LABUAN BAJO, FLORES, INDONESIA
Our second day of diving with Reefseekers--this time we headed back to the Taman Nasional Komodo, and a small pinnacle of rock protruding from the sea near Komodo Island known as Batu Bolong (literally, "rock with a hole in it"). This area is swept by strong currents, and you can see the evidence at the surface, as upwellings and whirlpools are everywhere. The island is like a rock in the middle of a stream--a swift current flows around and past it, making only the "leeward" side safe for diving. This meant that we had to stick very close to our dive guides, because if we swam too far around the island on either side, we could be caught by the current and swept miles away in minutes!
There was a reason we were risking the currents--Batu Bolong is also considered one of the best dive sites in the area, and it really was a spectacular location. Underwater, it's a vertical rock wall encrusted with corals, sponges, and all sorts of marine growth going down about 50 meters to the sea floor. We started about halfway down, at 24 meters, then zig-zagged our way up the wall for an hour, to a final depth of only five meters or so.
On the way, we saw a host of sea creatures. Along the wall there were lots of nudibranchs, colorful flatworms, schools of purple and pink anthias, and various angelfish, lionfish, triggerfish, and scorpion fish. And when we turned around and looked outward away from the wall, we saw all kinds of pelagic fish: giant trevally, whitetip reef sharks, barracuda, and even a dogtooth tuna!
We had another goal today, and that was to see some manta rays, so after leaving Batu Bolong, Ernest guided us over to a nearby area called the "Landing Strip," a relatively flat expanse of coral rubble with a steady current flowing over it. Turns out this was the same area we patrolled two days ago on our previous unsuccesful search for mantas, so I really wasn't too hopeful today about our prospects of seeing one.
But as luck would have it, within minutes Ernest spotted no less than six manta rays swimming over the bottom, about 30 feet down! We frantically pulled our wetsuits back on, donned masks and snorkels, and could barely keep from jumping in the water while the boat carefully positioned us "upstream" in the current so we could drift over the area they were swimming in.
This method worked like a charm, as not long after we hit the water we found ourselves right on top of a ten-foot-wide manta that was just hovering over a small coral head below us. (And man, that's a big fish!) We soon realized that this was a "cleaning station," and the manta was having its mouth and gills cleaned by small wrasses, while two yellow butterfly fish swam over its body and pecked at any parasites that might be on its "wings."
This was great for us, because we could just tread water and watch it for what seemed like ages as it hovered, swam in small circles, and repositioned itself over the coral head. Henrik and I dived down five meters or so a couple of times to get a closer look, which actually spooked the manta a little, although he calmed down again each time. A few minutes later, another manta cruised by, and finally a third appeared, at which point the first manta swam off slowly. I followed it in the current for a few minutes, while some of the others followed the third ray, and apparently saw a baby manta, too!
We were all really happy to see the mantas, as it's not a given that they'll be around on a given day. I had never seen one up close before, so it was really awesome to be able to swim with several of these beautiful (and huge!) creatures in the wild. (I know I said the same thing about seals and dolphins, too, but it's true!)
After that, our second dive of the day seemed a little anticlimactic, but really the scenery was just as amazing as Batu Bolong. It was a drift-dive over a gradual slope along the shore of another small island, again in Komodo National Park. Ernest referred to this site as "The Orange Grove" for its profusion of orange soft corals, but we also drifted over a huge expanse of yellow fire coral and a thick forest of staghorn coral. The highlights here included a scrawled filefish, a large number of trumpetfish, some hawksbill turtles, and a couple of large cuttlefish. (A few of our fellow divers actually saw one laying eggs, but I missed that, darn it!)
Another great day of diving--It's a shame that Chris and I are leaving tomorrow, as I'd really like to do more! Ernest convinced Henrik and Smeeta to go out again tomorrow, and I'm totally jealous....
Our second day of diving with Reefseekers--this time we headed back to the Taman Nasional Komodo, and a small pinnacle of rock protruding from the sea near Komodo Island known as Batu Bolong (literally, "rock with a hole in it"). This area is swept by strong currents, and you can see the evidence at the surface, as upwellings and whirlpools are everywhere. The island is like a rock in the middle of a stream--a swift current flows around and past it, making only the "leeward" side safe for diving. This meant that we had to stick very close to our dive guides, because if we swam too far around the island on either side, we could be caught by the current and swept miles away in minutes!
There was a reason we were risking the currents--Batu Bolong is also considered one of the best dive sites in the area, and it really was a spectacular location. Underwater, it's a vertical rock wall encrusted with corals, sponges, and all sorts of marine growth going down about 50 meters to the sea floor. We started about halfway down, at 24 meters, then zig-zagged our way up the wall for an hour, to a final depth of only five meters or so.
On the way, we saw a host of sea creatures. Along the wall there were lots of nudibranchs, colorful flatworms, schools of purple and pink anthias, and various angelfish, lionfish, triggerfish, and scorpion fish. And when we turned around and looked outward away from the wall, we saw all kinds of pelagic fish: giant trevally, whitetip reef sharks, barracuda, and even a dogtooth tuna!
We had another goal today, and that was to see some manta rays, so after leaving Batu Bolong, Ernest guided us over to a nearby area called the "Landing Strip," a relatively flat expanse of coral rubble with a steady current flowing over it. Turns out this was the same area we patrolled two days ago on our previous unsuccesful search for mantas, so I really wasn't too hopeful today about our prospects of seeing one.
But as luck would have it, within minutes Ernest spotted no less than six manta rays swimming over the bottom, about 30 feet down! We frantically pulled our wetsuits back on, donned masks and snorkels, and could barely keep from jumping in the water while the boat carefully positioned us "upstream" in the current so we could drift over the area they were swimming in.
This method worked like a charm, as not long after we hit the water we found ourselves right on top of a ten-foot-wide manta that was just hovering over a small coral head below us. (And man, that's a big fish!) We soon realized that this was a "cleaning station," and the manta was having its mouth and gills cleaned by small wrasses, while two yellow butterfly fish swam over its body and pecked at any parasites that might be on its "wings."
This was great for us, because we could just tread water and watch it for what seemed like ages as it hovered, swam in small circles, and repositioned itself over the coral head. Henrik and I dived down five meters or so a couple of times to get a closer look, which actually spooked the manta a little, although he calmed down again each time. A few minutes later, another manta cruised by, and finally a third appeared, at which point the first manta swam off slowly. I followed it in the current for a few minutes, while some of the others followed the third ray, and apparently saw a baby manta, too!
We were all really happy to see the mantas, as it's not a given that they'll be around on a given day. I had never seen one up close before, so it was really awesome to be able to swim with several of these beautiful (and huge!) creatures in the wild. (I know I said the same thing about seals and dolphins, too, but it's true!)
After that, our second dive of the day seemed a little anticlimactic, but really the scenery was just as amazing as Batu Bolong. It was a drift-dive over a gradual slope along the shore of another small island, again in Komodo National Park. Ernest referred to this site as "The Orange Grove" for its profusion of orange soft corals, but we also drifted over a huge expanse of yellow fire coral and a thick forest of staghorn coral. The highlights here included a scrawled filefish, a large number of trumpetfish, some hawksbill turtles, and a couple of large cuttlefish. (A few of our fellow divers actually saw one laying eggs, but I missed that, darn it!)
Another great day of diving--It's a shame that Chris and I are leaving tomorrow, as I'd really like to do more! Ernest convinced Henrik and Smeeta to go out again tomorrow, and I'm totally jealous....
posted by John Kuge at 9:42 PM
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