30 days, 3 distinct epicenters of biodiversity, 29 intrepid travelers.
This all adds up to one epic, unforgettable, unrepeatable totally remarkable adventure.
If a little is good, a lot is better. Almost all the travelers enjoyed 2 of the 3 segments and 6 of us happily immersed ourselves in all 3.
Our adventures began in Komodo on the venerable Seven Seas liveaboard. Komodo revealed her beauty in full. Our snorkel sites sparkled in the bright October light and the marine life was dazzling. Highlights included seeing Komodo dragons roam wild on Rinca beach, snorkeling with more mantas then we could count at Makassar Reef. Shotgun thrilled us as we drifted in a fast current with mantas, sharks, snappers, giant trevallies and fusiliers. Batu Monco featured coral gardens, beautiful sea fans and the fish life thriving in the corals. We enjoyed the incredible colorful walls filled with multi-color crinoids and the delicate and intricate soft and hard corals surrounding Horse Shoe Bay and the shallow soft coral gardens in Sumbawa and its black tip shark nursery. Of course our adventure wouldn’t have been complete without a barbecue (and a little dancing) on an isolated beach.
-
- Manta heaven
-
- and dragons
Part II of our adventure was in N. Sulawesi staying at Bangka Resort and Siladen. Bangka Resort has quite an amazing house reef that kept us mesmerized day and night. Our “front yard” was very fishy and full of cephalopods. It was hard to pull ourselves away but we were richly rewarded by going to a nearby pinnacle with phenomenal snorkeling. The reef was sizzling with life and our heads were swiveling in every direction as nonstop marine life whizzed by including tons of schooling fish and hunting cuttlefish. We were all super excited to see a giant yellow frogfish posing nicely for us at 15 feet.
Several of us went to Tangkoko Forest which was awesome. I was stoked to see a Tarsier, a super small nocturnal primate that looks a little like ET.
-
- giant frog fish
-
- ornate ghost pipefish
-
- A warm welcome from Bangka
And then there was Siladen. Ohlala…beautiful resort, minutes away from the stunning walls of Bunaken AND there is a great house reef. And more firsts…two ornate ghost pipefish at Bunaken. Two pygmy cuttlefish mating at night on the house reef!
Can a mermaids heart get any fuller? Yes because then part III was Raja Ampat.
-
- Sweetlips
-
- Barramundi
The fish count is just too high. In just one day we saw not one but FIVE seahorses, a gunard, a pegasus moth, three wobbegong sharks, a blue ring octopus and several cockatoo leaf fish. What else is there to say!
-
- Seahorse
-
- Cockatoo leaf fish
-
- Wobbegong shark
Our uber-compatible, enjoyable and enthusiastic group snorkeled our hearts out and drank in each day with relish.
A huge thank you to my awesome traveling companions, the Seven Seas, Bangka and Siladen Resorts and the Pindito.
This was truly a once in a lifetime adventure.
Wendy November 2019