Gili Islands to Komodo 10 day expedition - Part 1...

Hot on the tail of our trip from Komodo to Gili, the 10th of April saw the departure of Wicked Diving’s 2nd expedition of the year from Gili Trawangan back to the Komodo National Park.


With the Jaya fuelled, stocked with fresh and dry food, the crew’s cravings for new sunglasses and such like satisfied, we set sail in the afternoon with a new band of adventurers ready to spend 10 days at sea and sample the delights of Nusa Tengarra.


Joining us were Diana and Brian, stagehands working for Wicked the Musical (no, it’s not about us and our dive exploits), from the US who were embarking on their very first liveaboard, Sheila and Pash from the UK who’d dived with Wicked in Thailand before and were ready to see what Indonesia had to offer, Guy and Danielle from Belgium who have been diving on liveaboards all over the world and thought it was time to try this part of Indonesia, Rachael from the US who was taking a short break from work and calculated that 10 days was the best way to maximise her time underwater, Lloyd from the US but now living in Bali whose continuing love affair with Indonesia led him our way, Hannah from Australia who’d made her divemaster course in Thailand a couple of years ago and Carole from Spain who was ending her 4 months of travel in style.


As always the best boat crew in Indo were on board – Cap Ahmed, Suleman, Heri, Marwan, Dullah aka Rambo, Cook Ahmed and Mala and representing the dive crew were Ricky heading up proceedings as tour leader, and dive guides Jo, Valentino and Marcel from the UK, Sulawesi and Flores respectively.


We gathered on the boat and after a little orientation we were ready to jump in for the first dive in Gili Trawangan called Hans Reef. The check dive turned up a few delights for some including a few lovely turtle encounters. Afterwards we headed straight out west towards Moyo Island to avoid the ensuing storms. This was our first night of travel and we arrived in Moyo early the next morning.


We started the day off with a great dive on site Haji’s wall – full of fish and corals, before heading over to recently discovered site, Jo’s Mountain. On the surface interval it was time for a shady, pretty walk through Moyo village to visit the nearby waterfall. The cool waters were perfect for a mid-morning dip and the acrobatics from the swings provided a lot of fun and entertainment.


After a quick snack we headed out for a sunset dive near to Haji’s Wall. On the way to the site we were greeted by a rare and spectacular treat – a sailfish breaching the water over and over again.


The next morning, we left early to arrive in Satonda where we spent the majority of the day diving the reefs and trekking on the island to a beautiful viewpoint which looks down on the volcanic crater lake. In the afternoon, we left and headed east along the northern coast of Sumbawa. We choose a spot to make a final dive of the day. This was an exploratory dive for the Wicked dive team, and what a treat it was for a few lucky divers; black volcanic sand, mucky conditions and a school of about 50 cow nose rays feeding in the sand!


We travelled throughout the night and arrived in Wera in the early hours of the morning and after a light breakfast we headed into town. As always, the army of cute and cheerful kids escorted us as we took in the sights of the boat building yards and the women weaving in their homes. We were also lucky enough to be invited into the school and gave the kids there an impromptu performance of “head, shoulders, knees and toes”!


Sangeang was the next stop, and on the way to the volcano we saw our first pod of dolphins for this trip, cruising alongside the boat. We made 3 dives at Sangeang, and as always everyone wanted to stay for days to amble around the black sand looking for macro life. We saw leaf fish, ribbon eels, countless nudibranchs, bargabanti pygmy seahorses including a pregnant male and much more. It was also a time to finally prove the long held theory that eggs could be cooked in the sands of Sangeang. Ricky and Jo took eggs with them and buried them in the sand, to return around 3 hours later to collect them. Ricky’s was partially cooked but Jo’s was pretty much still raw. It was a little disappointing that we weren’t able to serve volcano boiled eggs for dinner, but we think if we refine our methods and extend the cooking time, it’s still possible! Next time! In between time we found an opportunity to bring out the hidden pirates in Shelia and Lloyd who’d both made milestone dives on the trip and they gave us a great briefing about the dragon of Sangeang!

We left that night for Gili Banta and our first job the next day was a rousing chorus of ‘Happy Birthday’ for Brian, who was celebrating another year. And what better way to start your birthday than an early morning dive at High Voltage Reef with huge cuttlefish, nudibranchs, scorpion fish and unexpected 24 degree thermoclines.


Next stop Batu Moncu, on the North West coast of Komodo island. This was the first dive for all the guests in the Komodo National Park and a great intro with sharks, huge slate sweetlips and sea snakes. After that it was a short hop over to Castle Rock where the last dive of the first leg of our journey was taking place. And what a dive to finish with! Grey Reef Sharks, White-tip Sharks, huge napoleon wrasse, giant trevally, schooling longfin bannerfish all hanging off a ledge at around 20m which everyone sat watching for at least 15 minutes. Followed by schools of fusilier, napoleons following us around the site, surgeon fish schooling and bluefin trevally in countless numbers. Did we mention all the sharks?

And to top it off moray popping out of barrel sponges, scorpionfish of all sizes and textures and beautiful nudibranchs on the safety stop – just incredible. As soon as we got up to the surface everyone requested a second round!


With the day’s diving finished, we headed into port at Labuan Bajo where we were ready to restock supplies at the halfway point. Everyone left the boat to get a little taste of civilisation and to stretch their legs. After our short break we were ready to head straight out again for another 5 days of diving around the Komodo National Park. Watch this space for more updates on what we saw along the way.

This is just the first of the expeditions we have planned this year! Not only will we be having several more exploratory trips, we will also be operating for 4 months in Raja Ampat! 6 Day Raja Ampat Liveaboard trips with the same Wicked Diving flair!

 -Wicked Diving Expeditions!