Komodo Manta Education trip....trip report

The 8th of June was the departure date for the 3rd Wicked Diving Komodo Manta Education trip of this Komodo season. We were very excited for a number of reasons. Firstly, we had an incredibly special schedule planned for all our guests, the plan being to visit not only known manta hot spot, Karang Makassar, but also the hard to reach and less visited Manta Alley in the deep south of Komodo island.

We were also lucky enough to host a very special guest on this trip. Sarah Lewis, Indonesian Manta Project Manager from The Manta Trust was joining us to share her expert knowledge with our guests, gather as much data as possible and to collect and analyse data that had already been collected within Komodo during this season.

We welcomed guests from all over the globe; Nicole and Frank from Germany, Rachael and Ryan from the US, Laura from Belgium, Donna from Australia, Leah from the US and Linda from Finland. In addition, we were happy to invite back friend of Wicked and super cook, Melati, who has been working with the Jaya kitchen crew to add a new twist to the menu and to squeeze in a few dives as well. Dive crew were Diego, Martyn, Mickey and Jo and the awesome Jaya boat crew of Captain Achmed, Heri, Marwan, Suleman, Ahmed, Mala and Herman were on board to take us safely on our journey.

We departed on the afternoon of 8th of June and went straight to Sebayor to make our check dive. The check dive is an important part of any liveaboard schedule, divers can get familiar with their equipment and each other in easy dive conditions while the dive staff can make sure we have selected the groups accurately. However, Sebayor is a pretty special dive in itself and lucky divers got a chance to see schooling fusilier, cuttlefish, lobsters, nudibranchs and one lucky team even spotted an eagle ray and a school of bumphead parrotfish cruising by. After this it was time to eat and get to know one another and after dinner Jo and Sarah introduced the manta education schedule and discussed what would take place during the trip.

The next morning we headed to Siaba Besar for the morning dive. A combination of sandy slopes and corals hills, we saw a lot of great species, including peacock flounders, mantis shrimp, sea hares, giant sweetlips, baby bumphead parrotfish, a huge lobster, green turtles and blue spotted sting rays. After this we had a leisurely breakfast and got ready for our first manta spot, Mauan. Mauan isn’t as much of a dead cert when it comes to spotting mantas, but can be good especially on a falling tide. For all of our guests who had never dived with mantas before, their dreams came true on this dive. One group saw a manta on the descent and the next chilled with a large reef manta on their safety stop. This was a good omen for the rest of the manta trip.

The third dive took place on the south of Padar island, at Pillarsteen. Pillarsteen is a craggy and gloomy site, with loads of character and atmosphere. There are many swim throughs and cracks and crevices to look into and some great marine life, including the fascinating sea apple, a type of sea cucumber which we only see in the southern sites within the national park. After the dive, we had a snack and a coffee and sat back to listen to a talk from Sarah introducing us to manta rays. Sarah discussed their feeding habits, mating habits, differences between species and how they came to evolve. There were many questions afterwards and this was a good time for discussion. It started to whet appetites even more to dive with the gentle giants and with 2 dives planned the following morning at Manta Alley, we hoped we would be lucky.

In the early hours, we set off for the south of Komodo accompanied by a beautiful sunrise. We got to Manta Alley and the dive crew jumped in first of all to check the current and get a teaser of what was to come. On the check we were able to spot the first manta of the day, the first of many!! All groups jumped in and no more than 2-3 minutes into the dive, these graceful giants welcomed us. We hit on of their cleaning stations and sat back to watch. Many mantas came in and out, the large females were the most friendly, allowing some really close contact. We saw many sizes, some melanistic (all black) mantas and many of them took plenty of time to be cleaned by the butterfly fish and cleaner wrasse. The dive at Mauan before had really whet everyone’s appetites, but this was in a whole other class. Mantas flew above and below us and all groups spent the entire time surrounded y them. It was hard to pull ourselves away to finish the dive!


