West Manggarai Manta Ray and Shark Sanctuary

We’re so proud to have been involved in the creation of the West Manggarai Manta Ray and Shark Sanctuary. This ground breaking announcement was made on 24th August after many long months of campaigning the local and national government.
We worked alongside MantaWatch to provide data to support this proposal. Much of this data came from you, our guests, in the form of ID photographs and also financial information that allowed us to put a price on how much mantas are worth to the area.
The whole dive community in Labuan Bajo played a huge part in petitioning the government to show them that mantas count, for the whole tourism industry.
The new sanctuary prohibits fishing for manta rays, sharks, and other threatened species including turtles and Napoleon wrasse, throughout the district’s 7,000km2 waters that extend up to 12 nautical miles offshore.
Read more: Indonesia creates new 7,000km2 manta ray sanctuary - MantaWatch 

Where does your data go?

Thank you to all of those guests who kindly gave us you ID shots of manta rays this year. We distribute these as widely as we can, currently to 3 major manta ray conservation agencies:
·         Manta Trust
·         MantaWatch
·         Manta Matcher

Here’s some feedback that we have received from these organisations:
“I have to say a huge congratulations and thank you to the Wicked team for these incredible trips you run and the impact you have on people...you are awesome!” Sarah Lewis, Founder/Principal Scientist | Indonesian Manta Project and Project Leader Indonesia | Manta Trust
“I think it is very admirable that your organization or any organization wants to participate in citizen science. Manta Matcher is a great way for the public to get involved and engage in conservation by helping with research efforts while they are on holiday.” Dr Andrea Marshall, Marine Megafauna Foundation

So, what did we learn this year?

This year, thanks to all of our guests, we collected lots of useful data.
We received ID shots of 50 individual manta rays! As Wicked Diving’s guides do not take cameras on their dives, we can only do this with the support of our guests, so thanks to everyone who shared their photos with us.
We logged data on over 60 separate dives at manta ray hotspots. Not only that but we saw some very interesting behaviour – feeding and cleaning was common place, but we also had many instances of manta courtship, some lucky divers getting right in the middle of this mating ritual. Additionally particularly earlier in the season, we saw a lot of manta breaching, which is a truly special sight. On some dives, guests and guides even watched mantas breaching the surface continually as they sat at 7m underwater! Pretty breathtaking stuff.
We certified 95 divers as SSI Manta Ray Divers. This is a unique specialty to Wicked Diving, written in-house by our instructor team. To all of those who joined this unique club this year – congratulations!

Events: Mantap Mantas = Awesome Mantas!

We’ve been holding bi-monthly educational talks in town to help speak to the visitors to this area and raise awareness of the plight of the manta ray.
The feedback that we have had from all of you is that not many people are aware of the Gill Raker Trade that currently threatensmanta rays.
We hope, that through this, we can continue to great momentum in the fight for the manta rays, and share some fun facts also.
If you have any friends and family visiting the area, please ask them to join us.
You can read more about these talks on the Flores Tourism website - http://www.florestourism.com/news/ray-hope-mantas

Coming soon to Wicked Diving Komodo

Friend of Wicked, Photographer and Designer, Lia Barrett, has designed a beautiful t-shirt for Wicked Diving and The Manta Trust.
Proceeds from all the sales will be given directly to The Manta Trust to support their ongoing research and education programme.
You can check out the design on Lia’s website (and look for some other incredible designs too, all of which come directly from her photos).  It’s so cute.
http://www.prawnoapparel.com/
We are finalising the first batch right now and can’t wait for them to arrive so we can not only look cool, but also support a fantastic charity.

What’s next?

We will continue our Manta Ray Research & Education trips next year in Komodo. In addition, we continue to support The Manta Trust and also The Misool Manta Project during our season in Raja Ampat this year.
We will submit all sightings data to The Misool Manta Project and hope for some interesting findings. Did you currently know that there is no crossover between the manta ray populations in the North and the South of Raja Ampat?
On a more artistic note, we hope to work with volunteers from local NGO, Support International, to make a giant bamboo manta out of recycled materials. We want to use this to create a float a drive around town on our magic manta to publicise our talk and to raise more local awareness about manta protection! As soon as we have photos, we’ll be sure to share on the Wicked Diving Facebook page.



-Wicked Diving Komodo

The first Similan Liveaboard of the season - Manta Ray AND Whale Shark

We've just returned from our first six day liveaboard of the new season in the Similan and Surin national parks - and what an amazing 6 days it's been!!! Whale Shark! Manta Ray! Incredible - nay - Wicked Diving!!!


Onboard for the full six days we had Nadav from Israel, Nicholas and Nina from Germany, from the USA Tracey and Wayne, David from Belgium and Danielle from the UK, for the first three days we were also joined by Americans James and Katie, Casey from South Africa, Helen from England and Dorean who joined us from Singapore, and on the final three days up to the Surin islands we had the company of Phil, Lizzie, Jonathan, Daisy, Brett, Nick and Joanna, dive masters and instructors who came over from Koh Tao in the Gulf of Thailand, two Australians, Anthony and Therese, Jean and Meredith from America, and finally Ritesh and Megha from India. With captain Wit at the wheel we set off on the 18th of October for six days of diving.


After arriving at the Similans during the night the first dive of the trip was at Anita’s reef, a very pretty dive site with wonderful coral formations and beautiful white sand, a great place to refresh our dive skills after the low season, a huge giant moray being one of the highlights.

