Tanjung Paudean

The slope starts shallow, at around 5 m, and falls away over black volcanic sand to about 25 m. There is no reef to follow, so the dive is run as a sweep along the contour, and the middle of the slope between 12 and 18 m is where the scattered coral heads and shell debris sit. Those patches are the ones worth working slowly, because they are the only cover on an otherwise open bottom.

Octopus are the reason to be here. Blue-ringed, coconut and mimic octopus are all on the list for this slope, which is an unusual concentration even by Lembeh standards, and the mimic octopus territories are down deeper, between 20 and 25 m. Coconut octopus in particular mean checking the shell debris rather than only open sand, while hairy frogfish sit in the algae and rubble and snake eels and mantis shrimps hold burrows in the flat sections.

Nothing here is found at speed. On a bare slope the whole dive is a matter of scanning the bottom close in and holding position off it without stirring up the sand, and the shallow top of the slope makes an easy place to finish while the guide works the last few square metres.