Horizontal bubbles and mantas!

We first visited the island of Flores in Indonesia in May 2017. We dived in the eastern area near Maumere, then hired a car and driver and took a week to drive east to west to Labuan Bajo, the town closest to Komodo National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Biosphere Reserve.

There’ll be more about Maumere and Flores island later. But oh, the diving in Komodo! We spent a few days diving here in 2017 and fell in love, and immediately decided we had to come back for a longer stay. We chatted with Neren Diving Komodo about the best dates to come, made our plans, found a comfortable little house just outside town to rent (super place, and the owner Pedro is an outstandingly helpful guy!), and came back to Komodo for seven weeks of magical diving in March and April 2018.

There are many good dive operators in Labuan Bajo. In 2017 our driver recommended Neren Diving Komodo, we met and discussed the dive sites, what they offer, and our experience levels, and decided to dive with them. We found them to be safety conscious, with good equipment, and a fun group of people who are passionate about diving and the marine environment. So we came back and dived with them again this year. Neren has two boats, the larger one, Kura Kura often goes out on multi-day safaris, while Rahasya is used for day trips.

They’re a small company who offer a personal service, with small groups on their boats. The owners, Alberto, Lorena and Nacho, are involved in the day-to-day running of the business, and also are frequently on the boat as instructors or divemasters. Dive groups are limited to a maximum of four divers per divemaster, (and often fewer). We like diving with companies with smaller boats, as that often means fewer divers under the water! (it depends of course on how many other dive boats are around!) We were happy to pay the regular market price for our diving. (Dive packages may be available upon discussion with the operator.)

Neren divemasters give very thorough dive briefings with detailed drawings of the dive sites:

Where is Komodo you might ask? We’ve all heard about the dragons, and yes, we did see them, see separate post for dragons! Komodo National Park is in Indonesia, just to the west of the island of Flores, and the small town of Labuan Bajo on the western edge of Flores is the closest town to the park.

The two largest islands in Komodo NP are Komodo itself, and Rinca, and the dragons are found on both of these islands. On the map below, you can see all the different dive sites around the national park, mostly just off small islands. On day trips from Labuan Bajo, we go to either the central sites, or the north. The southern dive sites and those to the west of Komodo are too far to reach on day trips, although many dive operators including Neren offer multiple day liveaboard or safari trips.

Visibility underwater at Komodo can vary, and although mostly we found the visibility to be very good, there can be quite a large amount of particulate matter in the water, which causes a lot of backscatter with still photos. I took my fun little Olympus TG4 with underwater housing out on all our dives, but many of the stills photos didn’t come out too well because of the backscatter, so I mostly concentrated on videos. If you’re into diving, and want to see all my videos, check out our Indonesia videos page  or our dive videos (where you can also see other adrenaline-fueled videos: ziplining, bungee-jumping etc!) or just follow our YouTube channel. In this post, I’ve included a selection of my favourite videos, plus the best still shots I could edit!

However, from another point of view, particulate matter in the water is good, as this is typically food sources for the fish and especially the manta rays that we all love to see!

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Horizontal bubbles:

Huh, what? Currents in Komodo are part of the attraction, and strong currents cause horizontal bubbles! Komodo National Park lies in the Lintah Strait, between the Flores Sea and the Savu Sea. The tides rise generally from south (Indian Ocean) to north (Pacific Ocean), and fall in the opposite direction, from north to south. There are other variations, depending on which islands block the tides. The relatively narrow area of the Lintah Strait constricts the tides and causes a stronger flow of water, bringing the famous strong currents to Komodo National Park. This is a very simplified explanation, and there are so many variables involved, it takes a great deal of experience and knowledge of the waters and the currents to make diving a reasonably safe prospect. The majority of the dive guides working here are experienced, and the dive operator will always ask divers about their level of dive experience, and won’t risk taking inexperienced divers into strong currents. However, if you’re PADI Advanced Open Water, and have good buoyancy, these currents can make for a thrilling dive!

