Diving Loloata Photo Gallery

Loloata Island Resort is 20km southeast off the coast of Port Moresby in Bootless Bay. Loloata, meaning "one-hill island", is one of four islands in Bootless Bay, the others being Mutopore, Manunouha, and Bunamotu.

Moths

Wallaby <species TBS>

The Victoria crowned pigeon, Goura victoria, is one of four large crowned pigeons endemic to New Guinea.

The Yellow-lipped (banded) sea krait, Laticauda colubrina, comes up on land to rest, digest, and reproduce. They are quite venomous but are not aggressive.

At the time the resort had only 16 rooms plus a conference center.

Most of the dive sites were bommies that form part of a very large chain of reefs, Horseshoe Reef, across the entrance to Bootless Bay. There were also several wrecks. The afternoon dive was usually a "muck" dive.

Reef scenes:

Fish:

Pipefish:

broken-bands pipefish, Corythoichthys sp.

network pipefish, Corythoichthys flavofasciatus

ornate ghost pipefish, Solenostomus paradoxus

Eels:

marbled snake eel, Callechelys marmorata

Crocodilefish:

horned flathead, Thysanophrys carbunculus

Scorpionfish, stonefish and lionfish:

weedy scorpionfish, Rhinopias frondosa

lacy scorpionfish, Rhinopias aphanes

leaf scorpionfish, Taenianotus triacanthus

devil scorpionfish, Scorpaenopsis diabolus

reef stonefish, Synanceia verrucosa

spotfin lionfish, Pterois antennata

common lionfish, Pterois volitans

Sweetlips:

many-spotted (harlequin) sweetlips, Plectorhinchus chaetodonoides

goldstriped (goldlined) sweetlips, Plectorhinchus chrysotaenia

diagonal-banded (lined) sweetlips, Plectorhinchus lineatus

Flounders:

leopard flounder, Bothus pantherinus

Puffers:

striped puffer, Arothron manilensis

blackspotted puffer, Arothron nigropunctatus

black-saddled toby, Canthigaster valentini

papuan toby, Canthigaster papua

Sandperch:

latticed sandperch, Parapercis clathrata

Lizardfish:

clearfin lizardfish, Synodus dermatogenys

two-spot lizardfish, Synodus binoeatus

Gobies:

long-ray dwarfgoby, Trimma griffithsi

fire dartfish, Nemateleotris magnifica

yellow shrimpgoby, Cryptocentrus sp.

Blennies:

triplespot blenny, Crossosalarias macrospilus

Hawkfish:

freckled hawkfish, Paracirrhites fosteri

Anemonefish:

pink anemonefish, Amphiprion penderaion

red and black anemonefish, Amphiprion melanopus

spinecheek anemonefish, Premnas biaculeatus

clown anemonefish, Amphiprion percula

saddleback anemonefish, Amphiprion polymnus

Goatfish:

doublebar goatfish, Parupeneus bifasciatus

freckled goatfish, Upeneus tragula

Anthias:

scalefin anthias, Pseudanthias squamipinnis

Butterflyfish:

long-beaked coralfish, Chelmon rostratus

Other fish:

two-spot snapper, Lutjanus biguttatus

reticuled dascyllus, Dascyllus reticulatus

slender grouper, Amyperodon leucogrammicus

Corals:

xenia coral <species TBS>

<species TBS?

leather coral <species TBS>

Tunicates:

Rhopalaea sp.

social tunicates, Clavelina diminuta

Echinoderms:

Sea cucumbers:

blackspotted sea cucumber, Bohadschia graeffei

Dark sea cucumber, Polyplectana nigra

Sea stars:

Mulitpore sea star, Linckia multifora

Warty sea stae, Echinaster callosus

Heffernan's sea star, Celerina heffermani

Granular sea star, Choriaster granulatus

Chocolate chip sea star, Protoreaster nodosus

Crinoids:

Carpenter's feather star, Oligometra carpenteri

Very spiny feather star, Colobometra perspinosa

Bennwtt's feather star, Oxycomanthus bennetti

Brittle stars:

dark red-spined brittle star, Ophiothrix purpurea

Snails:

abalone, Haliotis sp.

tiger cowrie, Cypraea tigris

tiger eye cowrie, Cuspivolva (Crenavolva) tigris

cone <species TBS>

Sea kraits:

Yellow-lipped (banded) sea krait, Laticauda colubrina

Nudibranchs and sea slugs (NOTE: we are not experts on these animals. A lot of the identifications here are tentative; please correct us if you can);

Chromodoris magnifica