Komodo Liveaboard Diving
Diving holiday by Komodo Liveaboard
A popular place to scuba dive by liveaboard is Komodo. This Bioshepere and world heritage existing out of 29 islands bring along a unique flora and fauna. The Komodo national park covers 1,733 km2 that gives you the best liveaboard experience with its biodiversity.
From an adrenaline-seeking dive with sharks to a relaxing night dive to find several crabs and shrimp. You name it, and Komodo probably has it. Most Komodo liveaboard itineraries give you the chance to get on the islands and see the famous komodo dragon.
KOMODO LIVEABOARD ROUTES
Komodo liveaboard itineraries can take you to the main regions of Komodo, Padar, Rinca, and Flores islands. Depending on the season, your dive safari can go to the following areas.
North
The Northern region has some of the strongest drift dives in the Komodo National park. It is an excellent place for reef sharks, pelagic fish, and rays such as the manta ray and mobula ray. A reef hook might be handy to stay at the cleaning stations or to see sharks pass by in the current.
The underwater topography is characterized by pinnacles covered by hard corals, sponges, and a place where you can see fusiliers and bannerfish amongst countless other reef fish.
Center
The central region has the most significant variation in Komodo dive sites. Here you can have a gentle wall dive in the morning followed by some adrenaline seeking drift dives and then calming down on a muck dive or exploring some reef gardens and pinnacles. As underwater photographers, you should bring your full gear to get shots from the beautiful reef gardens, turtles, reef sharks, and lots of unique critters such as the pygmy seahorse and countless nudibranchs.
South
Throughout the monsoon season, South Komodo is most likely on the liveaboard routes. The visibility is not always best due to the blooming plankton in the water that brings in the manta rays and whale sharks. The Mola Mola is most likely to be seen here around August.
Unlike the North and Central regions, the South’s reefs are covered in soft coral, giving you some fantastic colors on your dives.
There are liveaboard dive trip itineraries that are suitable for open water divers. Still, we would recommend having your advanced or take it on the dive trip to get the most out of this diving experience.
Marine Life
Most of the diving sites in these islands are not visited frequently as compared to other islands. The utterly pristine and untouched coral reefs, deep walls, creeks, and caves in these islands offer abundant and vibrant pelagic life like Manta Rays, dolphins, eagle rays, and dogtooth tuna drifting around in the strong current of Plankton-rich water.
There is always an excellent probability of coming across almost all kinds of sharks like Hammerheads, Bronze whaler, Whitetips, Silvertips, and Blacktips. Scuba divers can also find strikingly colored nudibranchs and tiny and delicate pygmy seahorses, shrimps, and frogfish attached to the stunningly vibrant coral reefs. The above land and underwater versatile availability of life make Komodo a heaven for the photographers to get some brilliant and dazzling shots to cherish for a lifetime.
TOP KOMODO DIVE SITES
Pink beach
Pantai Merah so called by locals is a dive site that is great for night dives. The reef is at 25m/82f with some beautiful soft corals and lots of cracks and crevices where nudibranchs and Coleman shrimps hide. You can also find snake eels, crocodile fish, pegasus sea moths, ribbon eels, and devilfish.
Gps Point
One of the best dive spots Komodo has to offer is GPS Point. Although the coral is damaged in the 90s by bombing, marine life is there in abundance. The strong currents that pass over this seabank make it not an easy dive but large schools of fish, sharks, dogtooth tuna, and massive schools of barracuda make it a dive that is not to be missed.
Makasar Reef
Makassar reef is known for encounters with manta rays. This sloping reef exists out of broken corals that starts at 5 meters and gradually goes down to a maximum depth of 28 meters. It is not unusual that there is a ripping current; that is why a reef hook is recommended. When you come to one of the bigger bommies, you can hook on to a rock and enjoy the mantas’ show getting cleaned.
Castle Rock
Castle Rock is a massive pinnacle with the top at 4 meters. You can expect lots of action with schools of snappers, giant trevallies, tuna, grey reef, whitetip, and blacktip reef sharks on this dive. Manta rays are frequently seen here, and if you are fortunate, dolphins will bring a visit. Just be aware that currents can be intense.
Cannibal Rock
Cannibal Rock is famous for its biodiversity and is also known as the pearl of the south. The large rock formations start at 3 meters going to 30 + meters. The rocks are entirely covered in beautiful corals and buzzing with marine life.
Large schools of snappers and fusiliers hang around the rocks. Keeping an eye On the blue, you can see the trevallies and barracuda pass by. Bamboo sharks are often hiding under large rock formations. But most famous is this dive site for its macro life such as frogfish, leafy scorpionfish, and several species of nudibranchs.
Manta Alley
As the name suggests, manta alley is a hot spot for diving with these gentle giants. The sloping reef is covered in stunning corals and starts in the shallow. Besides diving with manta rays, this dive site is full of other marine life such as reef sharks, trevallies, and wrasses.
DIVING SEASON
Komodo liveaboard trips depart every month of the year, but every season offers a different experience.
May – September: With calm and clear waters, this time of year is the Komodo’s prime liveaboard season. The North and Central regions are typically the best for a diving cruise as the Southern part can be choppy, and visibility is less. In August, many divers come over to have a chance to see the Mola Mola (Sunfish).
November – April: This is the monsoon season that can bring rainy periods and unstable weather in the North and Central regions. The Southern part is actually at its best this time of the year. Liveaboard operators adjust their Komodo itineraries according to the weather conditions each day.
December – February: Because of the plankton, visibility is not always best, but this brings an abundance of manta rays and whale sharks to the Komodo National Park.
HOW TO GET THERE
Ports used for Komodo liveaboard cruises are Bali, Binta, Labuan Bajo, Lombok, and Maumere. Depending on the routes and itinerary of the liveaboards, you will know what port to fly to. The easiest way to find out is by looking at the individual trip page or contacting us, and we will help you find the best diving safari for you.
All ports have an airport nearby where the liveaboard crew can pick you up and transfer you to the liveaboard. If you want to stay in a hotel before or after your dive trip, transfers can be arranged for that as well.
After you have booked your diving holiday, we will provide you with all the information you need to make it a hassle-free experience.
Reviews
Komodo diving cruise
The dive sites are full of beautiful corals, the sight is clear and there is a good population of fish – groupers, morays, fusiliers, butterfly, nudy branches and we saw many manta rays as well as blacktip and whitetips. Also during night dives you can see beautiful things from seahorses, to special octopus, frogfishes, mandarin fish and spanish dancers. Also the sites are not as crowded as in other destinations. Many times we were the only divers in the area.
Great diving
great diving sites and variety