Take a look at the current visible from about five metres down:

Here you can see the currents from the surface, at Batu Bolong:

In strong currents, we either do a fast drift dive, or we hook on to the rocks with a metal hook attached to a bungy, and enjoy the show. This video shows some of us attached to our hooks:

In this next video, you can see some of the sights we see when we’re hooked on:

Sunset after diving:

Siaba Kecil:

Siaba Kecil is becoming one of my favourite places! Check out the wavy water from about 50 seconds onwards. This isn’t a focus problem, it’s called a thermocline. It’s when cold and warmer waters mix. We have regular currents here, rising from the Indian towards the Pacific ocean (cold water comes in) and falling from the Pacific towards the Indian, (warmer water comes in). When we dive in a rising or falling tide, we can see and feel the thermoclines!

Makassar Reef/Manta Point:

One of the main known manta cleaning stations here in Komodo National Park is Manta Point. We often get up close and personal experiences, and when the mantas choose to swim so close to us, we need to duck! In strong currents we hook onto a rock and watch the action. Check out the beautiful large pregnant female reef manta ray at the start of this video:

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One day to our surprise and pleasure, Chris found what we thought at the time was a Blue Ringed Octopus, but on further research turned out to be the Poison Ocellate Octopus, Amphioctopus Mototi.

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Mawan:

Mawan is another known manta cleaning station. The following photos were all taken on just one dive. Our last dive in Komodo in 2017, at Mawan, we had dozens of mantas, swooping and dancing all around us, for the entire hour’s dive. This is one reason why we came back:

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(click on photos to view full-size) 

Batu Bolong:

Currents at Batu Bolong can be unpredictable. Here’s what they looked like at the surface on one particular day before a dive:

These can be very strong, causing down drafting whirlpools, swirling cold up currents, and very fast sideways rips, all of which can be seriously dangerous for divers far stronger and more experienced than us. Our local guides check the currents at the surface, and sometimes below as well, before allowing divers into the water, and constantly check current strength and direction throughout the dive. These currents are what bring in the rich nutrients feeding the amazing array of corals and animals found in the area, and make “drift” diving here so much fun…. wheeeeeeeee!

Batu Bolong is consistently rated as one of the top dive sites in the world, and it’s definitely one of my favourites. It’s like jumping into an aquarium, there are so many schools of small fish, with larger fish darting among them. We often see sharks, eels, turtles, and the rock itself is home to huge amounts of colourful hard and soft corals, and if the current is mild enough to enable us to look closer, there’s good macro life too.

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Here’s some video from just two dives at Batu Bolong:

Sebayur Kecil:

A frogfish hunting at Sebayur Kecil:

Siaba Besar:

Siaba Besar is a large dive site, with a wide sandy bottom, where a huge variety of smaller creatures can often be found: flamboyant cuttlefish, dragonet, ghost pipefish, schools of tiny fishfry, small jellies, frogfish, and more! And then there’s the coral gardens which are home to multiple turtles.

Small jellyfish can be found frequently at Siaba Besar:

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Frogfish are strange looking beasties! Siaba Besar is home to a wide variety, juveniles and adults. There’s a black one too, but it’s really difficult to get a decent photo of it!

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We’ve seen turtles have a little dispute over a cleaning station at Siaba Besar:

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And we were especially excited to regularly see a flamboyant cuttlefish at Siaba Besar:

If you check out the video above, you’ll see that the Flamboyant Cuttlefish doesn’t swim, it walks!

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As well as the gorgeous adult Flamboyant, we’ve also seen a juvenile, which is unbearably beautiful, like a perfect orchid blossom. It’s tiny, see photo below with my pointer, which is about 5 mm diameter. The juvenile seemed less able to control its colour changes, and would regularly flash different colours!

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The day our divemaster Nacho found an Orange Blue Dragonet was really thrilling:

and then there’s the pieces of seaweed pretending to be fish, or maybe it’s the other way around…

There are many members of the seahorse and pipefish family,  (Syngnathidae) here’s just a few:

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Siaba Besar is home to many stunning creatures. Check out this Gurnard Lionfish. (Parapterois heterura) Watch for the 17 second mark!

