Namponda Corner

We had barely left the surface before a school of about 50 Blackfin barracudas swam closely by. Once we had recovered from that we discovered that we had landed in the middle of a colony of Aurora shrimpgobies (Amblyeleotris aurora). For every squaremeter two or three gobies could be seen each guarding its own shrimp. In return the shrimp was very busy cleaning their joint dwelling for sand and coral rubble.

Small enclaves in the colony were occupied by Garden eels, though these were so shy that I couldn’t see much more than the heads sticking out.

Martin had prepared us for the fact that not all fishes in this area behave in accordance with what the books say. One of the species he hoped to be able to show us was the Yellowmargin triggerfish (Pseudobalistes flavomarginatus).

Namponda Corner is a flat site filled with rubble but interrupted by rocks and coral formations of various shapes and sizes acting as magnets on most lifeforms in the area.

The current gently took us past small bommies with morays, Moorish idols, bannerfish, snappers, damsels, and a huge variety of butterflyfish. We even had a tuna and a hawksbill check us out.

Twice we encountered a huge school of jackfish that – according to Martin – contained five different species. I never did learn to tell the difference.

A large boulder on the bottom functioned as a cleaning station, and here we had the privilege of watching a large Potato grouper (Epinephelus tukula) getting the full treatment by a couple of Cleaner wrasse.