Wicked Diving Expedition Part 2
Dive, Eat, Sleep, Repeat
It was restock day so everybody got to do laundry, take a shower and go ashore for the day to basically get out of the way while the crew took care of everything. There was a guided tour through the town of Banda with a history lesson mainly about how brutal the Dutch colonialists were to Bandaian locals who lived on Banda at the time including rounding up 40 chiefs and publically executing them in front of their families and the villagers. At one point in time the Dutch had killed so many of the Banda people they had to bring in workers from as far away as Sumatra, Java, India and many of the namesakes are still present today. There are two forts in the area one built in 1611. These are the Spice Islands where the best Nutmeg comes from and is still produced here. In the market I also noticed Cinnamon in large rolls at almost every stand. The fish market was interesting with enough fish to supply the town with both fresh and dried fish. In the water next to the market were numerous carcasses of Barracuda and a few Swordfish. The Red Tooth Trigger fish were eating and cleaning everything thrown in the shallows.
The museum in Banda tells the tale of the Dutch with portraits, cannons, swords, side arms, furniture, silver cutlery, plates, vases, and large caldrons that came with the Chinese centuries before the Portuguese or Dutch arrived filled with beer and returned filled with Nutmeg.
The fort we went to was formidable for the times situated on a hilltop saddle overlooking both sides of the island. Cannon mounts and turrets took up wall space and again on top of the corner towers. We all climbed around for an hour before heading on through the town to the execution site and the morning market. It rained intermittently and became hot and steamy in between.
We had lunch in a serene fountained courtyard of a guesthouse across from the museum. The museum and guesthouse were both once part of the Nutmeg Plantation managers house back in the day. Two cannons lay on the side of the road obviously not going anywhere. After lunch the majority of people went to the Nutmeg plantation while a few of us preferred to sit in the shade by the water, have a few beers, feel a slight breeze and chat away the afternoon. We boarded the Jaya at dusk and had dinner before the captain began an eleven-hour crossing to Gili Manuk where Rachel planned a couple dives, three if time allowed.
The weather wasn’t in our favor with a solid meter and one half ground swell, a cross-wind and rain. It took us 14 hours to get to Gili Manuk so the 3rd dive was cancelled and we got in the water around 1030. We were warned of a large population of sea snakes, both Banded Kraits and a larger snake called a Japanese Olive sea snake. After the first drift dive I nicknamed the site, ‘Medusa’s Head’ because we saw no less than 10 snakes each dive, mostly the bigger snake, the Japanese Olive sea snake. It’s a very curious animal; while we dug our hands in the lava sand to feel the warmth of the mountain they would show up and see what we were up to. One snake actually stuck its head in the sand behind Nicole’s hands. She had not seen the snake yet until she removed her hands and it bolted off. They came to the surface and curiously checked out the Jaya as well. Besides the constant appearance of a snake there were tuna, barracuda, and some Nudibranch but we drifted in a moderate current on the first dive too fast to search out the sea slugs. Eventually I grabbed hold of a half barrel resting on the reef slope while others used their wands to get a purchase and watch the Tuna and Trevally bolt around hunting. There were some large booms while we were underwater. I thought the local sea gypsies were dynamite fishing but the captain said no, he said it was the volcano making underground grumbling. I still wasn’t sure until smoke started coming out of the side of the mountain. This volcano doesn’t look like it’s blown in a while so all you volcano people might want to come out here and take a few temperatures. The gypsies bought some rice and salt from the Jaya and returned to their families on a narrow boat anchored near shore or went back to fishing. As we left they had caught a large Barracuda and were struggling to get it into their little canoe.
We motored on another 14 hours to a submerged reef named Nil Desperandam only to be found with GPS coordinates with a cleaning station for Hammerheads but they aren’t supposedly around at this time of year, they can be seen in October when the Jaya makes it’s way north to Raja Ampat. We jumped in and the visibility was again outstanding. The current was minimal but enough to glide us along the reef wall at 24 meters. There wasn’t a ton of fish life because it was not a strong tide. When the current gets moving so do the fish. We did hang around a Hawksbill turtle for a short while, it didn’t seem to mind me being one meter away while he dug around for roots or the base of a green low seaweed patch. From the wall we started to head for the shallows and the sunlight was enough for any camera.