Wae Nilu:

On another dive, we were excited to find two male broadclub cuttlefish courting a female broadclub cuttlefish at Wae Nilu:

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A beautiful free-swimming snowflake moray eel:

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Tatawa Besar:

We enjoyed this unusually large school of Lined Butterflyfish, at the central dive site of Tatawa Besar:

Anenomefish are always some of my favourites:

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Watch the beautiful colour and texture changes of this cuttlefish:

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Scorpaenidae:

Scorpionfish of various types were numerous at many dive sites in Komodo. Often dug into the sand, or pretending to be a piece of coral. Another member of the Scorpaenidae family is the commonly called Crocodile fish. We mostly saw pale, or light brown specimens, but once we saw this very dark beauty:

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Scorpionfish were particularly common, including the aptly-named leaf Scorpionfish:

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(click on photos to view full-size) 

Lionfish are also part of the Scorpaenidae family.  We often found juvenile Lionfish in the sandy bottom of Siaba Besar.  Lionfish are native to the Indo-Pacific waters, and while we quite frequently saw them, they are not as common as the non-native, invasive lionfish in Caribbean waters.

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More fish:

Here’s a random selection of some of my favourites:

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Here’s a fun fish: a Sea Moth!

Environmental concerns:

There is no doubt that globally tourism is increasing, particularly with an increase in the Indian and Chinese middle classes, who are digitally connected and increasingly use blogs like this, Instagram, and other social media, to discover the next “in” place to visit. Many first-time tourists will travel as part of a group, although there is a growing market in independent travel.

Read what Bloomberg has to say about the growing numbers of Chinese tourists:

“A rising tide of travelers from China is spreading out across the region, out-shopping, outspending and out-eating every other nation. They are filling hotels, tour buses and cruise ships. They are overwhelming airports and train stations, and they are sending home petabytes of pictures that encourage their compatriots to join the global invasion. Their ranks are being swollen by millions of others from around Asia, a generation who would rather raise their status with a foreign adventure than with a luxury bag.”

The Indonesian government is pushing hard to increase the number of tourists to the country, and in particular wants to replicate the Bali tourism boom in ten targeted areas of the country.

But can Komodo NP and the town of Labuan Bajo sustain this projected growth? The infrastructure of the town, the water supply and waste management, is sorely lacking.

There is a rush to build hotels and a new marina, but there’s a lack of trained tourism staff. There are constant rumours of direct flights into the soon-to-be international airport.  Local officials acknowledge there are multiple challenges. There is talk of limiting numbers of visitors to the park.

This study discusses the problems and inequities in the system of water supply in Labuan Bajo:

“Only 24% of the population are connected to a piped water supply but the water generally only runs in the pipes twice a week and for a few hours at a time. This leaves most people dependent on unregulated, unreliable, private supplies often of doubtful quality, or having to collect and carry water from public supplies. The price paid for this water is exceptionally high, breaking international law. Many government officials and knowledgeable citizens claim this is not due to a lack of water. If this is the case the government of West Manggarai is directly implicated in an obvious breech of international law as it is not fulfilling its citizens’ right to water. This is compounded by the claim that government officials are involved in the corruption of water supplies and its sale. This allegation was not researched in this study, but has been covered widely in the local and national media.”

Regular articles in the Indonesian press acknowledge the challenges faced by Labuan Bajo with the increase of tourism:

“I hope the government and the Komodo National Park Authority also pay attention to the problem of clean drinking water difficulties. Hundreds of foreign and domestic tourists visit to the Komodo National Park area but the distress of the local residents meanwhile has been overlooked,” Marsel said. 

There is also evidence of destructive and illegal fishing practices in the park, along with the continuing problem of trash in the water, and many of the local dive operators are concerned:

“It was the unusual thrashing on the water that caught their attention. As those onboard the dive boat in Indonesia’s Komodo national park drew closer, it became clear it was a green turtle entangled in rubbish and thick fishing net.”

And yet the local government continues to deny that there are any problems within the waters of the Komodo NP.

We were there for seven weeks, diving every other day. We saw fishing boats, we saw evidence of anchoring on the reefs, we’ve talked to the dive operators who have seen dead sharks harvested for their fins.

