hapadiver
Registered
>>>>about flores and komod??
Could you give some kind of small trip eport: icould go there in September. Did you dive withe reefseekers? wher did you stay ? How was the diving? Water temperature? Prices???
tahnk you<<<<<
Hi Hallboy. I'd be happy to share ... My "report" was too long for the private message option, so I'm posting it as a thread instead.
Warning: I lost my dive log (curses!) and have to do this from memory. All this takes place from September to October of 2004.
Komodo: I only spent two days diving here, but the dives were AMAZING! I would go back again in a heartbeat. The five dives I did were some of the best of my life.
We were based in Lubuanbajo. (Liveaboards are nice, but I prefer to save money and travel for longer.) We took a boat from Lombok that stopped at various places off of Sumbawa during the course of two and a half days, including a stop at Komodo to see the dragons. Upon reflection, I would spend the money and fly so that I could have had more time at Komodo!
Trips to Komodo and Rinca were one to three hours out from Lubuanbajo. I went with Reef Seekers after checking out most of the dive shops. They had the best equipment and the most knowledgeable staff. Our dive masters (a British couple) were wonderful! They were safe, experienced, and full of all sorts of fascinating fish facts, which I love!
Prices depended on what dive site you were going to (petrol) and how many divers were going. Prices were about $25 a piece, give or take. We were lucky to have a third diver with us, so that helped with costs. I wore a 3mm long suit and was a little coldbut I'm always cold. For the dives to Manta Point, a place where currents come sweeping in from the deep sea (25 Celsius) we borrowed 5 mm wetsuits from the shop.
We left for Manta Point around 5:30 a.m. It's a tricky spot due to the tides, so timing is essential. During our two dives, we saw more than a dozen manta rays--it took our breath away! Currents were really strong. My boyfriend had a difficult time (he's less experienced and uses quite a lot of air), but our dive master was fantastic at making him feel really comfortable and escorted him back to the boat when he hit 50 bar.
At one point, we came around a corner and got slammed with currents. This seemed to be the mantas' fave spot. We had to hold onto rocks because otherwise, if we let go for a second, we would have been swept out to sea. My mask was actually vibrating.
But the mantas were coasting above our heads, hovering like spaceships, with seemingly no effort. On each dive, I spent 20 minutes sitting right beneath them--so close, I could touch them if I didn't know better. The coral was so healthy; there were tons of fish; and dolphins cruised right over our heads!
Last I heard, Reefseekers was building a small resort on an island, which would be great. Not sure if they are done by now. Lubuanbajo is not really a beach town, and the other small neighboring islands (an hour or so offshore) offer accommodation but not diving. Of course, we were so tired at the end of each day that we didn't need any nightlife or beaches. We just needed sleep!
We traversed Flores in a jeep with a hired driver: Flores is amazing, hilly, pristine, and probably a lot like Bali was 30 years ago. Oh, and the three colored lakes of Kelimutu are a must. We ended our cross-island trek in Maumere, and about a 20 minute drive outside of town (not much to do in Maumere anyway) at Angki's place--a bare-bones guesthouse consisting of huts with outdoor mandi's in the village of Waiterang. No AC, just mosquito nets.
But Angkermi and his Swiss wife were some of the nicest people in the world. The food was excellent, and the place was chill. Their son, Arjuana, is smart, funny and adorable. Unfortunately he came down with malaria while we were there. We weren't taking pills, so you should be wiser than us.
Angki is a very, very experienced diver. The dives around the area were beautiful. My (thinning) 3mm wetsuit was just fine (27+ Celsius). Can't exactly remember the prices, but they were on par with those in Indonesia in general. I think about $20.
My favorite dive was one right off the shore of the guesthouse, which is on a small, rocky beach. We did a "muck dive" at night. I saw more creatures on that one shallow shore dive than I have diving anywhere else. We tooled around in the shallow slime with torches and a chopstick each. We saw everything from ghost pipefish to juvenile stonefish and frogfish!
Also did a day trip out to some lovely sites with beautiful coral and diverse fish and nudibranchs. Angkermi's wife (I can't believe that her name escapes me!) had seen a Mola-mola out there a few weeks back, but we had no such luck.
Oddly enough, a volcano started spewing ash while I was getting ready to go down on one the last dive. It looked like a column of cloud shooting out of a mountain. The airport shut down, so we had to hire a driver to take us in the middle of the night to the next major town (about five hours away) so that we could reach our Lombok-Singapore flight on time.
Two weeks later, I was in Sulawesi. Went to the Togean Islands and dived with Black Marlin Dive Centre, a shop on Kadidiri island owned by an expat guy (who got his training at Blue Marlin Dive Centre on Gili Trawangan, where I spent some time...). The huts--amazing. The beach--stunning. All inclusive, we're talking basic, but you get your food and these beautiful cabins for $9 to $11 US a night. Sure, the water is getting shipped in everyday, but it pours into your shower from a clay vase suspended above your head!
There's another guesthouse on the island, Paradise. It's not owned by divers, though. Heard the instructor, also German, is good. But he was not there when I was on the island.
