The Sharks of Komodo

During August, Wicked Diving have been running special shark education trips on our liveaboard. The education trips are designed  to inform our guests about sharks in general, their senses, how they swim, the threats they are facing and what can be done by everyone to help save sharks.

In the Komodo National Park we see several different sharks on the majority of our dives! Here’s a little overview of the more common species that we can find here.



White Tip Reef Sharks

Photo by:Jo Marlow

White tip reef sharks live close to the reef. Often during the day they hide in crevices and especially when they are young they rest underneath table corals. They are one of the sharks that don’t need to keep on swimming to breath, they can use a technique called buccal pumping. So they can actively pump water over their gills to breath. It doesn’t mean though that we only see them resting, often we see them cruising along the reef slope. They have a very slender body and a white tip on the dorsal and caudal fin.

Photo by Monika Richter

Black tip Reef Sharks

Black tip reef sharks are a bit more stocky sharks. We see them cruising by close to the reef slopes and sandy bottoms. They blend in really well with the surrounding.  Often we see little baby black tips in very shallow water close to the beach. Baby black tips grow up close to mangroves where they are protected from predators. They have a black tip on the dorsal and caudal fin. They are light grayish in colour and get up to a maximum length of 2 meters.  



  

Photo by: Nathalie Perroud

Grey Reef Sharks

Grey Reef sharks we see on a more irregular basis. They are fatter sharks that hang out more in current areas and on deeper slopes. When they visit the reef at our depths the current is often strong like at Castle Rock. They tend to travel further than black and white tip reef sharks. Grey reef sharks are impressive sharks, with black edges on their caudal fin and pectoral fins.

Photo by Eiko Gramlich

Tawny Nurse Sharks and Brown Banded Bamboo Sharks

The tawny nurse shark and the brown banded bamboo sharks are our bottom dwelling (benthic) sharks. They have a tail that gives them more stability then their pelagic cousins. We see the bamboo shark on a regular basis on Karang Makassar. They can be up to about 1,18m in length, whilst tawny nurse sharks can become just over 3 meters. The bamboo sharks are brown banded when they are young.

All of our sharks feed on bony fish (like squirrelfish, parrotfish, damselfish, snappers) but also on crustaceans (like crabs, shrimps and lobsters) and cephalopods (like octopus and squid).

All of our sharks are listed as either Near threatened or Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Sharks get fished out as bycatch and targeted mainly for Shark Fin Soup served in China. Only 5% of the shark’s body gets used for the soup (their fins) and they are caught in a horrible way. Sharks get fished out, their fins get cut off and the rest of the body gets thrown back into the sea. This is all done whilst the shark is still alive. Thankfully lots of initiatives are done world-wide to save sharks. But despite these good efforts, it’s still important to raise awareness and keep on trying to make a difference and try to stop these horrible finning activities. Sharks are incredibly important for the eco system as a whole. If we fish too many sharks out, we will have an over population of fish that feed on plankton. That means there will not be enough plankton left to provide oxygen. Did you know that 80% of the oxygen that we use on land comes from our oceans?

So next year we will provide more shark education trips, they are good fun! We collect data for Shark Savers to get an idea of the amount and types of sharks we see in the Komodo National Park. You can become a SSI Shark Diver and with coming on our trips we can show that a shark alive is a lot more valuable than a shark fin in a soup. So by coming on our trip you have helped already to save sharks!

 -Wicked Diving Komodo

Shark Education in Komodo National Park

Shark education in Komodo is something that Wicked Diving is taking very seriously. Throughout August, on board our liveaboard boat, SY Jaya, we have been transforming our guests in SSI Shark Divers.

Through a selection of informative briefings, and the chance to dive with these creatures, guests are able to get a little closer to this fascinating species. As with our Special Manta Ray education trips and campaigning in the town, sharing our knowledge and passion for the underwater world is at the core of what we do.

In addition, we have been collecting important sightings data to contribute to Shark Savers’ Shark Count programme. Together with our guests, we have been able to contribute sightings from 60 separate dives in August. This is Citizen Science at its best!

While most avid divers, snorkelers and water babies know the threats that sharks are facing, it doesn’t harm to have a reminder and that’s certainly the feedback we get from many of our guests. We are proud to hear that the message is then spread further by guest blogs and storytelling. Especially by our guests who reside in countries where shark fishing or the consumption of shark products is rife. As with any of the major issues that this modern world faces, people power can help to make change.

-Wicked Diving Komodo

Komodo Liveaboard - trip report August 30, 2013

After the first three days we came back in on Tuesday morning and left Labuan Bajo around 15.30. Catherine and Fran from the UK, Zara from Australia and Karine from France stayed for the second part of the trip. We welcomed Isabella and Alberto from Italy, Adil and Sacha from Dubai, Cliff, Andrew and Jessica from the US, Victoria from Austria and Marija from Serbia. The dive crew consisted of Martyn and Steve who, by the way, are both from the UK, Marsel who is from Flores and Pit who is from The Netherlands. Herman who is doing his internship with us from the tourism school on Flores joined us as well and is by the way originally from the land of the Dragons, Komodo! Ahmed, Ahmad, Nass, Marwan, Heri, Mala and Suliman are our steady and sturdy crew.  So a good part of the world was represented on board our lovely pirate ship Jaya.