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We’ve seen the remains of fishing nets, entangled in the coral, (and cut them away and brought them up to the boat).

What we haven’t seen, in the entire time we’ve been here, are any marine patrols. And yet we pay a daily fee to visit the national park. The fee is 175,000 rupiah (about US$13) on weekdays, and 250,000 rupiah (about US$18) on Sundays and holidays.

More tourists means more money in park fees, but it’s unclear where and on what, those park fees are being spent.

This article in the South China Morning Post highlights what is likely to happen soon:

“Around 278,000 tourists visited Labuan Bajo last year and of this figure, less than one per cent were from China, the country’s biggest source of inbound tourists. By contrast, the more well-known Bali received more than 5 million tourists, the bulk from China and Australia.

But fortunes could change for Labuan Bajo come May, when the park will receive its first large tour groups from China. Between then and the end of next year, 100 Chinese tourists are expected to arrive on the park’s shores every day, according to officials. That compares to an average of just 50 Chinese tourists a month since 2016 and even fewer before that.”

and “The expected increase mirrors a surge in Chinese tourists to Southeast Asia in general. Chinese tourist arrivals to the region have soared from around 4 million a year in 2006 to more than 20 million in 2016.”

And what of the locals in Labuan Bajo? Many, if not most of the dive operators here are foreign-owned. Instructors and dive guides are often also from overseas, but we did meet several local divemasters. We were delighted to chat one day with a local young woman, who is a newly-qualified divemaster, and is enthusiastic to learn more about the challenging diving in Komodo.

This article discusses the extent of local participation in the dive industry:

“Boat staff (e.g. captains and deckhands) were found to be exclusively from Flores or other parts of Indonesia and there were some local and Indonesian dive guides. The majority of dive professionals (e.g. divemasters and instructors), however, were international expatriates. Lack of English language skills, the high cost of dive training, and limited availability of course material in Bahasa Indonesia beyond the Open Water (beginner) level, were cited as key obstacles to greater involvement.”

There are positive signs however:

Trash Hero is an organization with branches throughout SE Asia, dedicated to engaging with local communities to reduce waste, and pick up trash. Trash Hero Komodo has weekly trash pick up days, and works regularly with the local community and schools, as well as providing English lessons. I’m glad to see grass-roots actions like this.

Many of the dive operators based in Labuan Bajo belong to this group, and are working constantly to improve the environment, and diving standards in the Komodo National Park.

DOCK is increasing its activism, and in April 2018 the UK newspaper the Guardian, featured this article on the pressures facing Komodo National Park:

“In recent years local dive operators say illegal fishing has become rampant, and while daily park entrance fees were raised almost 500% in 2015 to 175,000 rupiah (£9) – it is now more expensive to dive in Komodo than the Galapagos – the number of marine patrols has only decreased.”

Additionally, two organisations, Marine Megafauna Foundation, and MantaWatch work in the area, collecting data and photos on manta rays and turtles, to assist with conservation strategies.

Why should we care?

Apart from the sheer beauty of the underwater environment and the reefs, why should we care whether they’re healthy or not? There are many complex reasons, but here’s a few simple answers from Marine Conservation:

• Oceans generate half of the oxygen we breathe and, at any given moment, they contain more than 97% of the world’s water.

• Oceans provide at least a sixth of the animal protein people eat.

• Living oceans absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and reduce climate change impacts.

Why do we need Marine Protected Areas?

World Wildlife Fund tells us that MPAs are important in many ways, from maintaining sources of food to helping protect shorelines, and from protecting biodiversity to providing income and jobs, Marine Protected Areas can achieve so much:

• Maintaining biodiversity and providing refuges for endangered and commercial species

• Protecting critical habitats from damage by destructive fishing practices and other human activities and allowing them to recover

• Providing areas where fish are able to reproduce, spawn and grow to their adult size

• Increasing fish catches (both size and quantity) in surrounding fishing grounds

• Building resilience to protect against damaging external impacts, such as climate change

• Helping to maintain local cultures, economies, and livelihoods which are intricately linked to the marine environment

More good news:

There are growing issues of trash dumps along the streets, in the jungle outside villages, and washing down into the ocean:

“Every day Kodir’s family and those of other fishermen who live adjacent to the seafront have to smell the pungent garbage. But they say they are used to it and try to ignore the smell because they have no other option.