Then off to Deep six and Stonehenge to explore the huge granite boulders typical of the similan islands westerly dive sites, with schools of fusiliers and travelly in the deeper water. A visit to the beach on Similan island number four wrapped up the first day.



Day two saw us at West of Eden, a favorite in the Similans due to the many different small marine creatures to be found, only to be surprised when one of the largest swam by and we had our first manta ray sighting of the new season. Over to Elephant Head Pinnacle for dive two for a highly entertaining dive in the end of monsoon swells and a more relaxed dive on the fringing reef at Three Trees, then a well deserved rest before the first night dive in Donald Duck Bay.

Day three, and we headed north to North Point, some more large swells around the boulders made diving there tricky and after retreating to the reef we were delighted to spot our first shark this season, a small white tip shark resting under some coral happily posed for a few photos and everyone on the boat had a chance to see it. For the last dive on day three we left the nine Similan islands behind and traveled to Koh Bon, to the north, where it was nice to see some beautifully colourful soft corals covering the famous west ridge on this dive site

After a short trip to the mainland to restock supplies and changeover a few of the guests, day four found us back at Koh Bon, two more excellent dives here turned up huge clouds of glass fish, which were being continually dive bombed by checkered snappers and rainbow runners, and a couple of large napoleon wrasse kept us entertained.

Off then to Koh Tachai, where some of the more advanced divers decided to dive the pinnacle, in what looked to be a very strong current, after forty minutes hard finning the aches in our legs were forgotten when we saw the largest fish in the sea, a four meter long whale shark cruised effortlessly past one of the dive groups!! The day was finished off with a visit to Koh Tachai beach, where some got involved in a beach cleanup, we were happy to find there was not too much rubbish on the beach that day which gave us plenty of time to enjoy the sunset.

Sorry - old photo :( 

Day five and we returned to the pinnacle with fingers crossed for another whale shark sighting, but alas it was not to be, with barracuda and giant trevallies it still made for a great morning dive. Off then to the Surin islands, with dives at East Rocks and Koh Torinla, and it was here in a large patch of coral rubble that the nudi hunters had there best dive, stopping every few meters to photograph another new variety. The divers looking for something larger were treated to another white tip shark. A night dive in Aow Pakad and a large dinner left everyone ready for bed.

Day six we awoke a Richelieu Rock, the most famous site in Thailand, and rounded off the trip in spectacular style. Soft corals, sea fans, octopus, mating cuttle fish, barracudas, pipe fish, nudibranchs, schools of snappers, fusiliers, emperor fish and so much more, Richelieu proved again why it is such a popular dive site. After two dives, with the guests talking of what they had seen and wanting to do it all again, it was unfortunately time to head back to land, and the end of the first six days.

A massive thanks to each guest who joined us and a very big round of applause to the Similan Islands who welcomed us back with some great diving!!!

-Wicked Diving Thailand

Manta Ray Education Trip: Komodo National Park September 2013

We left Labuan Bajo on the 7th of September. On board we had the pleasant company of Jim, Matt and Karen from the UK, Steve from New Zealand, Nathalie, Ellen and Torben from Switzerland and (homeless;-)) Jeff, from the USA. Boat crew consisted of Ahmad, Ahmed, Mama Angel, Marwan, Heri, Suliman and Herman. From the Tourism School of Komodo we had intern Suryadi joining us. Dive staff were Steve, Marsel and Pit.

A 5 day manta education trip was planned for this trip. The check dive was done at Sabolan Kecil. A school of about 60 batfish were found on the outer reef, nudibranchs, lionfish, a yellow edged moray eel, big pufferfishes, an eagle ray and the ever amazing big and beautiful sea fans. Slightly rocking we headed up North after the dive. The first manta presentation that evening was about manta biology and ecology. The fact that our lovely guests came to a manta education trip is already a success. It gives us data to show that mantas alive are a lot more valuable then when they are being fished out. Which is very important data considering the threats they are facing. Beside that everybody was enthusiastic about becoming a SSI Manta Diver.

The next day we started with a possible manta dive. No mantas were seen, but Lighthouse is a stunning reef nonetheless. Turtles, white tip reef sharks, nudibranchs, giant trevallys, moray eels, four eagle rays and lots of batfish were seen. The current dropped so the dive was finished on the pinnacles on the corner. They are just stunning; the variety of the  colours of the corals, the light and the bright blue visibility were amazing. The second dive at Castle Rock had a little surprise for us. Now, before you get excited it wasn’t a manta;-). The current was fairly strong and all groups therefore jumped in the split on the current side. We hit the reef and parked ourselves in the split. There were white tip reef sharks everywhere, a possible 9 different sharks were seen. But beside that after about 5 minutes 2 grey reef sharks appeared! One was a nice big stocky female, the other one a smaller female. They kept on returning to the reef and basically together with the white tip reef sharks stayed with us for about 25 minutes when it was time to get to the lee side. Giant trevallys passed and a Napoleon came to visit as well. There was just action everywhere!

We finished the day with the Cauldron. As almost always, people are not only having lots of fun going through the cauldron via the shot gun, they also are stunned by the wonderful and stunning topography. The wall at the start of the dive, the sand with the garden eels and white tips cruising and resting, the cauldron with the fishbowl, the shotgun to get out and then the beautiful soft coral garden at the end. Some groups saw turtles already before the cauldron, others on the coral reef afterwards. And beside that the last group actually saw a little manta just after the shotgun. Estimation so far is that he or she was not much bigger than 1,50m (mantas when they are born are about 1,10m-1,30m). It was playing in the current and by the looks of it with a cheeky smile on its face!

