Human Boomerang

I feel like a Human Boomerang.  I just got back from my Forgotten Islands trip on 10/27... just nine days ago.  And now I'm leaving to go to Lembeh and Alor.  While I was stateside, I even squeezed in a trip to Joplin, MO / Bella Vista, AR to see my sister Megan get married.  It was a lot.

But now I'm psyched to do some Blackwater diving with NAD Lembeh and my annual trip to Alami Alor.

Here are my flights:

Thursday 11/5/2026

10:40am United Airlines Flight 867 Chicago (ORD) to Narita (NRT) departs

Friday 11/6/2026

3:15pm United Airlines Flight 867 Chicago (ORD) to Narita (NRT) arrives

6:05pm United Airlines Flight 7915 Narita (NRT) to Jakarta (CGK) departs

11:55pm United Airlines Flight 7915 Narita (NRT) to Jakarta (CGK) arrives

Saturday 11/7/2026

2:00am Batik Air ID 6742 from Jakarta (CGK) to Manado (MDC) leaves

6:25am Batik Air ID 6742 from Jakarta (CGK) to Manado (MDC) arrives

I am going to be in Indonesia for 30 days and six hours so I had to jump through the hoops to get a 60 day VISA.  It just came via email two days ago.  Whew!

I had to pack a bit more than usual for my photo gear since I am doing both blackwater and nudibranch diving.  I think I did a pretty good job of getting it all in.

I am also reminding myself that both the Forgotten Islands trip and the add on of NAD Lembeh Blackwater were both opportunistic.  I didn't really plan for them, but they are a great added bonus.

The Nudibranch Spectrum

California Academy of Science had a cool post today to celebrate Terry Gosliner's birthday!

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1K9FumvWu6/

There is also going to be a Tidepool Sea Slug Search in May 2027 along the California coastline:

https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/sea-slug-search-2027

So cool!

Home Again

Today started at 2:30am in Jakarta.  I tried to make coffee in the room, but it was so bad.  I had breakfast included and it started at 2am, but I just didn't want to make the effort.

At checkin, the ANA agent made me weigh my carryon bag but didn't give me a hard time about it.  He just put a tag on it that it was approved for carryon.  Thank God.  I don't think I have any fight left in me.

Immigration was a breeze.  Then I had a VERY long way to walk to the gate.  I used one of those mini-carts and it really helped.

This was a great trip.  There were very nice people on board and it was terrific to see Graham again.  We didn't see as many little critters as I would have liked.

I think maybe there should be a liveaboard that only dives jetties and piers.  How cool would that be?

OK, here is my summary.  

68 distinct species of nudibranchs.

One enormous glassy nautilus sea elephant that got 998 likes, 28 comments and 57 shares.  So many comments the moderator turned them off!

I did 27 dives this trip bringing me up to a total of 2,612 lifetime dives.

Here is a photo of most of the crew on the bow:

Once I get home, I am off to Bentonville where my sister is getting married.  Then I'll be back Indonesia.  I'll be back.

Jakarta Jump

Today, all I do is fly to Jakarta.  Three domestic flights.  I already got an email that there will be an hour delay on the second/third flights.  So I am glad to have an overnight in Anara hotel so that I will be just fine making my International flight.

It seemed like FOREVER waiting in the Kupang Airport again.  I finished another book: Mirror Image by Lauren E. Rico.  We finally boarded our flight to Subaraya.  And our flight to Jakarta was the exact same flight number, but a different seat number.  Weird.  So I asked the attendant if we just stay on the plane and change seats.  Nope.  There was an aircraft change.  Huh.  It was super-weird.  Everyone going to Jakarta had to get on this little bus.  Then a guy got on and handed out boarding passes.  I have never seen this done before.  Then, I kid you not... the bus went 20 yards to a different aircraft and we all boarded.

Whatever.

I was glad that this flight went pretty quickly.  However, once we landed, Todd said that our bags were still sitting in Subaraya.  WTF?  He has air tags on them.  I decided not to worry about it.  That maybe his and Rick's bags got delayed, but not mine.  Besides, I've heard that sometimes there is a delay on those air tags but I didn't say anything.

Woo Hoo!  Our bags were on the conveyor belt.  I didn't even have to wait for mine.  Then Todd, Rick, Dennis and I rode the tram over to the International Terminal.  We were all staying at Anara.  It was a bit tricky with four bags since they will not let us use a luggage trolley after a certain point.  But we got to the other side and then had to ask a few people how to get to the hotel.  We had to take an elevator to Level 1 but there wasn't enough room in one for all of us.  So Todd got on a separate one and somehow got lost.  I guess he went to Level G and then couldn't get back on.  OMG.  I waited for a bit to be polite, but then I asked Rick if he was ok waiting alone for Todd.   

I was so happy to check in to Anara.  I ordered a margherita pizza but they didn't have it.  They suggested Hawaiian style.  I said yes but to leave off the pineapple.  It turns out it was pretty good.  I am always craving cheese after these international trips.

I didn't get to bed until like 11pm and I had to be up around 2:30am.  Oh well, even just a few hours alone in a clean bed is totally worth it.

Singing during Tips

This is the last day of diving.  We have two morning dives and then we offgas before our flight tomorrow mid-morning.

