Here's a not-so quick article for those contemplating a trip to Komodo National Park, or maybe a casual read...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A figurehead for a world heritage site and a national park encompassing numerous volcanic islands - Komodo represents a prehistoric world all of its own, its waters brimming with an incredible marine diversity that had evolved in the midst of unimaginable natural violence...
Visions of infamous ‘Komodo Dragons’ had been firmly lodged into my subconscious since I was a small boy... The world seemed so much bigger then, but now we would be joining a growing fraternity of eco tourists to actually see this stuff of legend for ourselves...
“Not just a dive trip, but a real adventure!”
“DANCING WITH DRAGONS”
By Bob Whorton.
Peter Hughes had invited me to participate in the lengthier of two Komodo voyage options during May/June 03 onboard ‘Komodo Dancer’ sailing from Bali’ (in conjunction with Garuda Indonesia Airlines and Melia Bali Hotel), joined by friend & colleague Mark Shuttleworth. For each of us this trip couldn’t have arrived fast enough!
Let’s Dance...
At 08.00, Mark and I rolled up at the dockside in Bali, and were both immediately impressed by the size, high masts and layout of our awaiting vessel – ‘Komodo Dancer’. B)
We were welcomed aboard by German ‘Susanna Hinderks’ who was to be one of our guides for the tour, a keen stills photographer and very competent E6 processor.
‘Gary Bevan’ our second guide ascended from his cabin and introduced himself – “Hi, I’m Gary, did you bring any Marmite?” Gary from the south of England, is a 70’s ‘heavy rock’ throw-back, a former member of an obscure rock band, and has single handedly kept the name “Ben Sherman” alive - A graphic designer by profession, but more pertinently, a very able and knowledgeable diving technician to boot.
The rest of the jet-lagged guests arrived within the hour, and we were on our way north into the Lombok straits by 10.00 hrs. A swell was present in the strait; creating a little rock and roll during the first part of leg sailing towards Satonda Island (2/3’s of the way to Komodo), but it eased off rounding Lombok.
Heading east into the afternoon sunshine, the 22 hr sailing time allowing introductions, equipment preparation and catch-up sleep between observations of Bali’s volcanic origins and ‘Mola Mola’ at the surface.
Satonda Island
We arrived at Satonda at dawn, the lushly vegetated island was a welcomed sight and by now everyone was desperate to get wet, and that first briefing couldn’t arrive fast enough...
Diving was chosen to take advantage of both daily fish migrations governed by the sun, and specific rarities endemic to one small area. Dotted around the perimeter of the island the sites offered a variety of topography, ranging from gently sloping lush coral reefs to 40m deeply fluted walls, each refreshing the senses as waves of schooling fish arched around us, and regular interactions from the blue by jacks and large dogtoothed tuna. Surprisingly there were plenty of sharks around too, both white & blacktip’s cruised the sites, paying us little attention, and were seen on all of the four dives. Special critters observed included Pygmy seahorses, robust and ornate ghost pipefish, leaf scorpion’s, frogfish and at least twenty varieties of nudibranch – A Great start!
Satonda is more interesting than it first appears... It’s like a polo mint! The island is actually the top of an extinct volcano that became flooded when adjacent ‘Sumbawa’ volcano exploded. The force of the massive eruption (One of the biggest in history) drove a huge tidal wave at the island filling the long-dry caldera with sea water. Over the years the water has become brackish with regular top-ups of rainwater.
In the south-east corner of the island the trees were alive with a 500,000 strong colony of fruit bats, just before dusk they provided an amazing spectacle for us... The captain steered the boat just offshore and drifted quietly on the current. Then it began; the mass migration over to Sumbawa to feast on the fruit trees. Amazing, well that’s an understatement - Incredible; the last of the sun caught thousands of 2m leathery wings, turning them orange. In wave after wave, and layer after layer they left, well in to the encroaching evening – Fantastic!
Our engine whirred into life, propelling us further east towards the outskirts of the Komodo Park...
Gili Banta. – Dynamite!!!
Dawn broke loose a wonderful sunrise as we slowly approached a steeply sloping island, carpeted in lush green grass-like vegetation and small trees, reminding me very much of the west coast of Scotland.
Gili Banta Island is the remaining southern side of a long extinct volcano; the long crescent caldera rim stretches for over two kilometres to a height of about 200m, creating a massive bay.
