Searching for Manta Rays in Komodo National Park, Indonesia

It was time to say goodbye to Australia and a big hello to Indonesia, a country we adored exploring just over a year ago. We had previously been in the West half of the country whereas this time we were going further East to the island of Flores for a scuba diving trip. When we stepped off the plane in Labuan Bajo, Flores we were hit with the stormy, tropical rainforest scenery and it was breathtaking. Labuan Bajo Town is a rough and ready kind of place, full of bustling streets and a more recent explosion of construction. We were only staying for one night but this town has everything you could need from nice places to stay, to bars and restaurants overlooking the pretty bay. There are also plenty of opportunities to get a photo of this lovely landscape if you are willing to get a bit sweaty and climb up the hills. The next day we were being picked up for a few days of diving in one the best places in the world, Komodo National Park. Why not dive with our favourite company Scuba Junkie who we had the best time with in Sipadan, Borneo. We picked up the boat to their resort which was a leisurely meander though Flores, Rinca and other little islands. The water was so flat it was like glass so the journey was thoroughly enjoyed, but it was still wonderful to set eyes on the quaint resort nestled in the hills. We were staying in completely open fronted huts very close to all the birds, bats and insects that call this island home. These huts are very simple, but when you're diving all day you just want somewhere to rest your head and the sea breeze was amazing. Our first day of diving was about to begin with this national park famous for an abundance of marine life including congregations of Manta Rays, Reef Sharks, Dolphins and Turtles as well as stunning corals reefs and gorgeous macro. The area is also famous for its strong currents promising a once in a lifetime diving experience so it is an understatement to say we were excited! 

The best way to experience our wonderful few days of diving is to watch the video where you'll get to feel like you were drifting in the sea with us. It's at the bottom of this page so just click and enjoy the scenery. Our first day out on the boat started a little grey but dive number one was in the centre of Komodo National Park at a site called Sebayur Kecil. It can take quite a long time to get to each of the many dive sites on offer so our day from 7am until 4pm was spent on the lovely dive boat complete with comfy bean bags and a huge upper deck. Our first dive was a perfect introduction to Komodo with my favourite the Red Tooth Trigger Fish, lots of Stingrays and a giant Lobster. On our next dive in Tatawa Besar we descended into an intense drift where we were flying as the coral and fish whizzed by us. Then suddenly we saw a huge Manta Ray gliding against the current in the blue and managed to fight against the drift for long enough to get to admire this beautiful animal. Our final dive of the day at Siaba Kecil was meant to be another exciting drift, but sometimes the ocean doesn't agree with your plans and the current ended up being completely slack. This wasn't a problem as we got to see lots of Whitetip and Blacktip Reef Sharks snoozing in the coral or swimming around looking for food. We were exhausted after our first day and it was lovely to settle back into our cosy resort and tuck into some delicious food. 

It was refreshing to wake up to the sounds of the birds outside and the sunlight peaking through our hut after a good nine hours of sleep. Our day started off very well indeed as we were graced with a pod of Dolphins playing right next to our boat as we sailed to the first site. It was magical and left us all feeling elated with a hope they might join us on our dive! We were in Gindang for a muck dive which was a slow paced, meander looking closely at the bottom trying to find some marine treasures. We were in luck and got to see some Broad Cuttlefish, Longfin Reef Squid and lots of Blue Spotted Stingrays. Our next dive into the deep was at the Cauldron, a wild dive which is what Komodo is known for. We had a very serious briefing about how insane these currents can be and how they can whip you out into the open ocean in a heartbeat. We dropped down into amazing visibility and after only a few minutes were gifted with lots of big Reef Manta Rays swimming around us, some coming only metres away. It was unbelievably beautiful to watch them glide in all their elegance. We continued to find lots of Reef Sharks and some snoozing Hawksbill Turtles, but things were about to get very interesting. It was time to hook onto the side of a big bowl called the cauldron which has a current whipping over the top of it. We had to wait for our guide to give us the signal then try to make it over to the rope and hope we had timed it well enough to grab hold. We were then buffeted by the current for a few minutes until we had to let ourselves fly with it, all whilst we fought to shelter behind the rocks. Phew was it tough but well worth it when we set eyes on the most beautiful coral with huge schools of reef fish. After all that swimming we needed a snooze break on the boat, but it was soon time to jump back into the water at a current filled pinnacle called Crystal Rock which looked like a swirling whirlpool from above. It was one of the most colourful and fish filled dives we've ever had, with the bonus of seeing some Reef Sharks and a sneaky Day Octopus hiding in the rocks. We got back to the resort thoroughly tired again but with smiles on our faces, and sat down to watch the sunset with the two feisty pooches. 