So an awesome first day of diving! The extreme beach clean up was between singles versus couples and was won by a highly motivated couples team, although the singles did find a rare transformer toy as part of their garbage! Then we all went up the hill to enjoy a beautiful sunset with a beer (bringing the empty cans back as part of the rubbish of course!!)

After dinner it was time to learn more about Manta identification. What is important data, how do you identify males and females, different species (manta birostris and manta alfredi), how to dive with mantas and how do you take an ID shot for the Komodo Manta Database were the subjects covered. Over the past year Wicked Diving has collected data on dozens of different Manta Rays and certified more than 150 of our guests as Manta Ray specialists. This data and the popularity of our trips has helped make Komodo the newest Manta Ray sanctuary in the world! More then 7000 square Km is set aside as protected  (also for sharks and several reef species as well!!!)

Day two started with a dive on Crystal Rock. At least 6 white tip reef sharks were seen resting and swimming and a small baby one resting under one of the table corals, a big school of surgeonfish, several types of trevallys (big eye, blue fin and giant trevallys), whip coral shrimp and a leaf scorpion fish. There were also lots of moray eels poking their heads out, lionfish and scorpionfish.

In the Golden Passage several white tip reef sharks were seen, bumphead parrotfish and 3 devil rays! Turtles everywhere and for some of the groups a strong down current in the end ;-). Karang Makassar had all kinds of surprises for us. Black tip reef sharks and white tip reef sharks were seen. A massive sting ray, a ‘hobbing’ scorpionfish (I mean you can’t tell me that was swimming really;-)) and an amazing Spanish Dancer for one of the groups. Dancing in the blue as if it was night time! From the surface before the dive we had already spotted a rather huge turtle head coming up to breath and one of the groups actually ran in to her on the dive…..our new friend the loggerhead turtle. Her head is enormous! And it must be more than 150 years old…..well we don’t know that really but it looks old and wise;-)!

We moored up at Siaba Besar for the night dive. A big sandy slope, with lots of pulsing polyp coral that hides all kinds of creatures; flatworms, nudibranchs, crabs, blue spotted sting rays, lionfish and beautiful soft corals. No more manta talking for that night, it was time to warm up, enjoy the yummy dinner and go to bed. Of course only after watching all the great video and photo footage of the day!

Day three arise, with Tatawa Besar as our first dive. We hang out in the split with the twin spot snappers, red tooth triggerfish and damsel fish. We found a beautiful blue ribbon eel, and beautiful sea fans. Lots of orange and green hydroids colour the reef beautifully and that together with the thousands of fish everywhere makes it one of the most beautiful coral slopes that Komodo has to offer. It was a fast drift, that has to be said, so turtles were flying by, together with big pufferfishes, and batfishes. At the end towards the safety stop, a black tip reef shark passed by at the edge of the reef and more turtles came to play.

Mauan is one of the Manta hot spots we visited after that. We dropped on the sandy slope, where we know are several cleaning stations. We did see a cuttlefish, a snowflake moray eel, white tip reef shark, flatworm and a black leafy scorpionfish in the end. Everything agreed the reef was in fantastic condition, but unfortunately the mantas didn’t come to play. The last dive of the day was at Batu Bolong. A strong rising tide brought us lots of action even on the lee side. Trevally’s hunting, Napoleons feeding,  white tip reef  sharks resting and cruising, and several very big hawksbill turtles. The map puffer fishes are probably the fattest ones we have in the park! Lots of scorpionfish were found as well and a dramatic wall side going down deep. It is one of the top 4 most famous dives in the park and it rightfully deserves it’s fame.

A few stayed relaxing on the boat afterwards whilst others went to the beach at Siaba Kecil. Another successful clean up and lots of chatting, photographing and enjoying the sunset from the stunning beach of Siaba Kecil.

In the evening it was time for the last manta presentation about threats and conservation. Why mantas are so vulnerable and need our help and how we can do so were some of the topics covered. Afterwards we watched Andrea Marshalls “Queen of mantas”, the BBC documentary from 2009.

The next morning we flew on the first 10 minutes of Siaba Kecil. Enjoy the ride and the turtles flying by. But after 10 minutes of craziness, we got to the easy coral slope to enjoy the rest of the dive just swimming slowly. We saw scorpionfish, lionfish and a brown banded bamboo shark that was resting on the coral slope. It let us get very close! But the big relief and happiness came after breakfast. We had an awesome plan, we would dive Karang Makassar, if we wouldn’t find mantas we would go and snorkel the back and the front until we did and then dive again. But from the surface the boat crew spotted mantas just before Steve was about to go and check the current. So everybody jumped in with him to do the current check……well not really, everybody jumped to see the mantas! Five mantas were seen including one black morph. The dive briefing was done on the dive deck and we all jumped in afterwards to see if we could find them diving as well. And we did!!! Most of them were cleaning on the cleaning stations. Females, males, big and small gave us quality time with them. It was awesome! One big female had at least 25 butterfly fish on her. But also a big free swimming moray eel, a baby moray eel, turtle and a peacock mantis shrimp were spotted.

