Sarah (00:01.42)
Welcome to the dive table. My name is Sarah and today I'm by myself. Well, actually I have special guest host. My dog Abby is sitting next to me for those of you who aren't watching the video and I'm very happy to be here because I have been away. I've been in Indonesia for the last five weeks and I have returned. So I'm in a different place at the moment. I'm inside indoors.
But Jay isn't able to join me for this recording, so you're stuck with me. Sorry. I'm going to be talking about my dive trip in Komodo, diving in Komodo. We had a surface interval talking about diving in strong currents recently. And so I'm going to expand on that and talk about the different dive sites and things to expect when going to places like that, as well as some details about diving in other places in Indonesia.
So that's what you're getting from me today in this episode.
Sarah (01:07.756)
So diving in Indonesia, I think it's high up on a lot of people's bucket list. It is a gorgeous place to explore. For a lot of us, it's also quite far away. I have to say from experience, traveling and dealing with the jet lag is probably the biggest hurdle, right, to get people to visit Indonesia. When I owned the dive shop over there,
that was a thing all the time. Like people were asking about visiting, but it always came to, ugh, it's so far, it's so expensive. It's difficult, especially for people from the United States or Canada. It's a big trip. I think from just traveling back from Bali, I was staying in Ubud.
So that was like a two hour drive from the airport. And then I had like 24, 26 hours on planes and airports until I got to the United States and then had to drive to my actual home. So it's like, it's a big commitment to go that far away, but it is worth it. So.
I spent the last five weeks over there. The main point of me going was to take people on my trip, the Komodo Dive Expedition. And this was a really big deal for me because I, as I've said on this podcast and in many videos, I used to own a dive shop over there and I left in 2021. I haven't been back. Like this was the big return.
to see people that I haven't seen in a long time, to see my old boat and catch up with the new owners of Azul Komodo. They kept the first part of the name and they're now called Azul Komodo. So it was a really big deal. And the fact that people wanted to join me for that was really like touching. I was excited. So I got over there and had about a week.
Sarah (03:25.26)
before the trip would actually start. So I got to actually meet up with another company that was in its free diving shop in Nusa Penida. I had connected with them back when I owned the business, but had never spent any time with them. So I got to meet them and I actually just released a YouTube video on my channel, Asul Unlimited. That's A -Z -U -L Unlimited. I documenting that whole
experience. So I started out my trip in Indonesia with freediving. And for those of you who have never tried freediving, I highly recommend it. It is such a trip, like such a different experience than scuba diving. Like I find it to be a lot more challenging. It's it really, yeah, it works your ability to connect like
be fully present in the moment and relax, like truly relax. So that was a really cool experience to sort of kick off the whole adventure doing something like that. And then I went to Komodo. And for those of you who don't know much about Komodo, it is known for its strong currents, like very strong currents.
And our trip ended up being around, gosh, what was it? Around the new moon, I believe we were doing new moon diving and new moon and full moon are when currents are going to be stronger. And we definitely got some of those. So different dive sites in the area, a lot of people think like, gosh, it's known for strong currents. So.
I can't go there because I'm just a beginner. And that's definitely not the case. Okay. Yes, there are dive sites that will be off limits to you as a beginner, but there are tons of places that you can go that are absolutely gorgeous and that will be appropriate for your level. Like when I had the dive shop there, we did discover scuba diving experiences, open water courses, like we taught everything.
Sarah (05:53.9)
There's beautiful bays. One of my favorite experiences teaching in Komodo was actually an open water course. And while all the advanced divers were off diving at Crystal Rock, which is in northern Komodo, it can be an intense dive site. I was diving with my open water course student in Crystal Bay.
and we happen to see a black manta on that dive. So like the whole place is just full of incredible creatures and it's always a good like memorable experience to say the least. Other places that you may have heard of Batu Balong is in the Komodo National Park and it's one of those dive sites that
is world renowned. It is a deep pinnacle in the middle of a channel and it's quite a small dive site. So we were lucky in that the two, let's see, we dove it twice. The two times that we dove it there weren't a lot of other divers there because that place can be a little bit crazy. So think about like a small dive site pinnacle. You're going to be diving it
like crossing back and forth and slowly getting like starting deep and then slowly getting shallower, right? So if you have a bunch of dive boats and a bunch of different groups diving that at different times, it can be just like a wall of bubbles because people are below you and doing the same dive plan. But luckily we didn't encounter that. So it was quite cool. But that place is just...
It's always surprising. There can be tons of turtles, tons of sharks. I actually saw my very first manta ray at Ba -Tu -Ba -Lung, which isn't as common, but I guess I just got lucky. While we were there, that area you've heard me talk about manta rays, it's well known for manta ray encounters, but that's mostly between November -ish to like...