The diving is extreme, offering adrenalin pumping current dive sites at either tip with elaborate names such as ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Roller Coaster’ and more sedate reef and muck diving on the gently sloping inside at ‘K2’ and ‘Circus’. Our first dive however, was on a large sea mound 600m north of the eastern tip – ‘GPS Point’.
The site encompasses a large area of pristine coral architecture, built on the remnants of the original submerged volcano rim. Very active site for pelagic shark & tuna, with many resident whitetip’s too. The coral colours and textures were rich and as varied as the species. Large areas of shallow wall were hung like a florist shop window and everything surrounded in small reef fish. The large table corals offered shelter to large lobster and stingray. Many pretty gorgonian species amid the coral outcrops, with smaller species adorning the tops. The current increased slightly bringing gin-clear viz allowing for observations of schooling jack and snapper, and a beautiful baby silvertip.
As we loitered in the shallows we were introduced to real dynamite – “THWACK - BOOM” 
.
The whole group and fish population simultaneously dumped breakfast! My initial thoughts were that a cylinder valve had sheered, but then the same thing again, and again, confirming it was actually dynamite fishing. On the boats we could see the culprits in the distance, off the southern edge of the island. :angryfire:
K2 was a gently sloping sandy site that demanded multiple dives due to the incredible amount of small life. Large outcrops of coral sheltered a multitude of critters including 5 leaf fish on one rock, banded and ghost pipefish, pygmy sea horses and most entertaining of all the resident cuttlefish. The latter providing exhibitions of hunting techniques and amazing colour changes designed to confuse the prey. Every overhang had legions of dancing and banded shrimps below it offering valet services. I bumped into more huge cuttlefish, this time planting eggs inside the coral heads. Time just vanishes on this site!
Komodo Island
The following morning we awoke inside the huge calm bay of Lohliang in the mid-eastern region of Komodo Island with the busy sounds of small boats ferrying eco-tourists towards the distant jetty. After a good breakfast we were joining them, eyes revolving in heads for a chance to see a dragon...
Behind the fringing beach the shore line around the centre of the island is lushly vegetated and provides a nice setting for the extensive visitors centre. A long jetty and foot bridge directed us towards the traditional buildings hidden among the tall trees where we were introduced to our guide and the park rangers. Here we were briefed on the rules:-
“Go nowhere without a guide...”
Obviously, Komodo is not a typical tourist island as 1800; 3m long leathery residents would kill and eat you given the chance. This takes a little grasping because it’s no longer TV – it is real-time life, and no casual walks down the beach are recommended here!
The Komodo dragon has a fearsome reputation - strong jaws and long sharp talons provide formidable weaponry, but it is the thick bacteria-rich saliva that is the real killer... A dragon has only to injure its prey, and dribble on it... Usually, inside a day the prey succumbs to the effects of the bacteria and dies, the dragon merely follows the scent, and then dines. Wild pigs, deer and fish are their natural prey, but youngsters take eggs and birds in their tree top habitat away from their cannibalistic peers. However, more than one human has been taken too. The efficient stomach is able to digest bone, leaving no waste and absolutely no trace
Our allotted guide took us a little ways from the visitors centre to several buildings raised on stilts. At last, there they were, five dragons lay on the dirt aside the last building quite passive having been stuffed with fish by the rangers. These are old individuals, one in particular racking up 75 years, with a few sprightly 50-60 year olds kept alive by constant attention. In the wild (A few meters away) they would probably not survive the competition for food against younger, more agile dragons – Ending up as food themselves. This gives visitors the chance for a close up, but even these older beasts can rear up and charge if one gets too close.
NUSA KODE – Rinja Island
This is a visually spectacular area above and below the water line. The large picturesque bay cut into the base of Rinja Island separates Nusa Kode Island by a broad channel. A large rock promontory jutting out from Rinja’ beach gave its name to our first dive “Cannibal Rock”. A large area of coral rises from a 50m seabed hosting a mind blowing diversity of corals and marine life, the whole site literally hummed. The shallows were extra special with hundreds of assorted anemone hosting numerous anemone fishes and clownfish, my favourite; the ‘Tomato’ variety represented in refreshing numerity, but never still. Overall this is a beautiful site, and we just had to do it twice!
