Wetpixel Expedition leader and photographer Jason Bradley led the second group of the Wetpixel 2014 South Komodo Expedition. The second group embarked on The Seven Seas liveaboard at Labuan Bajo, Indonesia on 18 February for 12 days of diving the Southern Komodo Islands.

The advantage of diving in the South during the Indonesian wet season is its significantly improved visibility, combined with warmer water temperatures. Trip one seemed to have some mixed visibility reports, but trip two had a tad more luck. Although trip two explored the southern part of the park less than anticipated, everyone was more than happy spending most of the time in Horseshoe Bay. The conditions were excellent there. There was good visibility, gentle currents, pleasant water temperature, and we found that leaving just wasn’t as appealing as staying. Horseshoe Bay has everything, there was tons to do, see and shoot there.

Beyond Horseshoe, everyone had a wonderful time diving with the Mantas at the beginning of the trip, taking in a few dives at the famous Three Sisters, and a few days at Padar Island. Padar was especially interesting with some beautiful topside excursions and some new dive sights. One in particular was a Lembeh’esque sandy bottom dive with lots of little things to shoot. We named it Midnight Alley. There is an active thread about the trip with many images on the Wetpixel forum. Check it out!