So we asked everybody what to do next, do another dive here, or leave one for the last day. All agreed that we wanted to take another chance, do another dive at Makassar and see what it would bring us. Would they still be around? They were!!!The tide was rising. And mantas were having a good clean both on the deeper and shallower cleaning stations. A brown banded bamboo shark passed by Steve’s head and a black tip reef shark later came to say hello as well. In the rubble a peacock mantis shrimp was trying to hide. Both mantas seen were male and both stayed for at least 25 minutes on the station getting a good clean. What a happy flappy day! And thanks a lot for the ID footage! Incredibly helpful and important for the Komodo National Park and mantas in general!

It was time to go to Wainilu, an absolute awesome muck dive during the day and a fantastic night dive. Spanish Dancers, decorated crabs, ornate ghost pipefish, several types of moray eels, nudibranchs, cuttlefish, squid, mandarin fish and all kinds of other creatures that were amazingly weird! Afterwards there was lots of talking about what we had seen, and the general consensus was that it had be an awesome diving day! Mantas, critters and lots of fun!

That was our diving done but not yet the end of the trip. We went dragon trekking in the morning. A medium length trek, with lots of big and baby dragons. A beautiful view from the top of the hill, bush turkeys, monkeys and even from the Scotchy we were pretty sure we saw the crocodile! Off for a last bit of snorkeling and then it was time to put up the sails and sail into the harbor of Labuan Bajo. At five we met again in the shop to see some traditional dancing and have a drink together. Thanks to all of you for an amazing trip!

-Wicked Diving Komodo

Manta Ray Research - Komodo, Indonesia

We started this special 5 day Manta Ray Research trip on the 10th of August. On board we welcomed Linda and Steve and Tanya from the UK, Tamas and Erika from Hungary, Mauro and Juha from Finland, Baiba and Martins from Estonia, Isabella from Singapore and Justin from Australia and Coco and Timo from China. Tanya, Coco and Timo actually ‘rejoined’ us after having done a three day liveaboard ….I guess they liked it;-).

Dive crew were Martyn, Valentino, Marsel and Pit and the awesome Jaya boat crew of Captain Nass,  Marwan, Unas, Suleman, Ahmed, Mala and Rambo were on board to take us safely on our journey.

A special manta education trip means that we are trying to educate our guests about manta rays. With this multiple purposes are met: we learn more about mantas and at the same time we collect information on the mantas within the Komodo National Park. Topics that we talked about were the basic biology of mantas, mating and feeding habits, diving with mantas and threats and conservation. Armed with a simple slate and a pencil we record data on the dive site conditions (tides, currents, weather and so on), how many mantas were seen at which time, the frequency of males to females and if possible take ID shots of individual mantas. This helps us together with The Manta Trust to identify and hopefully protect the manta population in Komodo. After watching the presentations as well as collecting some Manta data as citizen scientists, our guests got a SSI Manta Diver speciality issued after the trip. Great job guys!

After a check dive on Sebayor to get everybody sorted out for the trip we stayed in the centre of the national park the next day. A brilliantly, stunning dive on Batu Bolong was what we started with. Sharks, turtles, schooling banner fish, ‘rave nudibranchs’ (nembrotha purpureolineata), crystal clear visibility and the ever friendly looking Napoleons made this an epic dive. After that we headed for Karang Makassar, also known as Manta Point. After seeing a manta from the surface we could almost not wait to jump in. After a special Manta pray lead by Martyn, we went in with our fingers crossed. We did see brown banded bamboo sharks and an eagle ray, but unfortunately our gentle giants did not respond to our prayers. The next dive was planned for Mauan, another special site where manta rays can be encountered. This time there was no time to lose, as the current check had revealed a single manta cruising the reef. We jumped in on the sandy slope and had an hour of awesome manta encounters. At least 4 individuals kept on coming in to the reef to get cleaned and feed. Even though the water was a shockingly cold 26 degrees, everybody came up with a big happy smile after that. Beside that we managed to get some awesome videos to help to identify them later on.

It was time to head up North. We started our diving day at The Cauldron, which has such a varying topography, it’s like diving 5 sites in one! Starting with a dramatic wall, we found a Denise pygmy sea horse on one of the Gorgonian Sea Fans. After that it becomes a sandy slope with massive garden eels and white tip reef sharks. Then you get to a deep canyon cut out of the rock face by the current nicknamed the fish bowl teeming with schooling snapper and trevally! The cauldron itself a huge 25m basin was alive with giant trevallys, giant sweetlips, snappers and a solitary stalking white tip. The stairs to heaven (otherwise known as the ‘shotgun’) brought us very gently to the finish of this dive which is a beautiful soft coral garden with green and hawksbill turtles.

After this pleasant start we went to one of the Big 4 in the National Park. Castle Rock always has lots to offer. A very pretty reef, white tip reef sharks, Napoleons, tons of bannerfish, damselfish, anthias and fusiliers. There is just action everywhere you look! The golden Passage was the next stop, a very mild current gave us plenty of opportunity to go nudibranch hunting. Beside that a school of batfish, scribbled filefish, pufferfish, cornet fish and some of us even saw sharks again on this dive.
The night dive was done in the far North. A 5 day trip makes it possible to go further North West to Batu Monco Bay. On the night dive crabs, lobsters, tiny juvenile lionfish, huge cuttlefish and lucky Juha even spotted a harlequin shrimp!