YELLOW WALL: The steep inside wall to the south east of the bay entrance was literally that. Acres of yellow soft corals, gorgonian and hard corals decorate the wall, intermixed with a large array of sea whips and a rainbow of marine growth. Life on the wall was busy, feeding on the influx of plankton on a new tide. Jacks hammered in periodically to catch the unwary, and large tuna loitered for bigger prey. Banded sea snakes hunted among the many sponges, paying little attention to the divers.
Night dives in the bay were incredible for the varieties of critter one would expect to find at Lembeh or Mabul including the illusive ‘Star Geeza’ - lots of happy faces after that dive! 
A Beach of a Visit
Rinja is the second largest island in the Park, with the second largest population of Komodo dragon, and I hoped for more realistic observations during our stay. I had noticed several dragons running along the beach and swimming in the bay just after sun-up: “Great” I thought.
I went ashore before lunch with two colleagues, hoping to get some more naturalised pictures. The sun was high and bright and the southern beach was void of activity, plenty of tracks though, making us wary.
The beach curved around to a twin rock promontory standing proud of the low-lying beach scrub, creating a small peninsular: Given the name “Cannibal Rock” by a prior surprised observer, anon.
The steep rock reputedly offered protection for younger dragons. Gratefully, we quickly encountered one such junior of 1.5m amid the thick vegetation – Deceptively cute. It posed nicely for before slipping higher up the rock face out of reach.
On the west beach a tender full of people from another boat approached the shore where three dragons had congregated. There was no activity where we stood, so we decided to walk along the beach and closer to the action - Big mistake
Within a minute of walking along the fringing vegetation I noticed out of my right eye a familiar head poking above the scrub: I stopped everyone and raised my camera to grab a shot... It lurched forward onto the beach a few meters away (Not surprisingly that shot was blurred!). Up on all fours, the mature but half-starved dragon lunged at us, causing our retreat, but it broke off the charge and stared at us before settling again in the scrub. A territorial announcement maybe...
A few minutes later several members of the crew arrived with offerings of food for the dragons (A large bag of semi-frozen chicken). We informed them of our confrontation, and headed back to the spot. The assistant cook took out a chicken and basically threw it at the dragon: Another mistake!
This time the dragon sprang out of the scrub, over the chicken and went straight for the cook... The cook screamed, and threw the whole bag of chickens in its path. Fortunately this allowed the cook to get clear as the dragon paused to wolf down the entire contents in just seconds...but that wasn’t it!
“That’s the starter” thought the dragon – “Now the main course – Human’s good!”
The dragon arched up and charged, quickly closing the gap between us; this time it was to be a full on attack. I screamed “L E G I T!”
At which point I turned to find everyone had gone already, leaving me well behind!
In a blur I joined the rest of the group around a tree near the promontory. The dragon was still coming, running along the waterline. Driftwood, rocks and abuse were thrown at the beast, but it didn’t stop. However, one larger log did the trick, causing it to rethink and leer at us from surf; either that or six sets of teeth chattering in unison were too much for its ears. Thankfully, that was the end of it.
Meanwhile, the tender filled with tourists could be seen a hundred meters offshore, howling with laughter: The sight of six grown men running along the beach chased by a hungry Komodo dragon was the just the funniest thing (M’mmm).
After all that excitement we were more than keen to get back below the relatively peaceful water to go find us some gentler giants... Manta Rays!
Langkoi Region
We left Rinja during the night, heading west towards the Langkoi area of Komodo Island. A large submerged caldera is carved into the islands southern extremities with several islets rising from the water. Three sites are dived there but one in particular is quite special. The ‘Alley’ is an area surrounding a rocky islet that has been eroded into three sections. The area is exposed to constant water movement resulting in highly oxygenated water, rich with plankton and the resulting fish aggregation was impressive.
The subsurface topography was incredibly interesting: Huge blocks of rock with deep canyons carved between them, each filled with schools of snapper, fusiliers and humphead parrotfish. A myriad of reef fish flitted in and out with the surge picking off individuals from the passing waves of plankton. Several green turtle momentary split the schools of fish, travelling too and from the surface. A school of eager goatfish were grouped around a cloudy area where a hungry hawksbill was tearing a yellow sponge to pieces; not photogenic, but entertaining none the less. It was nice to see plenty of sharks around, but not too surprising considering the meal potential of the site, which included innumerable octopus and cuttlefish. One blacktip female in particular, was an impressive size.
