Komodo divesafari August 24th till September 2ndW ...
Komodo divesafari August 24th till September 2nd
We would like to share our experiences on the Mermaid 1 with you.
Boat
The Mermaid 1 is a Thai owned steel boat, that operates in Thailand/Burma in the Winter and in Indonesia in the Summer. The boat takes a maximum of 15 guests and carries a boat crew of 9 Thai people and 4 diveguides.
The cabins are spacious with private toilet and bath. Each cabin has aircondition, flatscreen and a DVD player.
The rest of the boat is great with an outdoor ´party´ deck and an indoor restaurant as well as a shaded sundeck with very nice sun chairs.
The food is a mixture of Thai food and western dishes, so there is something for everybody. Unfortunately I didn´t lose any weight.
The divedeck is spacious with ample space for cameras.
All diving is done from two dingies.
On the safety front, all 3 boats are in radio contact. There is ample of oxygen and first aid kits and it is mandatory to carry a SMB (free of charge).
There is 32% Nitrox available. It is at the time of writing not included in the trip price. The price is EUR 5 pr fill with a 10% discount if you use Nitrox on all dives.
I almost forgot to mention the great massage. You can book a massage at EUR 7 for half an hour. A great experience you shouldn´t miss.
The diving
The itinirary starts from Benoa Harbour on Bali. Sailing on the north side of Lombok to Sumbawa Island. After 1 night of sailing we reach Moyo Island and the first divesite of the trip called Angel Reef.
Angel Reef gives the first challenge, wideangle or macro ? With the chance for Denise Pigmy Seahorses I opt for Macro. The dive briefing was as always very thorough. A lot of information about what to expect to see and where to find it. A big thank you to PJ for the great briefings and to our mexican guide Jerry who found all the small stuff. We found the Pigmy Seahorses and experienced a nice reef with a lot of life from big schools of bannerfish to nudibranc´s, gardeneel´s and a whole lot more. Not a bad start for a check dive. Only bad thing, my flashsystem didn´t work.
Second dive of the day was of Satonda Island on Satonda Reef. Satonda Island is an extinct volcano and we did a nice land visit the. The divesite was ok with a lot of critters, among others my first spotface moray eel and a very nice pink frogfish. We also did the same divesite as a night dive, again with a lot of activity among the smalle inhabitants of the reef.
On the second day the boat moved to Sangeang Island during the night. Sangeang Lighthouse was again a great critter dive with frogfish, a well camouflaged sawblade shrimp, a seamoth and much more. Thankfully my flashsystem was up and running again. A good dive with a 50 mm macro.
Second dive of the day was Sangeang hot rocks. An interesting dive with hot bubbles coming up from the sand witness of the volcanic activity. Again a lot of critters with the favourite being a yellow frogfish walking on the reef with its fishing rod. Second dive on the same divesite materialised some big fat stonefish, orangutang crabs, a big school of barracuda and the first whitetip reefshark of the trip.
The nightdive was at Stargazer Beach, and you guessed right, we found a stargazer and numerous other animals like hunting lionfish, spotface moray, zebra moray, longarm octopus and again the lovely orangutang crab.
On our third day we finally hit the Komodo Nationalpark. First dive of the day was at Castle Rock. After a very thorough briefing (currents) we were ready with our reefhooks and a negative entry. The current wa running but manageable. So after a little struggle we hooked in and enjoyed the show. Around 20 big whitetip reefsharks cruised around for the entire dive. Some of them very pregnant. They were joined with glimpses of grey reefsharks in the distance and big giant trevally on the hunt. Oh, I almost forgot the Napoleonfish and the 2 eaglerays and the huge barracuda on the drifting safety stop. Wow, what an entrance to Komodo.
Second dive of the day was on Crystal Rock. A divesite full of marinelife. Huge schools of snapper and fusiliers, big school of yellow ribbon sweetlips a xenocrab and what about a brief appearance of 4 dolphins on the safety stop. One description of this divesite is fishsoup.
Third dive of the day was at Tatawa Kecil. A dive with some unpredictable currents, some batfish, but most amazing was the corals in shallow water with all the colour.
A night dive on the famous Pink Beach revealed my first flying gurnard as well as a good variety of nudibrancs. This was also the end of warmwater diving and the good visibility. So far the water temperature had been around 26 degrees Celcius. Pink Beach had 24 so a hood and an extralayer was a good idea.
On day four, Mermaid 1 was moved to Horseshoe Bay on Rinca Island. The divesites here a full of an interesting array of macrolife. We started out with 2 dives on Rhino Rocks and indeed we found the wonderfull Rhinopias. As well as turtles, nudibranc´s, frogfish, mantis shrimp, zebra crabs, blennies and the ever present nudibranc´s in different shapes and colours.