Next day started with a crazy current dive on Batu Monco. After checking the current and coming up with a good solid plan, Komodo had a little surprise for us and changed our direction, so to say. Of course there was lots of life on the reef, but the drift was not easy. After this adventure we headed off to Crystal. Crystal is like a big diamond. White tip reef sharks in the split but also baby white tips under a table coral on the lee side. Beside that there were so many reef fish, and an escort of Napoleon wrasses hunting together with goatfish and trevallys.

The day ended very pleasantly, an absolutely lush dive on Lighthouse. The current died down, so it was easy and the pinnacles at the corner are stunning. Not only are the corals on the pinnacles absolutely mind blowing and the dramatic drop off on the other side totally overwhelming. The visibility was to put it simply: awesome. We found a big squashy black frogfish, some white tip reef sharks sleeping on the sandy bottom and a little hawksbill turtle that was very bold and dived right under two of our divers.

An enthusiastic afternoon 10 minute beach clean up resulted in a draw. We have come up with a tradition where we split into two teams and see who can clean up the most rubbish and who can do this fastest. The winning team earns the title ‘Extreme beach clean champions’, a very prestigious title indeed! This time it was Scandinavia and Eastern Europe versus the rest of the world! Everybody made a big effort in cleaning the beach and as a reward a sunset beer on top of the hill was gained.
After dinner it was time to watch the BBC documentary, "Andrea Queen of the Mantas" (which we strongly recommend purchasing and watching!). Now the only question that remained after that is, will the gentle giants come and say hello tomorrow?!

The next day we went back into the central part of Komodo. Tatawa Besar is one of the most special and beautiful coral gardens. All colours of the rainbow are present and the diversity of soft and hard corals outstanding. The drift was a fast one which made the dive even more spectacular. But no gentle giants just yet…..Also Makassar didn’t bring us any luck. Sharks galore and plenty of turtles showed up but the gentle giants remained elusive.

Last chance of the day….Mauan, we were lucky once, would we be again?! We were!!!! At least 2 mantas, possibly 3, came to visit us again on the sandy slope. Getting cleaned and fed we had the pleasure of them for the whole hour. In between we found a crocodilefish, lionfish, cuttlefish and plenty of other critters. All the while being pleasantly ‘disturbed’ every 5 minutes by our giant friends……so happy!

On the last day in the early morning at Rinca Island, everybody got to meet the famous Komodo Dragons. After that we still had time for a nice bit of snorkeling at Kelor Island. Just before we jumped in the water there were dolphins around the boat! We didn’t get to snorkel with them, since they are very shy, but it was a very nice sighting from the boat anyway. All good things must come to an end, with the sails up we sailed back to the harbor of Labuan Bajo.  Thanks to everyone for an amazing trip.


 -Wicked Diving Komodo

Komodo Liveaboard Trip report - July Manta Education Trip

Every month, Wicked Diving run 5 day 5 night Manta Education trips on board the SY Jaya liveaboard. We plan these trips to coincide with the moon cycles, as new and full moons hold the best chances of diving with these graceful giants. With the new moon approaching, the Jaya set sail for the National Park on the afternoon of 6th July, with a fresh group of guests who had a desire to learn more about manta rays and hopefully dive with them too.

On board for this trip were John and Dave from Scotland and Wales respectively; Anders and Katherine from Denmark; Gill, Rich, Katie and Ryan who all live in Bangkok; Paul and Sylvine from France; Jens from Germany and Joe and Liv from New York City. Martyn was leading the trip, Jo was sharing her manta knowledge and Carl and Steve were backing up the team as dive guides. In addition Fauzi was making his first trip with us as part of his internship on a diving placement from Komodo island. Ensuring all proceedings went smoothly were Cap Achmad, Suleman, Heri, Marwan, Dullah, Nas and super cooking duo Ahmed and Mala.

The first evening saw us get acquainted with the boat and when all equipment was set up and briefings completed we headed over to Sabayor for our check dive. Lobsters, eagle rays and leaf fish were just a few of the lovely reef creatures that we spotted during the dive. Following the dive, we headed directly to the north of the national park and Martyn ran through the trip schedule and Jo gave some information about what kind of manta education would be delivered over the coming days.

The next day was an easy start – a three dive day starting at the Golden Passage. It was the first current dive for some and a great drift to get started with. As we cruised through the labyrinth of rock formations and coral heads, we also spotted black tips, white tips, schooling batfish, barracuda and small schooling parrotfish. Breakfast preceded a wonderful dive at Lighthouse were the first manta of the trip was spotted. In addition, some lucky divers also saw pygmy seahorses, a giant frogfish, called Darryn and a whole host of fish species schooling around the dramatic pinnacles. The final dive of the day was made at the famous, Crystal Rock, where conditions were challenging, but ti still didn’t stop a great dive. We then headed west to a sheltered bay and on the way were treated to a beautiful sight of the sun setting behind twin peaked volcano, Sangeang. In the evening the first section of the manta education programme began – a lecture on manta ray biology and ecology during which guests learned about the different species of manta ray, feeding habits and where you can find them.

