The Komodo region may be famous for dragons, but the islands in this part of Indonesia are also home to some of Southeast Asia’s richest reefs. As part of the Coral Triangle, which includes the Philippines, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea, divers come to this corner of eastern Indonesia to experience exhilarating drift dives that bring them face to face with feeding reef sharks, giant trevally and manta rays, even the tiny pygmy seahorse.
It is the swift currents surging through the channel between Sumbawa and Flores that makes Komodo so unique. Feeding corals and invertebrates with nutrients up-welled from the cold Indian Ocean to the south, the sheer diversity of life found here is staggering. Marine protection followed the establishment of the national park set up to protect the Komodo Dragon in 1980, and in 1991 the entire park was named a UNESCO World Heritage site.
While obeying the direction of currents is a cornerstone of safe diving, in Komodo the currents are much stronger than in most recreational dive areas. Reefseekers, a dive operator based on Bidadari, a small island off the coast from the capital Labuanbajo, pays careful attention to locating dive sites where the currents are agreeable.
A Member of Reefseeker's Dive Boat Fleet
Typically this occurs between tides, and in order to reach the reef in the most efficient manner, divers compete a ‘negative entry’ off their dive boat that involves descending immediately beneath the surface as soon as they have jumped off their vessel, adding a thrilling sense of urgency to the exploration of these magnificent reefs.
The changing of the tides is the time of day when grey reef sharks and giant trevally hunt fusileers and other schooling reef fish, giving divers front row seats to the action taking place all around them. Kicking their fins in the current to stay above the dark reef below, divers can quickly be surrounded by a dramatic Serengeti-like hunt as predator and prey go about their business, with sudden bursts of energy from the trevally (that turn their usual silvery skin black to aid in hunting) when a hapless fish is separated from it’s school and hides beneath a coral head, where the hungry trevally circle the spot like hungry jackals.
Kath and Ernest, owners of Reefseekers, give excellent environmental briefings on a wide variety of topics from coral reef ecology to shark reproduction, deepening diver’s understanding of the complex processes going on in the tropical oceans and adding tremendous depth to the dives here. Not a single dive goes by without seeing or observing some behavior covered in one of their lively, informative lectures that are a reflection of their passion for marine exploration and conservation.
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Kath leading a dive (Photo courtesy of Yumi Takahashi)
Manta Rays are common in these waters as well. They feed by scooping microscopic plankton from the currents, swooping down over divers’ heads in an elegant ballet that can continue for many minutes. Being curious creatures Mantas will often come in close to inspect scuba divers and let their exhaled bubbles tickle their bellies, even cruising slowly along side humans to get a closer look.
Manta Ray (Wikipedia)
On a dive to Coral Garden, eagle-eyed dive masters can point out elegant leaf and frogfish living among intricate soft corals of brilliant pinks and purples. The highlight are the pygmy seahorses, which inhabit only gorgonian corals that match their skin color and are less than an inch (2 cm) long; many dive masters carry a magnifying glass to aid divers in seeing these tiny animals that blend in perfectly with their host. On one dive, a pregnant purple pygmy seahorse was found, along with a rare white pygmy on another branch.
The amazing variety of sea creatures encountered in Komodo does not end there. Feeding marlins can often be spotted on the early morning departure from the dock, followed by hawksbill turtles and a pod of spinner dolphins jumping in front of the prow. Later, a dugong can be seen swimming along the surface, and then a mother dolphin and her baby. If you’re lucky, you may be introduced to ‘Oscar’ a grouchy mantis shrimp who emerges from his tunnel like a faithful dog when the entrance is tapped three times. It’s all part of the Komodo experience.
(Bidadari Island, Photo Courtesy of Reefseekers)
And with recently opened accommodation on Bidadari, its bound to get even better. Reefseekers now offer divers in Komodo what no one else can – the ability to wake up on their own island away from the hustle and bustle of Labuanbajo, and board the dive boat for another day of fantastic diving. Evenings can be spent strolling the island’s private Red and White beaches, watching the spectacular sunsets fade to reveal a sky full of stars.
Bidadari Island, like the Komodo region itself, is a very hard place to leave.
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