Dives are about $20 US each, with discounts for 10 or more dives and discounts if you have your own gear. Again, a 3mm suite shorty would be fine for a normal person (27+ Celsius). But I was cold in my long suit Story of my life.
The best dive was the day trip we did, which was three dives off of Una Una. There were amazing schools of jacks, Napolean wrasses, clown triggerfish, etc ... We also dived a WWII plane wreck, which was very, very cool. It sits at about 20 meters, just off the shore of an island. This means visibility isn't so great, particularly after rain, but the plane itself is in fantastic condition. A propeller is intact. You can stick your head into the cockpit and see the safety belts. Loads of life has made its home on the plane too. Killer dive--my first plane wreck! The dive shop has a copy of the accident report, so you get a real sense of what went down when the plane went down! No worries--everyone survived!
Did about a week's worth of diving. There are some stunning walls. You can drift for ages and see deep blue and no other divers--ever! Loads of amazing nudibranchs. Wicked visibility. Untouched coral, though we did hear some dynamite fishing whilst underwater. Stops your heart and makes you sad.
Deepest dive was down to about 40+ meters. Of course, it was only very experienced deep divers who got to go. Beautiful, just beautiful. Black Marlin is good on safety. Those without advanced certs had to stay shallow. Overall, the place was dreamy!
Getting to the Togeans requires about two days--no matter what direction you're coming from. We flew from Manado to Gorontalo and then took an overnight ferry from Gorontalo to the main island of Wakai. It was about 14 hours. We had a cabin, but my, were we exhausted! Then from Wakai it was a 15-minute boat trip to Kadidiri, where Black Marlin is located.
On the way out, we went via ferry from Wakai (Togeans main island) to Ampana and then took a car to Leweuk, which took forever (should have been five or six hours but we got a flat tire and then a giant palm tree fell across the road and had to be hacked to pieces by a machete).
We stayed the night at guesthouse run by this Frenchman Gerome who has lived in Indonesia for years. He's married to an Indonesian woman and runs the guesthouses from his lovely home. He does liveaboards (very basic) to the Togeans and also takes people out in the Lembeh Straits, which I would LOVE to dive. (The dive master from Reefseekers on Flores raved about the frogfish.) Can't remember the name at the moment, but it will come to me.
We flew from Leweuk to Manado and then headed over to Bunaken, which was OK, and then on to Borneo to check out Sipidan. Almost went diving on Pulau Derawan in Balikpapan, but it was too pricey and I came down with bronchitis. But that's another story, and this one is already too long!
Happy travels! Happy to answer any other questions, in case I've left something out.
-Hapadiver
Could you give some kind of small trip eport: icould go there in September. Did you dive withe reefseekers? wher did you stay ? How was the diving? Water temperature? Prices???
tahnk you<<<<<
Hi Hallboy. I'd be happy to share ... My "report" was too long for the private message option, so I'm posting it as a thread instead.
Warning: I lost my dive log (curses!) and have to do this from memory. All this takes place from September to October of 2004.
Komodo: I only spent two days diving here, but the dives were AMAZING! I would go back again in a heartbeat. The five dives I did were some of the best of my life.
We were based in Lubuanbajo. (Liveaboards are nice, but I prefer to save money and travel for longer.) We took a boat from Lombok that stopped at various places off of Sumbawa during the course of two and a half days, including a stop at Komodo to see the dragons. Upon reflection, I would spend the money and fly so that I could have had more time at Komodo!
Trips to Komodo and Rinca were one to three hours out from Lubuanbajo. I went with Reef Seekers after checking out most of the dive shops. They had the best equipment and the most knowledgeable staff. Our dive masters (a British couple) were wonderful! They were safe, experienced, and full of all sorts of fascinating fish facts, which I love!
Prices depended on what dive site you were going to (petrol) and how many divers were going. Prices were about $25 a piece, give or take. We were lucky to have a third diver with us, so that helped with costs. I wore a 3mm long suit and was a little coldbut I'm always cold. For the dives to Manta Point, a place where currents come sweeping in from the deep sea (25 Celsius) we borrowed 5 mm wetsuits from the shop.
We left for Manta Point around 5:30 a.m. It's a tricky spot due to the tides, so timing is essential. During our two dives, we saw more than a dozen manta rays--it took our breath away! Currents were really strong. My boyfriend had a difficult time (he's less experienced and uses quite a lot of air), but our dive master was fantastic at making him feel really comfortable and escorted him back to the boat when he hit 50 bar.
At one point, we came around a corner and got slammed with currents. This seemed to be the mantas' fave spot. We had to hold onto rocks because otherwise, if we let go for a second, we would have been swept out to sea. My mask was actually vibrating.
But the mantas were coasting above our heads, hovering like spaceships, with seemingly no effort. On each dive, I spent 20 minutes sitting right beneath them--so close, I could touch them if I didn't know better. The coral was so healthy; there were tons of fish; and dolphins cruised right over our heads!
Last I heard, Reefseekers was building a small resort on an island, which would be great. Not sure if they are done by now. Lubuanbajo is not really a beach town, and the other small neighboring islands (an hour or so offshore) offer accommodation but not diving. Of course, we were so tired at the end of each day that we didn't need any nightlife or beaches. We just needed sleep!
