Komodo National Park dive #16: “Three Sisters.” This was one of the few “duds” of the trip, though I think it had to do more with the strange, ripping currents than the fact that the site was not beautiful.

Dive site notes: 7:30-8:20 (50 min). Max. depth=29.6 m. 25.6ºC. 30% oxygen. Probably my least favorite dive of the trip on account of an annoying, incessant, washing machine-like current. 10-m viz. Pocillopora verrucosa (PV), Pachyseris, Seriatopora caliendrum, Acropora spp. all common. Saw first giant trevally of trip (much more common in Raja Ampat). Very dark at 24 m on account of doing dive early in morning (7:30). Purple, fleshy sponge common at depth. High biomass of small reef fish. Mostly sponges and foliaceous sheets of hard coral at depth. Very high sediment load (low viz). Soft corals and sponges common at 20 m. Small, yellow, Raja Ampat-like sea cucumber over-growing everything. Stylophora pistillata, pygmy seahorse, PV, small poritids, fluorescent orange soft coral, and giant Isopora colonies in shallows. Mix of hard and soft corals+sponges @ 10 m. Large morays (green), high Acropora cover and diversity in shallows (5-8 m) though difficult to photograph on account of currents. Despite the washing machine, I was able to get some good pictures of the top of one of the pinnacles.