After getting sick during our live aboard in the Similan Islands, I was both nervous and excited to try another one. And once we finally made our way to Indonesia, it was the first item on our list. We were signed up for a 4 day/3 night live aboard in Komodo National Park with a company called Wunderpus. And it only took one day to become one of my absolute favorite parts of our entire trip!
First of all, we were on the smaller, “budget” boat called the Mimic. But we got very lucky! There were 4 other people signed up for the boat that week – and all 4 were snorkelers. So we essentially got 4 days of private dives, just us and the guide. It was an awesome start to me becoming a spoiled diver.
DAY 1
Anyway, day one started off great! The water were amazingly smooth so seasickness was not even close to being an issue, and we saw some incredible things in the water including 9 mantas! After only seeing a glimpse of one on the “Manta Queen” we were super stoked! Here are two of them along with some other photos from the day.
But after our 3 dives were done for the day was when things really became incredible! (Have I said incredible enough yet in this post? There will be more.) On our way to anchor for the night, we passed a manta feeding ground with HUNDREDS of mantas! This was a rare and – dare I say – incredible find. So even though we had cleaned up already, we threw back on out suits, grabbed our snorkel gear and hopped in the water with them! For the best video, check out Brandon’s Facebook page. But below is a very small snippet.
DAY 2
The next few days were just a continuation of awesomeness. We saw more mantas, colorful corals, unicorn fish, long nose emperor fish, turtles, porcupine fish, scorpion fish, angelfish and peacock mantis shrimp – which can punch so quickly it can cause the surrounding water to boil. It can also punch through glass and have been known to break divers’ camera lenses. But they are gorgeous!
We also caught some pretty gorgeous sunsets!
Some of the more unique-looking creatures you see in our pictures are called nudibranchs. These things seem like they should be from other planets, but they are some of the coolest things we saw. Here are a few of my favorites from the trip.
Weird right? These are all about an inch or so long. But in the Caribbean where we often dive these things can be almost microscopic!
DAY 3
The thing that really made Day 3 special was our night dive. Our daytime dives continued to be fantastic, but at night some of the coolest things come out to play.
First of all, after so many dives your body starts having a hard time maintaining body temperature. Plus the water is colder at night. So we got to wear these super attractive hoods for these dives. But again — it was worth it. One of the rarest – or most unique at least – things we saw is called a Flamboyant Cuttlefish, and it looks like this: 
In our photos below you will also see octopus and decorator crabs – which are crabs who put corals, anemones and other items on their heads to camouflage with their surroundings.
DAY 4
So – we spent all this time in Komodo National Park. So you must be wondering, “What about the Komodo dragons?” We saw those too. But this adventure was above ground.
Most of the time they were lounging in the sun, but we caught a few on the move.
After hanging out with some giant, deadly lizards, we had our last two dives of the trip. And again we got super lucky finding an octopus that was changing colors before our very eyes! Again a full video can be found on Brandon’s Facebook page.
It is safe to say that this experience made me truly love and appreciate diving like I never have before! I would go back to Komodo and dive with Wunderpus again in a minute. Both Brandon and I knew that this would be a hard week to top, but the next few weeks were to be filled with non-stop scuba, and this trip definitely got us excited for it.
Brandon & Devon (BaD) Journey 