Dive Crew on board:

Cruise Director: Fin                 Dive Master: Seno                   Dive Master: Komang

Day 1: 10th May

                Ombak Biru, Komodo Dancer embarked on a 10 day trip from Bali to Flores at noon on 10^th May. The guests on the boat were a good mix of nationalities including British, Swiss, German, Austrian, Kiwi, Swedish, Russian and American.

After a few hours of motoring up the strait of Badung we reached Padang Bai and the site of our first dive, Jepun. This dive site offered a gentle drift for people to check their weights and get comfortable with their equipment configuration and also provided schooling fish, a whitetip reef shark, a cuttlefish and a few blue spotted stingray. Upon returning to the boat we all sat down to our first three course meal of the trip and enjoyed having the crew introduce themselves.

Seen: Whitetip reef shark, schooling fish (blue-lined snapper, damsels, chromis), cuttlefish, blue spotted stingray,

Day 2: 11th May

                After travelling overnight up the Lombok strait and along the north of Lombok itself we reached Palau Lawang and Sulat, north-east of the dominating mountain of Ranjani. We dived twice in the channel between Lawang and Sulat, once in the morning and once in the afternoon, taking in the beautiful corals growing from the wall and the colourful reef fish pointing into the currents. For the second dive of the day we drifted around the south point in 15 meters visibility. A juvenile pinnate spadefish was found hiding away in a deep crevice and raggy scorpion fish were blending into the bright blue cone corals. Nudibranchs such as chromodoris and nembrothas were spotted and signal gobies were busy feeding on the sandy slopes. For a night dive we chose the south bay of Palau Lawang spotting various crustaceans including squat lobsters and spider crabs, cuttlefish, feeding tiger cowries and a sleepy hawksbill.

Seen: Juvenile pinnate batfish, signal gobies, yellow barred jawfish, black tipped shrimp goby, nudibranchs (nembrotha, chromodoris, tons wart slugs), feather star squat lobsters, juvenile cuttlefish, octopus, turtle, spider crabs, banded pipefish.

Day 3: 12th May

                Along with the sunrise came the island of Moyo. We chose two dive sites just off shore from Labuan Haji town. The conditions on both Long reef and Moyo Wall were very good with 29C water and 20-30 meters viz. Both were drifts and homes to branching, table, sponge and fan corals. With their deep drop offs these reefs attract a large variety of life including schooling red-tooth triggers, twin-spot and black snapper. In the blue fusiliers were being bullied by small jacks and dogtooth tuna while on the reef turtles, morays, mantis shrimps, puffers and garden eels were seen. While we had lunch and a power nap Bapak Kasim steered the boat further east to the next island of Satonda. Here we picked black magic rock for the third dive site as it offers great macro fauna. Spearing mantis, hawksbill, various gobies, two large cuttlefish, ribbon eels and a symmetrical flatworm were spotted by the guides and guests. A couple of excursions followed, one onto Satonda itself to see the crater lake and magic tree, and two to watch the fruit bats fly over to Sumbawa for their dinner. The shear amount of bats in the sky all at the same time was amazing; there must have been at least twenty-eight of them!

Seen: Banded sea krait, hawksbill turtles, schooling fish (fusiliers, red-tooth triggers, twin spot and black snappers), cuttlefish, giant moray, dogtooth tuna, ornate ghost pipefish, ribbon eels, various gobies.

Day 6: 15thMay

                On this morning everyone woke up to the beautiful soundings of the collapsed volcano that is now the bay of Langkoi, our destination…Manta Alley. On descending on the first dive it only took a couple of minutes for people to spot their first manta ray of the trip. On the cleaning stations there were up to ten rays taking it in turns to sweep by the reef to invite the black-lipped butterfly fish and cleaner wrasse in. Schooling bumphead parrot fish were roaming about biting down on coral heads here-and-there while a few small hawksbill turtles complimented the morning mixture. “Best dive ever!” one said, “Best manta experience so far!” said another. This resulted in another two dives at the same site. Mantas were on the cleaning stations and feeding in the channels on all of the dives at Manta Alley…luckily the guides were on hand to point out sea apples, wart slugs and blue spotted stingray to keep the guests entertained! It was then time to cruise over to Lok Sera for the evening and an early night dive on the pinisi wreck. Just before it got dark it was possible to find mandarin fish while on the wreck there were many feeding raggy scorpion fish, lionfish, upside-down jellyfish and crustaceans. To the side of the wreck on the sand large crocodile fish were lying in ambush and in the shallow hard corals pinnate spadefish were hiding.

Seen: Reef mantas, white tip reef sharks, bumphead parrot fish, sweetlip snappers (ribbon, diagonal and harlequin), emperor snapper, humphead snappers, hawksbill turtles, nudibranchs, giant trevally (GTs).

Day 5: 14th May

                So then it was time for a day of diving at Gili Banta in 29C water with 20 meters plus viz. Our first dive was on the west point of the island and guests spotted two eagle rays flying around in the blue. Then we drifted across the site of K2 with the deep walls and fan corals to end up in the shallows of the soft coral garden. This was a special one for Sandra as she completed her 500^th dive on the Komodo Dancer in Komodo National Park. Star wars was the next choice offering white tip reef sharks, turtles, leaf scorpion fish and a large variety of different reef fish. “Da da dadadadadada daa da, da da dadadadadada daa da” played the music as the marquees were erected for the arrival of the night dive at Circus. Zig-zagging across the sandy bottom was a good opportunity to find star gazers, bobtail squid, snake eels and flying gurnards all while trying to protect oneself from brazen lion fish hunting in the torch light.

