KOMODO DANCER TRIP REPORT

Dive Crew on board:

Cruise Director: Fin Dive Master: Gede Dive Master: Komang

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 left Labuan Bajo port at 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!

Seen: Eagle ray, scorpion leaf fish, tiger mantis shrimp, bumphead parrot fish, spine-cheek anemone fish, many-spotted snapper.

Day 2: 17th July

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.

Seen: Sulawesi pipefish, hairy squat lobster, peacock mantis shrimp, nudibranchs (nembrotha, wart slugs), mini sea cucumbers, commensal shrimps, pygmy seahorse, cuttlefish, schooling fish (banners, surgeons), scorpion leaf fish, star gazers, white v octopus, flatheads, snake eels.

Day 3: 18th July

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.

Seen: Estuarine stonefish, Sulawesi pipefish, nudibranchs (various chromodoris, various phyllidia, various flabellina), raggy scorpion fish, flying gurnard, thorny seahorse, dragon seamoth, porcelain crabs, log-nosed hawkfish, juvenile many-spotted snapper, juvenile barramundi, juvenile emperor angelfish, Spanish mackerel, razor fish, tiger shrimp, white-banded cleaner shrimp, frogfish, green turtle, feeding reef squid, decorator crabs, squat crabs, squat lobsters.

Day 4: 19th July

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, various nudibranchs (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, Spanish dancers, boxer crabs and decorator crabs.

Seen: Ribbon eels, nudibranchs (Spanish dancers, various chromodoris, nembrotha, thuridilla, flabellina, facelinia, flatworms), ornate eagle ray, dogtooth tuna, porcelain crabs, blue-fin trevally, snapper (midnight, sweetlips, twinspot/red, blue-lined), ornate ghostpipe fish, skeleton shrimp, boxer crabs, decorator crabs (fire coral, sponge and soft coral decorations).

Day 5: 20th July

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 parrot fish, 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.

Seen: Manta rays, blacktip & whitetip reef sharks, bumphead parrot fish, peacock mantis shrimp, octopus, GTs, tiger mantis shrimp.

Day 6: 21th July

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.

Seen: Grey, blacktip and whitetip reef sharks, manta ray, bottlenose dolphins, giant frog fish, napoleon wrasse, dogtooth tuna, hawksbill turtles, horse-eye jacks, GTs, blue-fin trevally, marbled grouper, schooling fish (surgeon fish, humphead snapper, fusiliers, spadefish, banners), crocodile fish.

Day 8: 23th July

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.

Seen: Manta ray, whitetip reef sharks, hawksbill turtles, giant & harlequin sweetlip snapper, GTs, dogtooth tuna, barramundi, schooling fish (black-spined surgeon fish, humphead snapper, fusiliers, trevally, sweetlip snapper), Mexican dancers, emperor shrimps.

Day 9: 24th July

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.

Seen: Whitetip reef sharks, manta ray, GTs, horse-eye jacks, tuna, barramundi, groupers, schooling fish (humphead, sweetlip snapper, fusiliers, bannerfish, red-tooth trigger fish), halimeda ghost pipefish, Spanish dancers, emperor shrimp, octopus, feather star squat lobster.

Thank you all so very much!