KOMODO DANCER TRIP REPORT
Dive Crew aan boord:
Cruise Director: Fin Dive Master: Geit Dive Master: Komang
Dag 1: 16ste juli
This trip was special from the outset as we had sixteen Mexican divers on board Ombak Biru for the ten day Komodo National Park itinerary.
We vertrokken Labuan Bajo haven in 13.00 and cruised west slowly to our check dive destination of Sebayor Kecil. We jumped into check weights and equipment but also had fantastic dive. Guests returned saying that they have never seen so many of these fish and coral ever before. The divers found scorpion leaf fish hunting on table corals, a tiger mantis shrimp looking us up and down from the sandy bottom and a juvenile eagle ray gliding about in the blue. On the wall section bumphead parrot fish were seen along with millions of anthias, chromis and damsel fish. Salemat detang Komodo!
Gezien: Eagle ray, scorpion leaf fish, tiger bidsprinkhaankreeft, bumphead papegaaivissen, stekel-cheek anemoon vis, many-spotted snapper.
Dag 2: 17ste juli
Our first full day of diving was in Gili Banta starting with the site K2. Here were we experienced great underwater conditions; warm, good visibility and low currents. On the first dive we introduced our group to many new underwater animals that they had never seen before spotting Sulawesi banded pipefish and hairy squat lobsters and commensal shrimps. The shear amount of different anemones and clown fish is amazing let alone new nudibranchs and mini sea cucumbers for them to work out. The next two dives was at Good Day’s Slope and Star Wars search for pygmy seahorses and more crabs and shrimps hiding away. For the first night dive of our trip we jumped in at Circus and found star gazers, a white v octopus, many crabs and shellfish, flatheads and snake eels. This was a good days introduction to the aquatic life of Indonesia.
Gezien: Sulawesi pipefish, hairy squat lobster, peacock mantis shrimp, naaktslakken (nembrotha, wart slugs), mini sea cucumbers, commensal garnalen, pygmeezeepaardje, inktvis, scholen vis (banners, chirurgen), scorpion leaf fish, stergazers, witte v octopus, platkoppen, snake eels.
Dag 3: 18ste juli
Sumbawa Island and the north-east town of Bima was our destination for the third day. With good conditions in Bima Bay we introduced our Mexican divers to a bit of mucky critter diving by jumping in at Rocky Bottom and Fuzzy Bottom. All saw an array of new nudibranchs, they had never seen before, and other creatures for the first time such as thorny seahorses, dragon seamoths, juvenile barramundis and banded pipefish. Then we came outside the bay for better visibility where our guests fell in love with the diving at Tanjung Sai. With the pretty soft and hard corals against dark sand along with all the fish life and critters it made for a beautiful dive, so beautiful in fact that we opted for a night dive there too. On the day dive we saw large Spanish mackerel passing through while razor fish and long-nosed hawkfish hid in the black coral bushes. On the night dive a green turtle and freckled frogfish were the highlights while at the end reef squid were photographed feeding on small fish.
Gezien: Estuarine stonefish, Sulawesi pipefish, naaktslakken (various chromodoris, various phyllidia, diverse Flabellina), raggy scorpion fish, vliegende poon, doornige zeepaardje, dragon seamoth, porselein krabben, log-nosed hawkfish, juvenile many-spotted snapper, juveniel barramundi, juvenile emperor angelfish, Spaanse makreel, razor fish, tiger shrimp, white-banded cleaner shrimp, zeeduivel, green turtle, feeding reef squid, decorator crabs, squat crabs, squat kreeften.
Dag 4: 19ste juli
Over night the boat was delivered to Sangeang Island by Captian Bapak Kasim. The wind was blowing strong but we had just enough cover on the east to dive Deep Purple and Hot Rock. These sites amazed the guests as they had never seen this type of bright soft coral and never before dived on black sand. So many things were found by the guides, for example different coloured ribbon eels, diverse naaktslakken (including a t-bar species), loads of soft coral crabs and zanzibar shrimps and pygmy seahorses. There were such a high abundance of different styles and colours of anemones that the area was renamed “Anemolandia’. After lunch we cruised past the lighthouse in the north on our way to Bonto Village. Once there we had a humbling walk around the resident’s unprivileged way of living and a night dive on the reef in their bay. The night dive produced some good finds with ornate ghostpipe fish, skeleton shrimp, various flabellina nudi’s, Spaanse danseressen, boxer crabs and decorator crabs.