It was already our last day of diving, how had that happened so fast! We were definitely heading off with a bang as our first site Mawan is a top spot to see our favourite marine animal the Manta Ray. We had learnt a lot about them as we were lucky to have a lady from MMF, Marine Megafauna Foundation, to teach us all about these beautiful creatures and sadly how humans are destroying them. We descended to spot a huge Manta gliding across the coral in the distance but unfortunately couldn't get any closer. The best moment was yet to come as we were beckoned towards a Manta cleaning station, where they go to let other fish clean their mouth, gills and body. We settled into the reef as two 4m Manta Rays soared above us but then one curious Manta came a little closer to investigate what we were up to. She was gliding around us for a few minutes, coming only inches away from where we hovered, until she decided we weren't all that interesting and headed off into the blue. We were also treated to seeing a Ninja Manta, a colour variant where the Manta is almost completely black, as she swam between us on her way to get cleaned. There is nothing quite like coming eye to eye with a creature so beautiful and intelligent and having experiences like that was why we had come to Komodo. Our next spot was to Shark Point which should be renamed Turtle Point as we saw a little over 20 Green Turtles but not a single shark! We found a giant Turtle around 2m wide sleeping in the coral whilst the others were swimming around us without a single care that we were there. After our usual relaxing lunch on the boat and snooze on the top deck, we jumped into the ocean at a spot that they said would blow our minds called Batu Bolong. There were so many fish we didn't know where to look and we saw some huge Moray eels,  pretty Sweetlips, Whitetip Reef Sharks and a Napoleon Wrasse. At one point we were gazing at the reef when our guide suddenly looked at us in amazement as right in front of us was a huge Day Octopus completely camouflaged. We had never seen one so out in the open and got to watch it slowly move around as it rippled with changing colours and textures. What a fantastic last day and a worthy send off after the amazing time we'd had in Komodo with Scuba Junkie! 

It was time to say goodbye to Scuba Junkie but we still had one more adventure visiting the Komodo Dragons on Rinca Island. We felt like celebrities as we had the tour all to ourselves. Our first sight of these huge lizards was through the grand stone archway where a big female stalked towards us. Our guide had a large wooden stick to ward any inquisitive dragons away but I'm not sure it would do much against these 2m long predators. We walked through the park watching the dragons sleeping, which they do a lot of, and even saw where the Spitting Cobra lives although luckily he continued to sleep. We sailed back to the town thinking it was such a pleasure to spend our time with everyone at Scuba Junkie because every person there is unbelievably nice and cares so much about the marine environment. There are small things that they do like providing vegan food, eliminating plastic and making conscious efforts like their Marine Week to educate guests about how we can protect our environment. Then there are also much bigger things like working hard with the local communities to educate them about plastics and encourage them to be part of initiatives like their Internships and Trash Hero. This first hand involvement will be the key to making a difference to cleaning up our world and we wish that there were more people like those in Scuba Junkie. We were also blown away by the graceful nature of the beautiful Manta Rays and couldn't believe how threatened they are by humans. They only have one pup every few years which means the population struggles to recover when Mantas are killed by humans in such large numbers either through entanglement in fishing lines, being hunted for their gills or as a bycatch from trawlers. We have entered a sixth mass extinction, 50% of all individual animals have been lost in recent decades, caused by humans destroying the planet in every way imaginable from overhunting and habitat destruction, to pollution and climate changes. It is nice to meet such passionate, positive people from around the world and locals who are dedicated to making a difference in every way they can, showing there just might be a chance!