Strong Start

I slept through most of the night and got up around 2am.  I feel pretty good.  I remembered to toothpaste my mask, so I’m ready to go for my first dive.  I walked over to the common area to drink some coffee.  It’s not the best.  You can literally chew the coffee as it is made by stirring ground coffee into hot water.  Since I brought some powdered french vanilla creamer, it’s not too bad.

I am super excited to dive today.  Finally.

I started reading the book “The Big Year”.  I am really enjoying it.  I love the writer’s style.

I am also watching the show The Big C with Laura Linney.  She is a great actress and fun to watch.

I re-read my blog from last year.  This is my 12th trip to Indonesia.  

Over the years I have seen 389 unique species in Alor.  I will be happy if I just break 300.

There is a new girl here working at the resort, Mona from Germany.

I am trying to learn all the resort girls names this year.  This morning we have Ina , Ella, and Arin.

There was a lot of current on the original dive sites chosen.  We tried several different ones but ended up at School’s Out and Matap.

After lunch I jumped the house reef and played around with the diopter… I think I have a hang of that now.  But the snoot.  I am so awkward with that thing.  First of all, I keep trying to use the right hand… but that will not work as that is my trigger hand.  Ugh.  Then I just tried and tried to snoot.  Then with a diopter.  Fuck the diopter, that is not happening.  So I just focused on the snoot.  I finally got a couple of shots off but they were terrible.

At the end of the night dive, I got a headache.  Just in the last third but when I got on the boat I was grumpy.  It was a pretty good dive though!

Here is one non-slug photo for the day:

Slugs Today:

1 - Flabellina exoptata

2 - Coryphellina flamma

3 - Goniobranchus geometricus

4 - Phyllidiella pustulosa

5 - Caloria indica

6 - Samla riwo

7 - Dermatobranchus fortunatus

Posted to Nudibase and Marli Wakeling replied with:

I suspect that it might be a pale Dermatobranchus fortunatus. However, it's lacking the usual dark mark on the head, so given the location, it could be an undescribed species.

8 - Doriprismatica atromarginata

9 - Glossodoris sp. 1

10 - Jorunna rubescens

11 - Goniobranchus kuniei

12 - Phyllidia exquisita

I'm not sure this is exquisita since the bluish appearance is missing.

13 - Glossodoris pallida

14 - Dermatobranchus albus

15 - Nembrotha milleri

This one is a mutant.  It is missing a rhinophore.

Here is an in tact version:

16 - Chromodoris michaeli

Color Pattern variation:

17 - Trapania caerulea

18 - Dermatobranchus striatus

19 - Hypselodoris maculosa

20 - Aegires sp. 7

21 - Phyllidia babai

22 - Facelind sp. 5

23 - Melibe sp. 1

24 - Bullina sp. 1

25 - Atagema intecta

26 - Goniobranchus sp. 5

27 - Gymnodoris inornata

28 - Phyllodesmium opalescens

29 - Goniobranchus preciosus

30 - Hypselodoris zephyra

31 - Atagema sp. 6

Bungalow Three

The flights from Jakarta to Kupang and Kupang to Alor went pretty well.  I just needed to navigate quickly to do the transfer and I found a secret not so well labeled way to get there and was first to the gate.  And I didn’t get to have coffee at my favorite little place in the airport.

I finished my first book of the trip: The Lost Heiress by Elizabeth Klehfoth.  It was interesting and it had the family tree diagram in the beginning of the book.  I love that.

There were five of us on the flight that came to Alami Alor.  I shared a cab with a couple from Oregon: John and Cathy.  Once I arrived I just felt scummy and gross.  I jumped in the pool for a bit to cool off and then unpacked.  

The staff left me this really nice note on my desk in bungalow 3:

I laid down for a while but couldn’t sleep.  So I went to lunch.

Alex and Uri are here again this year.  I think they sign three year contracts to work here as a couple.  Alex talked a little about the Super Moon flooding.  It was so bad here that the water line came up into the bungalows.  Oh man.  They had a LOT of cleanup and reconstruction effort.  And of course, there is no insurance here to assist in rebuilding.

After lunch, I decided to crawl under the covers to truly sleep. During my nap, the power went out and we were on a backup generator, so the air conditioner wasn’t working.  I woke up just drenched in sweat.  I decided to take a shower and get my camera set up.