Gezien: Ribbon eels, naaktslakken (Spaanse danseressen, various chromodoris, nembrotha, thuridilla, Flabellina, facelinia, platwormen), ornate eagle ray, dogtooth tonijn, porselein krabben, blue-fin trevally, snapper (middernacht, sweetlips, twinspot/red, blauw omzoomde), sierlijke ghostpipe vis, skeleton shrimp, boxer krabben, decorator crabs (fire coral, sponge and soft coral decorations).
Dag 5: 20ste juli
Back inside the Komodo National Park we stopped at Batu Monco for a days diving on the points and in the bay gaining shelter from the prevailing southerly winds. We drifted at Big Nose to bump into a couple of mantas, bumphead papegaaivissen, lots of reef fish on the wall and some amazingly bright white anemones. For the second dive we had a very tranquil drift within the bay on Coral Garden flighing over amazing formations of pristine hard and soft corals. On Small Nose for the third dive of the day we had to seek shelter from the current pushed out into the Sape Strait spotting GTs, tiger mantis, nudibranchs and sleeping whitetip reef sharks. It was back to Coral Garden for the night dive which the guests drifted over spotting morays starting their night activity and a feeding octopus.
Gezien: Manta rays, blacktip & whitetip reef sharks, bumphead papegaaivissen, peacock mantis shrimp, octopus, GT's, tiger bidsprinkhaankreeft.
Dag 6: 21ste juli
This time on the north-east corner of Komodo Island we dived around Gililawa Laut, first being Castle Rock on slack tide. This gave the guests opportunity to fly around in the blue with millions of fusiliers and schooling surgeon fish and watched reef sharks glide past and below them. Also on the reef was a napoleon wrasse at a cleaning station and dogtooth tuna bolting through on the hunt. As a drift dive we jumped in at Lighthouse Reef for the second of the day watching schooling fish, sharks and we got lucky with a single manta passing by. An afternoon dive on Crystal Rock brought the current that Komodo is famous for with guests getting a bit of a workout to stay on the reef along with a four bottlenose dolphins. On the sheltered eastside bannerfish and fusiliers were schooling at the point of the counter current with GTs and whitetips playing around. On the safety stop a large hawksbill turtle was found munching away on some late lunch while crocodile needle fish hunted on the surface. Mini Wall was chosen for the night dive so the guests left with energy could go and wake up green turtles plus hairless orangutan crabs and a Spanish dancer were spotted on the wall.
Gezien: Grey, blacktipertsader en witpuntrifhaaien, manta ray, bottlenose dolphins, giant frog fish, napoleon lipvis, dogtooth tonijn, karetschildpadden, jacks horse-eye, GT's, blue-fin trevally, gemarmerde grouper, scholen vis (chirurgenvissen, humphead snapper, fusiliers, spadefish, banners), crocodile fish.
Dag 7: 22ste juli
The first dive was a wake up dive for our guests dealing with current on the pinnacle of Batu Bolong. You could hook in on the columns of coral to watch GTs, whitetips and napoleon wrasse navigate the up, down and side currents; truly amazing! On the sheltered side of the main pinnacle it was an aquarium of reef fish which was a nice relaxing end to the dive. Then it was off to visit the mantas at Makasar Reef. Our three dive groups all saw many mantas, sometimes up to six at a time. Most were being cleaned by black-lipped butterfly fish and others were playing in the light drift. Blacktips and turtles were also spotted on this one. A fast drift over Tatawa Besar’s brilliant reef was on the menu for the third. Once the drift slowed down our groups watched large cuttlefish, xeno crabs and nudibranchs do their stuff on the reef and there was also a little shark show from black and whitetip reef sharks. Captain Bapak Kasim then delivered the boat to the north of Rinca for a night dive at Wainilu. All sorts of critters were found with the highlights being a flying gurnard, demon walker scorpion fish and a pair of painted frogfish.
