My Bali to Komodo trip Oct/Nov 2008

I have just returned to Singapore from dives in Bali, Nusa Lembongan, and Komodo areas. I enjoyed them all immensely, and am already looking forward to going back.

I flew on the early morning Lion Air flight SIN-DPS and actually really enjoyed it. I am sad to hear about Travelnsj's problems with them, but I was actually quite impressed with them. No problems carrying my reg in carry-on and no lost luggage for me. Perhaps I was fortunate this time, even though I have an ongoing battle with Air Asia over inappropriate travel charges...

On to the diving.

I went with Aquamarine Divers in Seminyak to Tulamben - they picked me up almost on time and off we went. The drive is long - about 2.5 hours each way, which means that your two dive trip takes up the whole day. The DM was professional, the nitrox was filled accurately, and was useful for this trip, as max depth is about 31m. We did two dives for 62 and 65 minutes, one on the Liberty and one on the wall.

Liberty: nice big wreck, lots of people on it, but lots of things to see as well. 2 ghost pipefish, a pigmy seahorse, leaf-fish, school of jacks. Plenty to see. I'll let the pics do the talking.





The Tulamben wall: decent dive, nothing exceptional. Found some cleaner shrimp on a bommie on the way out - managed to get them to clean my teeth for me, which they've never done before...perhaps I have some breath issues

The DM:


More to come as more pics/videos get uploaded. Next edition - the wicked currents of komodo!

Myself:


I think next time I will ride up on a motorbike and just do the dives with a dive buddy, instead of the guide. I hear the night diving there is pretty exceptional.

After that initial dive with Aquamarine, I decided that the better and cheaper option for Nusa Penida dive sites would be to head out to Nusa Lembongan, and take trips from there. The cost of dives is about 60% of what it would be from Kuta, and sites are much closer. You don't have the hustle and bustle of Bali, either. People in Lembongan and its sister island Ceningan say "Hi!" just to be friendly, and not to try to get you to buy their fake dvds/t-shirts. Its nice, and you find yourself with a smile on your face most of the time.

Lembongan dives:
Despite my best efforts, I never managed to see a Mola Mola...we dove Blue Corner, Crystal Bay, and several other promising looking dropoffs, but without any luck. Dives were cold, but the corals were in exceptional shape. Critters were few and far between, but with some active eyes, you could find them. Here are some pics from dives around Nusa Lembongan/Penida:








The topside scenery was pretty nice too:




After 4 days and no Molas, it was time to move on though. The fast ferry back to Sanur was much better than the public slow boat out there, as the former is fast and full of tourists instead of chickens.

Two days later I was on a flight to Labuanbajo - you have to love the spontaneity of travel in Indonesia - on one of the most beautiful flights I've ever been on.

Originally I thought I'd probably be diving with Reefseekers, but after only two dives a day in Lembongan, I wanted to do more and they couldn't accomodate. I managed to get on a Safari trip with Bajo Dive Club (Bajo Dive Club, Flores - Indonesia) which is basically a 3 day liveaboard around the northern sites of Komodo and Rinca. Its pretty cheap, as with my own equipment it ran me under $400 including park fees. Diving was excellent - probably 4* for all sites besides Castle Rock and Batu Bolong, which were even better. I highly recommend BDC, as food was decent, they had a proper toilet and shower, and the DM, Noon, was one of the best I've seen.

Lots of these guys around, but all the same colour:


GT's are some awesome fish, and they were present on every dive. This guy was in the 30kilo range and looked like he'd been subject to some oxidation:



Napoleons were also there on every dive. Here's a sequence of one pulling a fish out of the coral:




We did a dive at Makassar Kecil(aka Manta point) and saw 3 despite an absolutely screaming current. Even the Manta's wouldn't fight this current!



For those of you interested, there is also Macro opportunities available, though they are less exciting to me than the big stuff:



For me, Komodo is defined by strong currents, and this video of Batu Bolong tells that tale well. I'm sorry for the shakiness of it, but its the best you can do in that situation. Note my bubbles spiralling downward:



Overall, I had an excellent trip, which I won't soon forget and look forward to doing similarly in the future.

Exciting adventure!

I like the cleaner shrimp....It did not try to crew you lip?

Great report and pics. Next year I may head back to Bali then up to Lembeh and Raja. I dove a couple of years ago with Aquamarine and found them to be great it was in Sept and saw a couple of the Mola Mola's.