The next Wicked liveaboard adventure to the Komodo National Park set sail on 13th July on the search of mantas and other underwater treasures. Instructors Jo, Vinnty, Diego and DMT Linda were joined by a fresh group of guests, Rob, Chris, Jennie, Finn, Nick, Alamin, Lars, Herman, Helge, Oddmund, Erik, Eimar, David.
This three day trip was a Manta Education trip. Wicked’s Manta Education trips are being run aboard the Komodo liveaboards during July and August with the goal of providing an education to divers and snorkelers regarding manta rays and the threats they face. The trips also allow us to support global manta ray projects, such as www.mantatrust.organd www.mantamatcher.org by collecting ID shots of the manta rays in the area. More information about this can be found on the Wicked Diving website.
With this in mind our dive site schedule focussed on sites in the area where we were most likely to see these glorious giants, including Karang Makassar and The Cauldron and all of our divers were lucky enough to encounter mantas during the trip, which was a first for most
divers aboard.
Other sites in the schedule did not disappoint Batu Bolong, The Passage, Crystal Rock among others provided a host of marine life for guests to enjoy. In addition to manta rays, white tips, grey reef sharks, bumphead parrotfish, giant trevally, tuna, hawksbill and green turtles and eagle rays put on a show for divers and those with a keen eye were lucky enough to see pygmy seahorses and the famed Spanish dancer too.
In between the dives, education briefings, documentaries and general chill out time, guests also helped out with a beach clean on one of the nearby islands. Komodo National Park is very pristine and doesn’t suffer from the same problems with rubbish than some of the other areas of Indonesia and South East Asia, but it is still important for us to be collecting what little rubbish we do find, most importantly ropes and netting which can ensnare manta rays and other marine life.
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