The conditions on this trip were perfect with lots of sun and blue skies, calm water and a magical underwater world below.
The first day was at Moyo Island and was a nice easy introduction into the diving in this area. The dive sites are a couple of sea mounts that barely break the surface at low tide. A small area of bright white coral that has almost turned to powder has accumulated creating the perfect postcard picture. It’s easy to imagine yourself sitting there under an umbrella sipping a cocktail as time just slowly passes by. With clear turquoise water on the surface and sky, and blue water down below, we were excited to get in for the first dives of the trip. We saw Denise pygmies along with a brilliant blue ribbon eel and of course schools of jacks, rainbow runners loads of different kinds of anemone fish, angel fish, butterflies and some colorful nudies. Off to Sotanda for the third dive where we had the chance to see a collection of giant frog fish along with a couple black ribbon eels and little yellow bargabanti pygmy seahorse.
The next morning at Sangeang Island was full of our favorite small things and gave us the chance to really get into macro diving. With minute filefish, sawblade shrimp, ghost pipefish, a baby lionfish, snake eels, imperial partner shrimp and more nudies then we have seen in a long time. The second dive at “Hotrocks” showed why the current in Indonesia is famous. We had a chance to drift buy the bargabanti seahorses and get a quick look but mostly just flowed with the current and enjoyed the ride. The afternoon dive at “Rollercoaster” was another drift dive which provided the opportunity to get familiar with some of the up, down and all around currents in Indonesia. There were schools of surgeon fish, jacks and a couple tunas out in the blue while the bright colors of the anthias, the angel fish and butterfly fish, lit up the reef as we passed by. The night dive had the sighting of the hard to believe stargazer and loads of unusual decorator crabs, a mimic octopus, and a striped catfish.
Our third day at “Castle Rock and Crystal Rock” was filled with Pelagics, white tip reef sharks, giant trevallies, tuna, maori wrasse, and the best of all three spotted eagle rays swimming in formation above us and next to us for more than 45 minutes. The afternoon was filled with a trek on Komodo Island looking at the famous Komodo Dragons. That night we hit the cold water at “Pink Beach” with an amazing sighting of the poisonous blue ring octopus.
The next day was more water and lots of small stuff like cowfish, zebra crabs, ornate ghost pipefish, orangutang crabs, squat lobsters and pygmy seahorses. On the beach during the day we were able to see more dragons in their natural habitat strolling the beach.
The dives at “Manta Alley” were filled with humphead parrot fish and of course the elegant mantas. In the afternoon we headed back to Gili Banta for a stunning reef dive with beautiful coral and every imaginable reef species you could think of.
Our last two dive were filled with some incredible macro dives with seahorses, snake eels, robust ghost pipefish, thorny seahorses and the mimic octopus. Then we headed into the sunset on our journey back to Bali.
The dives at “Manta Alley” were filled with humphead parrot fish and of course the elegant mantas. In the afternoon we headed back to Gili Banta for a stunning reef dive with beautiful coral and every imaginable reef species you could think of.
Our last two dive were filled with some incredible macro dives with seahorses, snake eels, robust ghost pipefish, thorny seahorses and the mimic octopus. Then we headed into the sunset on our journey back to Bali.
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