caminu

I went to Komodo earlier this year (Apr 2007) with Grand Komodo Tours on MV Tarata.  I think Grand Komodo Tours has the best price among the other operators.  The published price for MV Tarata in 2007 is US$205 per night.

MV Tarata is not a luxury boat.  In fact, you may find it a little bit crowded if there are more than 10 guests on board.  But still it is quite comfortable and the dive guides are good in general.  Some of the photos of the dive boat can be found here: http://www.caminu.co...modo/index3.php

The diving in Komodo is nice.  Many of the sites have strong currents, and some of them are quite tricky (currents coming from all directions).

i used the EF16-35 zoom gear on this lens.  no modification is needed, fits almost perfectly.

FYI, this was what the Yellow Wall looked like when I dived there.   It was late in the afternoon, so that might affect the visibility.  (Date: Apr 10, 2007)

some nice pics there. were the current dives done as drift dives or was it a matter of fighting the current.

(@Komodo)
i would say it was a 50/50.  we would usually drift with the currents.  but at times, when there were some good photo opportunities or we would have to go to a particular spot at the dive site, we would fight against it.

at one site, Manta Alley, the currents were a little bit tricky, they came from all directions.  just follow the dive guide and you should not be drifted away.

(@Sipadan)
I was at Sipadan 3 years ago.  The currents there were quite predictable there (for the dives I made there).  As far as I could remember, the "Barracuda Point" and "South Point" were the two dive sites where there would be stronger currents.

I just came back from Komodo last month.  The diving was very good.

Our dive guide gave us briefing at the very beginning that "no currents no lives".  So be expected to experience strong currents at some of the dive sites.  Visibility was around 15m in general.  Water temperature in the north was about 27C-28C, meanwhile it was around 25C in the south.

The biodiversity is very rich in Komodo.  The coral reefs are generally very healthy with the exception in some of the dive sites.  In one of the night dives, we were at  a site called Gilda Bay.  The reef at this site was totally damaged by blast-fishing many years ago.  Nevertheless, I could still see a lot of marine lives there.

The underwater landscapes is very beautiful.   In some site (Yellow Wall), plenty of soft corals were grown on the sea mounds.  If the visibility could be better, it would make some very nice photographs.

You may take a look at some of the picture I took from the trip.