Greetings from Ambon

Internet access at the Maluku Divers Resort in Ambon is now live!

Bandwidth is limited though, so I'll keep my updates short and sweet.

The Night Safari was a huge success, with all sorts of critters coming out after dark to play. In fact, I'm so infatuated with diving after dark now that I'm taking the days off and saving the bulk of my bottom time for the night shift.

One of the highlights of my recent nocturnal forays was an extended encounter with the largest(!) moray eel I've ever come across:


Gigantic moray eel in Ambon

I think it's a honeycomb moray (Gymnothorax favagineus).

If you have kids (or you have childish tendencies like me), you might note the uncanny resemblance to Barney the dinosaur, except for the colour of course. (For the uninitiated, Barney is a talking purple dinosaur. Really.)

I felt compelled to name this eel Barney, because well…an animal that's as thick as a sumo wrestler's thigh and looks like a cuddly T. rex deserves a proper name.

If you visit Ambon and want to pay respects to Barney, he (I don't actually know if it's a he or a she) makes nightly appearances at the Laha 1 dive site.