Sailing off into the Komodo National Park for the ninth trip of the season, the Jaya made its way for another three days of adventure.
Joining Diego, Scott, Oli, Jo and DMT Calle on this trip were Elodie, Francois, Susanne and Johann, who were returning after already experiencing 3 days of Komodo Liveaboard fun. They were also joined by new guests Carys, Rohan, Tim, Rikki, Michelle, Conner, Deb, Bay and Natalie.
This trip was extra special as it was an educational trip, on the topic of manta rays. Scott gave two briefings throughout the trip looking at manta ray biology and behaviour, threats to mantas and what we can do to help protect them and identification techniques. Guests were also treated to nightly viewings of manta ray documentaries to help increase their knowledge of these majestic creatures. And ways to photograph and collate the data from pictures and sightings to contribute to large scale
To make sure we had a good chance to see the mantas, we selected a couple of manta hotspots, Karang Makassar and The Cauldron, and were lucky enough to see many of them, including a rare all-black manta and we got some good identification photos too. We also dived some of the famous spots, Crystal Rock, Castle Rock, Tatawa Besar and Batu Bolong, which were all fantastic dives and led to some encounters with many other sought after marine species.
Aside from the mantas, we swam with white tip sharks, grey reef sharks and black tip sharks, hawksbill and green turtles, eagle rays, crocodile fish, pluerobranchs, barramundi cod, juvenile angel fish, juvenile lionfish, banded piepfish and notodoris nudibranchs.
Everyone participated on a beach clean-up on Gili Lawa Darat on one sunset evening. Thanks to everyone for their help on the beach clean and in keeping the National Park clean and pristine, just as it should be. We had a great time with you all and hope to see you again soon.
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