Indonesia: Flores + Komodo + Bali - July 2011
Dear English-speaking readers, this page is an automatic translation of an article originally written in French. I apologise for any strange sentences and funny mistakes that may have resulted. If you read French, click on the French flag below to access the original, correct text:
Français
Diving in Komodo, I was dreaming about it ! The reality was beyond the dream... First glimpse in video, at the fabulous site of Batu Bolong.
Batu Bolong: the video
Welcome to Batu Bolong. A rock planted in the sea, in the heart of the Komodo archipelago, in Indonesia.
At each end, disturbing swirls and eddies. Between the two, in front of the rock, a surprisingly calm and smooth water. This is where we drop the divers...
Under the surface, you don't know where to look. Schools of fish are moving in all directions, jacks are hunting under your nose, huge napoleons are looking at you without fear...
It is spectacular! The concentration of fish per cubic meter of water is really amazing. I have put together a little video, so you can see for yourself:
Contrary to what I feared, the dive is not too physical. Jerome, my guide, who knows the site by heart, watches over our trajectory so that we remain protected from the current.
We go back and forth from one end of the reef to the other, going up a little at each length. Jerome makes me sign to leave in the other direction as soon as he feels the juice, a little before the point of the rock.
All the subtlety of this dive consists in staying in the sheltered area, in the zone less exposed to the underwater "wind", close to the wall, to enjoy the show serenely.
I do not see the time pass. Even at shallow depth, when we finish the dive, the show continues. Banks of small fish are made and disintegrated tirelessly under the rays of sun that cross the surface.
A rock surrounded by currents
With Crystal Rock, where we dived the day before, Batu Bolong is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful and impressive sites of Komodo. At sea, seen from afar, it looks like nothing, this rock. But under the surface, we take a lot of eyes.
Jerome confides to me, once we are back in the dinghy, that this rock has also a sinister reputation: there have been deaths, here... 😱
Brrr. He did well to tell me after, not before the dive! One thing is for sure: you don't dive at Batu Bolong without a serious guide, who knows the tides, the currents and the site.
The annex returns to the Pascha by tacking between two whirlpools.
I take a last look at Batu Bolong in wonder. I am not close to forgetting this piece of rock surrounded by the currents.
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