Komodo National Park Trip Report / dive log
Komodo Dancer Captain’s Log 23 July -2 August 2015
Crew
Captain: Kasim
Cruise Director: Rob
Dive Guides: Rob, Niko, Gede
Head Steward: Rizal
Chef: Totok
Guests
Denise, Peter, Alysha, Aaron, Francis, Polly, Evelyne, Brian, Martin, Kay, Jiat, Bill, Foo Fatt, Jane, Piero, Caterina, Sibylle
Temperature:
Air: 31-33
Water: 22-28
Dive Sites
Friday: Sabolan Besar, Bidadari, Sebayor, Mini Wall
Saturday: The Alley, W Reef, Pasir Putih
Sunday: Canibal Rock, Yellow Wall, Torpedo Alley
Monday: Castle Rock, Crystal Rock, Shotgun, Spanish Steps
Tuesday: The Corner, Rollercoaster, K2, Circus
Wednesday: Batu Bolong, Makasar Reef, Tatawa Besar, Wainilu
Thursday: Honeymoon Rock, Tatawa Kecil, GLD Passage, Komodo Steps
Friday: Castle Rock, Crystal Rock, Lighthouse, next to Shotgun
Saturday: Batu Bolong, Siaba Kecil
Thursday 23th July
Arrival day on board the Komodo Dancer and we welcomed an excited group of 17 guests. We have guests from the USA, Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Switzerland and Germany.
Friday 24th July
The trip started with a dive at Sabolan Besar. A nice relaxed check out dive with an octopus, and lots of small stuff like hairy squat lobsters and various nudibranch and shrimps. The Bidadari dive site was next, with cuttlefish, a big lobster and more macro like flatworms, nudibranch and a beautiful cowry shell. After lunch we dived at Sebayor; nice white sand with spotted garden eels and coral bommies with glass fish and surprises like painted frog fish, many leaf scorpion fish and a big crocodile fish
The night dive was a great closing dive of the day, with a leopard shark , Spanish dancer, lobster and a spiny flying gurnard.
Saturday 25th July
Overnight we went down to Lankoi in South Komodo and we began our day diving The Alley. We saw white tip and black tip sharks, bumphead parrot fish and another highlight was a huge school of fusiliers with a lone giant trevally cruising through. For our third dive we went to Padar, diving the W Reef. Highlights included a nurse shark in a cavern, a giant frogfish was swimming around, some stingrays at the bottom next to the pinnacles and some ladybugs for the macro photographers. Our night dive brought great macro stuff; frog fish, nice orangutan crabs and a tiny banded pipefish.
macro life in komodo
swimming in the current
nudibranch with diver
Sunday 26th July
Back in South Komodo, Horse shoe bay this time. Great dives on Canibal rock, with lots of fish life, nudibranch , turtle and white tip shark. Yellow wall was our next dive site, with lots of nice stuff on the wall, Coleman shrimp on a fire urchin and batfish and sweetlips around. We had an amazing night dive at Torpedo Alley, octopus, squid, candy crab, various nudibranch and shrimp.
Horse shoe bay was also great above water; a pod of dolphins was playing around the boat, on the beaches around we saw monkeys, timor deer, wild boar. We did an excursion with the tenders to the beach to look at the six dragons that were there, with eagles flying overhead. It was a fantastic day.
Monday 26th July
After our ventures in South Komodo we went to the north and began the day with Castle Rock and then Crystal Rock. Both great dives on pinnacles. Highlights of the dive were giant trevally, a grey reef shark, white tip reef sharks, napoleon wrasse and schooling sweetlips. Shotgun was our next dive site, with a nice drift through the fish bowl where we saw a manta ray playing around above us. Other highlights included nice coral bommies with glass fish and big groupers hanging around the fish bowl.
The night dive at Spanish Steps did not disappoint; beautiful spanish dancers, we saw a turtle and lots of decorator crabs, flatworms and other macro stuff.
Tuesday, 27th July
Our next location was Banta Island, starting with a dive at The Corner. This site is on a reef slope and has amazing corals. We saw manta rays, a big banded sea snake, ribbon eels and schools of anthias around the coral bommies. Rollercoaster, our next dive, gave some nice drift along the wall and we saw lobsters, lion fish, big moray eels and pygmy seahorse. Our third dive at K2 was very different again, with a sandy slope, a wall and beautiful corals on the shallow part. We saw a white tip reef shark, mantis shrimps, sweetlips, nudibranch and a pregnant pygmy seahorse. The night dive at Circus included highlights like stargazers, squid and frog fish.
Wednesday 28th July
After our day at Banta yesterday, we no went to Current City, with the first dive at Batu Bolong. This pinnacle is like an aquarium with so much fish life, nudibranch and a white tip reef shark. During the second dive at Makasar Reef we saw manta rays at cleaning stations and just cruising by and also a turtle and white tip reef sharks. Our third dive at Tatawa Besar was an exciting drift dive, ending at a beautiful coral slope. Along the way we saw a black tip reef shark, cuttlefish and schools of Anthias.
Our night dive was at Wainilu, a great site where we saw flathead fish, nudibranch and various little crabs and shrimp.
Thursday 29th July
Still in Current City, we started the day with a dive at Honeymoon Rock, another nice pinnacle with lots of fish live, a turtle and a white tip reef shark cruising by. At Tatawa Kecil, our second dive site, we swam around big boulders and peeked under rocks and in caverns. Highlights included bumphead parrot fish, sweetlips, big groupers and lots of butterfly fish. After lunch we moved to Gili Lawa Darat to dive GLD Passage where we had another exciting drift and saw a turtle, white tip sharks, lots of reef fish and big groupers. Our night dive at Komodo Steps had a nurse shark as a nice surprise and we also saw lots of nudibranch and other macro stuff.
Today we also did an excursion to the top of Gili Lawa Darat where we enjoyed a spectacular view of the Komodo National Park. The hike was a nice chance to set foot on wall again after seven full days of diving.
Friday 30th July
We stayed around Gili Lawa Laut and had our first dive of the day at Castle Rock. Highlights included turtles, white tip reef sharks and giant trevally. We did our second dive at Crystal Rock which was equally good, with more turtles and white tip reef sharks. After lunch we dived at Lighthouse with lots of reef fish, some big cuttlefish and turtles. The night dive was next to Shotgun, with some exciting finds like a small cuttlefish, octopus, Spanish Dancer, a marble shrimp and lots of colorful nudibranch.
Saturday 1th August
We moved into Current City and did our first dive at Batu Bolong where we had another amazing dive with turtles, sharks, barracuda and lots of reef life. Our second dive of the day, and last dive of this trip, was on Siaba Kecil where we drifted along a beautiful coral reef with turtles, sweetlips and big schools of glassfish. It was a great last dive.
While having lunch we headed for Rinja Island where we did our official dragon trekking. We did a hike, accompanied by a park ranger , and saw Komodo Dragons, Timor deer and monkeys.
After the hike we returned to the boat and enjoyed a farewell cocktail party while heading back to Labuan Bajo. We had a final dinner together and will depart the boat tomorrow after an amazing trip.
THE END