Gezien: Whitetip & blacktip rifhaaien, manta rays, karetschildpadden, gemarmerde grouper, GT's, blue-fin trevally, scholen vis (sweetlip snapper, chub, sergeant majors, fusiliers), raggy scorpion fish, inktvis, naaktslakken (chromodoris, thuridilla, nembrotha), vliegende poon, demon walker, geschilderde frogfish.
Dag 8: 23ste juli
For the eight day of the trip we chose the north area of Komodo Island due to windy conditions on the south. Here we took advantage of some surprisingly slack tides in the morning to fully investigate the reefs of Shotgun and Crystal Rock. First of all we drifted through the channel passing whitetips, beautiful reef walls, schooling GTs and some guests got lucky with a passing manta. On the pinnacle for the second dive we swam out to the second and third seamounts to find ourselves surrounded with trevallys in hunt formation, napoleons in the blue and tons of tightly packed fish on the main pinnacle; the surgeon fish, humphead snapper and sweetlip snapper made for a thick wall to see through to spot your buddy! In the afternoon we opted for another drift, this time with a little more power, through The Passage. There were a few whitetips, turtles and lots of giant sweetlip snapper action plus the guests had fun hanging on in the channels watching the show surround them. After a feeding manta visited the boat on the surface it was time for a walk up to a panoramic viewpoint for guests to absorb the untouched scenery of “the land that time forgot”. For a night dive DM Gede took out a small group to show them Mexican dancers and their emperor shrimps at Spanish Step on the Westside of Gililawa Darat.
Gezien: Manta ray, whitetip reef sharks, karetschildpadden, giant & harlekijn sweetlip snapper, GT's, dogtooth tonijn, barramundi, scholen vis (black-spined surgeon fish, humphead snapper, fusiliers, trevally, sweetlip snapper), Mexican dancers, keizer garnalen.
Dag 9: 24ste juli
By staying in the north we avoided the strong south-easterly winds and chose Castle Rock to revisit. This place is a magnet for sea life and even on slack tide the guests were absolutely engulfed by fish. Groupers were swaggering about the reef and napoleon wrasse cruised by while loads of fusiliers danced in the blue with GTs and dog-tooth tuna. Looking under table corals many whitetips were found resting along with one large bamboo shark. The second dive was at Lighthouse Reef as our guests requested a coral garden. Here we rocked side-to-side with the surge above the pristine coral garden. Hard and soft corals combined with bright sandy pathways all mixed together with amazing reef fish; a photographers paradise! Then it was time for Shotgun again, with a little more current this time. This got everyone’s heartbeats up as we passed through the bottleneck whizzing past whitetips and a single large manta. Then for the night dive we repeated Spanish Step spotting Spanish dancers, emperor shrimp on sea cucumbers, an octopus and feather star squat lobsters.
Gezien: Witpuntrifhaaien, manta ray, GT's, jacks horse-eye, tuna, barramundi, tandbaarzen, scholen vis (humphead, sweetlip snapper, fusiliers, bannerfish, red-tooth trigger fish), halimeda ghost pipefish, Spaanse danseressen, keizer garnalen, octopus, feather star squat lobster.
Dag 10: 25ste juli
For the final day we dived on Makasar reef for a spectacular “goodbye” to Komodo’s underwater marine life. With rising tide just starting it was perfect for mantas to be playing around the cleaning stations. Guests hung onto rocks and rubble and waited for the three meter plus rays to fly over the top of them. A truly great last dive to the ten day trip.
We then went off for a walk at Loh Buaya to photograph the largest lizards on the planet and then had a sunset cruise back into port.
Ombak Biru crew and dive operations would like to thank Jorge for bringing this great group together for us to dive with. It has been nothing but a pleasure and we hope to see you again…soon, so we can visit the south!!
Dank u allen zo heel veel!
