Date: 22nd May—1st June 2013 East Sumbawa & Komodo NP

Dive Crew on board:

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

Day 1: 22nd May

This week we had a right mix of nationalities on board Ombak Biru, Komodo Dancer including American, Chinese, Malay, German and Australian. Within the first few hours they had bonded very well so we knew we were in for a good trip.

Our first dive was a light drift on Tatawa Besar in Komodo National Park to check the weights. Still, for a check dive the coral garden was in great condition as usual and divers spotted a few hawksbill turtles, xeno crabs, a lone great barracuda and schooling sweetlips and spadefish.

Seen: Xeno crab, hawksbill turtle, cuttlefish, great barracuda, schooling fish (sweetlip snapper and spade fish).

Day 2: 23rd May

We cruised to Gili Banta early morning for our first full day of diving arriving at 6am. Conditions allowed for a first dive on Roller Coaster to witness the soft coral growth on the walls along with leaf scorpion fish and orangutan crabs while surgeon fish swirled in the blue. The second dive in the morning was on the coral slopes of K2 with its fans on the wall sections. People found many huge sea cucumbers and nembrotha nudibranchs. After lunch and a quick swim for some then it was back in the water for a drift on Star Wars. There was plenty of plankton in the area but no luck for any of the bigger stuff passing through. Still we had the night dive at Circus to come to get up close and personal with snake eels, hunting lionfish, star gazers and bobtail squid.

Seen: Pygmy seahorse, leaf scorpion fish, raggy scorpion fish, orangutan crab, schooling fish (surgeons, black snapper), star gazers, snake eels, flat heads, bobtail squid, grubfish, a variety of flatworms, nudibranchs (chromodoris, nembrotha)

Day 3: 24th May

Ombak Biru travelled fifty miles over night to get to Bima Bay in the north-east of Sumbawa Island. Agenda, four dives in macro heaven. The first was a muck dive on Fuzzy Bottom with guests getting lucky with many critters including Pegasus seamoths, thorny seahorses and juvenile fish such as the pretty black and white barramundis. The next two dives were Rocky Bottom and then Tanjung Sai offering bright soft corals on sloped and staggered shelf topography. Through slow motion diving the group spotted one or more nudi’s from six different families of nudibranchs; they were everywhere even in pairs and seen just after lay eggs. Other creatures seen were crocodile, stone and scorpion fish hiding under the sand and on the coral, demon stingers, an estuarine stonefish and a juvenile painted frogfish. Then it was back to Fuzzy Bottom for a “night spectacular”. This muck dive really came alive with spiny and white-faced waspfish, feeding squid and cuttlefish and swarms of razorfish seeking shelter around the divers.

Seen: Pegasus seamoths, thorny seahorse, juvenile fish (barramundi, cowfish, porcupine, puffer), nudibranchs (nembrotha, loads of chromodoris, discodoris, thuridilla, phidiana and moridilla), hydroid spider crab, demon stingers, crocodile fish, fingered drangonets, stone and scorpion fish, painted frogfish, feeding reef octopus, cowries, waspfish, bobtail squid, bobbit worm, hairy shrimp, long-armed starry octopus, razor fish.

Day 6: 27th May

Very strong current in Current City meant that we dived the sheltered side of Batu Bolong watching the fusiliers swimming away in a bait ball formation from GTs. A few turtles were just waking up and napoleon wrasse hunted with goat fish for small fish and crustaceans. The second dive of the day was at Makasar reef for a drift with the mantas. Here we saw up to six reef mantas at cleaning stations, several whitetips and turtles. This was a first time experience with mantas for a few people on the boat, a dive to be remembered! On the way to north Rinca we jumped in at Honeymoon Rock with a school of spadefish, turtles and bumpheads. Starting early for the night dive at Wainilu gave some the opportunity to photograph mandarin and picturesque dragonets. Once the darkness set in then the critters started to come out. Feeding painted frogfish were videoed, demon stingers crept around on the rubble, bobtail squid hid under the sand and many different nudi’s and flatworms were out and about.