I woke up pretty early and caught up on many things.  Alvi and Zafer are flying out today.  A few people are not diving today.

We are here in Alor now.  Although it is over on the other side from where I usually dive.

The first dive was called Fairground Attraction.  I didn't find many interesting nudis, but I did find a Leaf Scorpionfish and showed it to the guide so he could show others.

The second dive was just an exploration dive.  I found a few Jorunna funebris and one posed for me.

After lunch, many went on a tour of the local village.  I have done that before, so I passed on it.  I just slept and took my time packing.  

Some went to the market and bought some fruit to bring back to us for a snack.

We had a last dinner with the remaining group.  Then they brought the whole crew in and had each one of them say hello and their position and where they were from.  Here is Melki, our dive guide talking.

After that, they went to each one of us to ask us what our favorite part of the trip was.  For me, I said... the fact that the crew cheered each time the skiff departed and returned, how they FOLDED our wetsuits and had them ready for us each dive.  And then for the sightings underwater... the Glassy Nautilus and 68 Nudibranch Species.

Finally, while we paid our bills for lattes, alcohol and tip they sang us songs!  I've never seen this done before.  It was so charming.  They all sang their hearts out to an Indonesian Love Song.  For one tune, Craig and Betsy got up and danced.  And they rest of us did for Twist and Shout.  Craig also played a song or two on the guitar.  

I did find one more new nudi on the second dive.  This completes the list.

68 - Verconia simplex

Here is the trending graph for the trip.

This Jetty is Jumpin'

The internet is so slow this morning.  Starlink is usually pretty good in the morning when I am the only one up.  Oh well.

I caught a post from Nat Geo about Nudis this morning:  Warning—looking at nudibranchs may cause excessive awe

There has been some concern that our flight from Alor to Kupang has been/will be canceled.  Whatever.   I am not worrying about it but others are.

At first breakfast this morning, we ran out of peanut butter.  Put enough Americans on a dive boat and that is bound to happen.  Maybe I should pack some next trip.

This morning we dove a little alcove where Larry Smith coined the term critter diving.  I was shown some mushroom coral pipefish.  I took a quick look but then moved on.  I have nudis to find.

I stayed down so long I came up with a different group and I noticed on the safety stop that the screws in my tray were coming loose.  I had the crew help me tighten them back down with an allen wrench.

After the dive I actually had hot water and some pressure in my shower.  Hallelujah.  Yesterday I had to sit in the show naked, wet and a head full of shampoo waiting for some water pressure to come back so I could rinse it out.  I know, high class problems.

Then we had second breakfast.  This was just chicken soup and hard boiled eggs, but also sliced fruit.  Every time I hear about second breakfast, I think of my Grandpa who was a farmer, got up early and always had second breakfast.

I noticed that on iNaturalist, I get great response from the Nudi experts, but when I post a flatworm for ID, I get zero response.  Where are those experts?

On the second dive, we went to another area Graham thought was hot the last time he dove it a dozen years ago.  But now, there is a jetty there.  We dove the jetty and it was INCREDIBLE!!!  There were critters and nudis everywhere.  I came up from the dive singing... "My kind of dive, the jetty is" to the tune of "My kind of town, Chicago is".

Graham made a very special itinerary for us finding the lushest, coraly-est places to dive.  But the one I got most excited about was a mucky ugly concrete and rebar trash filled jetty called Pelabuhan Eray.  Go figure.

We love it so much we dove it again.

At the end of the dives, this little children were waving and watching us.  Like we were aliens.  I waved and yelled “I love you” like we do in Alor.  But they didn’t know how to say that so I just gave them the little heart sign with my hands and they did it back.

I even found an Ornate Ghost Pipefish with eggs!  I put it through ChatGPT but I don't think it did the best job.

The Original:

Chat GPT:

Dinner was amazing.  They did surf and turf on the BBQ.  The meat is venison - a local deer found in Alor.

Nudi Count

60 - Goniobranchus sp. (reticulata)

Goniobranchus sp. 5 in Soong et al., 2020

61 - Diversidoris crocea

62 - Goniobranchus kuniei

    

63 - Thorunna daniellae

64 - Thorunna australis

65 - Hypselodoris paradisa

66 - Phyllodesmium longicirrum

67 - Caloria indica

Chicago Frogfish

Today we are returning back to Romang and we are going to be diving a site that looks like the movie Avatar.  

Sure enough on the second dive, there were bubbles coming up from the reef.  In one section they were all in a row, like a wall of bubbles.  There were also a couple of pinnacles to explore which was very cool.

They served the weirdest green gelatin for dessert at lunch.  I tried it.  The flavor was sort of muted.  Not my favorite.

On the third dive, I found a reddish orange frogfish.  Deep in a crevice.  Nobody had found one on this trip yet.  I banged my tank and Craig came over to take video of it too.  Woot!

The crew set up dinner outside for us.  It was very nice to sit under the stars.  Although a bit tight for all of us to sit around this table.  

As I was taking it all in, I realized that the two crew waiting on us were both wearing Chicago baseball caps:  White Sox and Bulls!  I had to have a picture.

Nudi Lineup

54 - Thuridilla sp.

55 - Jorunna funebris

56 - Chelidonura amoena

57 - Aplysia nigrocincta

58 - Dematobranchus sp.

59 - Coryphellina exoptata