Diving at Padang Bai

By admin on June 25, 2012 in Uncategorized

Cuttlefish Swimming

Today was my best day diving so far! It is amazing to me how ever dive here just gets better and better! Today we went to an area called Padang Bali which is about half way between Sanur and Tulamben on the east coast of the island. The first dive started out a little rough with a pretty strong current. After the current passed the dive was incredible!!! It was almost like the reef became even more alive after the rough waters. I saw my first cuttlefish!! This little guy was about a foot long and looked like an alien. I was so intrigued by him that I spent about 10 minutes hoovering over him and just watching as he shifted colors. Cuttlefish are part of the Chephalopoda family just like octopuses and squid. They are usually from 15-25 cm long and can be up to 50 cm. They live mostly in shallower waters but can go to depths of up to 600 m. The coolest thing about cuttlefish is their ability to camouflage! As they swim across the reef their skin changes to match their surrounding. It is amazing how quickly and drastically they change. Cuttlefish are also some of the most intelligent invertebrates. When I was watching the fist cuttlefish we saw he was definitely watching me back! You know when you get that feeling and know someone is looking at you? We were making eye contact and I could just tell that he was thinking about me, it was awesome! On our next dive we saw 2 more cuttlefish, a turtle (also a first for me!), a cow fish and a lot more cool nudibranchs. This day was perfect