Well, I ended up going to Indonesia for some dives at Amed, Nusa Penida, Gilis and finally Komodo.
By the time I reached Komodo I had 30+ dives.
The highlight for me was Nusa Penida. Manta Point was amazing. I saw so many huge mantas there, plus a school of dolphins passing us by. It was surreal.
I did 15 dives at Komodo. I decided to go with Scuba Junkie. It's a nice resort and a very well run operation, but if I'm totally honest I expected a lot more from Komodo. It didn't blow me away at all. Visibility was poor to mediocre on most dives and there just wasn't a whole lot of marine life compared to other dives I've done. We went to manta point twice and unlike the one at Nusa Penida we only saw one manta there in total. We saw some sharks in the distance but due to poor visibility they weren't very clear. Saw some turtles, but I saw ten times as many turtles at the Gilis and a hundred times more fish at Ko Tao. Komodo did have some really nice and colourful reefs, but also plenty of reefs that have seen better days. In terms of marine life I didn't see anything I hadn't already seen in bigger numbers at other sites.
It wasn't all bad though. Some of the drift dives were exciting, with The Cauldron / Shotgun really standing out. We did it at full moon and the current was insane. Even at the surface (with whirlpools forming); never seen anything like it. Holding onto a reef hook for dear life at Shotgun with pressure enough to press your purge button / pull your mask off, then being launched upon release definitely was a thrill that even impressed the dive masters.
But the average of 15 dives was far from spectacular. So I was probably unlucky, or maybe diving just isn't at its best there at the end of wet season.
By the time I reached Komodo I had 30+ dives.
The highlight for me was Nusa Penida. Manta Point was amazing. I saw so many huge mantas there, plus a school of dolphins passing us by. It was surreal.
I did 15 dives at Komodo. I decided to go with Scuba Junkie. It's a nice resort and a very well run operation, but if I'm totally honest I expected a lot more from Komodo. It didn't blow me away at all. Visibility was poor to mediocre on most dives and there just wasn't a whole lot of marine life compared to other dives I've done. We went to manta point twice and unlike the one at Nusa Penida we only saw one manta there in total. We saw some sharks in the distance but due to poor visibility they weren't very clear. Saw some turtles, but I saw ten times as many turtles at the Gilis and a hundred times more fish at Ko Tao. Komodo did have some really nice and colourful reefs, but also plenty of reefs that have seen better days. In terms of marine life I didn't see anything I hadn't already seen in bigger numbers at other sites.
It wasn't all bad though. Some of the drift dives were exciting, with The Cauldron / Shotgun really standing out. We did it at full moon and the current was insane. Even at the surface (with whirlpools forming); never seen anything like it. Holding onto a reef hook for dear life at Shotgun with pressure enough to press your purge button / pull your mask off, then being launched upon release definitely was a thrill that even impressed the dive masters.
But the average of 15 dives was far from spectacular. So I was probably unlucky, or maybe diving just isn't at its best there at the end of wet season.