Seen: Whitetip reef sharks, hawksbill turtles, GTs, blue-fin trevally, napoleon wrasse, nudibranchs (nembrotha), mantas, bumphead parrotfish, painted frogfish, bobtail squid, flatworms, demon stingers, dwarf lionfish.

Day 5: 26th May

Back in Komodo National Park we first dived the northern region off the Gililawa islands. Castle Rock provided large balls of fusiliers being rounded up by GTs and blue-fin trevally while the odd whitetip cruised around close to the reef. Schools of surgeon fish and horse-eye jacks negotiated the current and marbled groupers used the cleaning stations. Two drift dives were to follow that at Shotgun and The Passage. The first at Shotgun was very gentle giving people time to study the soft coral wall in the fishbowl and zig-zag from bombie to bombie. The Passage, however, delivered strong current through the final stages with GTs, mobula manta and an eagle ray. We planned to hike in the afternoon but it rained continuously; these people had paid to get wet yet there were no takers for a walk in the rain.

Seen: Whitetip reef sharks, GTs, potato grouper, schooling fish (batfish, humphead and black snapper, big-eye jacks, bannerfish, fusiliers), napoleon wrasse, mobula manta, eagle ray.

Day 9: 30th May

During the early hours the captain made a fast delivery to the north of Komodo Island for dives at Crystal Rock and Castle Rock. There was a medium strength current on Crystal for the first dive but people were able to hook in on the deeper seamount and watch whitetips and GTs gliding around. Schools of black-spined surgeon fish were scattered by the predators while juvenile napoleon and goat fish hunted from one coral bombie to the next. On Castle Rock the current had calmed creating underwater opportunities for guests to interact with schooling surgeon fish and the occasional whitetip reef shark; turtles, crocodile fish and mantis shrimp were also spotted on the reef. The rising tide suggested a third dive on Makasar Reef which proved to be successful for most divers with mantas flying about the shallow reefs and whitetips hovering above the coral rubble. Then it was back to Dragon Bay for a night dive at Wainilu with guests coming back with stories of tiny cuttlefish, painted frogfish, pleurobranchs, flatworms and demon stingers.

Seen: Whitetip reef sharks, GTs, blue-fin trevally, marbled groupers and rock cods, schooling fish (black-spined and yellow-fin surgeon fish, sweetlips and humphead snapper, fusiliers), horse-eye jacks, hunting napoleon wrasse with gold-saddle goatfish, mantas, painted frogfish, demon stingers, pleurobranchs, flatworms.

Date: 6th—16th April 2013

Day 10: 31st May

So we cruised back to Current City for the final two dives on Batu Bolong and Tatawa Besar, ending where we began. In the shadow of the pinnacle napoleon wrasse were searching for breakfast and GTs pointed into the current on each point. There were also a number of large hawksbill turtles and mapper pufferfish. The final dive was declared a ‘naked’ drift dive though far too many wetsuits, bikinis and board shorts stayed on, however efforts were made by some guests to de-clothe Nicholas while flying passed the coral reef but his shorts proved very secure. Better luck next time ladies! Then it was time for the walk on Rinca island with the dragons though the guests ended up sheltering from the rain at the guide hut snapping photos of the dinosaurs attracted by the smell of food. With all the diving done it was back to Labuan Bajo for our last dinner together and a bit of a knees-up even though they had finished all the beer!

Seen: GTs, hawksbill turtles, morays, mantis shrimp, nudibranchs, marbled grouper, napoleon wrasse, sweetlips snapper, spadefish.

The guests onboard really made this trip what it was. With many of the guests being new to Indonesia they saw a lot of new stuff from small marine critters to first time mantas and the largest lizards in the world. As cruise director I would like to thank the Captain and crew, dive staff, management and guests for making this happen.

