Trip Report Trip Report - Komodo & Padang Bai Oct 2023

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Just arrived in Komodo for 1 week liveaboard on the Komodo Sea Dragon. Hope very much that we will not encounter too much of the shimmer in the water here. Will give a full report on the liveaboard after our return.
 
Crystal Bay was a balmy 21 degrees . No Molas as we could not go deep but 2 Wobbegong sharks around 20 metres.

I think it is too late to see Mola Mola in November. I saw 9 of them in last August.

I also saw those 2 wobbegong sharks around there. They are the Australian kind (less tassels and straight tail), unlike the Raja Ampat kind (lots of tassels and curly tail).

 
I felt that too. 🥶

It got to 17C at 41m there to see Mola Mola back in August.

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It got to 17C at 41m there to see Mola Mola back in August.

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Well, the mola mola were there but that's darn cold in the water.

It's amazing to me that 17 to 21 c, is a very comfortable temperature on land. Yet, even if I've got on a 5mm, a thick hood, a sharkskin, etc., the skin on my face stings as if I was walking in a winter blizzard in Canada. 🤣
 
Well, the mola mola were there but that's darn cold in the water.

It's amazing to me that 17 to 21 c, is a very comfortable tempetature on land. Yet, even if I've got on a 5mm, a thick hood, a sharkskin, etc., the skin on my face stings as if I was walking in a winter blizzard in Canada. 🤣
That is the normal temp range in Sydney for a chunk of the year and for many years I dived it in a 5mm with a Frogskin top underneath. You were cold by the end of the second dive, for sure. But I have recently acquired a drysuit! Nothing in Komodo or Bali felt really cold to me; I took my 5mm and just let water in in Komodo where you really didn't need that much neoprene on most of the dives.
 
It got to 17C at 41m there to see Mola Mola back in August.

I'm off to Padang Bai on Monday diving with Geko Divers for 6 days. Hope to get in around 20 dives. I know Crystal Bay is on offer and I dove that in 22c in my T shirt and shorts. Bringing my 3mm Sharkskin and will wear it if doing a Mola Dive. I really don't want to fight the currents at Crystal Bay will make sure they know my DSMB as it's a large one. come pick me up might be the call lol
 
I'm off to Padang Bai on Monday diving with Geko Divers for 6 days. Hope to get in around 20 dives. I know Crystal Bay is on offer and I dove that in 22c in my T shirt and shorts. Bringing my 3mm Sharkskin and will wear it if doing a Mola Dive. I really don't want to fight the currents at Crystal Bay will make sure they know my DSMB as it's a large one. come pick me up might be the call lol

Don’t expect to see Mola Mola in Crystal Bay in January.
 

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