Sarah (08:15.82)
early April -ish. And of course, that is changing all the time with seasons and water temperatures and all of that. So I was there and my trip was in early June. So I gave everyone like full warning, probably not going to see manta rays. It's not the season. You know, it's very rare to see them during the summer. But...
We did actually get lucky. We went to Manta Point, which is a drift dive. And it's actually kind of, it's a cool dive site, whether you see manta rays or not. It's one that's just kind of like a shallow, like huge area with like rubble coral and coral like bommies, like little gardens amongst all of the rubble coral.
So it's like you're drifting along and there's not a whole lot. And then all of a sudden you'll come up to this like beautiful coral garden and you'll hang out there and then you'll drift on and go through the rubble coral again. And so it's quite the experience. And we did get lucky. My group saw one manta ray and the other group, because we had enough people to make two teams. The other group saw three. So very, very cool, especially because
there were a couple of people in the group who had never seen them before. So that's always my favorite when I can provide like a first experience with something. It was very, very cool. So yeah, like I said, there's a ton to experience in this place. And I think the thing that I want to share is about like stepping out of your comfort zone and learning something new.
So that's kind of, that was the goal of besides like sharing this place that was so important to me, right? A part of my story with having the dive shop there and everything. But Komodo is the perfect place for developing as a diver. And that's one of the main reasons why we opened the dive shop there in the first place because I'm an IDC staff instructor. My business partner is a
Sarah (10:39.116)
course director and so we focus on training dive masters and instructors and I still like probably forever and always will say that Komodo is the best place to do your dive master certification. Hands down. You will not like I'm sure there are other places that also have challenging conditions and will teach you a lot.
But Komodo is there at the top of my list. Like you can't, I don't know. The lessons that I learned about group management and guiding and teaching in a place like that, just like no words really. Abby is here for those of you not watching the video. She's hamming it up. She's getting lots of scratches.
I miss this dog so much. Those of you who have dogs and travel, like that's always the hardest thing to deal with, not having the pooch with you while you're traveling while you're gone. She's so funny. So yeah, on this dive trip, there were actually several moments of like people getting really truly challenged and learning, learning some
new skills and learning to let go and learn from mistakes and understand that like we are just these little creatures out in the ocean and the ocean will do whatever the ocean wants to do right and being just like okay with whatever is right. One of the lessons that I was teaching people through this because a lot of
you know, there are a lot of us that are more type A and we want to understand the plan and stick with the plan and understand like why we're doing the things that we're doing. And what I kept having to tell people, it's like, Komodo is gonna Komodo. Like, there's no, like we can make all the plans we wanna make for our dive, but like Komodo is gonna Komodo. And that's why you have
Sarah (12:59.788)
you hire a dive guide who's familiar with the area because whatever your plans are, if you get underwater and the conditions are different, you need someone who's gonna make a smart decision for those conditions, right? And change plans according to what is safest. So we had a couple of those moments where people were like, I just didn't really understand what was happening. And I'm like, yeah, you didn't because you don't know
the conditions here. Like we had to go this way instead of that way because it was going to be really dangerous going the other way that we had planned before. So I think that I hope that the people who joined got that, like understood that. And I think it opened some eyes to being more aware of the whole picture. Right.
and taking in information as it comes and kind of being more flexible and choosing, understanding that you have to have a little bit more experience when going into things like that. And the way that you get more experience is by diving, signing up for a trip like that or going somewhere like that and being with people who have that experience so that you can ask the questions and...
gain that knowledge, right? I think that's the most effective. I don't know if you can hear that sound, but Abby was trying to make a bed on like some packaging. Okay, she settled on a blanket, so I think we're okay. She doesn't understand the need for quiet for these things. But yeah, I'm hoping that people
I got that from this kind of trip. And I would love to hear from those of you who have gone places that have been really challenging, like to share the location and share what lessons you learned from those experiences. It'd be cool to hear from you in our Facebook group.
Sarah (15:19.948)
I don't know, I'm always looking for ways to develop and learn. And I find that sort of not necessarily trial by fire, but like you do have to sort of make the uncomfortable step into the new environment in order to learn, you know, and you do that with the help of someone who knows more, right? A dive guide or dive instructor or just a really experienced buddy. So.
Yeah, it's the whole trip, like we had some exceptional dives. But we also, you know, we got challenged with some weather for whatever reason. Again, this was June. It's supposed to be like dry season, like dry, dry, dry. And we had rain. We had like weird wind and just strange weather.
And that actually ended up causing a couple of people to have injuries because of boat movement, not during the dive, but just moving from one place to another on the boat. So if you're planning on going to, you know, going on a trip like this, just please, please, please be careful. Always we talk about diver safety in the water and everything and making conservative choices for your dive planning and all of that.
