3 October 2012 - Gili Lawa Laut, Komodo National Park, Indonesia

Figuring out the currents in this area in order to dive at slack tide is very difficult. It seems to be quite complicated. We get different answers from the dive boats, & our own tide tables don’t seem to match up with what we’re seeing.

We had planned to dive together with s/v Tahina at 1pm, but when all the dive boats began showing up to dive at Crystal Rock around 11:30am, we decided it was time to go.

Frank and Karen had offered for all of us to go together in their big dinghy with the 25hp outboard, so we were out there in a jif. We took turns diving so the other couple could tend the dinghy since Crystal is a pinnacle with nowhere to anchor the dink. BB & I went first, submerging as quickly as possible to get out of the faster current near the surface. Since we haven’t dived much lately, I had to push my ears a bit more than I like in order to reach the bottom at 35'. We both had to hold onto something in order to avoid being swept away by the current. (If we have to hold on, we've learned to locate pieces of dead coral in order to avoid touching live coral.) We then clawed our way against the current down to 50' where we sat for 25 minutes just watching the underwater world.

Clarity was awesome due to the strong current...4 or 5 white tips & 1 gray shark milled about in front of us...thousands of fish all around us...it felt like it was raining fish...a fantastic orange soft coral by my fins...fish passing close enough to touch....a green & white nudibranch right next to my hand....barrel sponges....so many new fish!...big eyes & excited expressions on both of our faces....no words needed....so much going on -- where to look?.... Sharks always dominate the view when they glide by....big black trevally float past, curious about our presence there.... Then our bodies began to pull upwards as the current increased. We floated past such an inspiring array of colors, accompanied by the flashing fish...reluctant to hold on even though things were passing by too quickly, then gripping with only a finger & thumb in order to avoid damaging the coral since there was no dead coral anywhere to be found. It was challenging to control our buoyancy so as not to kick anything....it's all so beautiful!... What's that over there?....can't get there -- current too strong...it’s trying to pull my mask off…. Then gently climbing the pinnacle 2 fingers at a time...a 3-minute safety stop in the ripping current before releasing to the surface....then all the bright colors become blue below us....

We were so lucky. A dive boat came shortly after we surfaced, so Karen & Frank had company on their dive while we had it to ourselves. While BB talked to the dive operator, I snorkeled above the divers in the eddy behind the rock & had a nice view of where we’d just been with the divers milling around below me.

I so appreciate what a solid diver BB is. One needs to be a strong diver on a difficult dive like this. And learning some American Sign Language has helped us be able to communicate better underwater. We dive very well together, & it's reassuring.

We still had plenty of air in our tanks, so we spent a couple hours cleaning the bottom, which needed it.

After dinner, s/v Natural High & s/v Tahina joined us for birthday cake & champagne. It was BB’s birthday yesterday and Karen's birthday tomorrow, so I read Dr. Seuss aloud to a captive audience on deck under the Chinese paper lantern – our own little moon mirroring the big moon above. A delightful evening following an outstanding dive & a fun day.

says ADR