Manta Rays!!!! and other amazing things in the ocean 4/17
Up at 3 again this am, both of us, then we fell asleep again
until 6. We had eggs and rolls w/ an amazing view over the ocean w/ the reds
hitting the sky from the sun. This hotel rocks. We headed down the hill to meet
at the scuba shop at 7. We all headed down to the dock and got on the dive
boat. The boats are (per Andy) an Asian junk- typical Asian boats w/ the dive
gear in the back, big table in the front and a top area to chill. There were about 35 people on the boat, less
than 20 were divers.
We headed out for our first dive. The location was in
between Komodo Island and Flores called Siaba Besar. We dove w/ a girl from
China and dude from Chile who were both experienced divers. Our guide Afri took
us across a sandy beach bottom where were found sting rays and a few other
creatures. Next we swam along the wall
and saw tons of animals! We saw huge turtles (a family of 3), an octopus, cuttlefish,
a large eel, so many colors everywhere! The dive was amazing! The water was
warm w/ our 3mm suite, I wasn’t cold once. The sun was shining bright so the
coral was vibrant and not damaged. It’s so nice to see coral that hasn’t been
destroyed by humans yet. 
Up for a 45 min rest w/ some watermelon and soaked in the
beautiful views of the small islands and their sandy beaches. We saw dolphins jumping along the way w/ their baby next to the mother! That's always a special treat. The second dive
was Manta Point. We better see Mantas! But we won’t get our hopes up (yes we
will). We jumped in and Andy was immediately pointing to the top of the hill.
It looks like a shadow from a boat above us. Nope, those are Mantas!! Holy shit
they are huge!! There were 3 of them. At first we all floated as still as
possible watching them circle around, the fishes cleaning them while they ate
plankton. Then we headed over to a sandy bottom and lied down and watched them
some more. It seem they were a family. The little one was curious and got so
close to us. These animals are ginormous! I swear the wingspan was probably 14
ft wide, then the 3 of them together were magnificent! We watched them pretty
much the whole time, I can’t wait to see our pics and videos. A couple times
they got really close.
Up for a rest and lunch of chicken w/ peanut sauce. The 3rd
and final dive was a drift dive. It was fun and the coral was amazing, fishes
everywhere. We floated along, letting the current move up. It was pushing us along
at a pretty decent speed which was hard to stop to see anything small, but we
covered a lot of ground. We saw about every type of fish and coral- it was like
we were swimming in an aquarium.
A bit of a ride back to the port was just what we needed. We
sat on the top deck and took a nap, enjoying the breeze after a long day of
diving. We tipped the crew and paid for our dive day tomorrow. The diving was
so amazing here and unexpected we’ll definitely do another day.
Andy and I went to the same restaurant rooftop bar for some
beers and food. I had a radler which quenched my thirst for a beverage and a
beer (lemonade in beer). This time we ordered the non-spicy calamari and some
shrimp. We headed back to the hotel after grabbing some snacks and beer. We really appreciate the walk out of town to our hotel. A
short walk up the hill and we jumped in the pool. It was warm but so
refreshing. While relaxing in the pool, I saw a object move and it was a
praying mantis. Andy took lots of pics of it, then all of a sudden it jumped on
Andy in the pool. He saved the stupid thing from drowning, but it caught up by
surprise. Such an amazing dive area,
mixed in w/ the awesomeness of Labaun Bajo. We love this undeveloped island.