We traversed Flores in a jeep with a hired driver: Flores is amazing, hilly, pristine, and probably a lot like Bali was 30 years ago. Oh, and the three colored lakes of Kelimutu are a must. We ended our cross-island trek in Maumere, and about a 20 minute drive outside of town (not much to do in Maumere anyway) at Angki's place--a bare-bones guesthouse consisting of huts with outdoor mandi's in the village of Waiterang. No AC, just mosquito nets.
But Angkermi and his Swiss wife were some of the nicest people in the world. The food was excellent, and the place was chill. Their son, Arjuana, is smart, funny and adorable. Unfortunately he came down with malaria while we were there. We weren't taking pills, so you should be wiser than us.
Angki is a very, very experienced diver. The dives around the area were beautiful. My (thinning) 3mm wetsuit was just fine (27+ Celsius). Can't exactly remember the prices, but they were on par with those in Indonesia in general. I think about $20.
My favorite dive was one right off the shore of the guesthouse, which is on a small, rocky beach. We did a "muck dive" at night. I saw more creatures on that one shallow shore dive than I have diving anywhere else. We tooled around in the shallow slime with torches and a chopstick each. We saw everything from ghost pipefish to juvenile stonefish and frogfish!
Also did a day trip out to some lovely sites with beautiful coral and diverse fish and nudibranchs. Angkermi's wife (I can't believe that her name escapes me!) had seen a Mola-mola out there a few weeks back, but we had no such luck.
Oddly enough, a volcano started spewing ash while I was getting ready to go down on one the last dive. It looked like a column of cloud shooting out of a mountain. The airport shut down, so we had to hire a driver to take us in the middle of the night to the next major town (about five hours away) so that we could reach our Lombok-Singapore flight on time.
Two weeks later, I was in Sulawesi. Went to the Togean Islands and dived with Black Marlin Dive Centre, a shop on Kadidiri island owned by an expat guy (who got his training at Blue Marlin Dive Centre on Gili Trawangan, where I spent some time...). The huts--amazing. The beach--stunning. All inclusive, we're talking basic, but you get your food and these beautiful cabins for $9 to $11 US a night. Sure, the water is getting shipped in everyday, but it pours into your shower from a clay vase suspended above your head!
There's another guesthouse on the island, Paradise. It's not owned by divers, though. Heard the instructor, also German, is good. But he was not there when I was on the island.
Dives are about $20 US each, with discounts for 10 or more dives and discounts if you have your own gear. Again, a 3mm suite shorty would be fine for a normal person (27+ Celsius). But I was cold in my long suit Story of my life.
The best dive was the day trip we did, which was three dives off of Una Una. There were amazing schools of jacks, Napolean wrasses, clown triggerfish, etc ... We also dived a WWII plane wreck, which was very, very cool. It sits at about 20 meters, just off the shore of an island. This means visibility isn't so great, particularly after rain, but the plane itself is in fantastic condition. A propeller is intact. You can stick your head into the cockpit and see the safety belts. Loads of life has made its home on the plane too. Killer dive--my first plane wreck! The dive shop has a copy of the accident report, so you get a real sense of what went down when the plane went down! No worries--everyone survived!
Did about a week's worth of diving. There are some stunning walls. You can drift for ages and see deep blue and no other divers--ever! Loads of amazing nudibranchs. Wicked visibility. Untouched coral, though we did hear some dynamite fishing whilst underwater. Stops your heart and makes you sad.
Deepest dive was down to about 40+ meters. Of course, it was only very experienced deep divers who got to go. Beautiful, just beautiful. Black Marlin is good on safety. Those without advanced certs had to stay shallow. Overall, the place was dreamy!
Getting to the Togeans requires about two days--no matter what direction you're coming from. We flew from Manado to Gorontalo and then took an overnight ferry from Gorontalo to the main island of Wakai. It was about 14 hours. We had a cabin, but my, were we exhausted! Then from Wakai it was a 15-minute boat trip to Kadidiri, where Black Marlin is located.
On the way out, we went via ferry from Wakai (Togeans main island) to Ampana and then took a car to Leweuk, which took forever (should have been five or six hours but we got a flat tire and then a giant palm tree fell across the road and had to be hacked to pieces by a machete).
We stayed the night at guesthouse run by this Frenchman Gerome who has lived in Indonesia for years. He's married to an Indonesian woman and runs the guesthouses from his lovely home. He does liveaboards (very basic) to the Togeans and also takes people out in the Lembeh Straits, which I would LOVE to dive. (The dive master from Reefseekers on Flores raved about the frogfish.) Can't remember the name at the moment, but it will come to me.
We flew from Leweuk to Manado and then headed over to Bunaken, which was OK, and then on to Borneo to check out Sipidan. Almost went diving on Pulau Derawan in Balikpapan, but it was too pricey and I came down with bronchitis. But that's another story, and this one is already too long!
Happy travels! Happy to answer any other questions, in case I've left something out.
-Hapadiver