The night dive was at Torpedo Alley where we saw an orange octopus (has no scientific name), frogfish and the usual suspects like shrimps, nudibranc´s and crabs.
We only managed 3 dives on this day, since we went for a dragon walk on Komodo Island. Unfortunately only 2 dragons on the Ranger station, but nevertheless a good experience.
Day 5 and Cannibal Rock. One of the top 10 divesites in the world according to many diveguides. It didn´t dissapoint. The entire rock is covered in corals in a vivid colour symphony. The marinelife is good as well. We found pigmy seahorses with some very pregnant which is good for the future. A yellow rhinopias also made an appearance. We double dived this site and also enjoyed 2 turtles, 3 longnose hawkfish, nudibranch´s and a myriad of life. Is it a top 10 divesite ? Well that depends, but in my view it is very very good for the smaller stuff.
In between the dives, we had an interesting beach visit with close encounters with the ´friendly´ Komodo Dragon.
Our third dive was on Yellow Wall of Texas. A divesite full of anemones and clownfish. As well as the usual suspects. Photographers are advised to bring ample memory.
The days nightdive was called Banana Reef. Among other stuff my favourites, two fat black frogfish.
On day 6 it was time for the bigger stuff again. The boat moved to the south of Komodo to the famous Manta Alley. A few cleaning stations and feeding grounds for the manta rays. Our first dive materialised a Mola Mola getting cleaned as well as a few manta rays. The visibility was pretty awfull and a a little dissapointing manta action. However the second dive fully made up for that. We dived down to a place called the balcony and hooked in for the show. The manta´s kept on flying in and got cleaned by butterfly fish. After about 20 minutes we moved to the actual alley and witnessed these graceful animals hovering in the strong current. A fantastic sight.
Dive 3 was a site called German Flag. Named after colors on the rock that looks like the german flag. There are chances of manta encounters. We ´only´ saw one briefly. So we had to settle with a bumphead parrotfish and some nice rockformations with a nice number of glass fish.
The night dive was on Padar Reef, with encounter of bobtail squid, flying gurnard, tiny cuttlefish and a sweet sweet little blenny.
On day 7 we returned to the warm clear water of the northern sites. We did Crystal Rock again and this time we did another part of the rock. We almost got separated due to the amount of fusiliers. Free swimming and sleeping whitetip reefsharks. 2 hawksbill turtles, napoleonfish and some very big and beautiful fancorals made an excellent return to this fantastic divesite.
Second dive of the day was a return to Castle Rock. This time the current was absent. So we actually had to swim out into the blue to get some nice close encounters with the elegant grey reefsharks. Of course we also saw a couple of whitetips, some napoleons, zillions of fusiliers and a beautiful sight of skunk anemone fish in a very purple anemone in shallow water.
Dive 3 was on GPS Point of Gili Banta. A big and beautiful site. Colourful with some whitetips, a couple of curious juvenile grey reefsharks, big tunas cruising along the reef and thounsands of anthias in shallow water.
Last dive of the day was at Tanduk Rusa with many nice fancorals, lionfish, octopus, nudibranc´s, shrimps etc etc.
Day 8 and the last 2 dives
Dive number 1 was the trips only 100 muck dive called Sumbawa Surprise. The highlight was finding 3 thornyback seahorses. But also ghost pipefish, spearing mantis shrimp, nudibranc´s and a big number of shrimps made for a good dive. This dive was the longest on the trip where I clocked 94 minutes.
The last dive was a revisit to Angel Reef and another encounter with the Denise Pigmy Seahorses and a working flashsystem
. We very much enjoyed the fishlife in shallow water and had a funny experience with a shy sandperch.
To sum up, the diving exceeded our (high) expectations and hopefully the descriptions gives an idea about the variety of marinelife.
Diving in general
The big boat uses fixed moorings and only one boat is allowed per mooring. They coordinate the diving with the other liveaboards, so in general our group was the only one on a given divesite. We dived in 3 groups of 5 divers plus a divemaster. In geneal there were few restrictions on dive times and on most sites you were free to dive alone in buddy pairs. I like this freedom. In case of a drift they took good care of very thorough briefing and had all 3 boats standby. We didn´t experience to strong currents due to the wise decisions by the divecrew. Thanks to the guides. They are very dedicated and have a huge knowledge. It is great to meet that kind of enthusiasm.
Conclusion
We highly recommend the Mermaid 1 and a trip to Komodo. Do take care that you have enough insulation for the colder divesites.
I almost forgot the nice trip video shot by PJ. Maybe a bit expensive at EUR 75, but a very good memory being back in Denmark.
Photo´s
You can find more photo´s under www.taucher.net tauchfotos or visit my website
www.diveexperiences.dk
Go to Komodo, you won´t regret it. We´ll be back
We would like to share our experiences on the Mermaid 1 with you.
