Living Large, Crystal Rock Komodo Indonesia, Asia Adventure Diving!

By Fred Tittle

After the dive briefing everyone is in quiet anticipation that we are going to be diving in current, as we are told that we will drop in using a negative entry, to get down as close to the coral, as quick as we can, remembering to prioritize equalization.

They might have stated instead that we were going to be dropping into raging river of water and that we would defiantly qualify for an adventure merit badge afterwards!

You hit the water and it shocks you, as it is cold and moving fast, with everybody and everything fining hard to stay in one spot, in this boiling fish soup of thousands of fish.

All are waiting for lunch, some will become lunch, as a buffet of nourishment comes whizzing by, as it passes from the depths to the shallows, 18 to 25 meters above us. The only break you get is if you move behind big rocks and ledges to keep yourself from being directly blown on by the undulating water maelstrom.

This is where the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean collide, in a shimmering, mist like haze, a result of the different water salinities constantly mixing, in a packed major aquarium's worth of fish species.

The cast of fish here is amazing, a huge napoleon wrasse is holding court in attendance are black trevellys, mahi mahi and his sentinels, a matching pair of white tip reef sharks, swarming around are hundreds of reef fish, blue runners, snappers, surgeon fish and the small and agile damsels, angelfish and tang.With currents this strong you can only stay for a short while, as everyone is straining to keep their breathing under control.

A real problem for dives like this is that you can over breathe your regulator, where it seems that you are not getting enough air, which will stress some divers so much that they will go into a panic mode, which is not a good thing to experience, regardless of where you are, much less hanging on to the reef, trying not to grab the fire coral, fire fish or other things that sting, bite or otherwise cause pain and injury, on a rock 20 meters underwater, somewhere hours away from any qualified professional rescue or health services.

People that have experienced not being able to pull enough air from their regulators can strongly empathies with people that have been water boarded, as you have the same physiological - psychological sensations of not getting enough air, and the air that you are getting is wet.

This is one of the main reasons to spend a bit more on your regulators to upgrade to a balanced regulator, as they tend to provide more air than non balanced regulators, this becomes even more pronounced the deeper that you go, as you must suck harder to counteract the ambient pressure at depth "to crack the first stage" and pull air from the tank with a non balanced regulator.

After hanging on or being swept off, we make our way using whatever cover we can find, speed drifting, from large barrel sponges, to small outcroppings to dents in the sea floor, picking our way around the top of the pinnacle to the lee side, where we can finally catch our breaths and start to process the different sensory memories of what we have just lived, with every sense, except smell, wanting to be imprinted on our brains.

Almost anticlimactic is when the eagle ray and turtles make their appearance, which would be the main highlight of any other dive. After 10 minutes or so of watching the turtles and the mantas, we are dangling in the water column, suspended like oversized puppets, off gassing at 5 meters, each wondering if we will get to do this great of a dive again

This is living large, no doubt at all that you have just done something that you will remember till the end of your days!