Komodo LOB + Raja Ampat - suggestions invited

[also_anon_dc]

If you’re considering liveaboards the Mermaid I does 75min dives as standard instead of the usual 60. In 6 liveaboards this is the first time I’ve came across this and omg it’s so nice.

This is good to hear. Do you know if they do this on all their routes? I have a trip booked with Mermaid I but not to Komodo.

 

[dirtfarmer]

@drrich2 there are also quite a few muck sites in Komodo, they will tend to have low or very little current. Many of these sites are done as night dives on LOB's. On the reefs there are many macro subjects and if the current isn't running hard they can be easy enough to shoot photos of, of course a co-operative guide comes in handy which I've always had in Komodo. Indonesian's tend to like to please people and dive guides are no exception.

Yes macro enthusiasts like to dive slowly, I like to dive slowly on any site that the current enables it macro or not. If the current is running I go with the flow. You mention Cozumel drift diving which I've done, I'm heading to Cozumel in a couple of weeks and if the guide is rushing along the reef or wall unnecessarily I will ask them to slow down if they won't I'll ask for another guide. I've had way to many dives in the Caribbean that were rushed, I've had a few guides where it seemed like they just wanted to get the dives done, get their tip and head home.

 

[dirtfarmer]

I just returned from Komodo about a week ago. Like stated above, our Cruise Director confirmed Cannibal Rock was destroyed.

Regarding macro, I had the opportunity to dive South Komodo in 2019. Honestly, it was some of the best macro diving I’ve ever experienced (Thanks Dirtfarmer for all the educational posts over the years).

@Mr.Poseidon your welcome, Komodo has a special place in my diving memories, I love the diving and the people.

It's a horrible shame that Cannibal Rock has been bombed. Sadly I've seen way to many reefs destroyed by dynamite fishing for such short term gain. Maybee Karma will be a bitch and reach out and touch the dynamite fisherman.

 

[jjmochi]

Interesting statement I'd like to get some follow up on. In the Caribbean, Cozumel is a popular dive destination known for drift diving and features a good array of creatures, some quite small. I don't normally think of it as a 'macro destination,' because I (just a snap shooter) think of macro shooting as something often needing substantial time to study an area to find the subject, set up the shot (e.g.: narrow depth of field?), etc... I get the impression from posts on ScubaBoard macro enthusiasts often like to proceed slowly. Since Cozumel is mostly drift diving, it doesn't lend itself to that.

Now you indicated you dove Komodo, which if I've read correctly tends to be a more aggressive current destination than Cozumel, and you used your macro lens on almost half the dives.

So how did that work? Am I missing something? Was it 'sorta macro but not little bitty nudibranchs,' or what?

This is as much dependent on the skill of the operator/dive master as it is on the actual current conditions. Mermaid was excellent in this - they could read the currents very well and always planned the dives to allow for either lazy mild current diving (most of the time) or an easy fast drift (Shotgun etc). We've never had to swim hard against the current, except for only maybe 5min at a time to cross the currents and get to a no current spot.

I've put on my dedicated 90mm macro lens with SMC-1 on for about 1/3 of the dives, most of the night dives were macro and some of the day dives (around Sangeang etc) were recommended to be mostly macro as well but can be both. For the other 2/3 of dives I took my 28-60 w MWL-1 (which converts it to a 150 degree field of view fish eye) and Inon UCL-67 (+15 diopter that converts it into a decent macro lens that can do 1:1 but with very little working distance) on a double flip. This was AWESOME for the wide-angle recommended sites of Komodo as I didn't miss any of the macro gems! My first hairy squat lobster (the super pretty pink and purple one), both times we've found them it was a "wide angle" site and I had the 28-60 on. A lot of times we moved from bommie to bommie - the bommies are great for wide angle esp in current as there's so much fish life and the coral is super healthy, but inside/on the bommies there was a lot of cute crabs, shrimps, nudis - some as small as 1-2cm. If you duck behind the bommie and use a muck stick you can usually get stable enough to take a few good shots - nothing award winning (don't have time to play with lighting or creative shots etc) but can get a few decent ones w standard lighting & framing. Think like 1min-ish tops vs spending 5-10min w one critter in Lembeh. On the wall / channel dives you usually do have to fin quite hard for the minute you're trying to stay in position for the shot, but that goes for both macro and wide.

 

[jjmochi]

This is good to hear. Do you know if they do this on all their routes? I have a trip booked with Mermaid I but not to Komodo.

