MOLA-MOLA!

Liveaboard trip 24/8 – 2/9/09

Bali - Komodo Safari
INDONESIA

Mermaid I

As if finding one rare Rhinopias wasn’t enough, we managed to locate no less than THREE of them in Horseshoe Bay, Komodo National Park. One stunning, all yellow, Lacy Scorpion as well as an unlikely pair of a pink Paddle-flap hanging out with a red Lacy. Everybody onboard, photographers and non-photographers alike, obviously went crazy, since this was really something special!

Great Dolphin action on this trip; at Crystal Rock, we enjoyed watching a group of six Bottlenoses, including two babies, as they were busy catching breakfast.

We had a beautiful and relaxing dive at Yellow Wall of Texas, with fantastic yellow (!) soft corals, lots of schooling fish, an inquisitive Brown-banded Bamboo Shark and two big Turtles.

Best nightdive was in Torpedo Alley, another of the famous divesites in Horseshoe Bay. We saw Pygmy Pipehorses, an undescribed Orange Octpus, Zebra Crabs, Torpedo Rays, Skeleton Shrimps, nice Nudibranchs and a Flying Gurnard.

After a couple of days of macro stuff, it was time for a little change, so we went to Manta Alley in South Komodo to try and catch some big action. Sure enough, the Mantas were there, circling endlessly in and out of the cleaning stations. What we didn’t quite expect, though, was the Mola-mola that moved in to let the Butterflyfish work on its three meter tall body. Awesome!

Back up in the north, we had two great shark-dives at Gili Lawalaut, with Grey Reefs and Whitetips patrolling the depths.

Last day we did a muck dive at Sumbawa Island. Several Thorny Seahorses, Harlequin Ghost Pipefish and a juvenile Barramundi Cod, made for a rewarding morning dive, before moving on to Moyo Island, and finishing off this safari with a wall dive at Angel Reef.

PJ Widestrand

Tourleader and Video-Pro
Mermaid I

Liveaboard trips to Thailand, Burma, Bali - Komodo and Andaman Islands.