Our fourth day of the MantaWatch Internship Program 2015, and our first day on a liveaboard! We will spend the next four days at sea, sailing to some of the more remote manta aggregation sites in Komodo National Park. It is going to be fun!
The boat is named Tatawa, and has eight crew. There is Mr Majid the captain, Yuvens and Fabi as divemasters, Jefri as assistant captain, Dar and Irwanas as engineers, Lensi the compressor technician, and last but not least Ale the chef.
Our first destination was Sebayur Island, where we practiced how to use the underwater camera properly. There are several points that are so important when doing underwater photography, and I had a lot to learn about white balance, aperture, ISO and shutter speed. This was the time for us to practice, practice, and practice, so that we are ready for manta surveys.
Learning underwater photography
Our second dive was at Karang Makassar, sometimes known as Manta Point, This is a very popular dive site, and has strong currents. We learned how to dive safely in strong currents, and some of us even saw a manta. Unfortunately, my group did not see any mantas, and I was a little disappointed. But I did see many other things, such as several turtles, unicorn fish, mantis shrimp, nudibranch, and more.
In the evening, we had a presentation from MantaWatch Alumni Gerald, Dita, and Vidlia. They are the pioneers of the Mobula Project Indonesia, and they told us all about the differences between mobulas and mantas, and their work educating fishers, local people, children, tourists, government, and young people like us.
