klynchie
Registered
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of spending 6 days living aboard the "Busy Girl" with Current Junkies around Komodo National Park. I can't say enough about how great the experience was.
I decided to book with Current Junkies because of some of the reviews I had read on other websites, all giving high marks, and the promise of a "unique" and more exciting diving experience. I was also, of course, drawn to the prospect of seeing tons of awesome pelagics, and the affordable price relative to other liveaboards in the area. Current Junkies only takes relatively experienced divers (we had me and one other DM, a Rescue Diver, and an AOW both of whom had around 100 dives, and were excellent divers), and takes a maximum of 4 people at a time. The small group size was definitely a plus.
Now I know what you're thinking...choosing a company called, "Current Junkies," in a place with currents as strong as Komodo's...I must be insane. Indeed, I was a little nervous, as although I had experience in currents, I had not dove in any that could probably compare to what I had heard about Komodo's. Turns out, I had nothing to fear.
Nick, your guide for the week, is incredibly knowledgeable about the park and the currents. He gives detailed briefings, and knows exactly how and when to drop in at dive each site to get the optimal experience. At no time did I feel unsafe or out of control on a dive with him, and I know my fellow divers felt the same. He's also just a great guy, a total goofball and very entertaining, though extremely professional when it comes to diving. Nick told us his goal for the entire week (besides having awesome dives and seeing plenty of critters) was to make sure that we saw noone else on any of our dives. Thanks to coordination with other boats and excellent timing, as well as diving sites many boats don't typically go to, Nick met his goal. Nick also left parts of the trip up to us. If we had any special requests or wanted to see anything specific, he'd be happy to meet them. However, none of us had dove in the area before, so we weren't all that picky. In addition to having a knack for finding the "big stuff," Nick is a great macro guide, and we saw plenty of colorful little critters on each dive (shrimp, nudibranchs, pygmy seahorses, bobbit worms, etc.). The rest of the crew is also fantastic, especially Hendi, the cook, who whips up absolutely delicious Indonesian and Western fare. We were constantly stuffed between dives.
Now, for the dives.
As I mentioned before, in addition to the popular sites (Crystal, Cauldron, Batu Bolong, Castle, etc) Nick likes to go to sites that aren't usually frequented by other boats, especially those in the South. I felt that we got an excellent sampling of diving in North, Central, and South Komodo, as well as a good variety of sites (coral, pelagics, muck). Like I said, we didn't see any other divers while we were in the water. What we did see were plenty of gorgeous coral, and awesome marine life.
Some highlights were:
Seeing dolphins at Cannibal Rock in the South, both above and below water. Below the water, we heard them the entire dive, then finally saw them maybe 5-6 metres away, swimming by and playing. On the surface, we saw spinner dolphins jumping all around our Zodiac boat, doing ridiculous aerial flips and spins. We also got them to play with both the smaller zodiac and main boat. We saw dolphins again at Crystal Rock the same day, even closer, that weaved in and out of the schools of fish before moving on.
30+ Mantas at Manta Alley. We did two dives at Manta Alley in the South (not to be confused with Manta Point in the North), a nice site in and of itself. The first dive we saw maybe a total of 10 mantas, seeing the first immediately upon our descent. Nick said he wanted to do the dive again a bit later in the day, hoping the stronger current would bring in more. He was right. The second dive, after riding a strong current for about 20 minutes and not seeing any, tons of mantas came out of nowhere. Nick counted 18 at one time before giving up. Everytime we turned around there was another one, coming right over our heads, swimming in massive trains out in the distance, dancing in circles with each other hovering over the reef. It was incredible. We had maybe 30-35 individuals.
Big bait balls and plenty of sharks at Castle and Crystal. We hooked in using reef hooks at both Castle and Crystal, right in front of massive schools of bait fish, and watched the show. Especially at Castle, we were surrounded on all sides by blue streak fusiliers and rainbow runners, as well as the sharks (white tips, black tips, and some nice big grey reefs) and predatory fish (tuna, giant trevallys, etc) hunting them. Hearing the "boom" of swim bladders compressing as the fish moved into formation to avoid their hunters was awesome. There were at least 8-10 sharks around us at any one time.
