The chance to dive in Indonesia, the country at the heart of the world’s marine biodiversity, is always a privilege. The thought of the dragons of Komodo Island and the amazing dives sites in its surrounding waters also fills me with awe. So you can imagine my delight at the chance to board the new Indonesian liveaboard, the Seven Seas, on a trip around Indonesia’s best loved national marine park.
I arrived late September and, after a night in Bali, checked-in for my morning flight to Labuan Bajo, Flores. Such flights mean you can concentrate all your dive time within the park, instead of spending 2 or 3 days getting to and from Bali and diving (in my opinion) inferior sites. The flight with IAT was on a little twin propeller plane which, to my eternal relief, handled the flight well and was a steady as any jet. On board were a mix of locals, divers and other tourists gazing down as we soared over the ever-changing coastline and shimmering seas. I was glad to see my face amongst them, kissing the tortoise shell.
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World renowned for some of the best diving experiences you will ever encounter, the Ribbon Reefs are long, thin strips of reef, which form the outer edges of the Great Barrier Reef around 50 km — 100 km off the northern Queensland shore and so are accessed only by Australian liveaboards.
Characteristically no wider than 450m, the Ribbon Reefs are part of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and are covered in colourful corals that attract a plethora of reef life big and small, with sandy gullies separating them, themselves containing interesting critters.
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Doesn’t it just make your blood boil, when divers disrespect our underwater wonderland? This is a pet peeve of mine and I feel the need to vent my displeasure at hands-on divers.
Everyone knows, or should know, where to draw the line when it comes to what level of interaction with the marine environment is acceptable. The majority of divers know that they are visitors in another realm and try to observe without molestation. Sadly not all. There are would-be heroes who organise dive trips with a group of their adoring fans/customers and then proceed to give the worst possible example of how human beings should behave underwater.
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