“I live here with my wife and children. I can’t move to another place because I can make money here to cover our basic needs,” Kodir told ucanews.com. Like many Indonesians, he goes by one name.”

The Indonesian government is beginning to respond:

“Indonesia has pledged up to $1bn a year to dramatically reduce the amount of plastic and other waste products polluting its waters. The announcement was made by Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, Indonesia’s coordinating minister for maritime affairs at last week’s 2017 World Oceans Summit in Nusa Dua, Bali.

Pandjaitan told delegates at the conference that Indonesia would achieve a 70% reduction in marine waste within eight years. He proposed developing new industries that use biodegradable materials such as cassava and seaweed to produce plastic alternatives. Other measures could include a nationwide tax on plastic bags as well as a sustained public education campaign.”

Local government, and international NGOs are also joining the efforts:

“The West Manggarai administration in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) on Monday launched a study detailing strategies to deal with waste problems in the area, which is home to the world famous Labuan Bajo tourist town and Komodo National Park.

West Manggarai regent Agustinus Ch. Dula called the study, which is jointly written by the administration, the Komodo National Park Agency and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Indonesia, a “real step” toward better waste management in the area.”

A growing number of restaurants in Labuan Bajo offer reuseable or compostable straws with drinks:

I truly hope that all these efforts by government, business and NGOs continue and grow, before it’s too late for Komodo National Park.

You and I can do our part, by reducing our use of plastic, continuing to educate ourselves on environmental matters, continuing to talk to people wherever we travel, and continuing to pressure governments to do the right thing. (Contact the official Indonesian Tourist Board)  It’s our world, we’re all responsible for keeping it clean and in balance. In years to come, I want to be able to go back to Komodo, and still see these amazing creatures in their beautiful environment.

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(click on photos to view full-size) 

More photos of beautiful creatures we risk losing:

When you look closely at a piece of coral or sponge, you can find some incredible little critters, check out the Hairy Squat Lobster (see photo with 5mm pointer for scale!)

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Or the Orang Utan crab? yes, seriously! but doesn’t it look just like an Orang Utan?! (Latin name is Achaeus japonicus, for those who like precision!)

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Benthic zone:

The lowest level of a body of water is called the benthic zone. There are so many fascinating creatures to be found here:

Nudibranchs:

(plus a sea cucumber that snuck in!)

Nudis are soft-bodied marine molluscs, that have shells in their larval form, and shed them when they become adults. They come in a huge variety of colours and patterns, and even different shapes. I find them a challenge to photograph, as there are so many different surfaces, it’s often hard to get good focus.

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(click on photos to view full-size) 

Peacock mantis shrimp are more inhabitants of the benthic zone, usually hiding under rocks, or in holes. Fun fact ~ they have the fastest punch in the animal kingdom!

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(click on photos to view full-size)

Thank you!

We’d like to give special thanks to the hardworking and dedicated owners of Neren Diving: Alberto, Lorena and Nacho, who are also instructors and divemasters and often came out diving with us; to the divemasters we had so much fun with: Jii and Malthe; to Diane, new Divemaster, who worked so hard on her DM training during our stay, and briefed and guided us increasingly well!

Particular thanks go to the captain and boat crew who took good care of us each day, changing our tanks, and helping us with equipment. Not forgetting the office staff who meet and greet us and take care of scheduling and billing. And of course to the many divers from around the world who we’ve enjoyed diving and spending time with, during our seven weeks in Labuan Bajo. Hope to see you again!

We really enjoyed our time diving with Neren Diving Komodo.  It’s a close community here, and there are lots of good dive operators, and we were very happy with Neren! We found them to be safety conscious, with good equipment, and a fun group of people who are passionate about diving and the marine environment.  We were happy to pay the regular market price for our diving. (Dive packages may be available upon discussion with the operator.)

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