Our jolly band of adventurers arrived into Labuan Bajo on the night of the 14th of April for a pit stop to refuel for the Jaya and it gave all the guests a chance to check in with home, grab an ice cream and have a look around the town. After a couple of hours we arrived back onboard and started the next leg of our Diving expedition with a birthday celebration for Brian, who’d already had a pretty great day of diving. It was topped off by a delicious cake made by Mala, and he was treated to a great rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’ by Marcel. During our changeover, we’d said goodbye to Valentino and welcomed new guide, Massimo from Italy. We had a little ‘get-to-know’ you session and introduced each other for Massimo’s benefit and then headed off to bed at an uncharacteristically late hour.
We travelled through the night back into the national park and arrived in the north that night. In the morning, after a light breakfast it was time to dive Crystal Rock, fishy as ever with a couple of sharks and napoleon wrasse thrown into the mix, it was good to get back into the water. We then travelled west to the Batu Moncu are off the coast of Komodo, where we put our explorers hats on and tried out a few new dive sites. One was a wall and a sheltered bay dive, which the team named Bamboo Nursery. Nursery, as there were many juvenile fish and Bamboo, not due to bamboo sharks, but to commemorate the bamboo raft made on the beach. Brian was in charge of construction with many helpers gathering wood and rope. Massimo was security and keeping an eye out for dragons on the beach with a protective stick! The challenge was set to take the raft back to the Jaya. The prize; another dive at Castle Rock. Armed with a paddle made from a Frisbee, she made it all the way back and the whole group were happy with their prize which was to be claimed the next day.
We woke early and headed back to Batu Moncu where the current brought in turtles, which pleased Hannah no end as she had never seen one, and even a couple of devil rays for Brian, Diana and Massimo. After that we headed back to Castle Rock which was as epic as the first time – sharks, napoleons, schooling trevally and lots of macro too. A little chill out time followed and then we went to check out Lighthouse on the tip of Gili Lawa Laut. As we arrived the currents looked a little dicey, with water bubbling all around, we held off for a while and put the sails up instead. When the waters had calmed, we leapt in and had a great dive – whip coral partner shrimp, giant frogfish, turtles, nudis and many fish schooling around the beautiful pinnacles. Not tired and ready for more the last dive of the day was made on Cauldron Reef. However, before then, a game of the famous ‘Toothbrush Game’ was initiated and all guests and dive crew were pitted against one another with the sole purpose of ‘killing’ as many people as possible armed only with a toothbrush. Probably the quickest game ever, it was all over after the night dive, with Shelia proclaimed as the winner!
An early morning call preceded a dive at The Cauldron. Always a spectacular site, the dive did not disappoint. The vis was beautiful and the marine life put on a great show, including sharks schooling around the exit of the cauldron. For a few lucky divers, a dugong was seen cruising overhead – a pretty unbelievable sight, dive guide Jo was gobsmacked. How to top such a dive? Head to Batu Bolong, were conditions were once again fantastic and it proved itself as one of Komodo’s best sites. After that we headed over to Karang Makassar and in the surface interval, Jo gave everyone a short presentation about mantas. After a dive at Makassar we were escorted to Wainilu by a couple of playful dolphins and arrived in time to enjoy the sunset. Mucky Wainilu provided many treats for divers – stumpy spine cuttlefish, stonefish, Indian ocean walkman, nudibranchs galore, cowries, upside down jellyfish and 3 frogfish hanging out together. What a dive site.
The next day started with a chilly dive at Tengah and then a trip to the dragons followed afterwards. The team made a hike around Rinca island looking for the beasties, and also saw monkeys playing trampoline in the mangroves. Luckily all made it back to the boat safely! It was at this point that we had to say our goodbyes to Brian and Diana who were leaving the trip one day early. We met up with our day trip boat who took them back to Labuan Bajo. After this we headed back to Karang Makassar to check it out one last time. Some divers were lucky to see mantas, and eagle ray and sharks and for the rest, the chance to snorkel up close with a manta came at the end of the dive. We made the last night dive of the trip at Siaba Besar and saw long armed octopus, stumpy spine cuttlefish, bob tail squid and sleeping turtles too. Our last night on the Jaya was spent with few beers and games.
The next day we topped off the trip with a beautiful dive at Tatawa Besar, where the soft corals looked amazing and the drift was just right to spot plenty of turtles. We then slowly made our way into Labuan Bajo and arrived in around lunchtime. However, we didn’t want it to end there, so we arranged to meet up that evening and head out to a bar on the beach where a traditional Mangarrai dance performance had been organised. It was a lot of fun to watch and the dancers put on a great effort showing us different traditional dances of their culture. We whiled a few hours away, with a spot of dinner and drinks, then it was sadly time to say our final goodbyes. Thanks so much to all for joining us, we had a great time and hope to see you again soon.To learn more about our upcoming expeditions
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