But like being on the boat is probably like in a lot of times, a lot of instances, it's being more, it's more dangerous than like being underwater, right? So when you're like walking around in your heavy gear, if there are waves, maybe ask to not do that, right? Like have the crew move your gear from one place to another, especially if you have like...
sensitive knees, right, bum knees or hips or back issues, like ask for help. That's the whole, like, that's one of the big reasons for hiring people for dive trips. Like they're there to help you. Yeah. So that was a disappointment because, you know, when you go on a trip like that, the last thing you want is to get
Sarah (17:43.66)
get injured and not be able to dive. And that did happen for a couple of the people on the trip. And it was quite a bummer. But luckily, because my community through Azul Unlimited is just so wonderful. I love the people that follow me. I just absolutely love them. Everybody got along really great. We had so many laughs. And it was such a blast.
It's my favorite thing to get to know people that follow me and to get that like quality time with people. It was really special. So even though it wasn't like, you know, this perfect trip and nothing went wrong or whatever, like we all had such a great time and made lifelong friendships. So really wonderful. After that trip, I decided to do a little bit more diving in Mount
in Flores Island. So Flores Island is quite big. Labuan Bajo is like the main tourist city on the island. And it's definitely grown into that title. Like things have changed so much and it's a lot more comfortable to be there as a tourist. And I wanted to explore some of the places that are a little bit lesser known because Labuan Bajo is getting crazy and diving in Komodo is getting pretty crazy.
the summer, June, July, August, like that's the high season for that area. So it was bound to be full of people. But like, I think because people are becoming so familiar with the area, it is getting more popular and more people are showing up. So I flew over to Malmere and it was like an hour flight still on Flores. And that is a totally different world. I gotta say.
for those of you looking for beautiful diving, but not so many people. And you're okay with diving from like fishermen boats and not having like the comfort of live aboard style boats. It's pretty cool. It's a cool area. I ended up getting sick right before or no, right after flying out there. And so I was not able to dive for like a week, I think might've been a little bit longer.
Sarah (20:09.292)
But when I did get to go diving, I really enjoyed it. Like the creatures are not like afraid. Like I hung out with an octopus for like five minutes and it was the coolest thing. I'll put together a video. It'll be on my channel at some point, probably in the next like two or three weeks. Something like that. Yeah. And I don't know, they just like...
It was cool because usually those kinds of encounters are quite short. You know, they see divers coming and they run and hide because it's like we're just everywhere. But yeah, it's definitely not the most comfortable day of diving. And I had an experience because I went with a local operator. I was a little bit disappointed in sort of the boat.
handling. There were a couple of times that they dropped anchor right on coral. And I've, I would love to hear from you guys, because I, I get nervous in places like that. As a woman speaking up, you know, I, I asked them like, Hey, you know, what about that area over there with the sand? And they
they would drop it, but then they would, you know, another place, drop it on Coral again. And yeah, I don't know how to approach that conversation with people as a client, only there for a date. Like I didn't get to establish like a relationship with those people. I would love to hear from you all if you have experience with this, because I'm always hesitant, especially in...
that area because I know, at least in Labuan Bajo, how some of those types of interactions can be taken very poorly. So, yeah, I would love to hear from you all about that. Again, we have a Facebook group, the dive table, and you can share your experience with that. All in all, amazing. It was a different...
Sarah (22:31.852)
trip than I expected, like all around, right? I had the Komodo Dive Expedition as only like a week of my five weeks. And for me personally, it was very different than what I was expecting, but I'm very grateful and I had a lot of fun. I'm super happy I got to be back and I got to see some of my staff because they still work for Azul Komodo.
Like when I saw one of the women that works in the office, I saw her and I just started crying immediately when I walked into the office and saw her for the first time and she was just so excited. And yeah, it's moments like those and I'm like, you know, I really am proud of what I did in that short amount of time that I was out there, you know, it was only a couple of years.
but it was a big, it had a big impact on me. And at the same time, I'm so grateful that I've moved on and I've done something different, right? So it's an interesting dichotomy of two very distinct feelings, right? So.
I don't know. I am glad that I'm back. I'm excited to jump back into recording with Jay and sharing more on this podcast and my YouTube channel. So if any of this sounded interesting at all, or if you have questions about Indonesia, feel free to connect with me at Azul Unlimited on any of the platforms. I'm on most social media platforms.
And I'm going to be releasing a lot of videos from my time out there on YouTube. So you can get a little bit more insight and see more about the diving out there if it sounds at all interesting to you. As always, we're available. So Jay and I are available by email, Sarah with an H at thedivetable .com.
Sarah (24:49.932)
That's my email and then J is J -A -Y. So you can reach out to us with anything and be in touch. We're coming together with some plans for different types of episodes and series and hopefully some meetups as well. So like be connected, chat with us. We're always happy to hear from you. So thanks so much for listening or watching if you're watching the video.
and I will see you in the next one.
