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Diving Komodo with Ray of Hope was a Powerful Experience!

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Last month, July 2016, I traveled to Bali Indonesia to board The Arenui for a Ray of Hope Expedition with Marine Megafauna director Dr Andrea Marshall. The trip was nothing short of amazing. My dives with The Arenui and Ray of Hope Expeditions were so fabulous…I saw so many animals I’d never seen before, and I want to see them again (well, not the Komodo Dragons! Once is enough). I have posted so many dive photographs, and photos of the formidable Komodo Dragons, but not the life of the boat or the people who populated it, neither have I posted many photos of the incredible islands of Komodo National Park. Dive boats are a special experience because the bonding that takes place on board, even if only for the trip itself, is unusual. Just a day after boarding you have met everyone, and personalities emerge immediately. Divers get right to it, they don’t need to have a persona, or a social mask. We are all so excited to be on a dive boat, ready to go, that we start sharing information and experiences immediately. This trip was somewhat atypical for me because it had so many Americans on board. Usually it is the League of Nations, with several different nationalities and ethnicities. There was a lovely Australian couple on board, and they were hilarious and wonderful and fabulous divers. The cruise directors were Mexican and British, the crew was Indonesian. Hopefully this photo post will give you an idea of the trip overall! The Arenui is absolutely luxurious! I’m ready to do it again!

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Komodo National Park and Indonesia are beautiful.

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Diving Manta Alley
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Watching a pregnant female Reef Manta. She kept circling Debbie, Alan, Tom, Andrea and I.
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Tom, a member of Team Debbie!
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Our divemaster, Debbie.
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One of my favorite aspects of a Ray of Hope Expedition! Learning about Mantas, what the research is telling them, and how conservation can save these Manta Rays.
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All Ray of Hope Expeditions add to the database of knowledge Andrea needs to do her research. Her research helps protect the animals and create safe havens through protection.
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Meeting new people is truly one of the best aspects of diving!
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The service and crew were the BEST!
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So incredible.
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From top left, clockwise, Debbie the divemaster, yours truly, Andrea, Tom and Alan. Team Debbie
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Andrea and I
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Ronald, one of the Divemasters, party time!
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Everybody having fun tonight!
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Not one of us was ready to leave!
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Divers are a great group of people.

Why I Didn’t Get Eaten by a Komodo Dragon While I was in Komodo National Park!

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Why I Didn’t Get Eaten by a Komodo Dragon While I was in Komodo National Park!

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Komodo Dragons have a fearsome reputation and stories of their ferocity and venomous bite are legend. Komodo Dragons look extremely formidable, I can attest to that! My trip to Komodo National Park gave me a close up look at the largest of lizards, now vulnerable to extinction.

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My Last Few Days in Komodo were Absolutely Blissful

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Spadefish

Welcome to Fab Photos Friday! I doubt these photos do my trip justice. My last few days in Komodo were absolutely blissful! The beauty of Komodo National Park continues to amaze me. I confess that I love looking at the photos from every dive site and every moment of my Ray of Hope Expedition on The Arenui. The islands were also beautiful, and I took far too many photographs of them! I mean, how many times can you look at lush green islands and blue water?

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Clarks Anemone Fish
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Soft corals and fish
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A cave full of fish!
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False Clowns
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Just incredible.
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A cute little family!
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Can you tell how large this pregnant female is? She looks like a flying saucer!
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Fans
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So much life!
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A Black Reef Manta barrel rolling in front of me! This is a great ID shot and went right to Manta Matcher!

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Me in Sheer Bliss!
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Bats at Sunset at Setonda, photo by Andrea Marshall.

 

Colorful Pink Beach Beauties and the Best Night Dive Ever!

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Day 5 of our Ray of Hope Expedition on The Arenui in Komodo National Park, Indonesia and it brought colorful Pink Beach beauties, and the best night dive ever!

The day started out sunny and beautiful, and the first two dives were spent searching for mantas, as I published last Friday at http://tamtravels.wpengine.com/fab-photo-friday-reef-mantas/. In the afternoon we did a dive at Pink Beach. Pink Beach got its name from its mixture of white and red sand. The red sand came about because of red fossilized Foraminifera…just think to yourself, oh, pretty red shells/shellfish created the color of the sand. It’s easier than learning about Foraminifera!

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Pink Beach…we didn’t go on the beach because Komodo Dragons live there!
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Porcelain Crab in anemone

 

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A Gorgeous Leaf Fish at Pink Beach
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Little yellow nudibranchs!
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Looks like a part of the coral doesn’t it?
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A gorgeous Fire Urchin!

 

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Sunset at Loh Liang Bay

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Sunset

The evening rolled around at Loh Liang Bay, and no one in my dive group had the energy to do it. I had missed a night dive and had no intention of missing another, so off I went with my own dive guide! I am so glad I did not miss it…it was the best night dive I’d ever had! What made it so fabulous? The animals, of course!

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A Flamboyant Cuttlefish! It was half the size of my hand…and I have a small hand!
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This is a Mantis Shrimp! Their “boxing gloves” in the middle are strong enough to break an aquarium!
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A beautiful Sea Pen…you can see where they got their name. See the little crustacean at the top?
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Check out this tiny shrimp hanging out next to the anemone!
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Teeny tiny shrimp on a sea pen!
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A crab and a shrimp!
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This is a type of sea cucumber, but looks like a big worm!
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This tiny Midnight Snapper makes its home in an Australian Hat.

 

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Flatfish, or Flathead.
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A Hermit Crab carrying anemones! Nice of her!
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A tiny Coconut Octopus hiding in a coconut!

