Diving with Safari Bali aboard the Surabaya for Sea Safari VII - August 2013

Sunday 18/08 : Hotel Grand Balisani in Seminyak. Our room is reserved for the night. Guillaume, Safari Bali's cruise manager, welcomes us and will accompany us throughout the cruise. He is a tall fellow with an energetic handshake and direct gaze. After the usual presentations, meet at 19 p.m. for a convivial meal in a restaurant 5 minutes' walk from the hotel, with all the members of the cruise.

 

Monday 19 / 08 : At 8 am the next day, Arnaud the Boss of Safari Bali, took the time to come and say hello in the hotel lobby. He inquires and checks that all is well and leaves us to take charge of another group for a safari around Bali. Our group gets on the bus and we leave for Amed. After 3 hours of driving, between the rice fields and the sea, at the bend of a bend, Le Surabaya, Sea Safari VII awaits us anchored in the bay. Two Dingy pick us up at the shore and the crew receives us with a smile. The boat is all wood, 11 meters wide, 40 meters long, there is room.

Everyone takes their cabin, 4 on deck and 10 below. Ours is on deck, spacious, wide sea view, a king size bed, shelves, a wardrobe, a desk, shower, sink, wc. Those below are a little smaller but benefit from the same service. The detail is pushed until the supply of toothbrushes, toothpaste, shower gel and shampoo. The outlets are working and there is enough light. Meals are served buffet style and al fresco in the dining room on the deck. The saloon is equipped with a long bench of 110 and 220 V sockets, a computer available and two large living rooms where you sink into the sofas. The same living room is outside and will welcome us for an aperitif, facing the sun deck for sunbathing.

Tuesday 20 / 08 : After 20 hours of navigation, Guillaume shows us our lockers, helps with the preparation of the blocks, begins the first briefing and answers all questions.

 

Dive program

Mayo Island

1 - Moyo Wall (scoprions, hairy crabs, trevallies, triggerfish, purple gobis, coral garden) and

2 - Little Angel (purple gobi), are done on quiet sites intended to take its bearings, ballasting, launching of parachute and launching in negative (rear tilt stabil empty, without surfacing, we find ourselves at 5 meters) in anticipation of dives in the current between Komodo and Rinca.

Then the navigation is done quietly to the island of Satonda where we stop for the walk on the beach to the freshwater lake.

 

3 - Night dive Jetty  : scorpion fish, live fish, balloon fish, leaf fish.

Wednesday 21 / 08 Navigation to the island of Sanggeang.

4 - black-river

5 - Techno it's an orgy of nudibranchs, a hundred are reproducing, at least we assume

6 - bontho night dive, from macro to everything with strange colors and bizarre shapes. They all come from the other world, nudibranchs, pleurobranchs, lion fish, bobtail (small blue sows which are the size of a nail), ghost fish, leaf fish, bamboo shark, scorpion fish, parrot fish asleep in their branches. 'acropora, eel snake, jellyfish, sand eels. 

Navigation to Gili Lawa Laut

Thursday 22 / 08 Gila Lawa Laut

Two sites 5 minutes apart, the water is crystal clear

7 - Crystal Rock : descent on a dry surface that is flush with the water up to 25 meters and ascent in zig-zag or around if the current allows it. Crowd of schools of dog-toothed tuna, gunners, surgeons, large wrasse, 26 m a pygmy seahorse

8 - Castel Rock : we descend, we cling to the peak and we watch for 10 to 15 minutes the sharks parade in the current in the midst of schools of jacks and multicolored fish swaying around the potatoes, the visibility is beautiful and it's a real pleasure.

9 - Shoot gun : field of garden eels, a rather quiet start to dive to dig on the sand between the potatoes where we found crocodile fish, nudibranch, a white lagoon tip, then go to the hollow of the large tank formed by the current and starting signal. And there is the apocalypse. Rudy in the "airplane" position rushes into the current and everyone follows Mac 2, especially trying not to lose sight of him and avoid the potatoes. Adrenaline rises and the heart speeds up. The force of nature is colossal. Film compulsory, leave your camera running and no need to attempt the photo, which would be an absurdity. We are happy when it stops but we are happy to have done it! And finally we would see each other doing it again. The dive ends quietly by going up in a coral field where 5 turtles are at the rendezvous.

Navigation to Darat Makasar Island and Batu Bolong (dry in the middle of the water)

 

Friday 23 / 08 Darat Makasar and Batu Bolong

10 - Coral Macassar : It is an avenue with mantas, dotted with small coral potatoes to shelter and observe them quietly. Quietly should be taken in moderation, because the current is also strong on this dive. Even on my stomach I slip and the stinging ferns have caught me on my wrists. One, two, three mantas arrive, majestic and stand right in front of us for an hour. We grow and the rare potatoes do not provide infinite shelter. The elegant ones stay suspended in the current without any effort. We get boosted and we end up in a field of soft coral which has been squatted by a dozen turtles and a stingray.

