borneo or komodo recently anyone !!!!

[stewsmith 14]

hi has anyone been to komodo or borneo recently. I am off there soon and would like to hear what the diving is like. Many thanks, stewsmith

[echeng 0]

I'm headed out there with Norbert Wu this week. We'll be on the Komodo Voyager from May 27 to June 8. Cor Bosman and Julie Edwards will be onboard as well! We'll report when we're back.

[Alex_Mustard 0]

And I am in Borneo at the moment and it is mighty fine. Sipadan area provides an excellent mix of big stuff and small.

 

Alex

[stewsmith 14]

cheers eric and alex. cant wait to hear your reports and see your photos. we are staying on the seaventures dive platform for 7 days then down to bali to board the mermaid 1 for a weeks diving off of komodo. has anyone stayed on the seaventures platform. what is it like.?

Edited May 22, 2007 by stewsmith

[ripli 0]

Hi, Wich dates are you gonna stay at the mermaid 1? I will be on board from 4th august till 11th...if you do it earlier, i will be waiting for your report!!

[stewsmith 14]

i think we board on the 15th-16th. not too sure, wifey does all the planning, i just pay for it and turn up. i will do a trip report and post it on wetpixel when i return...

[Alex_Mustard 0]

I stayed on Seaventures last year and again this year (I spending most of my time at Kapalai, but I still wanted to do a couple of nights at Seaventures). I really like it. There is no escaping it is a Rig and the accomodation is not elegant - but it is a very convenient dive platform. The guests who tend to stay there are all mad keen divers and the place is set up to get you as much out of each day as possible.

 

Linked is PDF of an article I wrote for FiNS Magazine on Seaventures.

http://emarketing.xynergies.com/www/images...Seaventures.pdf

 

Alex

[caminu 0]

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.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/caminu/sets/72157600080941009/

Edited May 22, 2007 by caminu

[stewsmith 14]

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

 

....i am aware that the accommodation is very basic at seaventures, we have booked a suite so we will have a little more space. we are there for the diving, rather than to be waited on hand and foot. i have read elsewhere that the food is good, which is an important part of our holiday.

 

happy diving, stew

[caminu 0]

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.

[stewsmith 14]

Alex - did you fly with Malaysian airways - if so how were they with your baggage allowance.

 

We have been given 60KG for the two of us but we weigh in around 63KG - are they quite lenient or very strict??? In view of the £36 per kilo (SHOCKING!!!) I hope they are lenient

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Lou

[frogfish 5]

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.

 

This is a seasonal thing. The water can be very clear at southern sites like Nusa Kode (Yellow Wall, Cannibal Rock) as well as the manta dives off south Komodo Island from February to April. (You said "last month" so I'm a bit surprised the visibility was so bad.) By late April or May, however, the Indian Ocean upwellings begin to bring the seawater temperatures down in the south part of the park, leading to algal/plankton blooms. At that point, viz in the south gets pretty marginal, but there will be a lot of life, and the wide angle viz should still be good at all the northern sites, esp. Crystal, Castle, Batu Balong and Tatawa Kecil.

[Lndr 0]

Alex - did you fly with Malaysian airways - if so how were they with your baggage allowance.

 

We have been given 60KG for the two of us but we weigh in around 63KG - are they quite lenient or very strict??? In view of the £36 per kilo (SHOCKING!!!) I hope they are lenient

We flew Malaysia Airlines Sydney- KL-KK and later KK - Tawau (and eventually back again)

 

We had closer to 80kg baggage with two photographers. In Sydney they gave us a real hard time, but we remained nice to the check in staff, saying we knew we were over, we didn't blame her, but we really had packed the bare essentials. Eventually the check in staff gave us an allowance, then a discount, and in the end talked herself into not charging us anything. (thankfully they never weighed my carry on! With 95 & of camera gear, housings, ports, chargers and laptop there must have been at least 15kg there or she would have had kittens )

 

The price they gave off the bat was huge but, even if they insisted on charging, I think there is definitely scope to bargain.

 

Internally and coming home the check in folk never even a blinked. At KK they gave us a 10kg dive gear allowance each (I know beacause it was written on the baggage claim ticket) without saying a word.

 

This year I'm expecting the carry on baggage to be an issue with "security" (ex Sydney). Just had friends who had sync cables knocked back at the gate because they could be used to strangle somebody

 

HTH

Leander

Edited May 23, 2007 by Lndr

[Alex_Mustard 0]

I had about 34KG of hold, and I always get away with it because I am incredibly charming!

 

I checked in very early. And no probs getting here.

 

Alex

[Christian K 0]

Alex - did you fly with Malaysian airways - if so how were they with your baggage allowance.

 

We have been given 60KG for the two of us but we weigh in around 63KG - are they quite lenient or very strict??? In view of the £36 per kilo (SHOCKING!!!) I hope they are lenient

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Lou

 

 

Many airlines let you check extra weight for a decent amount, considering it can be classified as 'sporting equipment'. I believe this was invented for golfing executives. I have used this many times for dive gear. You should check out if this applies to the airline you're travelling with.

 

/christian

[stewsmith 14]

Thanks guys - alex did they weigh your hand luggage at heathrow???

 

dont wanna risk putting too much heavy in and then ask me to repack!!!

 

Thanks

[fdog 3]

Stewsmith, if you have 20 minutes to kill here is a video of our recent trip to Borneo, it highlights traveling just as much as the diving. Video was made to highlight the new scooter.

 

All the best, James

[caminu 0]

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)

 

[stewsmith 14]

looks like there are plenty of soft colourful coral to be taking photos of..nice

[vkalia 1]

Well, dunno if this too late or not, but I am in Borneo just now. We did 2 days in Sipadan, then my Inon Z240 died (some internal problem), and then we did 2 days in Mabul.

 

Yesterday was stormy, but otherwise, topside conditions have been very good. However, vis in Sipadan was a little less than ideal (relatively speaking, I guess... it was still over 20-25m, but lots of transparent particulates in the water).

 

I enjoyed Sipadan/Mabul a lot more than I did Layang Layang last week. I am lucky enough that Sipadan is a couple of short - and cheap - flights away for me. I expect to be here a lot more often

 

Vandit

[AllisonFinch 7]

I was on Mabul earlier this year and really enjoyed it. I preferred Mabul diving and Kapalai diving to Sipidan. I am a muck diver through and through. Saw several basketsized giant frogfish at Paradise II right off Borneo Divers.