After an early wake up, coffee for the bleary eyed few, we started the day with a drift at Batu Moncu. This is a relatively new dive site in the schedule and always a crowd pleaser, with sharks, giant sweetlips and turbo speed turtles coming out to play. Then we headed back towards the north with Castle Rock in our sights. As always it put on quite the show with Steve’s group literally ending up inside a baitball of fusiliers being stalked by countless trevally for a large part of the dive, then 6 white tips skulked in to join the hunt. It really was quite breathtaking. After a well earned lunch we finished up the day dives with a stint at The Cauldron. We were on the hunt for mantas, but they didn’t joi us on this dive, so we made do with looking at spectacular scenery of coral covered walls, Japanese style bonsai coral gardens on the pristine white sand and of course the amphitheatre-like bowl of The Cauldron itself. Then it was time to say goodbye to the north and head to the centre of the National Park to make a night dive at Siaba Besar. The night dive showed us a whole host of critters as usual – hermit crabs and decorator crabs, squid, flatworms, mantis shrimp and even hunting barracuda. During the day today Jo also gave a talk about manta identification, which covered how to tell the difference between species, between sexes and information about different colours in manta rays.

The next day started off with a beautiful morning dive at Batu Bolong, were divers did not know where to look and although they tried hard to peer through the schooling fish to look for small critters, the stunning scenery won over and it’s was easier to gaze at the scene in wide angle. After this it was time to start the hunt for mantas again and we arrived at Karang Makassar just in time for the turn of the tide, from a falling to a rising. We held off the dive to allow time for the currents to build and then jumped. Some lucky groups jumped right on top of a manta. Every group saw between 6 and 9 and spent the majority of their dives with them, which was a relief for the whole dive team as we desperately wanted everyone to get to dive with them. It was a first for many of our guests which was very exciting also. We headed back for another dive there, the tide had changed to a falling again and this led to less mantas, but we also got to see devil rays, eagle rays, mangrove whiprays and black tip sharks, so all in all a great dive and we collected some really useful data for The Manta Trust too.

On our final full day, the schedule was packed. Dives were planned at Tatawa Besar, Mauan, Tengah and Wainilu with a sunset visit to Kaaba added into the schedule too. Divers got lucky today – mantas were spotted at Tatawa and Mauan, in addition to lots more great marine life, and the water wasn’t too cold at Tengah. The flying fox migration from Kaaba everyone’s jaws dropping as they left the mangroves in their thousands to look for food. After this we finished up the dive schedule with our night dive at Wainilu, full of strange critters, we spotted cuttlefish, nudis, decorator crabs and many other odd creatures.

On the final day, we woke early to head to Rinca for dragon trekking. When we arrived at the island, we immediately saw monkeys prowling around the perimeters and not long after that we stumbled upon the dragons lounging around. After a few photos and a nice walk up to the viewpoint to see the Jaya waiting in Loh Buaya bay, we made our way back to the boat. We stopped on the way home for a snorkel and put the sails up for one final hurrah.

This manta trip was hugely successful. Mantas were seen on 5 out of 15 dives and at 4 separate locations within the National Park. We are very grateful to everyone that helped us on the trip to gather important research data, from ID shots to environmental logs. We really hope that we had an impact on everyone who joined and raised awareness of the plight of the manta ray as we all want to be diving with this wonderful species for many decades to come.


 -Wicked Diving in Komodo

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

Komodo Liveaboard - Trip Report June 7, 2013

After Jaya came back from a 3 day trip we restocked on fuel and fresh food in LBJ. It was then time to go out again a few hours later. Laura, Jan and  Zaida came back out and we said hello to Tim, Blair, Dayana, Lashack, Kara, Mary, Paul, Lauren, Adam and Amy. The staff on the trip was Jo, Marcel, Carl and Mickey.

The sun was shining and the sea was flat so it looked like it was going to be a good few days. Our Komodo Diving Liveaboard arrived just before sunset in Sabayor for a snorkel. Cuttlefish were seen together with some stingrays and the sunset was just amazing! The clouds changed from white to orange to pink to red. It was just beautiful.When the sun was down it was dinner and games time. Some new uno was played with two handed players. Jo lost her right hand real soon but her lefty didn't give up!

First morning easy relaxing dive to start the day at Sabayor as well. After that it got more and more fishy and filled with corals in Tatawa Besar and Castle. It was so filled with fish in Castle Rock that we nearly lost each other between all the fish. Just great! Sharks were swimming around just no idea where to look anymore.

Then Carl's group was going diving for navigation and all the other guest went for the first ever Extreme Wicked pirate style big beach clean up. And it was Wicked!!! 

The group was divided into two teams. Both teams had to collect rubbish and pack it into a bin bag. The team who filled there bin bag quickest was the winner. Everybody was dressed up as a pirate and when Jo blew the whistle everybody started running like crazy to get there bags filled. Within a minute Marcel's group found a second bin bag completely filled with rubbish already, man that's good effort! They filled another bag pretty quick as well and Tim's group was there shortly after with a full bag! And that all within 8 minutes, Good work Wicked pirates!!! They all deserved a little prize and a beautiful sunset on top off the hill.

Second day started with The Passage. There was a gentle drift so we didn't have to swim at all. We all just looked at the sharks that passed and at the end we got treated with a big school of Bumphead parrotfish. Second dive was Karang Makassar and the hope to see some manta's. Everybody was lucky enough to see some - more than 2 dozen mantas!!! We managed to collect some information for The Manta Trust and just watched the happening. They are so gentle and beautiful to watch!

For the third dive we went to Batu Bolong were it was a treat to our eyes. Fish, nudi's and corals everywhere.The last dive of the day was a night dive at Wainilu. For many of us it was the first night dive and for others it was the first muck dive. Marcel found his group a robust ghostpipefish, really special and every saw a lot of critters because it was the  last night, drinks came out. Photos and films being watched and exchanged and stories were told.