One of the girls came to find me in the camera room and told me it was time for dinner.  I was the last one there.  We talked about horse racing.  The couple I met on the cab ride from the airport have parents in Australia who race.  Alex and Uri also talked about horse racing here in Indonesia.

I noticed that one of the lenses on my iPhone camera is no longer just cracked, it has completely shattered and most of it has fallen away.  So much so that it could be dangerous if someone’s finger got right next to it.  I was already planning on buying a new phone for myself for Christmas/Birthday.  

Fishy, Banana

The first flight from Chicago to Narita was long (14 hours) but fine.  My row was full but the middle seat was a tiny old Japanese man who kept getting up and would be gone for long stretches of time.  I slept, watched some movies and tv shows.  I had a short layover in Narita and went to find Coke Zero.  I found it and some banana flavored Kit Kats.  Awesome!

I also got some savory snacks.  There were many varieties in tiny snack packs.  Most were good but then I came across this one.  Should I eat it?  Can you see the little freeze dried fish in there?

My row lucked out and we didn’t have anyone sitting in the middle seat.  I watched many episodes of The White Lotus Season 3.  I love the background music in that show.  The flight from Narita to Jakarta landed just a little bit early, which is great because I only have two hours to go from International to Domestic.  I got off the plane and started hauling ass to the Visa upon Arrival desk.  

Then I saw a QR Code for immigration that is supposed to help you get through really fast.  I didn’t work on it beforehand because I didn’t know the URL (and the one Pirjot told me about cost money).  So, I stood in the manual immigration line while I also worked on entering in all my information digitally.  Once I had an entry code, I left the line and went over to the kiosk and it would not let me in… and nobody was nearby to assist.  Ugh.  I’m not sure why it wasn’t working.  I talked to a line minder guy and he said I had to go back to the manual line.  And of course I lost my place.

Tick Tock.

Oh, and there is no Global Entry line anywhere.  Ugh.

I finally got through Immigration, met my escort and headed to baggage claim.  Luckily, my bags were there.  We picked them up and then powerwalked out to the cab line.  It was all prearranged, so I didn’t have to pay the cabbie anything.

By now it was like 1:09am and I had to be at the gate by 1:30am.  Yikes!

When I got to the domestic terminal, a different escort was waiting there.  He already had my boarding passes, we just needed to get the bags checked.  I reminded him that I already prepaid for extra weight.

He had me just sit in a chair while he got that done but then he needed me.  I guess they were saying that I hadn’t prepaid.  OMG. So we had to go way far away to the cashier, show proof, and get a voucher.  Luckily I had a printout of my ticket with the prepaid baggage so they didn’t charge me anything.  Then, we had to go back to the checkin counter, ensure that the bags got checked in and that I got my passport back.

Whew, the escort said goodbye and I started walking.  I remembered it was far, but it said like 13-15 minutes to the gate.  Gah. I was trudging, dragging my heavy suitcase (with all my underwater photography equipment) and backpack.  I made it through security and my gate was the first one on the right.  The boarding agent was calling my name, but I did make it in time and there was space in the overhead for my luggage.  Whew.

Once I was on the flight, we just sat on the plane.  For a long time.  We weren’t moving at all.  The flight attendants kept making announcements, but even the English version I couldn’t understand.  Eventually, they told us to get off the plane.  We were switching aircrafts.  But of course, instead of just going from the old one to the new one, we had to go back to the original gate.

So, this heavy rollerbag full of my camera equipment.  I forget how much it weighs.  I think around 35 lbs.  In the states, we just glide down a ramp to board a plane.  But in Indonesia, there are stairs to the tarmac.  Yes, stairs.  So, normally I just have to carry all my stuff down the stairs, ride a bus and then back up the stairs to the plane.  Today at 2:30am (after two International flights) I had to do it three more times and I needed to use the bathroom in the terminal which was another trip down/upstairs.  It was a lot, but I guess I got my exercise in.  My knees were definitely feeling it.

At least the airline fed us some snacks and water because of the delay.

Given this two hour delay, I was worried that I wasn’t going to make my connecting flight to Alor, so I talked to the gate agent.  She let me know that there were like 13 of us connecting, so they would be holding the flight for us.  That made me feel good.

Liming

 I woke up too early, but that’s the story of my life.  I reserved a cab via Curb for later this morning since the fare didn’t seem too high.  Although my flight is international (ANA), I check in with United in Terminal 1 and fly out of there.  Check in doesn’t even open until three hours before the flight which is 7:30am.  So I am sitting here drinking coffee at my place contemplating my trip.

