| The Best Coral Reef Diving So Far Komodo in May 2007 on the MV Tarata The MV Tarata is a 79-foot Indonesian Bugis-style wooden live aboard ship with a 17-foot beam and six cabins for 12 divers below deck. The cabins are of moderate size and have AC and ensuite bathrooms/showers with ample hot water. The two dive masters, Sebastian and Johnny, among the 11-person Indonesian crew could speak good English and were very helpful in locating fish and critters for us.. The main deck housed: the mess hall; galley; a public bathroom/shower; a dive deck with a camera table, gear storage baskets and two compressors; and a large bow area with FW rinse tanks for cameras, etc. Four steps down from the dive deck was the dive platform for giant stride entries or, more often, loading into and out of the large zodiac used as a dive tender. An additional hot water shower was located here. One full wall cabinet in the mess hall was used as a charging area for cameras and lights with both 220V and 110V availability, and the cabinet contained a library of fish/critter ID books. The dining area had a small TV monitor for showing images and videos shot during our dives. No Nitrox was available. The sun deck which was half covered by an awning had padded benches and deck chairs, the bridge and captain’s and crew quarters and the crew mess/lounging area. Dives were regularly scheduled at 7 & 11 am and 3 & 7 pm, with meals being served after the dives. Moving between dive sites never interfered with our dive schedules, and the only dives we missed during the ten days were to take the Komodo National Park tour and because a high-pressure compressor hose blew and had to be replaced. On the standard ranger-led Komodo NP excursion we saw four large dragons, a poisonous yellow-bellied tree viper and several tropical birds. The Komodo dragon is the largest known reptile inhabiting the world today and can grow up to 10 feet long. Each night and many times during the day we were anchored or moored in calm, quiet, protected harbors. On many occasions divers snorkeled to the shallow fringing reefs near shore, beach combed or climbed the hill tops for the view. The zodiac was also commonly used for shore excursions. On one occasion on Rinca Island, a Komodo dragon was prowling the beach and divers approached cautiously. Close by were about a dozen monkeys playing on the beach. The shallow fringing reefs showed significant anchor damage from both large and small boats. Most sites where we stayed had permanent moorings in place. We had calm seas except for one rain storm while we slept and one afternoon storm confining us to the mess hall. The ship’s configuration did not allow easy access from one area to another without going outside – a minor inconvenience in a storm. We encountered a half dozen other dive boats during our trip but found no interference with their divers. The buffet-style meals were very tasty and plentiful. They were mostly rice-based Asian dishes accompanied with fresh fish, shrimp, chicken, pork, beef or tofu. There were always mixed vegetables and a fresh salad of lettuce, tomatoes and green, yellow and red sliced sweet peppers. There were either prepared desserts or assorted fruits. Snacks and banana smoothies were served between our 3 & 7 pm dives and hot coffee, tea bags and powdered Tang were always available with both hot and cold water. Cold soft drinks and beer were available for an added cost. It would have been helpful to have bulk quantities of a light, mixed drink such as lemonade or an orange drink to help keep us hydrated. Before our 7 am dive, cereal, toast and drinks were available, and after the dive a mostly American hot breakfast with scrambled eggs, bacon, etc., was served. Unlike when I was in the Komodo area in 1996, we had only a couple of dives with a strong to moderate—but manageable—current. The zodiac tender was always close by when we surfaced, and the Dive Alerts and safely sausages we all carried were never used. In the northern part of the greater Komodo area the water temperature averaged 83˚ F (28.3˚ C), but in the south of Rinca Island bordering on the Indian Ocean the temperature was a much brisker 77.8˚ F (25.4˚ C). The average over-all visibility was 52 feet (16 m.) For biologicals, how does a whale shark, a Rhinopius, an Inimicus and 15 Spanish dancers sound? I have done both land-based and live-aboard diving in Raja Ampat and must yield to Dr. Gerald Allen and colleagues that RA has the greatest diversity of marine organisms found anywhere in the world. But the diversity in so many other areas of Indonesia is so great that we generic divers have a hard time telling the difference. Among the 12 divers on this trip, 6 have an accumulated total of over 40 weeks of diving experience in the western tropical Pacific, and our whole group is unanimous in stating that this trip provided the most enjoyable mix of small and large fish, critters and big pelagics of any other area we have ever dived. The reefs were dominated by hard and soft corals interspersed with huge numbers of feather stars and tunicates. Most dives had bulldozer shrimps and gobies, nudibranchs, anemones and clowns, vermetid snails and cushion stars with symbiotic shrimps. The night dives brought out hundreds of huge basket stars and about 15 Spanish dancers. The 24-foot whale shark appearing on our last dive and swimming among us was, of course, a high point. We saw a 10-foot eagle ray; about 20 sharks, one each black-tip and nurse and the rest white tips; Napoleon wrasses; bumphead parrots; huge brown sweetlips; a world-class 8-foot barracuda; lots of tunas, mackerel and trevallys; about 15 hawksbills, greens and Ridley’s turtles; and 9-12 cuttlefish, over half of which had an 8-inch or greater diameter. Among other notable sightings were a lavender weedy scorpionfish; a devil scorpionfish; 5 juvenile pinnate batfish; 7 frogfish with 5 being 14 inches long; two 9-10 inch diameter ornately colored stonefish; a leaf scorpionfish; pygmy seahorses; about 7 blue ribbon eels, clownfish on coralliomorphs; about 6 orangutan crabs and a sea spider. Among the many nudibranchs and flatworms, there were 8 species of nudibranchs and 2 of flatworms I hadn’t seen before. Of course, it goes without saying that there were hundreds of other species of common reef fishes and critters seen. I would highly recommend diving in this area and also recommend Grand Komodo Tours (www.KomodoAlorDive.com). Mel Cundiff, Boulder, CO (Cundiff@Colorado.EDU), June 11, 2007 |