This was my first trip diving the Komodo Itinerary so I was concerned about the hype living up to reality! After meeting all our guests for this charter which included Albert, who was on his 8th Komodo charter, I should of never worried!

We had the tireless DM/Cruise Director/UK Comic Garry Bevan leading us for the charter and keeping us safe and entertained every minute. He knows every drop of these waters and chooses every dive to maximize our underwater encounters.

As anyone who has been diving in Komodo knows that tides and currents change frequently, having the yacht moored within a couple of minutes of multiple dive sites is critical and Garry and the crew were well adept at ensuring this was the standard every day. Every dive site was pre-checked prior to the briefing and once again upon arrival at the site.

I know you are ready to hear about the actual diving so here you go...

Starting off the charter diving in the shadow of Mt Tambora, the largest recorded volcanic explosion measured, provides an incredible backdrop to the introduction of Komodo Dancer. Beautiful blue waters, huge coral heads and barrel sponges are the perfect backdrop for the  fantastic nudibranchs, pigmy seahorses, frogfish, lionfish, cuttlefish, teaming schools of every color wrasse/damsel/?????? with circling Jacks, bottoming dwelling flounder, minute filefish, and on and on. You would think it could not get any better but every dive we found exciting creatures and critters that we checked off our must see list!

As we moved through these beautiful and majestic volcanic islands, Garry ensured we had several land excursions to get up close and personal with the famed Komodo Dragon, wild deer, boar and monkeys and for a couple of guests, a possible signal on their crackberry! An evening cocktail on the sundeck watching the great sunsets was available for anyone not night diving, dives that you really do not want to miss in Komodo!

On the night dives, I burned up more flash batteries than on any previous charter anywhere! There was no lack of crabs, shrimps, pigmy cuttle fish, stone fish, frogfish, spearing mantis shrimp, bobtail squid, nudibranchs, lobster, juvenile lionfish, Juvenile Troy fish (you will have to ask the guests to explain this one!) - I can go on and on but you get the picture.

As you move deeper into Komodo, the water clarity falls off slightly but as you also know, this is why there is so much life in these waters! Mantas, Mobula Rays and most travels between dive sites saw dolphins in our bow wave.

There was so much we encountered during the charter that I cannot possibly list everything but have captured most with my lens to share with you.

We had a great group of guest on board this week, that was diverse as usual, and always brings the topside fun into the live-aboard lifestyle. Thanks to everyone for your trust in Komodo Dancer and the Dancer Fleet and I look forward to diving with you again!

Wayne B. Brown