Just came back from an 8 day liveaboard trip with the KM Bidadari at the Komodo Islands. We spent 2 days in Horseshoe Bay and then moved North. Diving at Cannibal Rock was the highlight, as well as Tatawa Kecil/Bolong. Visibility was not the greatest(this time of the year), however, Cannibal Rock allowed us to dive with a 3mm or dive skin(temps were at around 80F). Lots of creatures and some pretty healthy reefs. Our boat was the only one in the park(along with another one on the north side). Apparently, this is low season for them. Visibility was anywhere from 30-50 feet ( 40 f at Cannibal), but still lots of plankton in the water.

Other than that, we had sunny weather (very little rain), calm seas, medium currents and good food on the Bidadari. Their dive guide did a good job finding lots of critters at night.

Just visiting Horseshoe Bay could be a trip by itself!

If anyone cares, I uploaded some pictures on Flickr.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/47679496@N02/

Some very nice shots Dimitri. Looks like you had a successful trip.

Cheers,
Steve

Thanks Steve. No complaints. Diving all sites with just 2 other people was great. The pool to ourselves.

Some Beautiful shots there, looks like some pristine reef. Were you using the 40D for these shots?

Some great shots,

Thanks for sharing!

Mark

Glad you liked 'em.

Thanks. Yeah, 40D with Tokina 11-16mm (for Wide angle) and Canon 60mm + 1.4 TC(for macro).

I'd say Horseshoe Bay(South Komodo) and Padar Island(mid Komodo), as well as Tatawa Kecil/Batu Bolong, all lived up to the expectations I had. Lots of critters around Cannibal Rock too. Our dive guide said some liveboards stay in Horseshoe Bay for a week or more.

Good memories.

great set of photos.. you did a nice job showing off the healthy corals, and I love the queen triggerfish photo.


did you see any big stuff? (mantas, napolean wrasse, bumpheads, barracuda, sharks) - I did see 1 shark photo

Scott

Thanks Scott.

That was a whale shark we saw (not an adult but none the less pretty big, maybe 12-15 feet) at a reef site called 'The Lighthouse' across from Crystal Rock but he was moving like a freight train and was only able to shoot twice(without strobes - it was right after we hit the water).

My dive buddy and the dive guide claim they saw 2 Mantas (I missed them). We also saw a few blacktip or whitetip sharks and bumpheads at Manta Alley. The water had a lot of plankton, so my pictures came out less than ideal or rather presentable. There were quite a few Napoleon wrasses at different sites and many fish. Most of the coral is in very good shape(Cannibal Rock, Yellow wall of TX and the Boulders in Horseshoe Bay are pristine). Three Sisters at Padar Island was excellent too, nice soft corals. We did a site as a slow drift dive that had staghorn/plate acropora corals everywhere and we kept drifting for about 45-50 mins.

Overall nice diversity and Cannibal is indeed world class (I believe Sport Diver had it as a top 5 biodiversity Hot Spot on last year's Feb edition). Too bad vis is not always optimal. I'd definitely go back just for that.

Check Howard Hall's Under the Sea 3D website (the 5th Part was filmed in Komodo or close to that area).