 

11 - Stone bolong  is a sec in the middle of a current of hell where on each side flow two torrents of intense current. Between each island currents are formed and collide all around the rock. You can only do half the dry on each dive depending on the ebb or flow of the tide. Lateral currents and updrafts and downdrafts. Trying to go around Batu Bolong is psychiatry! The preference is for the rising tide. When you return to the boat after the dive, the boat is at anchor, but the force of the current is such that you have the impression that it is sailing hard. (see Le Guen's book "Narcose" which describes his diving on this site)

Seen: humphead wrasse, green and hawksbill turtles, ignobilis (big-headed trevally), dogtooth tuna, nason, katrins, boxfish, all rock fish by the thousands, school of rainbow runner, white tip reef sharks, more all that I forgot. Gag in the shelter behind the rock, you can even take the time to photograph the nudibranch! The current is so strong that the limit not to be exceeded is played over a maximum of 1 meter. At the first feeling of aspiration, it is vital not to cross the line.

 

Navigation to Rinja

Stroll in the village and cuckoo with monitor lizards of 3 meters, nice lizards with a mouth full of killer bacteria but beautiful beasts (and no, there are no shoes in monitor lizard skin!).

 

12 - Wainilou : night dive that I did not do because I no longer want to be wet.

Tonight is party. The crew moved the meal, the straw mats, the lanterns and the drums, the booze and the musical instruments, it was barbecue on the beach. The reckless taste the arak (local alcohol made from rice or palm if I understood correctly) which is drinkable with schweps.

Navigation to the island of Nusa Kode

 

Saturday 24/08 Nusa Kode

 

13 - Canibal rock, it curdles, the water drops to 22 ° and again. And there the feeling of diving into a glass of mint, everything is green. I come face to face with a big marbled stripe and looking in the hole of a sponge I see a light gray color that tells me something. Since I don't have room to stick my head, I put the camera down and click. And what do I see? A cute baby shark! Stay easy, I don't say anything to anyone. Also seen giant frog fish, holoturias, black coral.

 

We can see three monitor lizards pacing up and down on the beach. A sailor puts the Dinguy in the water and the tourists go to photograph the wild and drooling animals!

14 - Torpedo Valley night diving; small rays, leopard moray eel, and scorpion fish which have too much tendency to stick under my belly because the light of my torch makes it easy for them to hunt.

 

Sunday 25/08 : island Langkoi

15 - Manta Alley : the dive begins in charged water and you descend gently onto a sandy boulevard and open your eyes wide. The shadows emerge, become more precise, 6 ocean mantas are there. They pass, iron and we stay all the diving with. I love them.

 

Navigation to Komodo

16 - Pantai Red, current, soft corals and a quiet atmosphere

17 - Pantai Merah : night dive, thirty mandarins. They are beautiful but what a bunch of people. I missed all of my photos.

 

Monday 26 / 08 : Komodo Island

Small treck on the island. We are taken care of by a park ranger and the visit in the middle of the pampas will last an hour during which we will see birds, monitor lizards, a species of small flying lizard and a friendly spider. We go up to the top of the hill and the view is magnificent. The journey ends with shopping in the small covered market. Take a look at the black pearl bracelets and necklaces. Obviously these are not those of Tahiti but it has its effect all the same and it is a nice gift to bring back. For the record, those to whom I did not offer me one reproached me and to make up for me I asked Guillaume who was still there, so that he does my little shopping for Christmas!

During our absence the crew set sail and it is a majestic schooner which sits in the bay. How beautiful - how beautiful! The photo and video session is mandatory!

Navigation to Darat Makassar / Batu Bolong

18 - Karang makassar : no manta this time but very big sweeties who let themselves be approached. They seem so cushy that we want to make them crunches on their heads.

 

Navigation to Gili Lana Laut

19 - Crystal Rock : a beautiful Napoleon and benches of huge surgeons

20 - Gili Lawa Darat reef : colorful ghost fish, squill and lobster

 

Navigation to Gili Banta Island

Tuesday 27 / 08 : Gili Bleaf

21 -  Banta reef ou Stargazer roller, each of the dive masters has its name, nudibranchs, scorpions, two beautiful lobsters at 6 m and a beautiful cuttlefish who wants to play a little. A large part of the coral potatoes has been destroyed by dynamite.

 

22 - Tajung Sabaru, a long coral snake swims for a moment between us. I stop and let it pass. You are very elegant but if you can go play elsewhere…

 

23 - Angel reef where I forgot to write down what I saw because the news that falls is more than interesting. We will do the last dive on the Liberty at Tulamben. Yesssseu!

 

24 - Liberty, it's great, we finish the cruise in style! The top of the wreck is 6 m and even baptisms can see it, 130 m long. It swarms everywhere, school of humpback parrots, glass fish, sweetlips, octopus, cuttlefish, clownfish, groupers, fusiliers, plus all those whose names I do not know. I feel like I can dive 20 times on this wreck, there will always be something to discover.

Bali-Komodo-Bali superb cruise to discover.

Special dedication to Guillaume: thank you for your anti-dry!

video of the boat and the dives: https://scuba-people.com/video/2013-croisi-re-komodo-bali

Liberty video: https://scuba-people.com/video/liberty-tulamben-bali