I'll begin this blog by profusely apologizing for the delay in producing this tome, which covers 3 weeks of our trip. Normally the A.D.D. nature of our travels leads to clear topic changes every 3-4 days. In this case, a single pursuit has occupied our time: Diving.
After 3 days of relaxed but average diving north-west of Lombok, in the Gili Islands, we made for Labuan Bajo, on this island of Flores. This town gives off vibes of a mid 19th century frontier town, with dilapidated wooden boardwalks, dust whirling into every pore and tearduct, and hanging signs rife with misspellings (granted, its a matter of Ye Olde English vs no English). We made ourselves comfortable in the most affordable shack in town, left the rats to arrange our belonging as they saw fit, and set out to find ourselves a boat.
We committed to 6 days of diving with an outfit called Bajo Dive Club, purely on a whim. 3 days of diving on the daily boat, and 3 days of diving aboard the Bajo II live-aboard. Rumors led us to believe that the diving around Komodo and Rinca was spectacular, but nothing prepared us for what was actually under the water. Our first guide, Joey, took us to a calm and sheltered reef to assess our abilities. We were both expecting this dive to be underwhelming, as is normally the case on assessment dives. I dipped my head under water and nearly lost my regulator as my jaw dropped. The slope was completely filled with color stolen from every possible point on the rainbow. While many of the corals I had seen before, it was the density that really blew me away. Every inch of space was covered in wavy, spiny, branching, or plating corals. There wasn't even anywhere to hold on briefly in order to snap a photo or catch a really close-up look.
Day two introduced us to an entirely new level of diving; swimming with the Manta Ray. These beasts grow up to 5m across and just as long, and swim effortlessly against currents pushing 10 knots; usually making ground where lowly divers need to hold onto rocks and their masks just to remain stationary. In lesser currents they simply hover, seemingly, without moving to take advantage of reef critters feasting on parasites and dead skin. A lucky drift left me directly under the path of one such Manta and I tried in vain to slow down my breathing as the spaceship cruised over me by no more than a meter. Not to be outdone, on day four, Sarah involved herself in a "Manta Sandwich" with one above and one below, narrowly avoiding a collision at 25m below sea level. We promptly repeated the dive an hour later to give me a chance to raise the stakes once more, but to no avail. The Sarah-Manta sandwich will stand, for now, against all our diving experiences to date as by far the most epic. To this day, Sarah insists one of them asked for her autograph as it grazed her cheek.
After 3 days porting out of Labuan Bajo, we packed our bags and boarded the Bajo II for a 3 day dive 'safari' to the farther reaches of the Komodo National Marine Park. With cabins for 6, we expected company, but what we found on board seemed too contrived for fiction. Our boat mates for 3 days were destined to be a mid-50's restauranteur, balding (ragged cul-de-sac style) and overweight, and his Thai 'friend' 20 years his junior, with english broken into more pieces than Humpty Dumpty. I smelled a fish... and not just the dead one floating in the harbor. Once the conversation steered to the behavior of their dog 'barbie' I was satisfied this was mutual, and not the typical 'arrangement' we have encountered throughout Asia. This unlikely pair and their bizarre habits made for a memorable trip.
After 3 dives a day for 3 days, just after 6 dives over 3 days, and the Gili's before that, I felt like I was sprouting gills. We had seen over 50 manta rays, Napoleon wrasse, Grey reef shark, white and black tip sharks, groupers, giant trevally, sweetlips, octopus, eagle rays, and sea fans as big as me; drifted in currents of almost 15 knots over and under mantas and through coral gardens like nothing Ive ever seen. Diving Komodo was easily one of the most special things I've ever done.
After 7 days in Labuan Bajo, we hopped over to Borneo, into the Malaysian province of Sabah, to do some more diving at the world renowned site of Sipadan. The only hiccup in the whole plan, was that we did not have a permit to dive Sipidan specifically; and at a site patrolled by the Malaysian coast guard, that apparently matters. Instead of diving the famous site, we spent 4 days languishing on the the waiting list, diving other nearby sites to pass the time. While the caliber of diving was nowhere near that of Komodo, the range of absolutely bizzare creatures under the water in Borneo was stunning. Over 4 days we saw all sorts of amazingly adapted cretins such at frogfish, ghost pipefish, common octopus, cuttlefish, mandarin dragonet, and more types of shrimp than a Louisiana BBQ. Having missed out on our permits for Sipadan, and our diving budget running out fast, we called it quits on Asia, and booked a flight to the cheapest destination west of Iraq: Istanbul.
Sitting on the plane, looking out over the tarmac and waving 'goodbye for now' to Asia, I looked over at Sarah... "Do we need Visa's for Turkey?"
Sander
No comments:
Post a Comment