Taka Bonerate rocks! Some of the best diving I've ever done. The diversity of coral and fish was amazing. The reef system sits right in the middle of the Flores Sea with only small sand cays for islands and a couple of small villages, so the water is crystal clear (no run-off) like in the middle of the ocean. The constant current provides much nutrients, so the coral and fish thrive without any manmade or natural pollution to disturb it. Hence, very dense coral growth of everything you could imagine. Spectacular wall dives!!! And the water is so clear, floating along in the current next to bottomless walls is like floating in space. Imagine being absolutely still, no swimming or paddling, just hanging in space using your buoyancy compensator to control your ascent/descent and letting the current swept you along the vertical wall, around heaps of colourful coral and through big schools of fish. Spectacular is an understatement for sure!
It's a hard place to get to for most people, so very little tourists go there, which also means there is little damage to the reefs. But we did meet a lovely gentleman from Jakarta who was there to film some of the reef, so we got to go diving with him, and make a new friend, Mr Muis. My GoPro case leaked in Banda, so I lost much footage and the camera. Major bugger! :(. But Mr Muis was so kind to give me his footage of which I will put together a film when I get a chance. Terimekasi Mr Muis! :)
The weather started to change and we needed to get south and keep moving to get to Labuan Bajo for the next set of events (and more diving), so we sadly had to depart. But we are off to see some dragons! We are having such a great time, Sherry is now talking about spending another year here in SE Asia, as there just isn't enough time in a day to see and do it all. But that's another day, so we'll see :).
So that's the news from EQ, where the winds are fair, the seas following, and the crew content. :) Cheers, with Equanimity and Joy
