

Alex and Uri found a scorpion in their room last night.  I didn’t even know they had them here.  Yikes.  But the locals talk about being bit by a scorpion as if it were a bee.

On the ride back to the resort, we ran into a pod of melon head whales which are a type of dolphin.  And there was another pod of regular dolphins next to them.  We just sat and watched for a while.

On the night dive at Matap, we found THE BIGGEST Gymnodoris aurita.  It seriously was the size of a guinea pig.  I took a picture and thought, how could I improve it.  I could not think of any way to do so.  It was awesome.  I handed it off to Pirjo and swam along.  Then I thought, this was so special I needed to go back and just look at it for a while over Pirjo’s shoulder.  Then I saw that there was a second species of Gymnodoris, really small.  Then I saw that they were getting close together and I thought that the big one was going to eat the little one.  I swear I saw it going into the mouth, but then we saw it reappear later.  Wow!  What an encounter.

At dinner I gave Mona the Chicken Stu I had packed in case of unruly divers.  We didn’t need it, so I told her she could use it for next season.  I also chatted with Alex and Uri again.  They shared a story about a guest who was a pilot and would not allow anyone in his room the whole time he was here… except one day when he wanted the sheets changed.  He had a dozen stuffed animals lined up perfectly on his bed.  WTF?  Who travels with stuffed animals?  And they said he was in his late 40s/early 50s.  

Sluggercalifragilisticexpialidocious

217 - Moridilla brockii

218 - Gymnodoris aurita

After escaping being eaten.  I mean look how much bigger the G. aurita is!!!