On Saturday 4th May, KLM Jaya departed Labuan Bajo with a full quota of guests and crew. Heading out to the National Park on this trip were Sarah, Michel, and their sons Ben and Sam who live in Singapore and had already joined us for the previous 3 day trip, Ajit a photographer from India, Jose and Ari, both instructors from Mexico, Sandar from Holland who's been traveling around South East Asia for a few months, Debbie from Switzerland who is making a short break with a friend in Indonesia and special guests Silvia and Victor from Spain who were joining the trip as part of their honeymoon - Felizidades!We left harbour, got acquainted, geared up and headed out for a sunset dive at Sabayor Kecil. The vis was endless and everyone had a great time looking out for critters on the beautiful wall. After that we sailed straight to the North of Komodo where we slept that night. The next day started with a brilliant dive on the Passage Reef. The site was really fishy and we spotted sharks and octopus too. After that we went over to nearby Cauldron and cruised through the site. The current allowed us to explore the entire site and everyone loved it. We saw turtles, huge giant trevally and a juvenile nurse shark swimming about in the Cauldron itself.
After this we headed to the infamous Castle Rock and even with no current it proved itself to be a world class dive site. The schooling fish were breath taking - surgeons, longing banner fish, trevally red tooth triggers, not to mention the sharks. Sander remarked that while some dives are like diving in an aquarium, this was like diving in P Diddy's aquarium!! After this we headed west to Teluk Batu Moncu where the the dive gave us the familiar night time critters and a gift of 2 juvenile frog fish!The next morning we made an early morning dive at Komodo Express aka Batu Moncu where amongst other things we saw a tawny nurse shark and a group of 30 bumpheads swimming right at us. Then it was back to the Gili Lawa area for a dive at Lighthouse, which is an incredible site. Schooling fish everywhere, sharks, giant trevally and our very favourite friend, Mr giant frogfish! We then headed to Karang Makassar on the search for mantas, but the search proved fruitless and we didn't see the big guys. However it was still a great dive with lots of macro, turtles and some sharks too. That night we headed onto Siaba Kecil for sunset and enjoyed the peaceful, pink coral beach.
Throughout all of this, there had been murderous activity on board the boat. The Toothbrush game had been introduced, with the aim being to kill as many people as you can, with your toothbrush. The killings began not long after the game had been explained with Debbie becoming the first victim. Ajit was her killer and he soon went on a rampage racking up about 7 victims in his wake. His tactic, a video of himself, filmed on his iPhone, waving his toothbrush. Unfortunately he was beaten to the crown by Jose who was the eventual winner
The next day was time for our last dive for some, at Tatawa Kecil. When we hit the site the conditions were just right - crystal clear vis, schools of fish everywhere and just enough current for a little exhilaration. After that, it was time to head back to Labuan Bajo for a quick pitstop. We were sorry to say goodbye to some of our guests who'd brought much fun and adventure to the trip but hope to see them again in the not to distant future. Thanks for joining us!
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