Dive 18 of second Komodo National Park trip: “Padar Kecil” (2019-1-23)

Dive site notes: This site was centered around a small wrecked fishing boat. 25ºC, 5-10 m viz, weak current. Descended onto pile of fungids. Got good pictures and even a video to show how abundant they were. Located at 2-4 m. Hundreds upon hundreds of mushroom corals. Mostly soft corals elsewhere at 5 m. Flying gurnard (second of trip/life). Stylophora pistillata common. Sand @ 14 m (with garden eels). Small coral bommies at 15 m but mostly sand. Cool, CCA-coated scorpionfish. Larval nudibranchs growing on soft coral. Plerogyra, Pachyseris, never-before-seen ascidian (colonial), first pipefish of trip, Pocillopora acuta (PA). Beautiful mantis shrimp (got good pics). Shipwreck was biofouled with urn tunicates and barnacles (few coral recruits). Also featured tunicates and damselfish nests. Some PA recruits on wreck. Awesome red fluorescent frogfish on wreck (coolest seen on trip so far); saw another beautiful yellow frogfish later on in the dive (away from wreck). Galaxea, cuttlefish, Euphyllia, some branching acroporids in shallows, nearly all soft coral from 5 to 10 m, blanketing the benthos. Fungia only hard coral common above 5 m, though some Acropora spp. tables also present.