Wicked Expedition - Komodo to Sulawesi

This trip was a very special and very different trip for the Wicked team and guests - an adventurous expedition from our base in Komodo heading north over 10 days to our final destination of Bira in South Suluwesi. To explore the rare and new dive sites we had the Wicked dive crew of Martyn and Ricky both from the UK with the wonderful varied guest group of ex Wicked staff Dani and Anna from Catalan, ex Wicked DMTs Bas (Netherlands), Laura (Belgium)and Thomas (Ireland). Aswell as members of the Wicked family Melati (Netherlands), Uwe (Denmark) and Jens (Germany). On the first day we had only a relaxing check dive on the schedule and went to Bididari (Angel island) just 20 minutes from the Labuan Bajo harbour. A really good macro dive site full of dramatic walls and beautiful whip coral covered slopes. We were treated to scores of rare nudis, plenty of ribbon eels, crocodile fish, scorpion fish, sweetlips, batfish and even a completely white stick pipefish which Dani and Anna kept secret much to Martyn's dissappointment having been in the area just moments before only seeing the photos when returning to the surface.”Finders keepers aye Dani ha ha”. After reaching the boat, full of smiles, we began the 2 hour journey to Wainilu just outside Loh Bouhaya (Crocodile Bay in the local tongue) to moor up for the night. But being a special trip and seeing the team still hungry for more we decided to do an extra dive at Wainilu (Cold Water in Rinca dialect) at night. Probably the best macro dive in the park we felt this was one we couldn't miss and it didn't disappoint, frogfish, halimeda ghost pipefish, indian ocean walkman, cuttlefish and hoards of decorator crabs and shrimps. The day done we had some delicious dinner and got some sleep before our journey south the following day.

Day 2 was a day of exploration with 2 sites being completely new and 2 which had only been visited once on previous trips. The dive sites were Lonely tree, Padar west wall, The Arch and Pantai Padar. In the three day dives we saw brown banded bamboo sharks, white tip reef sharks, black tip reef sharks, napoleon wrasse, huge bumphead parrotfish schools, green, hawksbill and olive ridley turtles and trevally and tuna hunting. The night dive at Padar beach was great too with ornate ghost pipefish, sea snakes, tiny octopus ( unidentified), scorpionfish, lionfish, morays and loads of nudis and crabs. A completely exhausted but thrilled boat anchored up in Padar beach ready for day 3.

The first dive was Pillarsteen a site of dramatic drop offs, walls loads of swim throughs and a generally gloomy sinister feel especially when large black tip reef sharks are patrolling the deep waters. The site is also known as surge city and true to form it was a surge filled exciting dive perfect to start the day and get the pulse racing! The next three dives were again exploratory dives on the south and west sides of Padar places we have wanted to explore for a while especially Sarang and Padar west rocks (Marathon Man) which we did in the day due to the strong currents and large swell experienced there. We had two great dives with incredible steep coral covered reefs and good visibility with white tip and brown banded bamboo sharks, napolean wrasse, bumphead parrotfish loads of rare nudis and huge schools of fusiliers trying to avoid the circling giant trevally predators. We attempted an extra night dive on west Padar but due to the 4 knot current we decided to abort for safety reasons! Well maybe thats one for next time when the suns still up, Grand Prix Padar comes to mind as a site name.

The next morning we awoke to go and dive Pink beach an exceptionally special area not just for the great dive site but also for the red/pink hue the sand of the beach has due to it's mineral content - it's 1 of only 7 official pink beaches in the world. A great dive with tons of snapper, stingray, green and hawksbill turtles and even a rare leaf scorpion fish. Next up we headed back towards central Komodo for a dive at the world famous Karang Makasser (Manta Point) judging it to be a good time in the lunar cycle and with positive reports from other boats, we had 3 manta sightings from the Jaya as we arrived at the site. We jumped in and saw nothing for the first 20 minutes just 1 turtle with the pressure on we crossed our fingers and fins and were rewarded with 10 plus manta for each group for about 40 minutes with 1 group seeing 7 in a mating train. Also thanks to Dani and Uwe 2 of the photo fanatics on board we managed to get some very good manta ID shots to send to The Manta Trust for our ongoing population monitoring with this great organisation. Well done guys woop!

Onwards and upwards we say and with faces grinning from ear to ear we headed to the very north of Komodo for the last dives in the park. The last dive of the day was the Cauldron where we saw leaf scorpion fish, fields of garden eels, white tip and black tip reef sharks, giant sweetlips and as we went through the “Shotgun” towards the end of the dive we came across a solitary manta ray woooohoooo! With cameras ready we found an area of slack water adjacent to the ripping current where the manta was feeding and playing and enjoyed 30 minutes with the graceful creature as well as more ID shots from the team of Dani and Uwe well done guys! Last of the day was a beach trip or relaxing times on the boat for sunset. Those of us that made the beach were surprised by a reef manta swimming right past the dingy as we crossed the Golden Passage and then quickly did another clean on a beach that is vastly improved in condition since we started at the start of the season. We headed up to the viewpoint for a sunset to remember with a cold beer and some delicious humous and bread prepared by the Wicked long time friend and chef sensation Melati. With tummies full of food and bin bags full of waste we headed to the Jaya to rest for the final day in the park.

