Sure Travel Journey 5.4 Spring 2019 | Page 38

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©ALEX PIKE
STJ 5.4
ADVENTURE
SPECIAL EDITION
SPRING 2019
MAGIC IN THE MUCK
THE LEMBEH STRAIT IN PACIFIC INDONESIA IS WORLD RENOWNED FOR MUCK DIVING. GILLIAN MCLAREN WADED
THROUGH THE MURK TO FIND OUT WHAT ALL THE FUSS IS ABOUT.
Kitted out in my scuba gear, I do a back
roll off the boat to descend below the
surface of the Molucca Sea. The water is
grainy and visibility is low, so I wonder if
we have chosen the wrong spot. It is so
murky that even if there is any life here, I
don’t know how much I will be able to see.
At least I have my torch on hand.
My instructor and dive buddy Adam
is finning very slowly, and I restrain
38 // MAKE MEMORIES FOR LIFE
myself from signalling for him to get a
move on. He points upwards and I make
out something moving above me. My
torchlight illuminates one of the most
fascinating and beautiful creatures I
have ever seen: a fluorescent cuttlefish!
It glows in the gloom and flashes
psychedelic colours, reminiscent of a ’70s
disco. Its multi-hued colouring is thanks
to chromatophores – pigment-filled cells
– that signal a warning to predators that it
is highly toxic. Floating weightlessly, I am
mesmerised.
Adam signals me to follow him, so I
tear myself away from the cuttlefish and
we discover another bioluminescent
organism, a blue-ringed octopus. As Adam
takes a photo of the 12 cm mollusc, the
colour of its rings increase in intensity.
Also powerfully neurotoxic, its venom is