A Day Down Below

Another big WOW. We went diving in some of the best ever locations of our lives. It was such a treat; the conditions great, the visibility fabulous, the water temperature a dream and the fish and coral life beyond compare. How I wish we could stay here for a couple of weeks doing nothing else but exploring the sights beneath.

We had three dives in different locations. The first, a gentle drop off with lots of hard and soft corals, fish galore and calm conditions.

The second was absolutely phenomenal. We went to a tiny rock in the middle of a channel which spread out like an iceberg below and couldn't believe how absolutely beautiful it was; the fish, coral, colours, everything. There was just so much I didn't know where to look. I felt a bit like one of those head bobbing dog ornaments in the back of cars trying to take it all in. The photos attached are thanks to Tom from Mokisha and Sherry from Reflections as I no longer have a deep underwater camera so many many thanks, however, they simply do not do the scenery justice at all. The colours were beyond amazing but sadly, do not really show up here.

The third dive was to be a drift dive but sort of went a bit haywire as the surface of the water was drifting one way and, unknown to the dive masters, was going completely the opposite down below, something that they'd not experienced at this site before. By the time we discovered this, the dive boat had gone to the far end to wait for us. When we could no longer comfortably fin against the current, we turned around and let it take us back the way we'd come. Of course, when the dive was over, the boat was too far away to signal and we were drifting further and further away in fairly heavy, churning waters.

Problem solved, another dive boat saw us and sent ours back so all ended just fine. The dive was great, the dive masters and boat crew terrific and the whole operation very very well executed. If any of you ever visit Labuan Bajo, we can thoroughly recommend Komodo Dive Charters, they gave us an unforgettable day.

PHOTO GALLERY:

Beautiful fan corals

A moray checks us out

Oriental sweetlips

Some amazing sights swam by

There were dozens of lionfish

Clear waters and millions of reef fish

Another lionfish

Someone must have disturbed this anemone as it turned inside out to protect itself

Boxfish

Clark's Anemonefish

A beautiful featherstar

Emperor Angelfish

Spadefish

Six-banded angelfish

Titan Triggerfish

A small bamboo shark hiding under a coral head

Another great find