BOB HALSTEAD’S LOG FROM TELITA
We are having the best diving ever, with excellent weather and visibility. We took advantage of the calm seas to dive east of Sanaroa and out to Egum Atoll. Some new sites were explored and it was obvious that they had never been dived. Gray reef sharks were buzzing around the boat before we even got into the water. It reminded me of the early dives Dinah and I made exploring Milne Bay. We found beautiful coral reefs in excellent condition. One of the reefs had a wall of huge sea fans that were horizontal, presumably because most of the year large swells would cause vertical water movement up and down the wall. There are definite advantages to diving Milne Bay between January and March although many people have the idea that it is not a good time to travel -- that may be true for some parts of PNG, but not Milne Bay. I love the warm water and calm seas, and intend to run at least one Marine Life Seminar (Poke the Sea) every year at this time.
Our favourite dive sites have been good to us with sightings of the flamboyant cuttlefish and the striped octopus. 
We also had a mass of sargassum floating around the bay for a couple of months which hides a multitude of fascinating creatures besides the well-known sargassum frogfish. These include two species of nudibranch, shrimp, crabs, file fish and juveniles of many different fishes including wonderfully elegant batfish. We have not missed out on big critter sightings either with some lovely close hammerhead encounters including one lucky group with a great hammerhead.
If you have not dived Telita since our refit in 1994 you will be very pleasantly surprised. Our watermaker is producing copious supplies for unlimited showers, and the sunshade enables complete enjoyment of the top deck. I hope you will join us soon.
Bob Halstead
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