However, we did not go there just for the fish... The Alley has a resident school of manta ray that reap the benefits of these plankton congregations channelled between the islets. We had a brilliant show by put on by seven, three metre, individual manta whilst they fed in waves; backwards & forwards. That was probably the cleanest water I have every observed manta feeding, enabling some pretty sharp photography below the layers of plankton. The frames just vanished during the action, and I kicked myself for not taking in two cameras.
Fantastic dive site and needless to say Susanna was very busy in the E6 lab afterwards!
Padar Region
Padar is a small Island lying in the channel between Komodo & Rinja, again the remnants of an extinct caldera with a large bay and small islet to the south east. Our dive here was on Payang rock, about 2 km from the mooring.
For some reason it gave me the impression of diving in the western Mediterranean, it had that kind of feel. Payang - a steep rocky islet rises about forty metres from the water is home to numerous bird colonies, protected by its isolation and fortress-like walls. I really was expecting to see a seal!
The water around its perimeter was lively and never still, creating the lively oxygenated water that attracts schooling fish and in turn numerous predatory pelagic species.
The water was noticeably cooler here and an extra layer of rubber made it comfortable after the initial shock!
Descending soon proved that the site is deceptively bigger than it looks as large rock outcrops spread out from the main wall. The schooling fish were there alright; in their thousands... several waves of fusiliers, jacks, striped and B&W snapper cut through each others path whilst meandering through the gullies carpeted in small low-growing soft coral species. Off the south-eastern tip a small school of giant barracuda were chasing the smaller fish with no success, but got a surprise when a large silvertip took out one of them like real pro!
I spent most of the dive exploring the many gullies, ogling the extraordinary amount of life therein and watching the interactions between species – Fascinating place!
Tatawa & Sebayor Area
North of Rinja sits a small group of islands Tatawa & Sebayor with their respective islets. This wide area is quite picturesque and encompasses several pretty dive sites, but one in particular stood out – Tatawa Kecil, AKA the fortress. Almost a square block of bleached rock rising ten metres from the water marks the site; pertinent to its pseudonym, but putting your head underwater reveals outstanding natural landscaping to rival anything manmade.
The main wall to a depth of 25 m is filled with cracks and ledges providing bases for soft and hard corals, sea whips and gorgonian. Lots of smaller reef fish among the coral ridges and several schools of sweepers backed into the larger openings. Plenty of predatory lion & scorpion fish hovering around the opening or flat against the corals. A large school of batfish hung almost motionless between the main wall and a large rock satellite, together with species of snapper I had never seen before; very pretty. Several napoleon wrasse curiously buzzed us but shied away from a close encounter, and so too the large grouper’. On the adjacent seabed numerous whitetip sharks patrolled the reef patches too.
Probably the most beautiful area of the reef is into the shallows on the south west of the site, no gaps between the corals, and literally humming with damsels, anthias and chromids. Even without any frames left I found it difficult to get out of the water!
Gili Lawah - Crystal & Castle Rocks
Mind blowing: These enchanting sea mounds to the north of Komodo Island quickly became my favourite sites of the trip just for the sheer beauty laid out in front of me. We couldn’t have timed it better for bright sunshine and superb visibility. The conditions enhanced the scenery and allowed views of monumental jack congregations with lined snapper and fusilier schooling in their thousands. Adding to the site were thousands of square metres of corals, prolific sponge growth with large colourful sea fans decorated with crinoids.
Castle Rock, the larger of the two sites had obvious signs of dynamite fishing with large brain & table corals blown to bits, but that aside, the surrounding coral structures were incredibly rich and unaffected. This was reflected in the diversity of coral species and associated coral dwelling fish and invertebrates.
Several octopus couples were observed in the throws of passion out on exposed rocks, taking little notice of the passing voyeur’s – It’s just reproduction after all!
