Cannibal Rock?

[jjmochi]

Sorry to hear about your short trip to Southern Komodo, skipping Cannibal Rock & hearing the site was bombed out (this is the casualty of the site being closed for 2.5 years. I saw the same in Tulamben, the local wiped out Bumphead parrotfish & Brown marble grouper and lots of coral ruins in Sangalaki, Kakaban & Maratua too. Really sad situation. I’m hoping now Indonesia is open, those fish bombing would be less & less often as the local would get income from tourism). At least you dove in Manta Alley!

On 22 July we met Mermaid 1 in Moyo. They were on the way back to Bali, while we were on our way to Komodo. I spoke to Celso (he was the cruise director when I was on Mermaid 1 back in 2014) & some of the DMs then. They gave us a good tip about diving with Whalesharks under a bagan in Teluk Saleh, which we did on our way back to Bali on 3 August. Did you do that?

Hmm I don't think we went to Horseshoe Bay at all, did not go Torpedo either. No dives to see the whale sharks either. We had some boat trouble with the engines and unlucky currents, our first day was completely wasted. We were supposed to be at Moyo on the morning of day 2 and do 3 dives, but had to skip that entirely because of how slow the boat moved overnight. Was told normally it moves at 7-9 knots but we were moving at 2 knots, they thought something was wrong with the engine and went to go check, then said it was fine and it was just currents being unusually strong in pushing against us. Apparently it has never happened before and indeed I did not think this was a risk when I booked this boat... Then on the way back one of the engines which normally turns at 1500 rpm was only able to do 1200 rpm, so we were slow but managed to make it back on time. Our last dive was at Angel Reef in Moyo which ironically was meant to be our first/check dive.

Manta Alley was great, but I had superb manta interactions on all 3 dives and would have been happy with just 1 dive there. I didn't mind repeating for the second dive but by the third I was definitely itching to see another site. I think I will have to do a return trip to Komodo south during the proper high season, was just a bit bummed that we only saw 1 site there this time. A lot of the shorter trips that only go to the north/central areas were much cheaper and wanting a fast boat that would spend two days in the south was one of the reasons that tipped us towards the mermaid.

 

[Dan]

Hmm I don't think we went to Horseshoe Bay at all, did not go Torpedo either. No dives to see the whale sharks either. We had some boat trouble with the engines and unlucky currents, our first day was completely wasted. We were supposed to be at Moyo on the morning of day 2 and do 3 dives, but had to skip that entirely because of how slow the boat moved overnight. Was told normally it moves at 7-9 knots but we were moving at 2 knots, they thought something was wrong with the engine and went to go check, then said it was fine and it was just currents being unusually strong in pushing against us. Apparently it has never happened before and indeed I did not think this was a risk when I booked this boat... Then on the way back one of the engines which normally turns at 1500 rpm was only able to do 1200 rpm, so we were slow but managed to make it back on time. Our last dive was at Angel Reef in Moyo which ironically was meant to be our first/check dive.

Manta Alley was great, but I had superb manta interactions on all 3 dives and would have been happy with just 1 dive there. I didn't mind repeating for the second dive but by the third I was definitely itching to see another site. I think I will have to do a return trip to Komodo south during the proper high season, was just a bit bummed that we only saw 1 site there this time. A lot of the shorter trips that only go to the north/central areas were much cheaper and wanting a fast boat that would spend two days in the south was one of the reasons that tipped us towards the mermaid.

Sorry to hear about your problems with the boat & bad weather. We also had the unfortunate in cruising against strong current when we cruised from Bali to Sumbawa.

I understood that you didn't make it to Horseshoe Bay as Manta Alley was in the south of Komodo Island and Horseshoe Bay is in the south of Rinca, ~ 17 nautical miles away from Manta Alley. Cruising from southern Komodo to southern Rinca, over the swell of Indian Ocean, is not an easy task when the weather is bad. I understand what Celso's decision to skip it, especially knowing that the Cannibal Rock was recently bombed out.

I have been in Horseshoe Bay twice at 2 different times of the year (in December 2012 & August 2014) with excellent visibility. When we cruised from Pink Beach to Manta Alley, we started to see whitecap waves and huge ocean swell halfway to Manta Alley, we decided to skip Manta Alley and went straight to Horseshoe Bay with expectation of repeating the world-class diving experience of Horseshoe Bay. Unfortunately the third time was not a charm due to the poor visibility.

 

[dirtfarmer]

It's a damn shame someone bombed Cannibal Rock, I've had the pleasure of diving it on a few different trips and it's always been a highlight. I loved the numerous schools of snapper, and all the little fish and they're colorful darting about, and then when the Trevally are zooming around looking to catch a fish unaware it's off the hook. It at times had excellent Macro life on it as well. My first dive there I ended up flirting with an empty tank while I was trying to get a good shot of a Zebra Crab with eggs on it's belly on a Fire Urchin.
It's not the only place in Horseshoe Bay that's been bommbed, you can see on The Yellow Wall places on the slope that have been destroyed long ago. Luckily there are still some good sites in HSB, as others have pointed out Torpedo Alley has been on the epic side of Muck dives for me, and Eagle Point remains a favorite in the bay, hopefully they left that unbombed.

 

[Dan]

22 July we met Mermaid 1 in Moyo. They were on the way back to Bali, while we were on our way to Komodo. I spoke to Celso (he was the cruise director when I was on Mermaid 1 back in 2014) & some of the DMs then. They gave us a good tip about diving with Whalesharks under a bagan in Teluk Saleh, which we did on our way back to Bali on 3 August

Here’s the video of diving with Saleh Bay Whalesharks: