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Komodo Dancer Captains Report July 11 21, 2012
It is a real pleasure to greet guests from all over, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Hong Kong and America for this trip. To make it even more special, the owners of Komodo Dancer, Evelyne and Jiat were on board as well! We have a returning guest Natasha who joined us last year in Komodo and decided to come back for our Alor Cruise. It is also exciting to greet 3 generations of family onboard with us; grandmother, mother and 2 boys all the way from Belgium. After the guests were shown to their designated cabins and given time to settle down we held a general vessel briefing and dive briefing in the comfort of the lounge.
The second day was an excellent day to begin diving. The checkout dive was done in calm sea conditions and sunny weather in Bacatan, Adonara Island. It is a pleasant surprise that our youngest divers Louis (15) and Thjis (13) are comfortable and confident underwater despite their inexperience. After lunch, we sailed 50NM (nautical miles) north to Komba for the volcano sighting. We arrived just before sunset and enjoyed the fireworks show of nature as we had dinner. From Komba, it is a 12-hour voyage southeast to Alor archipelago.
One of the signature sites of Alor, the Red Wall did not disappoint us.
Named Red Wall for the swarming red anthias, the beautiful soft corralled wall is barely visible from 3-8 meters depth, due to the thousands of anthias covering the reef. Our guests had an amazing time diving along the wall, enjoying the pristine health and condition of the reef.
Mucky Mosque is another hidden treasure where the first impression is nowhere close to what you can find hidden amongst the coral or on the sand. With the plain, silky sandy bottom, this muck diving was so productive that most of the guests couldnt get enough and they were more than happy to join the dusk dive for another round of it. Two beautiful weedy rhinopias were found perched just barely in 12metres depth. A fascination point for some of our guests since it is their first time looking at these rare creatures.
On Sunday, we headed over to Clown Valley where a whole different range of anemone species can be found here. This is truly a treat for the divers due to the topography. The second surprise comes when the village children come out for a swim right above the divers. After that, we headed back to Red Wall for another visit before we leave Pantar. Our guests are fascinated with the electric file clam found at the Mini Wall. Our photographer guests were also found hanging very near the surface attempting to take a good shot of two different ghost pipefish. With the dusk, came the sightings of juvenile batfish, moray eels and an array of decorative crabs with adorable soft corals adorning their shells.
We next headed east to Pura and guests could be seen quietly hovering to catch the sight of the somewhat elusive flasher wrasses in full color. The Bargibanti pygmy seahorses here are what we jokingly termed as giant pygmy seahorse given they were close an inch in size! We couldnt find an easier pygmy seahorse to shoot.
On the last day, due to the no flight time surface interval before flying the guests were taken on a 3 hour cultural village tour where they were given a taste of chewing beetlenut, smoking hand rolled cigarettes and sipping locally made palm wine. It was an eye-opening experience with local dances and the villagers showing the step-by-step process of weaving the famous ikat cloths.
As a whole, it was a wonderful trip as our guests enjoyed the fantastic drift and reef dives in Pura Island, Pantar Straits. We would like to thank Natasha for coming back this year, Brian for booking 2 trips to Komodo with us and Curt, Martine, Louis and Thjis to allow Komodo Dancer the privilege of being your first liveaboard experience. We would also like to thank Jim and Edith for joining this memorable trip.
It is a real pleasure to greet guests from all over, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Hong Kong and America for this trip. To make it even more special, the owners of Komodo Dancer, Evelyne and Jiat were on board as well! We have a returning guest Natasha who joined us last year in Komodo and decided to come back for our Alor Cruise. It is also exciting to greet 3 generations of family onboard with us; grandmother, mother and 2 boys all the way from Belgium. After the guests were shown to their designated cabins and given time to settle down we held a general vessel briefing and dive briefing in the comfort of the lounge.
The second day was an excellent day to begin diving. The checkout dive was done in calm sea conditions and sunny weather in Bacatan, Adonara Island. It is a pleasant surprise that our youngest divers Louis (15) and Thjis (13) are comfortable and confident underwater despite their inexperience. After lunch, we sailed 50NM (nautical miles) north to Komba for the volcano sighting. We arrived just before sunset and enjoyed the fireworks show of nature as we had dinner. From Komba, it is a 12-hour voyage southeast to Alor archipelago.
One of the signature sites of Alor, the Red Wall did not disappoint us.
Named Red Wall for the swarming red anthias, the beautiful soft corralled wall is barely visible from 3-8 meters depth, due to the thousands of anthias covering the reef. Our guests had an amazing time diving along the wall, enjoying the pristine health and condition of the reef.
Mucky Mosque is another hidden treasure where the first impression is nowhere close to what you can find hidden amongst the coral or on the sand. With the plain, silky sandy bottom, this muck diving was so productive that most of the guests couldnt get enough and they were more than happy to join the dusk dive for another round of it. Two beautiful weedy rhinopias were found perched just barely in 12metres depth. A fascination point for some of our guests since it is their first time looking at these rare creatures.
On Sunday, we headed over to Clown Valley where a whole different range of anemone species can be found here. This is truly a treat for the divers due to the topography. The second surprise comes when the village children come out for a swim right above the divers. After that, we headed back to Red Wall for another visit before we leave Pantar. Our guests are fascinated with the electric file clam found at the Mini Wall. Our photographer guests were also found hanging very near the surface attempting to take a good shot of two different ghost pipefish. With the dusk, came the sightings of juvenile batfish, moray eels and an array of decorative crabs with adorable soft corals adorning their shells.
We next headed east to Pura and guests could be seen quietly hovering to catch the sight of the somewhat elusive flasher wrasses in full color. The Bargibanti pygmy seahorses here are what we jokingly termed as giant pygmy seahorse given they were close an inch in size! We couldnt find an easier pygmy seahorse to shoot.
On the last day, due to the no flight time surface interval before flying the guests were taken on a 3 hour cultural village tour where they were given a taste of chewing beetlenut, smoking hand rolled cigarettes and sipping locally made palm wine. It was an eye-opening experience with local dances and the villagers showing the step-by-step process of weaving the famous ikat cloths.
As a whole, it was a wonderful trip as our guests enjoyed the fantastic drift and reef dives in Pura Island, Pantar Straits. We would like to thank Natasha for coming back this year, Brian for booking 2 trips to Komodo with us and Curt, Martine, Louis and Thjis to allow Komodo Dancer the privilege of being your first liveaboard experience. We would also like to thank Jim and Edith for joining this memorable trip.