After a long journey flying into Denpasar, Bali followed by a short flight to Labuan Bajo, Flores getting on our new speedboat, the smaller one of the two new speedboats, to have for half an hour the tropical sea breeze flowing through my hair then setting foot back onto our beautiful Island, Sebayur, longing to get back to diving and snorkelling the stunning dive and snorkel site’s of the now green archipelago of Komodo National park.
Let me first explain the “now green archipelago of Komodo National park” since this is quite a nice phenomenon. In Komodo the raining season starts around the end of November and the beginning of December thru to March where the tropical rainfalls shower the Islands in and around the Komodo archipelago. This is where the dried out hills are being transformed from a golden brown to lushes green hills turning the few into a completely different scenery. And though Labuan Bajo is one of the wettest areas in this area it is surprising that Sebayur, which is only 18 kilometres away, is one of the driest areas.
As those who have been to Komodo Resort during some of these tropical rainfalls know getting to and from the huts can be messy and slippery due to the earthy paths being turned into mud slides. So to my pleasant surprise my walk back to my hut was over a beautiful jetty like decking ensuring never to arrive to my hut or restaurant with clumps of mud on my feet. Not that this was a massive problem since it only happens about 15 days a year but we like the comfort never the less.
Meanwhile am I back in the water and having been to Siaba Besar, Batu Bolong, Manta Point, Pengah, Sabolon Kecil and Alim Rock so far, it strengthens the missing feeling I had when I was away.
- Siaba Besar, also called Turtle City, we saw the usual fast amounts of Green Turtles, White Tip Reef Sharks one of them I believe to be pregnant and an Eagle Ray.
- Batu Bolong, which I like to call an overfilled fish tank, it is still an overfilled fish tank with this time showing us this gigantic school of Blue Stripped Fusiliers swimming around and over us cutting out the light being hunted by the Giant Trevallies, Jack Fish’s and a White Tip Reef Shark. Stunning!
- Manta Point, original name Makasar Reef, after gently being carried by a very mild current for about ten minutes with first two Mantas then one very small Manta (juvenile Mobula Ray) and again two more Mantas we stopped at one of the cleaning stations for thirty minutes watching about eight or nine Mantas, ranging from two to four meters, dancing in front and around us. Hmm life is tough!!!!
- Pengah, inundated with lovely Nudibranchs, Schrimps and Crabs between the beautiful multi coloured corals on the twelve ish meter shelve being, what seems, protected by the roaming Black Tip Reef Shark.
- Sabolon Kecil, I am so glad to see that our Scorpion Leaf Fish and Frog Fish are still getting on, on top of the coral bommie covered with Glass Fish. One of my favourite dive site for photography since the contrast between the white sand and the corals is a perfect recipe for lovely pictures.
- Alim Rock, I am not going to say much about since it is our secret dive site except for: “Mmmm it is awesome to be back again!”
This is without mentioning the usual suspects of the wide diversity of marine life in these beautiful waters of Komodo with the corals being another story all together!
