the liveaboard

The first thing we did when we hit Labuan Bajo was to scrape the funk of 5 days off us by taking a much needed shower. The second thing was to book the diving liveaboard. Our friend Foued from Gili T told us about Komodo Cruises. We went in, Dora said the right things and we were whizzing off the next morning at 6am on a speed boat out to the Manguana, our home for the next 5 days. We were happy to find that Shawn, Troy, Eric, and Djewi from our Lombok boat trip had booked for the day as well. Upon arriving on the boat, we were floored to see the room Helen and I were to stay in - Lux, baby, pure LUX!  It was much nicer than most of the hotel rooms we’ve stayed in the last 4 years. And it had hot water…tears flowed from mine eyes. There were two other divers already there, Dave and Manuel. Both were very interesting people. Manuel is in school to run a nuclear power plant in Switzerland and Dave said he was a surveyor in Greenland, but both Helen and I think he is a fugitive from INTERPOL – I don’t know… just something about him. He and Manuel had met in Maumare (another amazing scuba spot on Flores) and decided to dive together here as well. Manuel, being an ex-dive instructor had virtually no air consumption, and as Dave was not so conscientious with his air, it turned out to be a good match - In scuba diving, a “pony” tank is a small emergency air tank that is used when someone sucks a tank dry. On a few dives Dave ended up buddy breathing with Manuel, hence Manuel’s new nickname: My Little Pony. After a few days the lovely Kae from Tokyo joined us for the duration of the trip. The staff were amazing and could not have been more accommodating - they even arranged a BDay cake for me. And just think...5 days with 5 Dives a day – HEAVEN!

On our second dive to Makassar Reef (or Manta Point) the current was ripping. We did a negative entry (off the boat straight to the bottom and find something to hold on to because if you don’t the current sweeps you somewhere towards the mddle of the Indian Ocean). Once we found each other on the bottom Dave, Manuel, Helen and I let go right into the rollercoaster. A slow current is easy, but a fast current is like being strapped into the front of a freight train, but with zero gravity. My uncle George (X15 pilot/stunt plane racer) should try it – I have a feeling this experience would feel a bit familiar to him. Anyway, after about 5 minutes the dive site went very dark. Digging my knife into the sand to stop, I looked up and realized that we were in the shadow of giant Mantas. We saw Manta Rays. BIG ones. A lot of them. They are the most beautiful creatures I have ever seen.

The largest Mantas can get up to 7meters wide (23 feet). These were not that big, but when you’re under several them if feels like being in an underground car park. After a few minutes they passed and we let go into the current again. The entire dive was like this. On the way back to the big boat we passed at least 70 of them on the surface that formed an amazing patchwork of splashing wings.

If you dive, you must remember this name: Komodo Cruises (komodocruises.com). Email or call Dora and she’ll hook you up.  You will thank me for this later.