Today’s pic is a bigass barrel sponge, taken in the Banda Sea of Indonesia.
Sponges are cool things – they grow big (this one was at least four feet tall), and fast, and are host to several little reef critters, including hairy squat lobsters (I’ll share one of those tomorrow). It is not unusual to look down the barrel and see a fish lurking – common squatters are coral trout and lionfish.
The diver in the shot is Ali – an Indonesian dive guide famous for his great giggle, and his eagle-eyed prowess at finding really cool stuff. We first met Ali when he was a dive guide on the (now defunct) Archipelago Adventurer II. He has moved over to the Arenui, and continues to be a great spotter.
About Judy G Diver
Born and raised on the west coast of Canada, I have always felt a strong connection to the sea. But for many years, I stayed on the surface, afraid of what lurked down deep. When I was in my early 30's, with three young children (aka the P's), my husband (aka Mr G) signed us up for a SCUBA certification course, as a surprise. Although I had my fears, my stubbornness prevailed, and somehow I made it through four murky, frigid, cold water dives in Vancouver to successfully pass the course. Soon after we went diving off the west coast of Mexico, in the Sea of Cortez, where my eyes were opened to the beauty and other-worldliness of the life down under.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
I currently have well over 2000 dives under the belt, and I have been fortunate to travel and dive in Indonesia, Thailand, Australia, Fiji, Palau, Philippines, Galapagos, Costa Rica, Hawaii, California, Egypt, Mexico, several islands in the Caribbean, and here in British Columbia.
In addition to this blog and my personal website (Awoosh.com/Directory), which is linked at the top of the blog, my stuff has been published in a variety of magazines and websites, including a regular monthly feature for Scubadiving Magazine for several years. All links to this work can be found in this blog.