I have an aspiration of liming.  I learned about this from a book I read: An Embarrassment of Mangoes: A Caribbean Interlude (p. 165) by Ann Vanderhoof.

Trinis have perfected the art of “liming”—spending time relaxing, laughing, talking, drinking, enjoying music, taking it easy. A lime is any informal gathering for the purpose of having fun. Call it hanging out, or call it a party. “The perfect start to a great lime,” says the advertising for Veni Mangé. “Bona fide fishermen only. No liming here,” reads a sign on the fishing cooperative on the road outside Port of Spain. The etymology of the word is hazy. According to one account, it was coined during World War II, when the nightclubs and dance halls of Port of Spain were frequented by foreign servicemen. The Americans appeared to have endless amounts of money to spend, but the less-well-off British were often forced to listen to the music from outside, watching the Americans inside dance with all the girls. Local schoolboys, who also used to stand outside listening, coined the verb “to lime”—meaning to stand outside a dance hall or party as the “Limeys” were doing. 

According to another story that dates to the same time, the sour taste of limes is behind the term: If you weren’t invited to a party, you would go to the house where it was being held anyway, but just stand outside and feel sour. This was called “sucking lime.” Other friends might join you, and you’d all stand around outside talking. This was called “bussin’ a lime”—which became shortened to “liming.” 

Someone dinghies by, sees us in Receta’s cockpit, detours over, and spends the next half hour hanging on to our stern ladder and chatting. I used to call this wasting time. Now it’s “liming,” an acceptable—even required—part of our day. I’ve learned I don’t have to be frantically, productively busy every waking minute as I once was. I’ve taken to liming with a vengeance.

Of course, for me this is aspirational.  On these trips I usually am working on my photos on my laptop.  After four dives each day, I download, review, edit and categorize my shots which is no small feat.  Then I keep a running list of the distinct nudibranch species seen and post them to the blog.  It’s a lot.

I am looking forward to reading.  I downloaded several books to my Kindle.  I also get excited to watch all the “new” movies.  But usually 10 minutes into a flight movie, I fall asleep.  Which is just fine.  It looks like I have window seats for my whole trip.

Strive for Five

I am gearing up for my fifth trip to Alami Alor.  It has been a crazy couple of months, but I am ready to dive and reflect.  I fly on Thursday and have the tight two hour connection in Jakarta from International to Domestic.  I set up an escort again to assist with the transfer.  Here's to hoping it goes well!

I mapped this out on google earth here.

Thursday 11/20/2025

10:30am United Airlines Flight 7938 Chicago (ORD) to Narita (NRT) departs

Friday 11/21/2025

3:00pm United Airlines Flight 7938 Chicago (ORD) to Narita (NRT) arrives

5:45pm United Airlines Flight 7915 Narita (NRT) to Jakarta (CGK) departs

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

Saturday 11/22/2025

2:00am Batik Air Flight ID 6540 from Jakarta (CGK) to Kupang (KOE) leaves

6:10am Batik Air Flight ID 6540 from Jakarta (CGK) to Kupang (KOE) arrives

8:30am Wings Air Flight IW 1943 from Kupang (KOE) to Alor (ARD) leaves

9:25am Wings Air Flight IW 1943 from Kupang (KOE) to Alor (ARD) arrives

I'm sure I will sleep the day away.

The Pellets will be joining me later in the trip.  There wasn't room at the resort for their whole vacation.

I am so excited for nudi photography but also for just jumping off their jetty and hanging out at their house reef.  It is so great there... and it feels like home.

Art: Mechanical Bull Nudibranch Ride

 I thought this was really creative!  A nudibranch to ride like a mechanical bull.

https://cannonballarts.com/exhibit/toxic-beauty-okenia-rosacea-nudibranch/

It's a Wrap!

I woke up early and I am so ready to just sit still on a plane and sleep (or read).  I feel like I am full of nitrogen, my gills are wet and I can’t wait to get home to my own place.

The flights home were pretty easy.  The hardest part was getting to Manila in the private van.

I shared a ride with Rainer to the airport so he was my first interviewee for the Slugger Trading Cards.

Here are my end of Anilao trip stats (the ones last night were for the overall group).

Species found: 169

Trending Graph

I still need to do the analysis to see how many are new to me.

In Anilao I did 40 dives bringing me up to a total number of lifetime dives of 2,460.  Until next time...