Lost Subject Syndrome

It is softly raining in the dark outside.  There is a little bit of thunder rolling in the background.  I am sitting at the dining room table.  Alone.  My hair is in pony tails so I can turn them into braids later.  I am working on my nudi list, drinking the Indonesian coffee with my French vanilla powdered creamer.  I feel good (except for a little hydroid rash on my thumb).  This is my happy place.

Pirjo isn’t feeling well.  She still went on the first dive but had trouble with her ears.  She and Francis finished the dive shallow up by some beautiful corals.  I stayed down with Nikko and found more nudis.  She also skipped the second dive.  I found a new nudi to me.  Goniobranchus sp. 15.

The other boat saw a whale shark at the end of their dive.

On the afternoon dive I found a Goniobranchus collingwoodi and went to snoot it.  As I was setting up, I lost it.  I suffer from Lost Subject Syndrome or LSS.  I have to remember in the future to put a toothpick next to it or leave my light there.  Oh man.

The night dive was out of this world.  Nikko found Tenellia sp. 79 with eggs!

He also found a Favorinus party

I found two red flatworms penis fencing.

And lots of new species.

Fireworks Show

174 - Phyllidiopsis xishaensis

175 - Phyllidia elegans

176 - Nembrotha sp. 1 

I know I already listed a Nembrotha sp.1, but this is a color variation without the light blue tint on it.

177 - Nembrotha cristata

178 - Goniodoridella savignyi

179 - Nembrotha chamberlaini

180 - Goniobranchus sp. 15

This is exciting!  New in life to me!

181 - Phyllidiella sp.

182 - Glossodoris acosti

183 - Goniobranchus collingwoodi

184 - Coryphellina sp.

185 - Kaloplocamus acutus

186 - Lomanotus vermiformis

187 - Sakuraeolis sp. 2

188 - Eubranchus sp. 2

189 - Unidentia sandramillenae

190 - Thordisa villosa

191 - Pleurobranchus weberi

Squid Games

I woke up to breezy thunder, but no rain (yet).

I committed to coming back next year.  But I have a wedding on 12/12 so I will be coming earlier in the season… from 11/14/26 to 12/5/26.

In the morning, we went to Pertamina Jetty.  At Pirjo and my request.  It wasn’t great.  And what we realized later is that we were remembering a different jetty that they don’t dive anymore.  Oh well.  I am still glad we went because I scored a few more new species there.

On the afternoon dive, I went all over the house reef and found the best new nudi right under the dock.  

The night dive was ON FIRE.  We were busy-busy photographing.  And I even shot a couple of squid.

More and more people keep getting sick.  So much so that Alex put out some packets of the local remedy.  Oh man.

Marching On

167 - Mexichromis aurora

168 - Goniobranchus sinensis

169 - Gymnodoris sp. 30

170 - Glossodoris hikuerensis

171 - Dermatobranchus sp. 11

172 - Aegires sp. 3

173 - Dolabella auricularia

Sea Cure Lost and Found

It was super quiet again in the morning.

I snorkeled between the two morning dives.  I don’t see how anybody does that.  It is so annoying.  Especially after SCUBA diving.

On the afternoon dive, I saw the Gymnodoris again and this time you could see what it ate for lunch.

Do you think that is some kind of Phyllidia in there?  Or is that something else?

At the end of the afternoon dive I saw a regulator mouthpiece floating in front of me.  It was my sea cure.  Thank God I saw it and grabbed it.  I don't know what I would have done if I lost it.  The zip tie came a little loose and it fell off.  I think I am going to buy/mold/pack a second sea cure (and many zip ties) for future trips.

The couple from the Netherlands are from Eindhoven.  That is literally the only place I’ve been there… apart from Amsterdam of course.

We had banana ice cream again for dessert.  So good!  I can't wait to make it at home.

While I was reviewing my photos at night, I noticed a crab scurrying along my bedroom floor.  OMG.  I have had geckos, spiders, praying mantis, millipedes in my room but never a crab.  I shooed him out into the bathroom area.  

Quiet Queue

157 - Phyllidiella lizae

158 - Thuridilla gracilis

159 - Ceratosoma sp. 1

160 - Phyllidiella granulata

161 - Phyllidia sp. 3

162 - Thorunna furtiva

163 - Sagaminopteron nigropunctatum

164 - Gymnodoris sp. 3

Marli thinks this one is different from the one I saw previously.

165 - Petalifera sp.

166- Phyllodesmium colemani

Dive #2500

I woke up to an eerie quiet.  It took me a while to figure out that it was because the ocean was so flat today.  Nice.

This morning was my 2500th dive.  Wow.  I am so grateful for each dive that I go on.  There are so many things that can go wrong to cancel a dive.  Some within my control and some not.  I am shocked I have managed to pull it together that many times.

I really worked on my snooting on the first dive.  Here are a few of my favorites:

Coming back from the second dive it was raining cats and dogs again.

One of the guests from the Netherlands was wearing a Minnesota Vikings shirt at lunch!  What?  I guess she is a big fan of this show about them on You Tube.  Who knew?  It is so funny because last week a Canadian guy wearing a Green Bay Packers shirt sat in the same spot.  I shared with her about the Bears and the free hots dogs being given away this week at the Weiners Circle in Chicago.

The night dive at Octopussy Galore was fabulous, helping the counts but it is still pretty slow.

So many people are sick here at the resort.  I guess it is some kind of virus.  I am staying away from them and trying to drink only from my own cup.

Chugging Along

151 - Facelind sp. 2

152 - Phyllidiopsis shireenae

153 - Janolus sp. 8

Pirjo also thinks this might be Janolus tricellariodes.

154 - Dermatobranchus sp. 3

155 - Gymnodoris sp.

156 - Sclerodoris tuberculata

A Private Room

I woke up thinking about my mom in Joplin, Missouri.  She has Alzheimer’s and lives in Memory Care.  She currently has a roommate and we are working to get her a private room.  I wish I could wave a magic wand and make that happen for her.  I am considering spending more time down there in 2026 to give her some relief.

About an hour after I wrote this paragraph, I got a call that she now has her own private room!!  And that this annoying guy who used to bother mom got kicked out of the facility.  We just have to figure out when the move will be happening as my sister Megan will coordinate it.  My family is so ecstatic!!!

We did the jetty again and now there are TWO frogfish near each other.  I tried to get a shot of both, but they were just far enough apart that I couldn’t.

We found a Chromodoris joshi with a split rhinophore.

I got to thinking underwater that it might be tough to cross stitch a Nembrotha sp. 2 because I doubt there is a DMC floss bright enough to capture this bright reddish orange color:

We had some dolphins on the surface interval, but I still didn’t catch them on my Go Pro.

I learned a new word. Slope + Wall = Swall.  Mandarinfish Slope is actually a swall.

On the ride back, the canopy on the boat started falling off.  So we took it off and went topless!

I had a cool afternoon dive where I navigated all the way to the third mooring.  There was a mutilated and dying Phyllidia ocellata.  So sad.

 I also snooted mating Chelidonura varians and could see inside these white balls being exchanged.

I did a surface interval at the pool and there was a drone hovering above!  I later found out that it was one of the guest’s.

I wasn’t tired after dinner for the first time on this trip.  I sat and chatted with Alex and Uri for a bit.

Catalog Continuation

145 - Goniobranchus coi

It almost looks like it has a third rhinophore.

146 - Antonietta sp. 1

147 - Chromodoris strigata

148 - Janolus sp. 1

149 - Godiva sp. 2

150 - Tenellia sp. 79

Two of them mating.