Early morning of the last day we dived Penga. Loads and loads of schooling fish, nudi's swimming feather stars and more and more. Great dive to finish a great diving trip with! But it wasn't all over. After breakfast it was dragon time. Amy got so excited beforehand that she thought she was gonna see hundreds of dragons. She came back a bit disappointed but there were still enough around to enjoy the walk.

On the way back it was time to chill out for everybody except for Carl's group. They finished off all theory for there advanced course. and they all passed! Well done Kara for you're adventure Navigation and for Paul, Amy and Lauren for their full advanced course!
We had some tropical rain close to LBJ but luckily it was sunny and warm back in LBJ itself when we said our goodbyes to all.

-Wicked Diving - Fun in Komodo

Manta Ray Research in Komodo National Park - Trip Report

Wicked Diving Offers several unique trips and courses throughout the year. In Komodo, the park is blessed with many amazing species - and one of the most famous (aside from the dragons) are the year-round presence of Manta Rays! For this reason we are in the unique position of having nearly daily sightings. Wicked Diving Komodo takes these opportunities to conduct research! By documenting all our encounters, photographing the ones we can and collating all this data we are able to better help Manta Trust (and other NGO's) track population changes, migratory patterns and even breeding areas. After the New Moon of each month (when sightings are most common) we run unique 5 day Manta Ray research trips where we dive the sites with most frequent encounters to document these moments. The data we collected through 2012 was used to help support the CITES listing of Manta Rays as a protected species! 

This year has seen the creation of the world's largest Manta Ray and Shark protection zone in Raja Ampat (created, in part, by Manta Trust). Together We hope to create a similar protection area in our part of Indonesia! You can learn more about our Manta Ray Research in Komodo 

For this Manta Ray Research trip - Sara, Jonathan and Andrew liked the previous Jaya trip so much that they joined us again! Than we had Georg joining us and doing a advanced course at the same time. And Matt, Julie and Thomas. Mel, a friend of Wicked and very accomplished chef who resides in Bali was joining us on this trip to help our cook, Ahmed to make the food even better than it already is, and to squeeze a few dives in too? Guides on the trip were Carl, Jo and Mickey. We left Labaun Bajo for five days and five nights of fun on the Jaya; diving in search of Manta Rays in Komodo, learning more about Manta Rays, lots of great diving and just loads of fun.

First day we had a sunset dive at Bidadari. It's a great site to see some cool critters and everyone was happy to get wet again. In the evening time we travelled to Sabayor for sleep.

The next morning we woke up with a small breakfast and the first dive was made here. We had a little drift at Sabayor which was great to get ready for some stronger drifts later in the trip. Everybody saw loads of juvenile fish. Juvenile parrotfish, clownfish and the cute harlequin sweet lips. They can't really swim yet, they just flap around. And Sara even found a few nudis herself this dive. Good on you Sara!

Tatawa Kecil was next dive, always and dive with interesting current, and because of that really "fishy" and beautiful. After that it was time for some Manta education and stories. Jo taught us all about Manta Ray biology and after that it was time to try to find some :) 

And find them we did! We had nearly all the dive with them! Some were doing a little dance for us. Others were feeding or being cleaned. We even thought that two were about to mate but it didn't happen. Oh and not just Manta Rays - but we saw a spotted eagle ray as well.

We all had to recover from that great dive and chilled out till it was time for the night dive. It was also the adventure deep dive for Georg and Julie's first night dive. We dived with some nudis, a squid and loads of crustaceans, not bad at all. The amount of phosherescence in the water was incredible. Sara, in particular, enjoyed playing around with it for at least half the dive. In the evening some rummicub was played and some chatting about the stars. The stars were incredible. So many and so clear!

Next morning we went to Komodo to see the dragons. The rangers told us all about the flora and fauna. We found 2 dragons, a deer, a wild pig loads of different kind of birds and as a surprise we had about 5 dragons hanging around close to the cafe. Some were hissing and it looked like they were up for a fight. It didn't happen but still they were really active.

After that we had a real big good breakfast then we dived Pink beach, very beautiful, easy dive where we drifted along spotting turtles and and a big school of jacks as we went.

And we didn't have enough of this sort of diving so Mawan was the next one, a nice easy going dive. And as a nice surprise we had Manta Rays on this dive! They just came to say hi but it was great to see that they were around. And after the dive we were honored to see some Manta's breaching the surface too which was a treat for everyone and answered the question, "do Manta Rays jump?". Next stop was Siaba Kecil for a little beach time. At this beautiful pink sand beach we saw baby sharks while snorkeling and other people just enjoyed the beach.  We then made a night dive before dinner and games.

Next day we headed to central Komodo, Batu Bolong was the first dive. Great dive to much to see. People asked for nudis, they were found. People asked for Napoleon wrasse and they were found too. Last but not least Jo's group saw a Manta at the end of the dive passing by.

Next two dives were at Karang Makassar after another Manta story. A total of 43 Manta Rays seen in two dives by two groups! that is correct - 43 rays!!! So we don't need to explain how great this was! And to finish of the day everybody saw a white-tip shark on the dive and Mickey's group a turtle as well.