Crystal Rock, though around four-times smaller than its neighbour had the highest concentration of corals and a more interesting topography in the way of steeper sections of wall festooned in soft corals and smaller pretty gorgonians. Deep clefts were filled with gold and silver sweepers, receiving the hungry attention of several species of lionfish too. This reef certainly has its quota of pretty versions of old favourites such as triggerfish and wrasse species, not forgetting at least a hundred others! It was quite difficult to swim more than a metre without spotting a different nudibranch or flatworm; even the simple sea whips provided observations of tiny goby, shrimp and colourful xeno crabs. The shallows too, presented some great finds in amongst the coral heads including the miniature speckled scorpionfish red spotted and orange coral crabs.
I was literally mesmerised by this site in particular, and it has definitely gone on the must do again list!
A long narrow bay at the tip of Komodo offers the perfect night mooring and access to a premier Hippocampus site “Pygmy Parade” and an incredibly rich night dive at “Spanish Steps” to include several Spanish dancers. Visibility at these sites was poor but both lend themselves to macro photography anyway, so never an issue.
Batu Monchu
Situated around a large bay at the north-western tip of Komodo, Batu Monchu provides an amazing dive site along its eastern point, known simply as “Outer bay point”. ‘Florists Window’ would have been more descriptive!
Dropping in adjacent to a small cave in the vertical cliff face we were quick to discover an extraordinary array of corals literally plastering the steep wall. A shelf at the base of the walls slopes away to a classic drop-off, this too covered in soft and hard corals, lined with gorgonians.
Several buttresses gave relief to the wall, undercut with large recesses providing shelter for numerous nocturnal species of soldierfish and squirrels. A large school of batfish followed the contours of the wall, drawing my gaze to a large fissure filled with golden sweepers. The bright sun shone down through vertical cracks causing them to flash and sparkle with their constant motion.
At the mouth of the bay a huge horizontal expanse provides the perfect situation for large table coral structures and mists of small dependant fish. Large anemonae added softness and colour, with roaming cuttlefish adding rhythm.
A coral garden that follows on from this corner is literally stunning, and a hive of activity with schools of surgeonfish and butterflyfish working through the denser areas of gorgonian. The afternoon sunshine really picked out the detail and adding strong shadows providing us with a visual treat.
Sangeang Volcano
Something special and befitting of this area born of fire and violence now realising a gentle and peaceful existence as an interesting dive site around an area of sharp contrasts.
The sloping grey volcanic sand is permeated by a constant trickle of gas bubbles originating miles below, providing an eerie and alien feel to it. Large black coral bushes glowed in yellows whites and oranges adding to that ‘other-worldly’ feel, surrounded in a smoky aura.
Several large whip rays and numerous blue spot rays lying around on the sand, not too fussed about the intrusion.
Slipping north the sandy bottom gave way to large outcrops of coral and then into a wall dropping away to 30m. One particular spot had a deeply cut recess lined in small sea fans with narrow passages leading off it, filled with sweetlips, squirrelfish and some sizeable lobsters. Above it all copper sweepers darted back & forth amid a densely packed community of silver sweepers.
Further along the wall ascends onto a large plateau at 8m, made up of innumerable small outcrops of coral and sponge growth. Hiding among it all were frogfish, crocodile fish, octopus and cuttlefish with giant red anemone filled with pink anemone fish. A fantastic contingent of nudibranchs in all shapes and sizes together with an energetic free swimming flatworm. A truly interesting site!
Tired but happy & back to Bali
In all we dived nine different areas and thirty four sites during the course of the trip, which was pretty amazing, and I could have filled as many pages describing them. A truly great experience reflected in the faces of the happy guests, most vowing to return soon. The time had come to head back to Bali overnight via Satonda. Komodo bidding us farewell with an incredible sunset a calm sea, and a great night’s sleep.
The boat
I highly recommend the Komodo Dancer and its crew, the facilities, including nitrox and E6 are first class, and the service is second to none. The boat is both spacious and comfortable, with a practical layout. Cabins have AC and ensuite, with regular changes of linen and towels. Meals are generally served outside on the spacious deck; the evening meal is silver service too. Food is superb, especially after I taught the cook how to make good Olde English custard.
Water temperatures vary, it can be quite cool in the park and 3-5mm full suits are recommended. Diving is done from two very fast hard boats equipped with great boatmen. Camera tables are provided and equipment is treated with great respect by the attentive crewmen.
Two cruises are available, Eight & Eleven days - The shorter trip misses out on some of the better sites and I would recommend the full Monty Everytime.
No reproduction without permission