The first day we kept it nice and easy. A cheeky snorkel at Sabolan for the certified divers, some relaxing time on the beach and a chance for Marija to finish her open water course,  that due to circumstances was not completely finished just yet. Some dolphins greeted us, although the snorkelers didn’t see them in the water. After that we cruised all the way to the North, meanwhile chatting away and enjoying a very tasty dinner. It was a beautiful night with tons of stars in the sky.

The next morning we started with our first dive site at China Shop. This dive site is located just outside the famous Cauldron. A nice and easy dive site for our check dive, this is a gently sloping reef, covered in soft corals where we saw both hawksbill and green turtles. And closer to the Cauldron brings a sandy bottom with beautiful hard coral bommies covered in glass fish. On the bommies we found nudibranchs, lionfish, a leafy scorpion fish and a baby batfish. What a great way to start our trip.

After a yummy breakfast it was time to go to the famous Castle Rock. The current was almost non- existent, which meant there were lots of schools of fish close to the reef. Fusiliers, schooling banner fish, redttooth triggerfish and surgeonfish were all present in big schools. In between them there were massive giant trevallys looking out for a snack or two. A few white tip reef sharks were spotted cruising around and some baby white tip reef sharks were found under big table corals. Map puffer fish, black spotted puffer fish, giant puffer fish, boxfish, lionfish and big Napoleon wrasses were joining our little get together as well. In short: fish heaven.

The third dive after a well deserved lunch was planned for the Golden Passage. Most of the times a pretty fast drift, but this time it was almost slack tide. Visibility dropped to about 15m, but that couldn’t spoil the dive. Bumphead parrotfish, white tip reef sharks, black tip reef shark, moray eels and one group even saw a pygmy sea horse. Small creatures, big creatures, all can be found in Komodo National Park.

Next was time for another of of Wicked Diving's unique extreme beach clean- up. Ten minutes of filling up two garbage bags with rubbish was all that entails. To make it a bit more exciting we divided ourselves into two teams. About 10 minutes later the bags were fully filled and the team consisting of Catherine, Fran, Karine, Zara. Marija and Victoria were the winners! More importantly, the beach looked a lot better afterwards! Some went back to the boat after that (and spectacularly saved a football from the water), the others enjoyed the sunset on the hill of Gili Lawa Darat.  In the evening the guitar came out and singing and music filled the evening with lots of fun. Even the coco-


pops came out to keep the rhythm going

Morning had broken with a beautiful sun rise. With a four dive day ahead of us, we travelled in the early morning to Mauan. A strong current made the dive quite an adventure. We were hoping for some mantas at the end on the sandy slope….but we guess they were busy elsewhere. As the biggest drift of the trip though it was a real “Welcome to Komodo” dive  Next came Batu Balong, one of the top 4 dive sites in the park. We dived the South side of the reef, which is quite a steep coral slope. Another dive completely covered in fish and lots of hawksbill turtles this time. The ‘rave nudibranch’  (nembrotha purpureolineata) was found again as well. Sergeant majors, fusiliers, anthias, damsel fish, big Napoleon wrasse and all that together with a stunning visibility. Beside that the reef was ours, lucky us!

The luck was on our side again afterwards as we had a stunning dive on Tatawa Kecil, perfectly timed for the start of the rising tide. The North plateau is a beautiful reef. Beside a white tip reef shark we also saw a brown banded bamboo shark. A school of batfish and a big school of juvenile humpback snappers coloured the reef. A little turtle was hiding under one of the outcroppings, a scorpion fish was well camouflaged on the rock and moray eels were poking their head outs of everywhere.

Whilst  the sun settled slowly, some brave people climbed the mast of the Jaya. The view is amazing from there! The day ended with the famous Wainilu dive site. During the day it’s a fantastic ‘muck’ dive, during the night even more crazy critters come out. Decorated crabs, frogfish, mandarin fish, nudibranchs, pleurobranchs, spearing  mantis shrimp and feather stars were seen. Beside that, tons of other creatures that were happily identified and discussed afterwards.

Pulau Tengah brought  this diving trip to an end. The visibility was about 12m, but there were fish everywhere. A worthy last dive of the trip.  Under one of the table corals in the plateau at least 6 baby white tips were resting. One brave little sharky came out, swam around and went back in again. Once we reached the wall side it was time to look for small creatures hiding in the crevices. A leafy scorpion fish, some very well camouflaged bearded scorpion fish and nudibranchs were found. The batfish came in to play, barramundi were hiding under rocks and turtles came to say hello.

The first part of this trip was a shark education trip, but also on this trip people were still enthusiastic to keep on collecting data for the Shark Savers Counting Data sheet. It’s very important to get a good idea of the amount of sharks that we see in the National Park, so well done and a big thank you on behalf of the sharks!


Even though the diving was finished, the trip was not yet. After breakfast it was time to run away….,uhum, excuse me, visit the famous Komodo dragons. After meeting the dragons and a short trek with a stunning view from the view point on Komodo Island, it was time to put the sails up and sail to Labuan Bajo. Time as well to say; hope to see you again and lets have some dinner and a beer tonight on land! Thank you to everyone on the boat for an awesome trip.


-Wicked Diving Komodo