The Twilight Zone

Apparently it was the American dive explorers Bert Jones & Maurine Shimlock who first gave the Twilight Zone it's name back in 1995 and if ever a location was well named, this is one....

The site was actually discovered the year previously by Monique Walker from Germany, who had arrived in Ambon a few days early for a dive charter on the liveaboard Cehili. Monique decided to kill some time while the boat was waiting for the rest of it's passengers to arrive by diving the "aviation jetty" near the village of Laha.

Monique was joined later that afternoon by Deb Fugitt, whose dive charters on the SMY Ondina first introduced me to diving in Irian Jaya and the Mollucas.

Deb subsequently published this short article on the still to be named site.

Laha is located roughly half way up the northern shore of the bay that forms Ambon's natural harbor, and the aviation jetty gets it's name because it is where the jet fuel for the nearby airport is brought in by tanker and unloaded. My first exposure to the Twilight Zone was in Becca Saunders' book about Ambon, which she wrote in 1998 after an extended stay on the island, and Becca described it as “one hundred metres of sloping sandy shoreline with a jewel encrusted jetty as the epicentre and populated with exotic, rare and downright weird marine creatures”.

It was September 2006 before I got the chance to experience the Twilight Zone for myself, when we entered Ambon’s harbour aboard the SMY Ondina – a pinisi style schooner built and managed by Spanish adventurer Ricard Buxo.

We had boarded Ondina a week earlier in Maumere, Flores and then dived various locations in the Lesser Sunda Islands before heading north-east to the Banda Sea and the fabled Banda Islands.

But after pounding through big seas for nearly two days we realized that there was really no choice but to forget the Bandas and head north to the safety of Ambon's harbor. It took another day and a half before we entered the huge bay that separates the northern & southern parts of Ambon, and forms the superb natural harbor.

The sense of relief on the boat was palpable, but the human spirit being what it is and divers being what they are, once safe again everybody’s natural enthusiasm for the ocean returned and thoughts turned to diving again.

There are several dive locations in the bay, but we went for the Twilight Zone and dived it repeatedly over the next few days and I was quite amazed by the sheer diversity of marine life to be found there – Becca was right!

I went back to the Banda Sea again in April 2007, but this time starting from Ambon. I also went back on the same boat as I figured we had weathered some of the worst that the Banda Sea could throw at us – so why risk another boat when Ondina had already proven itself.

Our first dive and the last three dives of the trip were at the Twilight Zone, then I stayed over in Ambon with Maluku Divers and dived the area again, but this time with one of their guides who showed me many things I had missed completely on my previous dives.

Bob Halstead, the godfather of muck diving, once defined it as diving that takes place at any site which does not have beautiful underwater scenery. Well, the Twilight Zone is not a pretty site underwater and certainly meets Bob’s criteria. For an underwater photographer, muck diving typically means a site that contains lots of unusual & photogenic critters and the Twilight Zone absolutely meets that criteria - I have never seen such a diversity of critters in one relatively small location!

When not hosting fuel tankers the aviation jetty is home to a small fleet of fishing boats that ply the rich waters around Ambon and ship their catch to Bali.

It is the organic & inorganic waste from the fishing boats together with the fresh water run-off from the stream that empties into the bay nearby, the sheltered nature of the site and the currents & cold water upwelling’s that combine to create the conditions that nourish this incredible ecosystem.

Let me be specific about the waste from the fishing boats….the inorganic waste consists of everything from car tyres to filing cabinet draws that have been discarded over the years and has created a sort of underwater junkyard that is now the home of a diverse assortment of critters.

The bulk of the organic waste comes from the fish carcasses that are simply thrown over the side after the fish have been cleaned & filleted for shipment to Bali.  When this happens the “bottom feeding” inhabitants of the zone emerge and descend on the fish carcasses.

The first time I was in the water during one of these feeding frenzies I was about 15m away from the actual action and blissfully unaware of what was going on until the visibility suddenly decreased rapidly in what appeared to be an underwater sandstorm.

I went to investigate and found a huge swarm of catfish devouring the remaining flesh on the fish carcasses - their action so intense that they threw up the surrounding black volcanic sand into the sandstorm which drifted down into the depths. Darting in and out of the catfish swarm were a number of moray eels, risking a daylight foray to make sure they got their share of this sudden bounty from above!

There are literally dozens of moray eels in the junkyard underneath the fishing boats, every opening in the junk seems to be occupied by at least one moray – but often two or three will be co-habiting.

Morays are typically nocturnal and on one late afternoon dive I settled quietly in front of the main junkyard area and waited patiently to see what happened. Over about 15 minutes one head after another popped out of the junk until in the fading light I was able to count over 20 different eels contemplating their night time activities - quite a sight!

There are usually five or six fishing boats tied up side by side at the aviation jetty which creates a canopy over the main area and induces the feeling of continuous twilight you experience when diving there during the day. Most of the boats are running their generators and so there is the constant rumble of diesel engines above you adding to the overall eeriness of the sight!

Underneath the aviation jetty there is a large shoal of silversides that seems to continuously migrate their way between the columns and then out underneath the fishing boats in a brilliant flowing stream. Diving the jetty around noon on a sunny day means that it’s time to swap the macro lens for wide-angle, and we are talking fish-eye wide.

The overhead sun means that its rays shine through the gaps between the boats and the jetty, creating intense columns of light and dappled patterns on the volcanic sand.

The silversides seem to get particularly active at this time and it really is a sight to behold as you sit in the shadows, the diesel engines throbbing above your head, as they stream through the columns & out underneath the fishing boats and back again.

At night the sight transforms again as the fish & critters active during the daytime settle down for the night in their hiding hole and the nocturnal predators emerge. Extra care needs to be taken at night as there are so many potentially stinging & poisonous things to kneel on such as stonefish, a profusion of scorpion fish including many of the Ambon variety, lots of urchins around the junkyard area and of course the morays which may be out foraging!

There is a second pier just on the small headland that sticks out into the bay and affords the protection to the Twilight zone. This is also well worth investigating but the absence of the junkyard and it’s closer proximity to the strong currents of the bay seem to make it a less “target rich” environment to the aviation pier.

Around the headland is the site referred to as Laha 2 and the sloping sands here are well worth investigating, although care needs to be taken with the fairly strong currents in this area.

Ricard Buxo told me he had seen two of the much sought after Rhinopias in the shallow sea grass area at Laha 2, but when I dived there initially I could not find them – lots of other interesting stuff, but no Rhinopias!.

However when I subsequently returned with Maluku Divers my guide took me down to 32m where he introduced me to a beautiful purple Rhinopias and then shortly after a stunning red one at 28m!

Heading slightly further west there is a third jetty which I did not actually dive under but the whole area is referred to as Laha 3 and the one dive I did there was very enjoyable. But I have to say that the Twilight Zone is my absolute favorite muck dive sight in Ambon – it is just the best!

Twilight Zone Image Gallery

Download SportDiving Twilight Zone Article - 1MB

Download Diver Twilight Zone Article - 1MB