Boat
The Mermaid 1 is a Thai owned steel boat, that operates in Thailand/Burma in the Winter and in Indonesia in the Summer. The boat takes a maximum of 15 guests and carries a boat crew of 9 Thai people and 4 diveguides.
The cabins are spacious with private toilet and bath. Each cabin has aircondition, flatscreen and a DVD player.
The rest of the boat is great with an outdoor ´party´ deck and an indoor restaurant as well as a shaded sundeck with very nice sun chairs.
The food is a mixture of Thai food and western dishes, so there is something for everybody. Unfortunately I didn´t lose any weight.
The divedeck is spacious with ample space for cameras.
All diving is done from two dingies.
On the safety front, all 3 boats are in radio contact. There is ample of oxygen and first aid kits and it is mandatory to carry a SMB (free of charge).
There is 32% Nitrox available. It is at the time of writing not included in the trip price. The price is EUR 5 pr fill with a 10% discount if you use Nitrox on all dives.
I almost forgot to mention the great massage. You can book a massage at EUR 7 for half an hour. A great experience you shouldn´t miss.
The diving
The itinirary starts from Benoa Harbour on Bali. Sailing on the north side of Lombok to Sumbawa Island. After 1 night of sailing we reach Moyo Island and the first divesite of the trip called Angel Reef.
Angel Reef gives the first challenge, wideangle or macro ? With the chance for Denise Pigmy Seahorses I opt for Macro. The dive briefing was as always very thorough. A lot of information about what to expect to see and where to find it. A big thank you to PJ for the great briefings and to our mexican guide Jerry who found all the small stuff. We found the Pigmy Seahorses and experienced a nice reef with a lot of life from big schools of bannerfish to nudibranc´s, gardeneel´s and a whole lot more. Not a bad start for a check dive. Only bad thing, my flashsystem didn´t work.
Second dive of the day was of Satonda Island on Satonda Reef. Satonda Island is an extinct volcano and we did a nice land visit the. The divesite was ok with a lot of critters, among others my first spotface moray eel and a very nice pink frogfish. We also did the same divesite as a night dive, again with a lot of activity among the smalle inhabitants of the reef.
On the second day the boat moved to Sangeang Island during the night. Sangeang Lighthouse was again a great critter dive with frogfish, a well camouflaged sawblade shrimp, a seamoth and much more. Thankfully my flashsystem was up and running again. A good dive with a 50 mm macro.
Second dive of the day was Sangeang hot rocks. An interesting dive with hot bubbles coming up from the sand witness of the volcanic activity. Again a lot of critters with the favourite being a yellow frogfish walking on the reef with its fishing rod. Second dive on the same divesite materialised some big fat stonefish, orangutang crabs, a big school of barracuda and the first whitetip reefshark of the trip.
The nightdive was at Stargazer Beach, and you guessed right, we found a stargazer and numerous other animals like hunting lionfish, spotface moray, zebra moray, longarm octopus and again the lovely orangutang crab.
On our third day we finally hit the Komodo Nationalpark. First dive of the day was at Castle Rock. After a very thorough briefing (currents) we were ready with our reefhooks and a negative entry. The current wa running but manageable. So after a little struggle we hooked in and enjoyed the show. Around 20 big whitetip reefsharks cruised around for the entire dive. Some of them very pregnant. They were joined with glimpses of grey reefsharks in the distance and big giant trevally on the hunt. Oh, I almost forgot the Napoleonfish and the 2 eaglerays and the huge barracuda on the drifting safety stop. Wow, what an entrance to Komodo.
Second dive of the day was on Crystal Rock. A divesite full of marinelife. Huge schools of snapper and fusiliers, big school of yellow ribbon sweetlips a xenocrab and what about a brief appearance of 4 dolphins on the safety stop. One description of this divesite is fishsoup.
Third dive of the day was at Tatawa Kecil. A dive with some unpredictable currents, some batfish, but most amazing was the corals in shallow water with all the colour.
A night dive on the famous Pink Beach revealed my first flying gurnard as well as a good variety of nudibrancs. This was also the end of warmwater diving and the good visibility. So far the water temperature had been around 26 degrees Celcius. Pink Beach had 24 so a hood and an extralayer was a good idea.
On day four, Mermaid 1 was moved to Horseshoe Bay on Rinca Island. The divesites here a full of an interesting array of macrolife. We started out with 2 dives on Rhino Rocks and indeed we found the wonderfull Rhinopias. As well as turtles, nudibranc´s, frogfish, mantis shrimp, zebra crabs, blennies and the ever present nudibranc´s in different shapes and colours.
The night dive was at Torpedo Alley where we saw an orange octopus (has no scientific name), frogfish and the usual suspects like shrimps, nudibranc´s and crabs.
