Whilst the Jaya returned to Labuan Bajo to pick up new guests Ann and Kev from England and Anna and Greg from the USA, returning guests Sebastian, Mike, Ali, Caroline, Jacqui, Nick, Dorte, Carl and Nick spent the afternoon relaxing on Kanawa in preparation for their next dive. Joining the guests onboard were Wicked guides Pit, Martyn, Carl and Marsel. An easygoing, late afternoon dive at North Point was the first scheduled dive of the next part of the trip. The reef around Kanawa is well known for its macro life and we managed to spot moray eels, lionfish, nudibranchs, flatworms, a few sponge snails as well as some larger fish such as giant trevallies and snapper. Not a bad start to everyone’s Komodo adventure! The evening was spent journeying to the northern reaches of the Park during which the guests enjoyed dinner and chatted about their previous diving experiences.
The second day of the trip consisted of exploring some of the most famous dive sites in the entire Park. First up was The Cauldron, a dive site notable for its large fish, a fast drift and a beautiful coral garden. The current check revealed both a white tip reef shark and a hawksbill turtle in the Cauldron itself so expectations were high for the entire dive. As always, the Cauldron did not disappoint. Some of the groups were lucky enough to see a rare pygmy seahorse hiding on a sea fan at the start of the dive and the ‘Fishbowl’ located inside the Cauldron was host to schools of midnight snapper, surgeonfish and giant trevally. The drift section on the latter part of the dive was less strong than usual so we managed to enjoy the reef rather than it passing by in a huge blur!Castle Rock was up next and after breakfast the divers were all ready to explore one of most incredible sites in the area. Castle Rock is well known for having the best chance to see sharks in the whole of the park and the dive certainly lived up to its reputation. We dropped down and hovered over the edge of the slope and soon encountered several white tipped reef sharks who circled amongst us while playing with the currents. Dogtooth tuna and a school of mackerel also swam past adding to the spectacle. Another elusive pygmy seahorse was also found as well as a leaf scorpionfish nestled in the coral. Once we drifted around the central rock we dived into an awesome feeding frenzy where the giant trevallies feasted on the neon fusiliers in a whirlwind of speed and colour. What a way to end the dive!
The final dive in the North of the Park took place at Crystal Rock, so called because of its frequent crystal clear visibility. The current check revealed that the current was going to be quite strong so we briefed the divers accordingly and descended to the edge of the site. Holding onto rocks we were witness to an amazing show of white tips swimming in the blue and then all of a sudden a grey reef shark appeared! Dwarfing the white tips, the grey reef clearly stood out as the largest shark we had seen that day. We don’t always see so many grey reef sharks in the Park so it was a real treat for guests and staff alike.
Another of our ‘Extreme Beach Cleans’ took place on Gili Lawa Laut and after the exertion of the day we relaxed and watched the sun dip down over the horizon whilst Marsel informed the guests of local traditions involving goats!
An early wake-up call prepared the guests for a dive at Tatawa Kecil, a dive site we can’t always dive because of its more common name…’Current City’! It was deemed that the conditions were safe for us to dive so we made our way slowly down the beautiful sloping coral reef. Some of the groups made it to the cave and rocky overhangs which make the site a real winner for those interested in underwater topography. The nooks and crannies play host to a variety of large fish sheltering from the current including schools of batfish, sweetlips and snapper. Making our way to the lee side of the island for our safety stop, Kev found an octopus in a hole which he was kind enough to show to the rest of the divers in his group!We then made our way to Mauan for the next dive of the day. Mauan has a stunning, colourful coral reef which is best taken in at a leisurely pace. Today was not that day. The drift was quite strong and as Carl pointed out it was like ‘being in a washing machine with a rainbow’! With schools of hundreds of neon fusiliers thrown in for good measure! The current didn’t stop us from spying banded seasnakes, green turtles and some huge puffer fish. What an exciting dive!
The third dive of the day was at Pulau Tengah, a dive site which has everything you could wish for – a coral encrusted wall, a soft coral slope and a plateau containing some of the biggest table corals you have ever seen. It was under one of these table corals that we made an incredible find. A shark nursery! In total we counted ten baby white tips all lined up side by side. To see this many sharks in one place and so close up was a fantastic experience for everybody. Kev found another octopus (we’ll have to check to see whether or not he’s got eight legs!) as well as the tiny orang utan crab. Our safety stop rewarded us with the sight of some bumphead parrotfish having a spa treatment courtesy of some cleaner wrasse. Next stop a visit to the dentists!
The final dive of the trip was a night dive at Wainilu situated in front of Pulau Kambing (Goat Island) and only a few minutes away from the dock at Rinca island. Wainilu is not famed for having a spectacular reef however the life that lives within it is amongst the most interesting that you can find in Komodo. Starry night octopus, dwarf lionfish, banded pipefish, Barchin scorpionfish and bigfin reef squid were all spotted as well as a couple of hard to spot frogfish. Perhaps the greatest find was the mandarin fish, a must see species for divers all over the world. Komodo certainly doesn’t disappoint when it comes to the ‘bucket list’ of most divers!
As no dive was lined up for the final day, it meant that we could get to Rinca early to make the most of the Komodo dragons in their natural habitat. The early morning is considered the best time to go as it usually means that the dragons are more active before the heat of the midday sun causes them to retreat into the forest. The guests were lucky to see six of these majestic creatures including one at the panoramic viewpoint taking in the view of the surrounding islands. Or maybe he was looking for a mate as this time of year is the breeding season for the dragons!
The sails were lifted for the journey back to Labuan Bajo whilst the guests swapped stories about the trip and made promises to keep in touch and hopefully dive together again sometime in the future.
-Komodo
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