Yes I think it is - definitely has me thinking about rebooking them. I just hesitate to do Komodo with them again because they start and end in Bali - which sounds nice as you think you can avoid the internal flight to LBJ - but as we've found out there is a risk of missing 1-2 days of diving because the crossing is long and if currents push hard you won't be able to keep to the schedule. We missed 1 full day of diving on the way over which makes for 2 days in a roll of doing nothing. If I haven't booked my Raja trip in Dec already I would definitely book them for Raja. I had Wayang as my DM and he was awesome, Danni (Batman) also led a few of the night dives (where we usually have less than half the guests participating so groups are combined) and he was also great. The only downside I can think of about the boat is the food, a couple of us got quite sick from (we think) food poisoning but we couldn't find the common thread about what we ate the day before, so it's possibly a bug and not the food either. Food was tasty half the time and not so tasty the other half but all very healthy, and lots of fruits available always which is great.

 

[jjmochi]

This is the log from Celso for our Komodo trip: 20220828 MMI. Komodo.doc

I was not too happy about the 1 missed day but looking back at my photos and the log now it's definitely quite mind blowing and the best liveaboard I've done diving-wise.

 

[n03]

I’ve been to Komodo 2x (Mermaid II 2013, Adelaar 2019), Raja Ampat 2x (Mermaid I 2017, Damai I 2019), Bangka island 2014, Bali 2018. Raja Ampat is really in a league of its own, from the marine life variety, big and small, to topside scenery. Komodo is a close second, but the emphasis is a bit more on big animals, less macro. Cannibal Rock that others have mentioned is (was?) an incredible site, I dove it 3x, one a crazy night dive, and it’s one of my all time best. I’m shocked to read that it was bombed… south Komodo waters are colder, a bit green, and lower viz than in the north. If you’re limited to just the south, and Cannibal rock is gone (and who knows what else) I might focus on RA instead. Manta sites are good in Komodo, but you’ll most likely see mantas in RA too. Komodo also got much much busier over the years, I noticed a big difference between 2013 when we hardly saw any other boat in a week and 2019 when boats were left and right with fuel spills on the water. Marmaid boats are wonderful, especially Mermaid I hits the sweet spot. I loved the food. And you should definitely do a liveaboard trip in RA - the park is so big, you need a boat to see it.

Depends what you’re looking for, but for me Bangka was a bit of a downgrade from Komodo (though that’s comparing to the whole park, not just south). Really lots of weird macro, multiple species of Pygmy seahorses, electric clams, frog fish, but nothing bigger than a Napoleon fish. Some good reefs, not crowded, I stayed at Murex (on Bangka) and the setting was basic but really dreamy. Nice snorkeling right in front too.

Diving in Bali is only good for macro, no good reefs left there. Lots of nudibranchs though. I like Bali just for relaxing - do some yoga in Ubud, visit the rice fields, go to a dance show etc.

If you’re heading to RA, then arriving to Jakarta would be more convenient since you can get a direct flight from there to Sorong. Maybe fly into one and depart from the other if you still want to go to Bali?

 

[Luko]

Diving in Bali is only good for macro, no good reefs left there.

Huh ho... I guess you missed Lembongan/Penida with manta rays and mola mola, plus the very lively reefs of Toyapakeh or SD.
Here's to the not so good reefs of Nusa Penida et alii :





Or even Amed

 

[Luko]

I've put on my dedicated 90mm macro lens with SMC-1 on for about 1/3 of the dives, most of the night dives were macro

I was surprized with your macro dive ratio on a northern itinerary, I don't usually find north/central Komodo NP to be good on macro, but I read afterwards you spent a part of the dives around Sangeang which is not Komodo NP. Hence this explains that : Sangeang black sand macro sites is a kind of Tulamben out of Tulamben. Not all Komodo itineraries include Sangeang.

For the other 2/3 of dives I took my 28-60 w MWL-1

I'd be interested to see WA shots taken with a MWL-1.

My first hairy squat lobster (the super pretty pink and purple one), both times we've found them it was a "wide angle" site

Hairy squat lobsters (latin name Lauriea Siagiani related to the famous dive guide Wally Siagian) only live at the base of those big barrel sponges, hence you'll need a reef site more than a mucksite. They're plentiful in Tulamben.

 

[n03]

Huh ho... I guess you missed Lembongan/Penida with manta rays and mola mola, plus the very lively reefs of Toyapakeh or SD.
Here's to the not so good reefs of Nusa Penida et alii :





Or even Amed

Oh wow, that does look pretty. Not how I remember it. And I even went through the trouble of going to Menjangan, which is a protected marine park. And yes, I did Crystal Bay (no mola mola in November - learned the hard way) and the manta dive on Nusa Penida (it was OK, a bit green). Maybe I was just comparing to the better sites of RA/Komodo.

By the way, not sure if the trash situation is better now, but when I went in 2018 the amount of trash on the beaches (and in the water) was legendary.