We only managed 3 dives on this day, since we went for a dragon walk on Komodo Island. Unfortunately only 2 dragons on the Ranger station, but nevertheless a good experience.
Day 5 and Cannibal Rock. One of the top 10 divesites in the world according to many diveguides. It didn´t dissapoint. The entire rock is covered in corals in a vivid colour symphony. The marinelife is good as well. We found pigmy seahorses with some very pregnant which is good for the future. A yellow rhinopias also made an appearance. We double dived this site and also enjoyed 2 turtles, 3 longnose hawkfish, nudibranch´s and a myriad of life. Is it a top 10 divesite ? Well that depends, but in my view it is very very good for the smaller stuff.
In between the dives, we had an interesting beach visit with close encounters with the ´friendly´ Komodo Dragon.
Our third dive was on Yellow Wall of Texas. A divesite full of anemones and clownfish. As well as the usual suspects. Photographers are advised to bring ample memory.
The days nightdive was called Banana Reef. Among other stuff my favourites, two fat black frogfish.
On day 6 it was time for the bigger stuff again. The boat moved to the south of Komodo to the famous Manta Alley. A few cleaning stations and feeding grounds for the manta rays. Our first dive materialised a Mola Mola getting cleaned as well as a few manta rays. The visibility was pretty awfull and a a little dissapointing manta action. However the second dive fully made up for that. We dived down to a place called the balcony and hooked in for the show. The manta´s kept on flying in and got cleaned by butterfly fish. After about 20 minutes we moved to the actual alley and witnessed these graceful animals hovering in the strong current. A fantastic sight.
Dive 3 was a site called German Flag. Named after colors on the rock that looks like the german flag. There are chances of manta encounters. We ´only´ saw one briefly. So we had to settle with a bumphead parrotfish and some nice rockformations with a nice number of glass fish.
The night dive was on Padar Reef, with encounter of bobtail squid, flying gurnard, tiny cuttlefish and a sweet sweet little blenny.
On day 7 we returned to the warm clear water of the northern sites. We did Crystal Rock again and this time we did another part of the rock. We almost got separated due to the amount of fusiliers. Free swimming and sleeping whitetip reefsharks. 2 hawksbill turtles, napoleonfish and some very big and beautiful fancorals made an excellent return to this fantastic divesite.
Second dive of the day was a return to Castle Rock. This time the current was absent. So we actually had to swim out into the blue to get some nice close encounters with the elegant grey reefsharks. Of course we also saw a couple of whitetips, some napoleons, zillions of fusiliers and a beautiful sight of skunk anemone fish in a very purple anemone in shallow water.
Dive 3 was on GPS Point of Gili Banta. A big and beautiful site. Colourful with some whitetips, a couple of curious juvenile grey reefsharks, big tunas cruising along the reef and thounsands of anthias in shallow water.
Last dive of the day was at Tanduk Rusa with many nice fancorals, lionfish, octopus, nudibranc´s, shrimps etc etc.
Day 8 and the last 2 dives
Dive number 1 was the trips only 100 muck dive called Sumbawa Surprise. The highlight was finding 3 thornyback seahorses. But also ghost pipefish, spearing mantis shrimp, nudibranc´s and a big number of shrimps made for a good dive. This dive was the longest on the trip where I clocked 94 minutes.
The last dive was a revisit to Angel Reef and another encounter with the Denise Pigmy Seahorses and a working flashsystem
. We very much enjoyed the fishlife in shallow water and had a funny experience with a shy sandperch.To sum up, the diving exceeded our (high) expectations and hopefully the descriptions gives an idea about the variety of marinelife.
Diving in general
The big boat uses fixed moorings and only one boat is allowed per mooring. They coordinate the diving with the other liveaboards, so in general our group was the only one on a given divesite. We dived in 3 groups of 5 divers plus a divemaster. In geneal there were few restrictions on dive times and on most sites you were free to dive alone in buddy pairs. I like this freedom. In case of a drift they took good care of very thorough briefing and had all 3 boats standby. We didn´t experience to strong currents due to the wise decisions by the divecrew. Thanks to the guides. They are very dedicated and have a huge knowledge. It is great to meet that kind of enthusiasm.
Conclusion
We highly recommend the Mermaid 1 and a trip to Komodo. Do take care that you have enough insulation for the colder divesites.
I almost forgot the nice trip video shot by PJ. Maybe a bit expensive at EUR 75, but a very good memory being back in Denmark.
Photo´s
You can find more photo´s under www.taucher.net tauchfotos or visit my website
www.diveexperiences.dk
Go to Komodo, you won´t regret it. We´ll be back
Du kannst deinen Urlaub direkt auf diesem Liveaboard buchen