Day 7: 28th May

We woke up to choppy conditions in the south Komodo Island bay of Langkoi to dive Manta Alley. The guests drift dived from west to east via the channel spotting a few mantas along with large bumphead parrotfish and fully grown napoleon wrasse. During the surface interval the sun finally came out as we cruised over to Horseshoe Bay for the next dive at Cannibal Rock and some Komodo dragon viewing. Conditions were good on the dive and the macro fauna was all where it was supposed to be; on fire urchins commensal shrimps and zebra crabs hid away while giant frogfish tried to blend into the coral walls. Schooling blue-lined snapper and various nudibranchs were also spotted. Then we went off to the beach in the tenders to watch the largest species of lizards in the world. On the way back we took a look at Banana Island and saw fish eagles gliding around our boat looking for food opportunities. Then we had a dive at Torpedo Alley in quite a strong current. Torpedo rays, nudibranchs and twinspot lionfish were spotted with sea pens feeding from the dark sandy bed.

Seen: Bumphead parrotfish, napoleon wrasse, manta rays, giant frogfish, zebra crabs, commensal shrimps, nudibranchs (nembrotha, chromodoris, armina), hawksbill turtles, torpedo rays, soft coral imitator crabs.

Day 4: 25th May

On the fourth day we awoke to the sight of Sangeang volcano and a stormy sky. In the morning we dived on Hot Rock and Deep Purple to visit the sulphur vents, neon coloured soft corals and deep pinnacles. Panther anemones and xeno crabs were clinging to the whips corals while nudibranchs fed and mated on the reef surrounded by black sand. Scorpion fish and morays were hiding in crevices and huge purple sea fans were feeding in the depths. In the afternoon we jumped in again on Hot Rock for a drift dive around the point spotting bumphead parrotfish emptying their guts into the blue while black, humphead and twinspot snapper swirled in the current; a hawksbill turtle cruised around and blue spotted ribbon tailed rays and mantis shrimp lay hidden under helmet corals. After a snack of banana cake we headed out for a stroll around the village of Bonto. Two billy goats fought continuously during our visit. As they clashed horns water buffalo were returning from a lazy day at the water hole to rest up for the night. For the night dive we dived the village reef of Bonto and drifted over black sand spotting Spanish dancers, snake eels and stingrays while the latter part of the dive was spent on shallow corals with various crustaceans.

Seen: Blacktip reef shark, pygmy seahorse, xeno crabs, nudibranchs (neon dragons, chromodoris, nembrotha), ribbon eels, bumphead parrotfish, schooling fish (black, humphead and twinspot snapper), emperor snapper, hawksbill turtle, mantis shrimp, Spanish dancer, stingrays, snake eels, various crustaceans.

Day 8: 29th May

Morning conditions favored the seamount of Rodeo Rock off the point of Nusa Kode. This rock was being swept by light current but the twinspot snappers and surgeons fish still stuck to the reef. As the groups went around the first point a pair of eagle rays were playing at 30 meters and groupers were seen congregating even deeper. Thick swarms of anthias, sergent majors and red-tooth trigger fish covered the site and lazy whitetips were just waking to start their morning cruises. Next it was time for another dive on Cannibal Rock with more macro but also schooling snappers and fully grown whitetips. Then it was back to Manta Alley to see if conditions were better for the cleaning stations. It proved worth going back as more mantas were seen. Some were at the cleaning stations while other chose to play in current through the channels. Also in the channels a banded nurse shark became very intimate with one group as huge GTs navigated the area. Lok Sera and the Pinisi Wreck was the choice for the sunset/night dive with guests spotting the beautiful pinnate spadefish with its bright orange edge, crocodile fish and bobtail squid.

Seen: Eagle rays, whitetip reef sharks, hawksbill turtles, schooling fish (twinspot & sweetlips snappers, red-tooth triggers) nudibranchs, zebra crabs, colman shrimp, mantis shrimp, morays, mantas, banded nurse shark, GTs, juvenile pinnate spadefish, bobtail squid.

Thank you all so very much!!