The next two dives of the day were scheduled here too and the mantas stayed around for us. We saw a lot of different activity from cruising and cleaning to feeding on the surface. There was so much to talk about in between. Most people were blown away by their beauty and their ability to materialise out of nowhere. In between the dives, we also looked a data collection and took some new ‘citizen scientists’ under our wings as we logged environmental data, numbers of mantas seen and tried to get ID shots so that we could identify individual mantas. Manta alley is an incredible site in its own right and we also spotted eagle rays, blue spotted sting rays, white tip,black tip and tawny nurse sharks throughout the day. It was then time to head up north. It was a little wavy on our return journey, as is sometimes the nature of the north of Komodo, but everyone agreed it was worth it after the fantastic day of diving they’d already done.


To add a break to the diving, the next morning saw a land excursion to Loh Liang in Komodo to go dragon hunting. Martyn and Diego led the way and the team ambled around the trails keeping their eyes peeled for dragons. They spotted some big individuals and wild deer and pigs. There was also a chance to gather some kemangi, or lemon basil, from the forest for Melati to include in our meal!


Manta time wasn’t over and as we ate breakfast we headed straight up to Karang Makassar for round 2! We jumped in on a rising tide, the drift was nice and pretty much as soon as we entered the water we saw mantas again. All dive groups spotted them throughout the dive site, some deep, some on the safety stop, some coming right overhead for a good look and some cruising underneath. It was great to see the differences between this site and Manta Alley and more data was gathered. Well, we couldn’t get enough and we jumped in for another dive here.


We had already spotted mantas feeding on the surface and most groups got to see these at the beginning. It was then a little quieter, with less frequent sightings and not for such a long duration, but still a treat for all. The crowning glory came at the end of the dive for Jo and Sarah when these witnessed the frenzy of manta courtship as around 8 individuals swam frantically around them, looping and dive bombing. After this dive we headed to the north of the National Park just in time for a night dive at Gili Lawa Darat. Here we saw sea hares, huge cuttlefish, Spanish dancer and a tawny nurse shark. Dinner time was next and after that it was time for a little more manta education, in the form of BBC documentary, "Andrea Queen of the Mantas" (which we strongly recommend purchasing and watching!)

The next morning started with the first of our four dives, at Castle Rock. We had a slight current, but not so ripping that we couldn’t explore the site and here we found everything from a huge grey reef shark and many white tips, to the smallest yellow colour bargabanti pygmy seahorse and leaf fish.  Everyone was rightfully astonished by the sheer amount of fish and the beauty of the dive site. Next up in the schedule was Crystal Rock and here we spotted napoleon wrasse, turtles and the 7 baby sharks all squeezed under one table coral. The Cauldron was our final spot for the day dives and we flew through the site, appreciating the soft coral walls, the sandy Japanese garden style lead into the passage and of course checking out the fishbowl to see what types of schooling fish we could find inside. After this we had one more night dive and then when everyone had eaten it was time for a talk about Manta Ray Threats and Conservation, given this time by Jo.

The final morning had sneaked up on us, but we still had a few tricks up our sleeve and that began with a dive at Lighthouse. The majority of our dive concentrated on the incredible reef which slopes down into the depths on the edge of Gili Lawa Laut. We had seen dolphins on the surface and heard them throughout the dive, but unfortunately the playful creatures didn’t come to visit us.

We didn’t really need them though as so much other marine life was seen – giant frogfish,  denise pygmy seahorse, octopus, ribbon eels, baby sharks and so much more. It was a great way to end our diving schedule.

The last activity that we had planned was a beach clean up on Tatawa Besar and we managed to remove 2 bags of rubbish and still have time for a swim around and to spot juvenile black tip sharks swimming in the shallow water.

On the way back to land we wrapped up the manta education with a final talk from Sarah focusing on the data collection, research techniques and what the goals are for collecting research. We were so lucky to have Sarah join the trip and everyone from the guests to the dive staff learned a lot more about mantas and what we can do to ensure the survival of this incredible creature. Having the opportunity to dive with so many was also a treat and a once in a lifetime experience.  Thanks to everyone who joined our trip and we hope to see you again soon.

-From Wicked Diving Komodo