Full Moon in Komodo

This weeks trip aboard Mermaid II to Komodo coincided with the full moon and with that the challenge of stronger currents. The currents bring with them nutrient rich waters which is what makes Komodo so diverse and abundant in its marine life. The challenge of diving in the full moon currents can bring rewards both big and small and this week was no exception.

On Monday we were the only boat at the legendary Castle rock, timing our dive to avoid the strongest of the current we managed to descend into the split in front of the pinnacle where we were surrounded by Large Trevallay hunting Fusiliers. Some of the resident schools of batfish and surgeonfish had moved farther off the pinnacle but the reef was alive with many White Tip Reef Sharks. At least one Grey Reef Shark was hanging around in the blue coming in to check us out a couple of times.

Manta Alley certainly lived up to its name with Mantas. The mantas were in a playful mood circling over our heads and coming from every direction. Many a time we would be watching a group of mantas disappear into the distance only to realise there was a another train heading straight for us from behind. For much of the dive you didn’t know where to look!

Some fast drifts along Takat Makassar, Tatawa Besar and Siaba Kecil through dancing shoals and chasing predators was a great warm up for the exhilarating dive through the Shotgun for our final daylight dive in the national park. At the end of the drifts we were treated to some time with lazy Turtles chilling out amongst the corals.

Our day at Sangeang Volcano delivered pygmy seahorses, frogfish, pipefish and nudibranchs galore. Night diving on Bonta sands, filming macro in the strong current was challenging but there was an abundance of Octopus and Cuttlefish stalking around in the dark.
At times it was tiring as we battled against the current but for the most part we were going with the flow and always reaping the Full moon reward.

Barry Neal

MV Mermaid II
1st – 8th July 2023

Check out more about the destination and Mermaid I and Mermaid II  itinerary here https://www.mermaid-liveaboards.com/destinations/komodo/