Indonesia - Komodo NP: Pink Beach (Pantai Merah)

Setting

A ripping current dive. We kept getting swept off the main wall part of the reef, but we eventually encountered corals (hard and soft) as we drifted along. 10 m viz. 24-25ºC. We actually had to relocate after 1-2 minutes to find a place with less current. Reef ended at 15-17 m in most places, but extended down to 25-30 m in one particularly lush area. Reef ended in sand so struggled to stay on it. Very calm, 25ºC, 10-m viz.

General benthic features

Seriatopora caliendrum and Stylophora pistillata among most common corals at site (e.g., Image 1, Image 3).

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Eventually started drifting and encountered acres upon acres of soft corals interspersed with seriatoporids and acroporids (e.g., Image 4).

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Finally reached large chunks of hard coral again. Soft coral was prevalent in abundance at all depths. Tubastrea, Pocillopora acuta, Isopora, beautiful, mixed hard+soft coral community at 5-6 m. Some small poritids and large Acropora colonies at 3-4 m. Reached a pier at whose base was a beautiful hard+soft coral garden going down past 10 m. Virtually no corals, just a sandy slope with all manner of cool critters. In 2-4 m, there were some corals, including an impressive Porites bommie and some Acropora. Galaxea, flounder, crab wearing a sponge that was too big for it.

Coral cover

Coral cover: 25% — a blind Claude computer-vision point count of 71 of Anderson's edited photographs (20 points per photo; water, fish, and obstructions excluded). Other computer-vision methods are listed in the method table. The deep wall was very complex with nice, hard coral cover (20-40%, maybe more in areas). Anderson is still comparing computer-vision models, and these figures will be updated as the methods improve.

Stressors

Most were fluorescent green or normal yellow/orange (not as many were bleached, as at the previous site) (e.g., Image 2).

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The few Seriatopora caliendrum seen were sickly looking.

Fish and other fauna

High density and diversity of small reef fish, though only a few large snapper were seen. Cool white crab living in soft coral (totally camouflaged). Sergeant majors by the thousands (e.g., Image 5).

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Saw plenty of upside-down jellyfish, one of which was bouncing down the slope. Saw two beautiful pipefish, one of which was disguised as algae. First remora of trip. Dogtooth tuna. Enormous jellyfish, two species of cuttlefish (one large and one small), and two species of squid (including lone large [30 cm] squid of the trip). Eels (2-3 species), tiny pipefish, large snail, huge crab.

Comparisons with other data

No prior survey data from this site. If you would like to share yours, please email us.

Dive record

2019-1-24 dive 2: Pink Beach (#21). 11:29-12:31 (62 min). Max. depth=25.6 m. Temp.=25.0ºC. 30% oxygen. 2019-1-24 dive 3: Pink Beach-critter section (#22). 15:08-16:09 (61 min). Max. depth=20.1 m. Temp.=25.6ºC. 2019-1-24 dive 4: Pink Beach night dive (#23). 18:57-19:52 (55 min). Max. depth=16.2 m. Temp.=26.1ºC. 30%oxygen.