The last day we arose early to do back to back dives at Castle Rock. Probably the most famous dive in the park and always a guest and staff favourite we had 2 incredible dives. Full of white tip reef sharks over 15 on one dive, giant trevally, napolean wrasse, leaf scorpion fish, hairy squat lobsters, raggy scorpion fish, ribbon eels and even 5 huge grey reef sharks! We thought it couldn't get any better and then it did when a baby whale shark appeared just 1.5m in length and we had the pleasure of diving and snorkelling with him for over forty minutes! WOOP WOOP! Last dive of the first half of the trip was an exploratory dive in Sebayor Passage a great drift and a great dive with a huge white tip, bumphead parrotfish, scorpion fish, green turtles and huge sea fans everywhere! The first half done we headed back to Labuan Bajo to restock the Jaya and do some maintenance on the boat to make sure she was ship shape for the long journey ahead. We headed to land for a couple of evening drinks of celebration and anticipation for the coming days before returning to the boat for some supper and well earned rest.

The next day we were still doing final checks on the brand new gearbox so decided to go to Bumphead Bommie, a beautiful seamount just outside the park before heading north full of white tip and black tip reef sharks, massive bumphead parrotfish of course, reef octopus and giant moray eels. On returning we had a light lunch and headed to the north of Flores to dive Sabolon Kecil and Seraya wall to find white tip and black tip reef sharks, Reef octopus, leaf scorpion fish, H.denise pygmy seahorse, winged pipefish, green turtles and crocodile fish. Not to forget the giant oceanic white manta we snorkelled with barrel rolling on the surface and dancing around in the water. With the sun setting we embarked on the 16 hour crossing to Taka Bonnerate on calm seas and a clear starry sky overhead.

The first day in Taka Bonnerate consisted of dives at Sane Sane and Timoro Kayuadi two islands on the outskirts of the park. The first two dives were in daylight and very similar with beautiful hard and soft coral slopes and 30m plus visibility, we saw sean snakes, giant marble rays on both dives, enormous dogtooth tuna, orangutan crabs and even three H. bargibant pygmy seahorse on a single gorgonia sae fan. The night dive at Tomoro Kayuadi was great too yielding ornate and robust ghost pipefish, stumpy spined and broad club cuttlefish, big fin reef squid, orangutan crabs, strange moray eels, nudis and crabs.

The next day we travelled into Taka Bonnerate proper and did the northern most point called Belane followed by two dives around Lumangan. All these dives were vertical walls with overhangs, small caves and ridges. Incredibly dramatic with 40m vis it was easy to see why people come dive here. In the three dives we saw orangutan crabs every dive, schools of large tuna, green and hawksbill turtles, reef octopus, scorpion fish, swathes of batfish sweetlips and in particular red tooth trigger fish and longfin banner fish hanging just off the rocky face making these dives truly memorable. The sun was setting as we surfaced after the last dive, the ocean was like glass and the sky was clear with the lagoon blue of the reef around the Jaya. It truly was a great day.

We set off first thing in the morning to make our first dive at the Selayar islands then onwards to Bira. The Northern Lighthouse Point was a reef slope ending in a wall and ridge descending down to 50m plus. That's where we saw several very large whitetip reef sharks and also as yet some unidentified “monster” sharks either huge grey reefs or bull we're not sure, but also great small stuff too weird nudis, hairy squat lobsters and leaf scorpion fish hunting glass fish made it a varied exciting start to the day.Onwards to Bira we did 3 more dives at Pulau Kambing, Shark Point and Bira beach night dive, we saw sharks on all 3 day dives and green turtles, napolean wrasse, oramgutan crabs, batfish and more leaf scorpion fish!

The last day of the trip had to come sometime and what a day to remember. The first dive was at a place called The Fish Market and was a favourite for many of the guests as well as myself and Ricky. Why I hear you ask? Well the 30 plus white tip reef sharks, napolean wrasse and massive school of barracuda was just the start as groups of sweetlips, batfish, tuna schools, massive morays and our favourite little orangutan crabs all added to a great dive! The last dive was at Cape Bira a notoriously dangerous sight but we timed it right and got in around slack tide to find great overhands full of sea fans, whip corals and sponges down at 18m full of life and plenty of the same macro critters we had loved finding and photographing all trip with both groups together for the safety stop and surfacing at the same time it was a great end to an incredible diving trip.


All that was left was to come into to harbour to see the ship yards of the Bugis craftsmen. Here a fleet of traditional Phinisi Schooners was being constructed some up to 35m long all from iron wood and hand tools is really something special. We decided to meet up in a Suluwesi Warung for a local style meal before we headed to a local kareoke bar with all the crew and guests for a good ol sing song and dance (also debate who was champion of dots Laura or Anna) before we went our seperate ways after a wicked 10 days I'm sure none of us will ever forget!



-Wicked Diving Expeditions