Last week, everyone on board Mermaid II witnessed something that I’ve never witnessed in Komodo, or ever for that matter. While moored up in South Komodo’s Horseshoe Bay and sat and watching the seven Komodo dragons bathing in the last of the suns rays before setting behind the iconic Komodo landscape turning the crescent shaped bay hues of purple and orange, we heard some frantic splashing just next to the boat. It sounded like a shallow end of a swimming pool during the beginning of children swim lesson, which is to say, quite unusual to hear on the surface of a calm bay. As we all peered over the edge of Mermaid II we saw something, or several something rather, all just barely breaking the surface but not enough to reveal the being beneath, with what appeared to be wing tips
beating franticly. Now there are few things with wings so to speak in the ocean that hang out on the surface, mantas and mobula rays. The wing span was far to small, about one meter, to be mantas and the numbers too great as well. These groups of mystery rays were traveling in packs of around twenty to forty in very tight formation, which quickly led us to believe that it was mobula rays! They continued this well articulated hunting party well past the suns departure from our clear skies and left us with only the sounds of their beating wings on the surface.
Mermaid II Komodo Scuba Diving Cruise
Oct 15-22, 2016
by Alex Lindbloom
Videographer
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