Night muck dive at Torpedo Point. This was a nice change of pace, and we saw some cool critters, including the site's namesake, and two bobbit worms, plus plenty of shrimp and crabs.
Mantas and fun in the current at Cauldron. Flying over the reef and sand at Cauldron in a ripping current was super fun in and of itself, as was hooking in and watching some of the sharks and big predatory fish hanging out in the crevice. At the end of the dive, we spotted three mantas swimming along upcurrent, feeding on the plentiful plankton in the water. Once we surfaced, we ditched our gear and jumped in with masks, dropping in up current and riding it down as 7-8 mantas streamed past just below us.
When not diving, the Busy Girl is a great place to hang out. The boat is comfortable, not necessarily luxurious, but to me, you're coming somewhere for the quality of the diving, not the extra amenities. For me, Busy Girl was perfect, and was lacking in nothing. Bean bags and hammocks on the bow to hang out, a comfortable cabin and showers, and a nice sitting and dining table at the stern. When not resting, we were trying our hand at "skurfing", basically wakeboarding but with a surfboard, playing fun games of beach volleyball with the crew, going for nighttime swims, and going for a breathtaking sunset hike. We also did get to go see the dragons, choosing the option of going to a beach in South Rinca where they like to hang out. We got pretty close to the shore in the Zodiac, and got to watch the dragons being super active, fighting, swimming, and even chasing after the boat a bit. In total we saw maybe 10 individuals at once. There were also plenty of other funny shenanigans that assured we were constantly entertained. The one and only complaint I have about the boat is that it gets a little hot below deck in the cabins at night, and the fans are a bit noisy to run. But, this was a very minor inconvenience, and I prefer the silent docking at night as opposed to a generator to run things like aircon.
Overall, I felt that I had a very unique, incredibly fun, and rewarding experience. I have done other land-based dives around Komodo since, and while I can say that they are certainly always beautiful and fun, nothing quite compares to Current Junkies diving. I think I might be ruined for life.
I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Current Junkies to any relatively experienced and skilled diver, especially those with plenty of dives who have "seen it all," and are looking for a different sort of dive experience. This has got to be one of the (if not the) best ways to really dive Komodo.
I decided to book with Current Junkies because of some of the reviews I had read on other websites, all giving high marks, and the promise of a "unique" and more exciting diving experience. I was also, of course, drawn to the prospect of seeing tons of awesome pelagics, and the affordable price relative to other liveaboards in the area. Current Junkies only takes relatively experienced divers (we had me and one other DM, a Rescue Diver, and an AOW both of whom had around 100 dives, and were excellent divers), and takes a maximum of 4 people at a time. The small group size was definitely a plus.
Now I know what you're thinking...choosing a company called, "Current Junkies," in a place with currents as strong as Komodo's...I must be insane. Indeed, I was a little nervous, as although I had experience in currents, I had not dove in any that could probably compare to what I had heard about Komodo's. Turns out, I had nothing to fear.
Nick, your guide for the week, is incredibly knowledgeable about the park and the currents. He gives detailed briefings, and knows exactly how and when to drop in at dive each site to get the optimal experience. At no time did I feel unsafe or out of control on a dive with him, and I know my fellow divers felt the same. He's also just a great guy, a total goofball and very entertaining, though extremely professional when it comes to diving. Nick told us his goal for the entire week (besides having awesome dives and seeing plenty of critters) was to make sure that we saw noone else on any of our dives. Thanks to coordination with other boats and excellent timing, as well as diving sites many boats don't typically go to, Nick met his goal. Nick also left parts of the trip up to us. If we had any special requests or wanted to see anything specific, he'd be happy to meet them. However, none of us had dove in the area before, so we weren't all that picky. In addition to having a knack for finding the "big stuff," Nick is a great macro guide, and we saw plenty of colorful little critters on each dive (shrimp, nudibranchs, pygmy seahorses, bobbit worms, etc.). The rest of the crew is also fantastic, especially Hendi, the cook, who whips up absolutely delicious Indonesian and Western fare. We were constantly stuffed between dives.
Now, for the dives.