The last whole day was there already.... Diving up north. Unfortunately the had some waves so we had to change plans. But diving in the Cauldren is never bad and this was no exception. The visibility was beautiful and The current was mild enough that we could explore the dive site in it's entirity!

Then Georg had to do another dive to show Mickey his navigation skills and the we all dived Crystal Bommie. Very good dive, loads to see from baby white tip sharks sleeping under table coral and fighting octopus in holes. Castle Rock was the last dive of the day, the vis was good and it was so fishy there wasn't a place to look without one school or another swimming past and above us all. We also saw some sharks, turtles and Napoleon wrasse to finish the dive off.

For sunset we went to the viewpoint and did a beach clean up. Thank you to all who joined in. After another delicious meal, Jo did the final Manta Education and we finished off with a documentary from Andrea Marshall "Queen of the Manta's".

We woke early the next morning on The final Day and heared to Lighouse. The drift was strong, but some divers still managed to see The giant frogfish who resides there. For The last dive, Mickey really pulled it out The bang and showed her Group a pod of dolphins who stayed with them for a while. there was not really much more we could do to top this, but stopped for a snorkel at kanawa, before we returned to Labaun Bajo. 

As our parting gift to all our guests we organize a celebration of the local future in Flores. Together with a troupe of local dancers keeping alive the the traditional local dances - we have a  small farewell ceremony and sunsets drinks on the beach. Very few visitors to Labuan Bajo enjoy the richness and complexity of the local culture, so we thought we'd make that extra effort and share our passion for the region!

Thanks so much for joining us guys and we look forward to seeing you again soon.

The Manta Trust is a UK based charity, which works globally to help protect manta rays by completing research, raising awareness with local public and community stakeholders, campaigning governments and decision makers and providing education around conservation issues. One very important part of this process is data collection which is time consuming and costly, yet crucial in providing an accurate picture of manta ray behaviour, territory, population numbers and reproduction.

You can learn more about our Manta Ray Research in Komodo 

Komodo Liveaboard Trip Report April 27, 2013

Our 6 day Komodo Liveaboard trips are made up of two-three day sections, with a brief stopover in Labuan Bajo to refuel and restock with goods. So we stopped by as a few guest departed, grabbed more fresh veggies and fruit - and we were off for another adventure in Komodo. We said Hello again to Debbie, Howard and Louis from The USA, Daniel from Holland, Patrick, Florian and Rene from France and Sam and Cyb from Australia. We also said welcome to our new guests  Mike from the USA and Saskia and Kailey from Canada and to DMT Ben from Canada as well.

Because we wanted to take it easy and chilled out we didn't do a dive this Day but a snorkel instead - we made Sabayur the place. The water was lovely and warm and visibility was great! There were morays and turtles and even some stinging plankton...so we called the end a bit early but we got treated with a STUNNING sunset. And before dive staff even noticed, there was already UNO on The table. Great fun with "special" rules.

The first dive of the new day brought us many, many juvenile fish of many many different species!. Then the big school of Bumbhead parrotfish was a real treat.

After that we moves up to Batu Bolong for a second dive. Another brilliant dive with too much to see we couldn't even write it all down! Everything from exquisitely beautiful blue dragon nudibranches to massive giant trevally. And the top of the site is just amazing. During the whole dive we had Patrick as paparazzi following Mickey's Group and taking pictures of them.

Third dive was unforgettable!!!. The Cauldron. Our dive started off with a easy reef, just going into a little current to see the famous fishbowl and maybe get ready for some Wicked currents? YES, we got currents! Gave everyone a real thrill and then back into a beautiful reef full of soft corals. Exciting!

The next morning and we decided to do another current dive on The passage. We planned it well and went with the current. And there were lots of sharks. Four of them just hanging around in the middle of the dive site! Always fun to dive with sharks are be shown how little they care about humans - compared to having a nice lunch of small fish :)

Our second dive was on Castle Rock and we kept up our theme of Shark diving! Four Whitetip Sharks hanging around during the whole dive. But hey you can only watch sharks for so long...a BIG school of fuseliers and trevallies made this just a phenomenal dive.

Third dive off the day - was on Karang Makassar. We'd seen sharks, we'd seen reefs, now was it time for Manta Rays?

Did we ever! Diego planned his dive very well and had facetime with at least 6 of them, and one so close that they were scared they might get sucked into it's mouth!!!!

Night dive was a treasure Hunt at Wainilu. It was the first night dive for Diego's group and they  loved it. many moray eels, Nudi's spearing mantis, cowfish and more and more to see.

Next morning fresh wake up dive in Penga. Good diving, beautiful cuttlefish were many people spend some time watching it.

The dragon trek was interesting because of the confusion between the park rangers. We were supposed to have two rangers because we are in a big group. After some waiting in the restaurant and watching a dragon passing by closely a ranger came up to us to tell that we were going with only one ranger and we could make somebody from the staff ranger for that walk. As Micky is way to scared, it was Ben's job as a DMT to put his life at risk to protect the whole group from being eaten by dragons :) During the whole trip he was walking around proudly with his dragon protection stick asking everybody to take pictures of him. But he did do a great job and brought us all back alive! And we did see quite a few dragons. So thank you Ben.

After that it was sailing back to our Komodo Dive Center in Labuan Bajo, saying goodbyes and a big applause to Kaihley and Saskia who finished their Advanced course very well. Some laughing on the deep dive but its hard to  concentrate underwater while you having fun anyway!

-Dive Komodo with Wicked!