Teluk Kambahu

The site is the bay itself, in front of the village of Teluk Kambahu, and the dark sandy bottom slopes gently down to about 25 m. Rubble is the thing to work here rather than open bottom: the search runs in and around sunken pieces of wood and old netting on the bay floor, which give small fish somewhere to sit, and it is covered slowly along the shallow half before the sand takes over lower down.

The marine life list is wide for a single bay. Mandarinfish hold in the rubble, Banggai cardinalfish hang over it in loose groups, leaf scorpionfish sit against it well camouflaged, and giant and painted frogfish, sea moths and flying gurnards are all recorded on the same ground. Nudibranchs turn up in numbers and in a lot of different varieties, spread across the whole of the bay rather than in one spot.

Depth is never the constraint on a dive like this, so the limit is air and patience. Most of the useful ground is shallow enough that a long dive is possible, and the deeper end at 25 m is worth a look only if the guide is following something specific down the slope.