As I mentioned before, in addition to the popular sites (Crystal, Cauldron, Batu Bolong, Castle, etc) Nick likes to go to sites that aren't usually frequented by other boats, especially those in the South. I felt that we got an excellent sampling of diving in North, Central, and South Komodo, as well as a good variety of sites (coral, pelagics, muck). Like I said, we didn't see any other divers while we were in the water. What we did see were plenty of gorgeous coral, and awesome marine life.
Some highlights were:
Seeing dolphins at Cannibal Rock in the South, both above and below water. Below the water, we heard them the entire dive, then finally saw them maybe 5-6 metres away, swimming by and playing. On the surface, we saw spinner dolphins jumping all around our Zodiac boat, doing ridiculous aerial flips and spins. We also got them to play with both the smaller zodiac and main boat. We saw dolphins again at Crystal Rock the same day, even closer, that weaved in and out of the schools of fish before moving on.
30+ Mantas at Manta Alley. We did two dives at Manta Alley in the South (not to be confused with Manta Point in the North), a nice site in and of itself. The first dive we saw maybe a total of 10 mantas, seeing the first immediately upon our descent. Nick said he wanted to do the dive again a bit later in the day, hoping the stronger current would bring in more. He was right. The second dive, after riding a strong current for about 20 minutes and not seeing any, tons of mantas came out of nowhere. Nick counted 18 at one time before giving up. Everytime we turned around there was another one, coming right over our heads, swimming in massive trains out in the distance, dancing in circles with each other hovering over the reef. It was incredible. We had maybe 30-35 individuals.
Big bait balls and plenty of sharks at Castle and Crystal. We hooked in using reef hooks at both Castle and Crystal, right in front of massive schools of bait fish, and watched the show. Especially at Castle, we were surrounded on all sides by blue streak fusiliers and rainbow runners, as well as the sharks (white tips, black tips, and some nice big grey reefs) and predatory fish (tuna, giant trevallys, etc) hunting them. Hearing the "boom" of swim bladders compressing as the fish moved into formation to avoid their hunters was awesome. There were at least 8-10 sharks around us at any one time.
Night muck dive at Torpedo Point. This was a nice change of pace, and we saw some cool critters, including the site's namesake, and two bobbit worms, plus plenty of shrimp and crabs.
Mantas and fun in the current at Cauldron. Flying over the reef and sand at Cauldron in a ripping current was super fun in and of itself, as was hooking in and watching some of the sharks and big predatory fish hanging out in the crevice. At the end of the dive, we spotted three mantas swimming along upcurrent, feeding on the plentiful plankton in the water. Once we surfaced, we ditched our gear and jumped in with masks, dropping in up current and riding it down as 7-8 mantas streamed past just below us.
When not diving, the Busy Girl is a great place to hang out. The boat is comfortable, not necessarily luxurious, but to me, you're coming somewhere for the quality of the diving, not the extra amenities. For me, Busy Girl was perfect, and was lacking in nothing. Bean bags and hammocks on the bow to hang out, a comfortable cabin and showers, and a nice sitting and dining table at the stern. When not resting, we were trying our hand at "skurfing", basically wakeboarding but with a surfboard, playing fun games of beach volleyball with the crew, going for nighttime swims, and going for a breathtaking sunset hike. We also did get to go see the dragons, choosing the option of going to a beach in South Rinca where they like to hang out. We got pretty close to the shore in the Zodiac, and got to watch the dragons being super active, fighting, swimming, and even chasing after the boat a bit. In total we saw maybe 10 individuals at once. There were also plenty of other funny shenanigans that assured we were constantly entertained. The one and only complaint I have about the boat is that it gets a little hot below deck in the cabins at night, and the fans are a bit noisy to run. But, this was a very minor inconvenience, and I prefer the silent docking at night as opposed to a generator to run things like aircon.
Overall, I felt that I had a very unique, incredibly fun, and rewarding experience. I have done other land-based dives around Komodo since, and while I can say that they are certainly always beautiful and fun, nothing quite compares to Current Junkies diving. I think I might be ruined for life.
I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Current Junkies to any relatively experienced and skilled diver, especially those with plenty of dives who have "seen it all," and are looking for a different sort of dive experience. This has got to be one of the (if not the) best ways to really dive Komodo.
