Diving at "La Bamba Joe"
After the trip to Flores and arriving in La Bamba Joe, I found myself a place to sleep. Most of the folks on the boat ended up in the same place, a dive call Mutiara. The lonely planet had made it sound ok, but it was pretty well run down, with only Mandi and "shower" (really a shower head in each room all connected to one shared pipe, which when you ask them they turn on resulting in a slow drip of cold water out of the shower head). Anyway, it was about $3 per night and most of the time I knew I would be away diving, so it was ok. I did look at other places which were pretty well either no different or were booked out. And since there was no ATM in town the price was helpful.
The next day I spent in town talking to the dive shops and setting up to go diving. I also hung out with our guide from the boat (since the boat was still docked), and found the internet (a shop with one computer and a queue of people waiting, and then was closed every other time I went).
The next day, it was up early so that Angus (an Englishman from the boat) and I headed out for a day of diving in North Komodo. The first dive in Komodo was a dive site called "the Cauldron". This was a really interesting dive. Basically it is a location where the walls form a cauldron about 20-25 meters deep. Our dive guide Earnest (on of the owners of Reefseekers, our dive shop) spent a good bit of time cautioning us about the strong currents that are the norm in the whole area and briefing us on how the dive would proceed (using the currents etc). This dive was a decent to about 16 meteres, then a swim up the bottom of a valley to 3 meters at the lip of the cauldron, where we had to swim straight down through the current at the top to reach the bottom. At the bottom, we clung to the (mostly sandy) bottom and looked around and up, with the boiling currents in the cauldron swirling our air bubbles all around and fish swimming through the current. After about 10 minutes or so, we then swam out the other side of the cauldron and around to a great coral garden at a shallower 10 meteres. As the dive would down, everyone but Katherine and Angus were out of the water when Angus put his mask in the water as he was about to exit the water and spotted a manta ray swimming below. After he shouted to us, everyone grabbed their masks and jumped in to swim and watch the manta (a baby with a wingspan of maybe 1.5 meters) as it swam along the drop off at about 5 meters depth. After that we had a second dive, with an abundance of coral like nowhere I have seen. I think any given 10 square meter area must have had 100s of types. The fish were equally amazing with large schools of many types, Giant Travalle, a Napoleon wrasse, tuna, and more. After the second dive it was back to Labuhan Bajo.
The next day Angus and his friend Miriam left, leaving me as the sole person from the boat left in town. I spent the day (and the next) diving, this time east of Komodo. The diving was again amazing with countless types of hard and soft coral, countless fish and a couple more firsts including a ribbon eel and a bamboo shark. After 3 days of diving, I had to head on so that I could make my way across Flores and to Bali in time for my flight.
The next day I spent in town talking to the dive shops and setting up to go diving. I also hung out with our guide from the boat (since the boat was still docked), and found the internet (a shop with one computer and a queue of people waiting, and then was closed every other time I went).
The next day, it was up early so that Angus (an Englishman from the boat) and I headed out for a day of diving in North Komodo. The first dive in Komodo was a dive site called "the Cauldron". This was a really interesting dive. Basically it is a location where the walls form a cauldron about 20-25 meters deep. Our dive guide Earnest (on of the owners of Reefseekers, our dive shop) spent a good bit of time cautioning us about the strong currents that are the norm in the whole area and briefing us on how the dive would proceed (using the currents etc). This dive was a decent to about 16 meteres, then a swim up the bottom of a valley to 3 meters at the lip of the cauldron, where we had to swim straight down through the current at the top to reach the bottom. At the bottom, we clung to the (mostly sandy) bottom and looked around and up, with the boiling currents in the cauldron swirling our air bubbles all around and fish swimming through the current. After about 10 minutes or so, we then swam out the other side of the cauldron and around to a great coral garden at a shallower 10 meteres. As the dive would down, everyone but Katherine and Angus were out of the water when Angus put his mask in the water as he was about to exit the water and spotted a manta ray swimming below. After he shouted to us, everyone grabbed their masks and jumped in to swim and watch the manta (a baby with a wingspan of maybe 1.5 meters) as it swam along the drop off at about 5 meters depth. After that we had a second dive, with an abundance of coral like nowhere I have seen. I think any given 10 square meter area must have had 100s of types. The fish were equally amazing with large schools of many types, Giant Travalle, a Napoleon wrasse, tuna, and more. After the second dive it was back to Labuhan Bajo.
The next day Angus and his friend Miriam left, leaving me as the sole person from the boat left in town. I spent the day (and the next) diving, this time east of Komodo. The diving was again amazing with countless types of hard and soft coral, countless fish and a couple more firsts including a ribbon eel and a bamboo shark. After 3 days of diving, I had to head on so that I could make my way across Flores and to Bali in time for my flight.