A perfect ending

All good things have to come to an end and for this one in particular the end turned out to be the highlight of the entire trip. I spent my final 8 days in Indonesia on a diving liveaboard which enabled me to be based inside the Komodo national park for the best part of a week. It also enabled me to fulfill an ambition which I've had for around 18 years, that is to see Komodo Dragons (and not in a zoo...after all I'm not a cheat). 24 stunning dives later I returned to Labuanbajo ready to fly home after one of the most enjoyable weeks of my life.

The diving in Komodo is not only spectacular, (sharks, mantas, dolphins were all seen during the trip) but it is also fantastically exciting, one dive in particular led to a fellow English diving companion being swept off a reef and out into the blue. The currents there are so strong that in places it looks like someone's placed a mountain stream in amongst the calm of the surrounding ocean. A very strange sight to see.

Thankfully the other 9 people on the boat were a joy to be with as well, in particular the 5 Japanese who utterly destroyed any stereotypes about them being reserved and quiet. Honestly I have simply no idea how they managed to get so much alcohol and camera equipment onto the boat. I'm pleased they did though as it meant that I could steal some of their unnderwater photos.

Speaking of photos...

A map of the park:
The three sites near the top (Castle Rock, Crystal Rock and the Cauldron were all sensational. Sharks, Dolphins and Mantas were to be seen. The cauldron was my favourite though because not only was the sealife stunning but the currents were insane and it felt like being in a immense washing machine. Possibly.


The dragons:



Some underwater shots:





Fruit bats:

Shots from the boat:

(the cauldron is between these two islands)


The japanese
Flori and Enke, two of the Indonesian crewmembers. I love this photo as it sums up the people perfectly:

Ricardo, one of the divemasters:


As I've said it was a fantastic ending to a great trip. Hopefully it won't be too long until my next one.

See you all soon,

Keg

p.s: Quite pleased with my timing of climbing the volcanoes in Northern Sumatra. Would've been entertaining to see though...