Our second dive of the same reef was supposed to be in the opposite direction but once we reached out depth it actually continued in the same direction. Good thing the reef is really long. The current again wasn’t much and we had time to look for smaller things and found Nudibrach, Leaf Scorpion fish, and a spotted eel, not to be confused with the Honeycomb Eel. The sky and sea are both big blue today and we are sailing south in the Moluccas Archipelago. We motored south another 3-4 hours to our third dive of the day and it is 1 pm. I just realized this month is April and I have scuba dived in 3 countries for over 40 dives this month alone and May looks much the same except all diving will be in Indonesia. We dove three wall drift dives on three different sites with only a few big critters including a Whale Shark seen by one group. We could hear dolphin in the area but nothing close.
The weather has turned calm and the night crossing was eventless with the moon’s reflection shimmering on the surface as it crossed the sky and we traveled southwest through the remainder of the Banda Sea. The small islands or submerged reefs appear everywhere and the water is clear enough to see a different hue of blue. Three more dives along extended reef plateaus and down the walls as the current pushed us one way or another. The sun has been out for a few days now and we only have one casualty with an ear infection that has lasted three days. He is beyond himself taking antibiotics, eardrops, and getting a serious tan to take back to Europe while we hear it snowed in Europe recently.
I awoke in a calm lee of an island at about 5 am and had a look around. The sun had yet to share light and the motor was off. I could hear the soft purr of the generator keeping the lights and refrigerators running. By 7 am all were up and getting morning coffee and tea sorted as they came through their sleep induced fog stage ready for another day of dive, eat, sleep, and repeat. Scuba diving isn’t a particularly athletic hobby but it does take something out of you day after day.
Our southern travels are almost over and from here on out we pretty much travel west through a few islands in the chain and then over the north coast of Flores. Our dives today have had really good visibility and many interesting things to see as par the expedition in general. On our first dive three sharks were seen and for a change we saw a sandy bottom on our first dive. Our second dive was kind of a let down, not because of the aquatic life but because a large net was found strewn across the shallows. It had been there a while and some of the divers began cutting at the net and rolling it up. The net was on a steel cable and parts of it were embedded in both hard and soft corals and couldn’t be removed without doing more harm to the reef and corals. Our third dive of the day was a relaxed dive without current and just cruising around looking for small stuff. We were scheduled for another long crossing throughout the night and the sunset occurred straight off the bow meaning we had turned the corner and now travelling primarily west along the islands making our way to Alor for another ‘dirt’ day while the Jaya restocks for the final segment of the journey, but until we get there it is dive, eat, sleep, and repeat.
We arrived at the morning dive site as the sun began to rise. Even the thunderheads in the distance turned a beautiful shade of pink. What’s the phrase, ‘Red sky at night, sailors delight, red sky in the morning, sailor heed the warning’. Well not today, the sky opened up and it’s hotter than blue blazes on the deck of the boat as I crawl back into the mild air-con (25C) in my room. Others leave their air-con at 18C and I’ll surely get a cold or sinus infection but others love it. Our morning dive started with mild current and we saw two differences in this dive than the others, a large grey ray with black spots and a thermal climate of 25 C water mixing with the 29-30 C water we were swimming in. To get to the ray we had to enter the cold to get a closer look. I didn’t mind the cold as much as those somewhat spoiled by warm water diving.
We drifted along the wall and crossed over Eels, Nudibranch, Oceanic Trigger fish and the ever-present Red Toothed Trigger again in vast numbers. We went in and out of thermal-climates every 30 meters or so. All in all, it was a really fun and relaxed dive. The temperature change also brings a little less visibility but the cold water also brings with it bigger pelagic species so bring it on. The one downfall to getting closer to civilization is the appearance of floating garbage in an otherwise pristine environment. We moved on between two islands after breakfast moving to our next dive site, the last of the day with a 16-hour crossing to Alor and a day in town.
The weather has gotten better. The 16-hour crossing was calm. The Milky Way can easily be spotted streaking across the sky out here without interference of big city lights. Green dots of phosphorescent algae light up in the Jaya’s wake, a sea breeze flutters my shirt, and there is no moon visible this night.
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