Location: Makassar Reef, Komodo, Indonesia
GOOOOOOD MORNING! Welcome to one of the greatest days in our collective lives. Is that dramatic? Maybe.
The morning began bright and early for the staff, getting the anchor up before 6 to make our way from Rinca, the island home to Komodo Dragons, to Makassar Reef, the largest reef in Komodo National Park, to dive. I woke the students up at 7, and we had a lovely breakfast of overnight oats as we made our way towards the reef. Once we arrived, we anchored next to an island at super low tide, with a large sandbar stretching out over crystal clear turquoise water. I dove on this same site last year, and it was one of my favorite dives in my life, so I got everyone super pumped up, and the first group got ready to go. We split into two groups to dive into the reef before lunch, getting a little bit of relaxation time while our friends were in the water.
I dont want to wax on about this too much, as I know from my own parents that many of you at home would already switch places with your child in a heartbeat if the age requirements of Seamester were slightly altered. But if you ever get the chance to go to Komodo National Park DO IT. Its hard to feel as fully present in a moment as you do while scuba diving or snorkeling on a good day, but when youre on one of the most untouched healthy reefs left in the world, its truly an experience like no other. To feel sensory overload in an activity where you cannot hear, speak, or touch (ideally) is a hard task, but swimming over multicolored coral after multicolored coral, with thousands of fish around you at any moment, is overwhelming in the best way. With this trip, especially its far-out destinations, I love the moments where we get to look at each other in recognition that so few people will ever do these activities or see these places in their lives, creating a natural bond between us all. Surfacing after a dive where our only form of communication is a series of more and more excited Shaka hand signals is one of my favorite moments. As the surface is breaking and our heads pop up above the water, you can already hear the hum of your dive buddies shouting and laughing about HOW SICK THAT DIVE WAS. The dive at Makassar Reef was epic and the photos taken while my hands wobbled with excitement dont do it as much justice as the smiles plastered on our faces returning to the boat, inspiring never-before-seen speeds of dive group 2 loading the dinghy to get out there themselves. I sat as surface support for group 2, who drifted along the colorful coral, erupting in the same giggles and exclamations as they reached the surface. Everyone was in agreement – this was one of the greatest dives of their livesno matter if it was Dive 4 or 400 in their log book. We all reunited on the boat for a lunch of chili and cornbread made by Chef Ali before heading over to the other side of Makassar Reef, to a spot known as Manta Point.
Manta Point is named that because, you guessed it, it is a point where Mantas like to hang out. Every day, with the rising tide, the current brings migrating mantas to this point. There are something like 1200 Manta Rays in Komodo National Park, and this is their mass gathering site. As such, it is also the mass gathering site of local eco-tour boats. In order to avoid these many small boats and guides yelling Manta! To their life-jacket-donning sardine-like passengers, we had Argo standing off a bit removed from the crowd. This gave way for a new academic class to enter our schedule – Seamester Gym Class.
Snorkel gear on and GoPros at the ready, the Argo crew entered the water with grace and stealth, falling somewhere between Navy Seal and Old Timey Yogurt Commercial Pool Entry. Why are all the Mantas found at this edge of the reef when the tide rises? Because the current pushes them there. Where was Argo? Downstream of said reef and current. Picture this: 12 students and five staff on an infinite underwater treadmill. You guessed it, folks, were all ripped now. Who was setting the group pace? Famously tortoise-like and non-athletically inclined staff member Will. (He put 20 pounds in his backpack on the last hike) (He woke up before breakfast to run a half marathon) Due to a recent fins mishap, I have become the owner of an extraordinarily long pair of fins, so I thought of the swim as more of a lazy river situation. Everyone else is feeling good about stretching their legs but may be less eager to add Seamester Gym Class to their daily schedules. It was all worth it, though!! Outside the ring of tourists, we managed to find a manta and not announce it to the crowd. So we spent some time snorkeling as it swam beneath us, a few of us daring to enter the crowd to swim with another one as well, WHICH WAS CRAZY. Ive spent more than two years living on a sailboat now, and Ive never been in the water with a Manta Ray before those guys are pretty sweet. And super flappy. After being satiated with our time with the Mantas, we drifted back (downstream this time) to Argo and climbed onboard to make our way to the final destination of the day: LABUAN BAJO. Or lubanbaho or LABANBAYOUUUU or lbnbaj – to each their own, and were probably all varying degrees of incorrect. We got anchors down in the big city in time for a delicious dinner of Sweetgreen-worthy salad made by Ali and crew. It ended up raining and storming, so we all ran down to the salon to finish dinner and do a squeeze.
It always feels like a snow day when were eating a meal down below due to the weather. Youre sitting by the fireplace, letting your snow pants dry after hours sledding with your siblings – telling stories of the day as you warm up. Maybe the fireplace here is our collective body heat filling the salon with every hatch shut, and the snow pants are our damp foulies, but the vibe is RIGHT, people! Tonight, for the Squeeze, I asked everyone if they had a recurring nightmare as a child and what it was. Shortly, the room was filled with laughter over the insane things that sent us fleeing to our parents rooms for solace in years past. Answers ranged from shadow men living just out of sight to a strange mixture of lines and geometric shapes, which, yes, do still scare Charlie to this day. To end the night, I played waitress and got each student to submit a dinner order at a local restaurant that we will go to tomorrow night for some much-needed shore time!
Hope everyone is doing well, wherever you may be reading this. To anyone reading this who needs to check up on me in particular, I love you dearly!