 

 

 

 

Fab Photo Friday: Reef Mantas in Komodo National Park

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It is Fab Photo Friday! On Day 4, the Ray of Hope Expedition caught up with Mantas! ROHE’s main goal is always to identify as many manta rays as possible, and records were broken on this trip! Takat Makkasar is a known Manta hangout, so day 4 was mostly spent on this reef. When we were not diving it, we snorkeled it. There were Reef Mantas everywhere. As a matter of interest, only Reef Mantas, or Manta Alfredi, live in Komodo. These mantas are a little smaller than the Giant Manta, or Manta Biostris, and instead of traveling the oceans, Reef Mantas tend to stay within a certain “home” area. Reef Mantas can grow to be 12 feet in wing span, while the Giants can be over 20 feet in wing span. This was my very first time to see Reef Mantas, and I love them every bit as much as the Giants I have seen all over the world.

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ID shot of a beauty!

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Reef Manta, aka Manta Alfredi
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A Manta Train. They could be on a breeding mission as a female will lead males all over the reef for 24 hours before she chooses a mate.
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Here they come again!
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We witnessed several episodes of these trains.
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Mantas
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Taken on the surface
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From the surface!
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I’m taking photos while snorkeling!
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Green Turtle
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Look at this Green Turtle on this reef! The entire reef is alive with corals and anemones! I have never seen reefs more saturated with life!
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Coming up from dives was breathtaking…in a good way!
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We named this one Hermaphrodite (rhymes with Aphrodite) because of the rather interesting marking on this manta! Photo by Andrea Marshall.
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Gorgeous ID shot by Andrea Marshall
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Cleaning Station for Mantas by Andrea Marshall

It is so interesting to watch mantas being cleaned. Many pelagics require cleaning (as do many fish) in order to clean wounds, and remove parasites. Butterfly fish are avid cleaners, and in some areas, Angel Fish join in. The butterflies nibble parasites, wounds, and other detritus from the ray.

The number of Manta IDs was incredible! Komodo National Park yielded 80 individual identifications on one day, a record breaker! Andrea was thrilled with the productivity of the trip…and we had a wonderful time along the way. What could be better than citizen science and fun?

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80 IDs in one day! A record! Andrea Marshall.

 

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Ray of Hope Expedition: Dive Adventure in Komodo

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My latest dive adventure on the Arenui in Komodo, Indonesia was also a Ray of Hope Expedition. What is a ROHE, you ask? It is a trip where research and the sheer joy of diving conjoin. Dr Andrea Marshall, co-founder of the Marine Megafauna Foundation, explains: “Explore new aggregation sites with us, encounter mantas in remote destinations, photo-document manta rays for upload to Manta Matcher, participate in research activities, investigate manta ray fisheries and receive lectures from world-class biologists as a part of your package. The goals of each of the expeditions are unique but every trip is tailored to engage participants while producing high quality science.” I have been on several of these expeditions, and I have thoroughly enjoyed every one of them. It is exciting and rewarding to be able to participate in the field with scientists who not only share, but live, your passion for the ocean and its inhabitants. No matter where I go, I take Manta ID or Whale Shark ID photos where so I can upload them to the Manta Matcher or the Wildbook of Whale Sharks database. You can do it too! Find out how by clicking on Ray of Hope Expeditons! Check out my other Citizen Science trips. Africa, Ecuador, Yucatan, St Lucia, Komodo (now publishing).

Our second day of diving in Indonesia’s islands on the Arenui Boutique Liveaboard was non-stop excitement. Our first reef was Bontoh where I saw my very first Ghost Pipefish! Each dive showed me more and more animals I had never seen before. To see these “exotic” creatures was intoxicating! The sand on these reefs is black, or at the least, very dark, and this is due to the volcanic activity the area has had. One had to be very careful, make one wrong move and sand flies up like a cloud!

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So many of the creatures are like flowers.
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I found this coral to be an incredible tapestry!
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Largest cuttlefish I have ever seen!
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Ghost Pipefish by Andrea Marshall.
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This beautiful “rose” is an egg case…made by a Spanish Dancer, which is a tiny nudibranch.
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So gorgeous! Sunflower of the sea!

Our next two dives were spent at Black Diamond Reef. Each reef seemed more fabulous than the one before!

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Bubble Coral!
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Love the fish families in the anemones.
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These are garden eels!
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A SIX legged star!
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This is a Leaf Fish! Related to the Scorpionfish, but it is small and difficult to find.
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A white Scorpionfish! I’d never seen anything like it!

 

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Adorable little nudi.

The night dive on Day 2 was at Bontoh. Diving at night is an ethereal experience with different animals entirely. Looking up, you could see the moon and the stars at the top of the water column. When looking around the reef, I found only miracles of nature.

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Check out the candy cane eye stalks on this Hermit Crab!
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This is a very tiny Coconut Octopus who was absurdly defiant. Pretty hilarious to see this little guy charging us!
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Unbelievable color on this urchin!
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THIS is a Demon Stinger. I think it might be the ugliest fish ever! It’s related to the scorpionfish.
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Napoleon Snake Eel
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An Ornate Ghost Pipefish in twilight!
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The Mimic Octopus can disguise itself as other animals. Photo by Andrea Marshall.
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A crab hiding on colorful soft coral. The shell is almost translucent.
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A White V Octopus at night.
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I love this, a Xenia.
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Check out this juvenile Frogfish! See the yellow lure over its mouth?
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HUGE nudibranch!
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Decorator Crabs are so cleverly disguised you can only detect one if they move. Lucky for me, I caught movement and was able to get a photo!

Our dive group consisted of Andrea Marshall, Queen of Mantas, myself, Alan, Tom, and our dive guide, Debbie! Each dive was better than the last!

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Having a little fun on the surface!
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Team Debbie!

 

 

 

 

 

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