Komodo Island, the world was lost
Sitting in a torrent of activity in the Pacific flows into the Indian Ocean island of Komodo is home a multitude of marine life. Simon Rogerson fins immersed in two worlds.
The amazing things happen when two oceans. Komodo National Park in Indonesia – A relatively small stretch of sea around the famous dragon 'island' – Pacific cold seeps are forced to relatively shallow waters, then flood the Indian Ocean. The area feels that this massive movement of water is marked by a few volcanic islands which conspire to create some of the most powerful and unpredictable currents in the planet.
It is a remarkable place – a greenhouse for the development and home to an incredibly large variety of marine life. Of the 500 coral species found in the Indo-Pacific, the Komodo is 260. It houses over 1,000 species of fish and 70 species of sponge. Acre per hectare, is one of the most diverse environments of coral reefs in the world.
My journey began in the 42m Kararu, a traditional rigged sailing ship which serves as a spacious liveaboard. Works from Bali, 160 miles west, but the journey to and from Komodo is punctuated by the dive sites that are fascinating in their own right, and serve as preparation for the world class diving in Komodo Island and its neighbors, Rinca. My host was the co-owner of the boat, Tony Rhodes, a Briton with an easy and an ability to detect, by microscopic animals.
An on early immersion in a place called Mentjang Wall We finning in the water along the middle of a sudden, when Tony rushed to the reef. I followed, squinting in the revision of the coral Scrappy which stated. At first nothing, then I could make a small brown nudibranch (Flabellinidae family). He had seen it from 10 yards! With doubts, asked if I had secretly placed there when I was not looking, perhaps inspired by similar trick Donald Pleasence in The Great Escape.
When I was to discover, identify their skills were very authentic. While there are many important creatures to marvel in Indonesia, the area tends to attract divers with a penchant for the diminutive. These seas are rich, and is not a constant battle for space on reefs. After only a few days, their eyes become familiar with the environment, so that semi-camouflaged creatures begin to appear. Professional dive guides become attuned to this type of diving.
Komodo National Park includes the seas surrounding the islands of Komodo, Rinca and Padar, and some smaller islands. It is a journey of two dress: on the north side of the islands, the water is hot, and most diving people comfortably with the thinnest of skins. Cool, nutrient-rich upwellings are prevalent in the south, where 5mm suits, hoods and gloves are the order the day.
These islands act as a dam, holding the warm waters of the Pacific, who are forced by different narrow, creating a vacuum pressure along the south side of the park. This allows the cold water of the Sea Sumba to rise, effectively replace the water lost through the surface currents. With cold water causes a phytoplankton bloom, which is the staple food Komodo supercharged chain. It is a very, very special.
The results of these outcrops are best experienced mad at Horseshoe Bay on the south side of Rinca. These reefs are the most crowded I've seen, but the visibility profitability is low due to all the nutrients suspended in the water. Horseshoe Bay famous site is a pinnacle known as Cannibal Rock (named after a dragon Komodo monstrous seen eating one of their own species nearby), where crinoids dense black stripes, yellow and red jostle for space.
It is a great place to buoyancy skills test, since neoprene crinoids stick to like glue, and any contact and have a hitchhiker. Once, after taking the lead in the photographs of a lizard relentless, I looked down to find he had bought two complete featherstars clingfish and crinoid shrimp – an entire ecosystem! I blame them back on the reef.
Just outside Horseshoe Bay is a fascinating place known as the Great Wall of Amarillo Texas, known for its soft corals. Visibility here was reminiscent of the British coast diving standards, and the coral polyps are retracted all and therefore did not see the reef in all its glory. Without But I could appreciate the absolute intensity of the place. Located in the middle of the jungle crinoids were some fascinating animals, including bright colorful apples, a spectacular member of the sea slug family. Hawkfish tiny situated between the fronds of soft corals, while governments launched around their small territories.
Night dives were even more the atmosphere. Cannibal Rock sweeping currents were too much to face the night, so they searched for the creatures of the night shore. At first glance, expanses of sand had no life, but closer inspection reveals a lot of drama night. Octopus each the size of fist of a child, he moved on the sand, extending its tentacles into small holes, while seeking suitable small prey. Occasionally, he would retract his members foraging in pain after receiving a bite of some hidden sand dweller.
Inshore sites often serve as nurseries. I saw a lot of small fish, including juvenile eastern sweetlips (shaking violently as some outside the control bumblebee) and a fish complete with outgoing rockmover unicorn horn. Photographers found diving in the night to be the most productive of all, and some might sacrifice a dive in the afternoon to be alert for the night.
Greatest night dive place beyond Horseshoe Bay on a slope of sand near the island of Banta. The site has a particularly corny name – 'It's a Small World "- which nevertheless points to the wonders of macro that have made their home. I fell and fell by 10 million to what looked like a lunar landscape, devoid of life. The sand sandy rose briefly in the water column and landed in the sea bed and looked down to see a skeletal face glancing back with contempt.
He was an astronomer, a thrust voracious predator whose secrecy is rivaled only by its monumental ugliness. He sinks into the sand right in the eye, then waits for a suitable snack to pass the time. Ambush predators do not like to be seen, and he looked at me with undisguised disgust as I gently stirred the sand out its fearsome features. Finally, the indignity of being exposed in this way was too much, but rushed out of the sand and shot off into the darkness.
