Komodo Dragons
Jackamy
Paul & Derry Harper
Sat 23 Oct 2010 00:25
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Saturday 23rd October
We ventured ashore on Friday afternoon in
hunt of Komodo Dragons armed with huge bamboo sticks. We'd almost walked the
whole length of the beach and we're just about to give up when Paul suddenly
doubled back towards me and Amy. Poking out from beside a bush was a 2 metre
long dragon sprawled out on the sand that scared the life out of him. They're so
menacing and pre-historic looking!
 Paul was taking pictures from
every angle and the crack of a branch would cause the dragon to move his head to
have a look what was going on.
 Me and Amy kept a safe
distance! Freddie has been telling everyone how they can run at 35mph and at
least one tourist gets attacked per year so we were cautious.
 We felt satisfied so began our
walk back along the beautiful beach
 Saturday morning we were on the
lookout again and spotted one walking along the beach but he soon disappeared as
we approached in the dinghy
 Not before leaving this huge
mess behind
After seeing a few more walking
along the beach we were pleased with our success and decided we didn't need to
go to a ranger station to have a guide show us where they were. We'd seen them
completely wild! Little did we know what we still had to come
though!
On a small beach in another part
of the anchorage we found 2 more dragons that we were able to get
exceptionally close to. Amy was in the water, just metres away from
the one dragon but when his mate started to approach a little quicker from the
other side of the beach Amy began to panic and ran back to the dinghy.
  Using Amy as bait worked
though as they both came right to the shore together
 
  Amy stayed at a safe distance
now
  Charlie's dive
boat................Jimmy the skipper with the dive site chart
Once we'd finished playing, we
stopped off at this live aboard dive boat to ask their advice on where to dive.
They also advised not to go close to the dragons as they are expecting us to
feed them and will come in the water after us. Hmmm, ok, lesson learnt! We also
found some interesting information on where to dive, including a spot not far
from where we were anchored. So at 16:00 at slack water, Paul, myself, Amy and
Gavin dived at 'Canibal Rock'. It was very pretty and would have been even more
spectacular had it not been overcast and the sun had been shining through. The
coral was so many different bright colours, it was very pretty. And the current
wasn't even strong as we'd timed it just right.
Komodo national park has some of
the most exhilarating scuba diving in Indonesia, but the region is swept by
strong currents and cold upswellings, created by the convergence of the warmer
Flores Sea and the cooler Selat Sumba - conditions that create rich plankton
soup and an astonishing diversity of marine life. Mantas and whales are drawn
here to feed on the plankton during their migration from the Indian Ocean to the
South China Sea and dolphins are also common in the waters between Komodo and
Flores.
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