Michael McFadyen's Scuba Diving Web Site
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My Yachting Adventures
Below is a list of links to the main pages about my yacht, Catlypso and My Yachting Adventures:
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  • My Yachting Adventures.
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    Michael's 4WD Trips
    Click here for a list of my Four Wheel Drive and Camping Trips.
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    Click here for an article about Home Brewing.
    Sydney Dive Site Hints
    "The Monuments is a great place to find sea dragons"
    Tikno Reef, Indonesia
    Michael McFadyen's Scuba Diving - Tikno Reef, Indonesia

    In September 2012 Kelly and I did a week long liveaboard dive trip in Indonesia which went from Bali to Komodo and back. We went on the MV Mermaid II. Click here to read about the boat. This is one of the dive sites we did on the trip. The trip heads north-east from Benoa Harbour on Bali out north of Lombok and then north of the other islands to Komodo Island and then down the eastern side of Komodo to the southernmost point of Komodo. For all dives on this trip we used 31% Nitrox, so bear this in mind when considering the bottom times we did.

    Sangeang Island (Pulau Sangeang) is located off the north-eastern corner of Sumbawa Island. It is home to an active volcano called Sangeang Api. The volcano is the almost perfect conical shape, and as such, the island is circular. It is almost uninhabited, about 15 kilometres in diameter and 1,949 metres high. It last erupted in 1989. This site is off the north-western side of the island. An approximate GPS mark for the dive spot is 8Âș 8' 32.5"S 119Âș 1' 39.4"E (using WGS84 as the datum). The site is towards the shore from the GPS mark.

    Satellite PhotoPhoto of site
    A satellite photo from Google Earth that shows the location of the dive site
    GPS is where the arrow is
    A photo of the site

    The actual site is located off a black sand/rocky beach. The site consists of a sloping black sand bottom with some small coral bommies. The depth starts at 10 metres and drops gradually to 30 metres and then there is a shear drop to perhaps 40 or more metres.

    Dive Site Map
    A map of the dive site - north is at the bottom left corner of the map
    Used courtesy of Mermaid Cruises

    As with virtually all dive sites that you do when on MV Mermaid II, you use the RIB (rigid inflatable boat) to get to the start of the dive (and also to get back to the boat). The RIB will drop you in about 8 metres on the sand at the southern end of the site.

    As soon as we are on the bottom we descend gradually down the slope (north-west) till we reach about 31 metres, just above the drop-off. The bommies have lots of gorgonias and barrel sponges. The drop-off appears to be a sand wall, not a coral reef. Once at the drop-off, we head towards the south and following the drop-off we gradually start an ascent towards the shallows as the edge turns to the south and the shore.

    Tikno ReefBarrel sponge
    Tikno Reef A very large barrel sponge
    GorgoniaLeaf fish
    Kelly and a large gorgonia A leaf fish

    There is a lot of black coral at this site (black coral is, despite the name, white when alive) and mostly located on the sand off the wall. There are some gorgonias and soft corals as well as hard corals. There are lots of sea whips, most of which have gobies living on them.

    We see a few orangutan crabs (in anemones) and hawkfish in among the gorgonias. After about 50 minutes we are in the shallows and there are lots of anemones and clownfish. We also find a leaf fish in the shallows.

    As on all these dives, there are numerous species of nudibranchs. We also see mantis shrimps, a ornate ghost pipefish and firefish.

    FirefishCarlsons halgerda
    FirefishCarlsons halgerda
    Crested nembrothaBriareum phyllodesmium
    Crested nembrothaBriareum phyllodesmium

    This was another great first site with visibility of 25 metres. The water temperature was about 27ÂșC.

    Click here to return to the list of sites we did on our MV Mermaid II trip.

    Copyright © Michael McFadyen 1990 to 2024
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    This web site has been wholly thought up, designed, constructed and funded for almost 30 years by Michael McFadyen without any help from the Australian Dive Industry.
    Website created 1996!