I enjoy watching other divers at night. Despite the good intentions of the buddy system, there is something about the combination of shallow, current dive sites free and torchlight to internalize the experience of diving. Divers take refuge in themselves, their attention is focused mainly on the thin column illuminated by the lights. I hovered behind a professional cameraman Roger Munns of Scubazoo (the film-making team is based in Southeast Asia) fame, who had found a fish handsome red frog – Okay, 'handsome' is a word often associated with frogfish, but we are talking about 'eye of the beholder' here, OK?
As he trained his video lights in the anglerfish, brightness attracted a small food chain. Driven by an inexplicable need, tiny worms gathered around lights in writhing density. They in turn attracted the attention of a cardinal, who took the anglerfish to be a bit silly reefs. They were soon disabused of this notion as the predator extended its mouth and sucked a bream unfortunate in his jaws.
This super-drink is too fast to see. Later, viewing images on a laptop iBook Roger, we have studied under attack by frame. You will see a leap anglerfish indelicate, and There is a slight blur around his mouth, as has the fish, but the movement itself is very fast, even for a professional recording high quality video in slow motion mode. Viewed at a normal speed, the contractions slightly anglerfish and sea bream, simply disappears.
Besides illustrating the efficiency the feeding mechanism of the frog fish, this episode showed me the depth of the stupidity of bream. The "not exactly quick on the uptake survivors" returned to the lights, and anglerfish enjoyed a further period of six courses, while the cardinal question, no doubt, in which all his companions had gone. At the moment I had moved to the photograph in the anglerfish, which are significantly larger and appeared to be a case of hiccups.
Contrasting Komodo macro to dive site is a big blanket on the island of Langkoi, a little busy channel where the rays of grace can be seen feeding on plankton-laden water. Blankets Langkoi are among the largest I've seen, some even approaching the legendary brand of 6m.
It was a pleasure to do without the hood and gloves when Kararu our boat returned to the warm northern sites. Here, presented with clear water and reefs rapidly some classic beauty. There were a lot reef fish, but I saw little in the blue, despite the supernatural clarity of water. At times, schools of barracuda, mackerel or bannerfish seems, but no No shark or tuna. This is the case in most of these islands, where shark finning has decimated populations of reef sharks in the last decade. The illegal fishing of sharks and even dynamite bombing still holds in the Komodo National Park, despite its protected status.
However, conservation efforts in Komodo – reinforced by the presence of tourism – have managed to preserve large tracts of reef. These reefs have added significance that transcends giving pleasure divers. The coral here is particularly resistant to the effects of coral bleaching caused by factors such as global warming and El Nino. This is due to the effect of cooling water upwelling from the depths of the Sea of Sumba.
Marine biologists believe that as the coral reefs systems are still lost, is positioned as the Komodo to replenish and re-colonize devastated habitats in other parts of Indonesia and the rest of the Indo-Pacific. The same currents that make life so difficult (fun) for the divers, coral larvae carry beyond the national park where the available space reef. In this regard, Komodo is a mother among the coral reefs, and we should all cherish.
• Simon Rogerson Kararu dived with Dive Voyages. Letters are available for trips of different lengths, but the standard Komodo tour lasts 11 days. Excursions to remote reef and Rajah Empat Alor are also available. For more information, contact the UK agents Divequest on 01254 826322 or check out the website Kararu, http://www.kararu.com.
The easiest diving accident in the world?
No diver should visit Bali, without diving into the wreck of Liberty, a First World War cargo ship at the time that is directly opposite the beach in the village of Tulamben on the northeast coast. Freedom is based on this beach after being torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in 1942 and remained there until 1963 when the volcano Agung exploded, pushing her into the water and the hull split in two.
Today, the remains of volcanic sand sits on a black-27M diver friendly, providing a home to a prodigious amount of marine life. It hurt not to include the Liberty in recent summary of the best wreck diving in the world but the truth is that this is a dive wreck for divers who do not want wrecks.
The structure of the wreck is indeed impressive, but the resident marine life steals the show. There is a school of jacks that form the spiral regularly shoaling classical training, tame and plentiful reef fish (which have been fed, and divers approach with feverish enthusiasm).
The wreck is covered with coral and macro issues as coveted The pygmy seahorse can be found reliably. It has to be one of the world's best diving on earth, but what makes it so ridiculously easy is the presence a local cooperative that is a small amount of access to the coast, then take your jacket and the cylinder to the point of entry.
What makes this is all a bit embarrassing that the cooperative is made up of local women, most of which are lightly built and less than five feet high! They can carry two types of kit at a time for the ten minute walk from the beach rocks! In the head!
I could not dare let me bring my computer, but my guide warned me that would be seen as condescending unforgivable for them to do their work. So, limping from the beach behind my kit Petite-bearer Balinese pray to the gods that no one would recognize me.
Would you like diving, cruising and living aboard in Komodo?
About the Author
I’m 28 years old, webmaster in cruises company and manage Diving Sea Safari and Sea Safari Cruises I live in Bali, the paradise island in Indonesia.
Your travelling nit complete before you go to Bali and Indonesia archipelago. Explore all in my sites for more dive and cruise informations.
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