Seen: White tip reef sharks, turtles, eagle rays, schooling fish (surgeons, anthias, yellow damsels), juvenile dogtooth tuna, leaf scorpion fish, reef octopus, pygmy seahorse, cuttlefish, star gazers, flatheads, grubfish, flying gurnard, napoleon snake eels, hunting lionfish, sand snake eel, twin spot lion fish, bobtail squid.

Date: 6th—16th April 2013

Day 10: 19th May

So it came down to the final two dives on day ten of the trip. We went back into Current City to drift dive the beautiful reef at Tatawa Besar spotting schooling sweetlip snappers and spadefish around the pinnacles in crystal clear water for perfect wide angle shots. On the reef mantis shrimp and morays gazed up at us as we flew by and a few hawksbill turtles were relaxing in the shallow hard coral garden in the latter stages. For the last dive we gambled at makasar with a drift along the shallow reef section. Nearing the safety stop everything happened at once; mantas glided out of the depths to greet some of the guests as others saw whitetips and green turtles scatter as they drifted passed.

Then it was off to Dragon Bay to follow the guides on the trails on north Rinca. A few komodo dragons were seen, some peering down from trees and a spitting cobra was also spotted. Komodo Dancer then cruised back to Labuan Bajo, Flores for the final local style meal.

We had a great mixed group this week so I would like to thank one-and-all for contributing to the ten day trip traveling approximately 300 nautical miles. Congratulations to Sandra for completing her 500th dive and Daniela and Silvio for their 200th dives during this trip!

Seen: Schooling fish (diagonal and harlequin sweetlip snapper, spadefish), hawksbill turtles, giant puffers, mantis shrimp, mantas, whitetip reef shark, banded nurse shark, green turtles.

Day 9: 18th May

                The diving conditions were perfect on the last full day of diving; 29C with twenty meters plus visibility. The first two dives were just north of Gililawa Laut on Crystal and Castle Rock where there was a good current on the first and a moderate on the second. These dives produced sightings of bait balls of fusiliers chased by trevallys and whitetips zig-zagged in the current. Divers were able to hook in and watch the procession as sweetlip snappers sheltered against hard coral and groupers swaggered from one cleaning station to another. While on the safety stops we saw napoleon wrasse eye us up and crocodile needle fish and black snapper sunbath on the surface. Tatawa Kecil was the third site showing off resting whitetip reef sharks on the plateau alongside schooling snapper and an eagle ray. In the shallows the sun rays highlighted lots of damsels and cleaning stations for trigger fish and surgeon fish. The sunset and night dive at Wainilu produced picturesque dragonets, harlequin shrimp, frogfish, demon stingers, flying gurnards and various nudi’s and flatworms.

Seen: Whitetip reef sharks, GTs, schooling fish (sweetlip, humphead and black snapper, crocodile needle fish, fusiliers, spadefish), napoleon wrasse, sea krait, potato grouper, various coral groupers, eagle ray, hawksbill turtles, picturesque dragonet, frogfish, nudibranchs, harlequin shrimp.

Date: 6th—16th April 2013

Day 4: 13th May

                In the morning we awoke to a beautiful sunrise and the 2,028 meters tall Sangeang volcano. On the east side we proceeded with dives on deep purple and hot rock. With a medium current deep purple was a challenging dive bringing many fish close to the reef and deep pinnacles such as bumphead parrotfish, juvenile dogtooth tuna and “swarming” surgeon fish. The black sand on the soft coral plateau provided various nudibranchs that were photographed along with ghost pipefish, ribbon eels and porcelain crabs feeding from the safety of the carpet anemones. Then it was time for a dive on hot rock showing the volcano exhaling through the seabed and the bright beautiful soft corals on the rocks. Many macro creatures were found including different types of nudi’s, xeno crabs, long-nosed hawkfish, baby morays, raggy scorpion fish and ovula cowries munching on leather corals. As the sea swell grew we positioned the boat into the bay of Bonto on the west side of Sangeang Island and did two dives on the Bonto reef. A good day dive showed us a ghost pipefish, golden mantis shrimps, Pegasus seamoths and cuttlefish. On the night dive the reef presented the guests with white-v octopus, juvenile painted frogfish, mosaic boxer crabs and various shrimps.

Seen: Bumphead parrotfish, ornate ghost pipefish, nudibranchs (splendid chromodoris, aeolids – flabellina, nembrotha, splendid halgerda), schooling fish (surgeons, damsels, anthias), ribbon eels, xeno crabs, long-nosed hawkfish, ovula cowries, white v octopus, painted frofish.

Day 7: 16th May

                In the early morning the captain steered the boat across the Linta strait and into Horseshoe Bay in south Rinca. Here we planned four macro dives starting with Cannibal Rock. The second was Yellow Wall then for the third a repeat dive on Cannibal. Throughout these three dives we looked in fire urchins for colman shrimps and zebra crabs, on the walls for giant frogfish and were surprised when a GT was seen following a banded nurse shark still hunting in the morning sun. The wall diving produced a variety of nudibranchs, orangutan crabs in bubble corals and cuttlefish hovering above lettuce coral. After a spot of lunch we pootled out on the tenders to view the magnificent Komodo Dragons on the beach. One male was seen whipping another in the face with his powerful tail and sea eagles joined the commotion crying out as they glided above us looking for food. Torpedo Alley was the site for the night dive so guests returned for dinner with stories of clown frogfish, torpedo rays, bobtail squid and various nudibranchs.

Seen: Giant frogfish, colman shrimp, sea apples, banded nurse shark, GT, schooling fish (blue-striped and humphead snappers, goat fish), nudibranchs (long tailed slug, chromodoris, polycerdoris, facelinidoris), crabs (zebra, hairy sponge crabs, soft coral imitator, orangutan), cuttlefish, torpedo rays, clown frogfish.