Tulamben Diving (page 2)

None of these fellows shamelessly coddled up to divers to beg for food or out of curiosity, but kep a healthy distance from the human visitors. Moorish idols here shared the same trait; none was as bold as the similarly marked longfin bannerfish. Groupers prowled around on every dive, including red-mouth groupers and white-lined groupers, although the real stars were the aptly named peacock grouper, and its even more colorful relatives: the coral grouper, the flagtail grouper, and the black-tipped grouper. The largest groupers we saw were the blotchy grouper, and the saddleback grouper, sometimes called the giant coral trout.

Sea Fans and Sponges
The encrusted wreck is mostly a community of opportunists: soft corals, sponges, gorgonians, hydroids, bryozoans, tunicates, bivalves and crinoids. It is still much too soon for a really large accumulation of hard corals. In less than 30 years, however, great sections of the wreck's iron hull have been smothered in a bright encrustation of life. Great sea fans, gorgonians up to 2 meters across, jut from the bow section. Several large trees of black coral (Antipathes sp.) grow here safe from the jeweler. Sponges, tunicates and hydroids crowd each other for a holdfast. In places, there are great aggregations of thorny oysters, their bright "lips" visible through parted shells. Crinoids cling to every stable growth-a sponge, a gorgonian-and unfurl their arms to the current. In one of the the shallower spots, a growth of hard plate coral has already reached over 3 meters.
The many "cleaner stations" around the wreck offer a great show. Fish line up to be cleaned by one of the small cleaner wrasses (Labroides). We saw both bluestreak and bicolor cleaner wrasses at work here. Some divers have actually succeeded in having the fish pick bits of food out from between their teeth-although this requires holding one's breath from a minute or so.

Night Dive on the Wreck
Daytime dives are extraordinary on the wreck, but a night dive, especially around full moon, will be among the most memorable dives you will make.
As we walked along the beach to the entry point, three local fishing outriggers sailed silently by in the moonlight. We waded out, took our bearings, and headed toward the wreck. As we approached the ship, we extinguished our lights. The large hulk loomed above us, a massive ghostly presence with the bright moon a distant pinpoint of light. We kept our lights off for a bit. Each fin-stroke stirred up a twinkling trail of bioluminescence. Peering into the dark hold of the wreck, we saw a magical lights. These were the curious flashlight fishes  (Anomalops), each possessed of
a bioluminescent organ beneath its eye.
Many sections of the wreck provide the overhangs preferred by the large, bright orange polyps of Tubastraea and Dendrophyllia. These corals are best appreciated at night. At night one can also see crinoids crawling about in search of a new holdfast, or perhaps even swimming, their feathery legs opening and closing in the manner of a octopus. Sometimes when we trained our lights on the wreck, hundreds of red shrimp eyes stared back.Here again, however, the fish are the real stars of the show. We saw a couple of unconcerned common lionfish, and a stunning spotfin lionfish. A large red parrotfish slept, secure in its mucous cocoon, under a shallow overhang. We approached a big map puffer, and several groggy unicornfish.

The most interesting fish we came upon was an absolutely huge barred filefish (Cantherhines dumerili). I spotted the big fella at least 10 meters above me, sleeping under a large lacy plate of coral growing horizontally from the wreck.
My computer screamed its warning just as I Made for this animal, but 1 paid it no heed. My subject was sleeping in a tilted position. After a few shots, I pushed him a bit to correct his posture. He didn't particularly appreciate this, but obliged me anyway. I moved him into the open water. A few more shots, and he had had enough, charging straight for me. We photographers really are a pain.

A Popular Site
Tulamben is probably the most popular dive spot in Indonesia (and justifiably so), and during the daily rush, from about 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., an average of three or four groups of about a dozen divers each visit the wreck. lie ship is big, however, and most of the groups just zip by. But serious divers seldom appreciate crowds, and novice divers, not having mastered buoyancy control, have the unfortunate habit of thrashing up clouds of sand with their fins. Some of our best dives on Tulamben were in the early morning and late afternoon, before and after the crowds. The only way to do this is to overnight in Tulamben. Staying overnight also takes a lot of the logistical headaches out of night dives, but be sure to stash a towel on the beach. The 10-minute walk back can be chilly. For day trippers, there's a shower at the toilet block on the beach, next to the dive site, but sometimes there is no water, and there can be long lines.

The Tulamben Wall
Should you want to take a break from wreck diving, there is a good coral wall beginning just off the eastern end of the beach. The rocky knoll southeast of town plunges straight down into the sea, and coral grows along its face. Be careful who you dive with-or what group you follow-as the fine gray sediment here is easily stirred up. Just as we began heading down over sloping grey sand, a good sized barracuda cruised by-but that
only big fish we saw during the dive. We soon found our wall: it has a nice overhang around the 18 meter mark, and drops to a sand bottom at just over 60  meters. We explored only to the 30 meter mark, following the ridge to its furthest extension
This wall does not host huge numbers of fish, but like the wreck has a tremendous variety.

At one point along the dive, Wally stopped at a shrimp cleaning station, manned by the candy-striped cleaner shrimp Lysmata amboinensis. Taking out his regulator and opening his mouth, he soon had two of the fellows working on the remains of his lunch. Others were eager for leftovers, but there limits to Wally's breath-holding capabilities. Large barrel sponges sprouted from the slope, and sponges in general were abundant here-tube sponges, vase sponges, and encrusting sponges. Once we left  the wall, the coral grew only in small knolls.

The final part of the dive was a short glide over black sand. This environment, though it at first appears featureless, is home  to many interesting animals, including skeleton shrimp, ornate ghost pipefish, and juvenile scorpionfish. If you have air left, take a close look. The Tulamben Wall is known for rare species, including the cornet (Calloplesiops altivelis), a beautiful fish with elaborate finnage and a false eye-spot. The posture and coloration comet mimics the spotted moray eel (Gymnothorax meleagris) For the keen-eyed observer, new species are waiting hereto be discovered. A few years ago science added a new fairy basslet to its list, Pseudoanthias bimaculeatus, first discovered here.

Tulamben Wreck

Bottom formation  2
Visibility                 1.5
Coral variety         1.5
Fish variety           2
Special                   1
Total:                      8

AT A GLANCE
Tulamben

Reeftype:   Liberty wreck; wall
Access:     Beach; ship is 30 meters offshore
Visibility:   Fair to good, 12-15 meters
Current:     None or moderate, 1 knot
Coral:         Good growth of encrusting animals on wreck;
                    fine coral on wall
Fish:           Superb variety, excellent numbers
Highlights: Full moon night dive on wreck
Other:         Fish on wreck are regularly fed and quite
                    tame;during midday, wreck can be crowded


Tulamben Wall

Bottom formation  2
Visibility               1.5
Coral variety         1.5
Fish variety          1
Special                1
Total:                   7

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