Diving trip and liveaboard to Komodo in Indonesia

Diving trip and liveaboard to Komodo in Indonesia

Komodo - the island of the dragons is located east of the fantastically popular destination Bali. A diving trip and liveaboard to Komodo in Indonesia is a must for those who want to experience some of the world's best diving. Diving trips to Komodo is extremely popular and among the most popular destinations for a liveaboard in Indonesia. Diving in Komodo is a fantastic and varied experience. Traveling to Bali is not difficult and from Bali you can go directly by boat or fly on to the island of Flores and board there.

Komodo National Park is home to the famous Komodo dragon and the area has several islands. A few have dragons but most are completely normal islands. The strait between these islands is known for strong flowing water, which has meant that the large creatures have not managed to spread further either. In the strong currents, however, there is a very rich and varied marine life and here you will find among the world's finest coral reefs and most species-rich waters.

You can only get to Komodo National Park by boat. There are no resorts or accommodations here. The few that are in the area are located on other islands. Because the area is so large, the best way to experience the fantastic diving here is to recommend a liveaboard. Day trips are offered and occasional trips with smaller and simpler boats where you spend the night on board are available but they are very simple conditions. With the smaller boats it is also more difficult to cover several of the best spots as they are quite spread out.

Komodo can be made into a liveaboard in two ways

You can go with a liveaboard directly from Bali and pass the islands of Lombok and Sumbawa on the way or you can fly to Flores and Labuan Bajo. There you board your liveaboard and get into the park a little faster and get to experience a little different places. It's mostly a matter of preference, time to fly and extra overnight between diving and flying versus time inside the national park.

The diving you will experience is amazing so no matter which variant you choose you will have a great trip. The macro diving is magically good in many places with a marine life you rarely experience in other places. All those strange animals that you often see on social media and other media and divers talk about are here. Komodo is incredibly beautiful and inspiring for underwater photographers, but also for those who only want to experience healthy, thriving coral reefs and species-rich diving. Here there are places with clean sandy bottoms and different types of reefs, shallows, coral gardens, dropoffs, slopes and everywhere you will find a multitude of strange and odd marine life.

Mantas, sharks and large shoals

There are several places in and around Komodo that are very good for diving and seeing manta rays up close. It's so common it's practically guaranteed. Manta Alley in the southern parts of Komodo is one of the most famous places and here mantas come daily to let themselves be groomed. Sometimes there can be a strong current, but it is still possible to dive here and with good planning you can avoid the worst currents. Being able to lie on the bottom here and see these large animals is an absolutely fantastic experience.

There are a few more places that are known to attract manta rays. All these places often have flowing water but not more than it is possible to dive. It is possible to get magically good diving here on a diving trip to Komodo and with liveaboard in Indonesia you can easily get to the best places and among the world's best diving. Reef sharks and large shoals of fish are also common, and in many places also a lot of mixed fish.

Horse shoe bay and Rinca Island

Just east of Komodo Island is the island of Rinca. It is one of the few islands that also has a population of Komodo dragons. Here it is not allowed to go ashore as on Komodo. On the one hand, you don't want the animals to get used to people and on the other hand, they are a bit more aggressive here. You can still see them sometimes from a small escort boat when you go here just a few meters from the beach. Sometimes you see a single one and sometimes you see several. Even monkeys or deer can show up here.

Here on Rinca's south side is Horse shoe bay. A widely talked about dive site and perfect for liveaboarders as they can seek shelter. There are several very good dive sites here and perhaps the most famous is Cannibal rock. There is not a square millimeter here that is not covered by corals, gorgonians, sea urchins, sponges or hair stars. The very special "Sea Apple" sea cucumber, which normally lies buried in the sand, sits here completely open on the rocks.
In one place among a mass of brilliant blue ascidians, or sea urchins, we find small amphipods or lady bugs. They jump around and are absolutely beautiful but also difficult to photograph. For those of you who are good underwater photographers, this is a fantastic photo object, but also a challenge as they are only a couple of millimeters in size.

Large quantities of fish

The marine life throughout the national park and everywhere around is incredibly rich. All the dive sites we visit except the one where we drifted across white sand to the mantas had incredible amounts of fish of various kinds. It was the way you wish it would look like in the whole world. Because the national park is well protected from fishing, the marine life here has been able to develop and thrive at its own pace. It has allowed you to find large Napoleon fish, bumphead parrotfish, lots of other different parrotfish and other medium sized species.

Here we see several large shoals of tuna, barracuda and snappers. Beautiful butterfly fish and emperor fish competing in colorful splendor with various wrasse, clownfish, ladyfish, dragonfish and puffers in a wonderful mix. Lots of bottom-dwelling species such as blennies, gobies, moray eels, dragonets, flatfish and scorpionfish in abundance and so on. The more spectacular species are of course frogfish, ghost pipe fish and seahorses.

For those who dive and like healthy and species-rich coral reefs, exciting invertebrates and even large fish, Komodo is a real dream. If possible, you have the world's best diving here. In any case, Komodo competes for that when you consider the condition of the reefs, the richness of species and the health of the corals. Visibility is almost always at least 35 meters and often more. You can travel to and dive at Komodo all year round.

Combine with Bali

One more trip Bali and to complement it with a liveaboard here in Komodo is an incomparable concept. A trip that few combinations can beat. Many liveaboarders "unfortunately" abandon Komodo between October and March when they instead go to Raja Ampat and Papua in the north which attracts more by creating a reputation for being the best then. So it's easiest to go here between April and October when the weather conditions are usually the best. January and February can often be quite rainy and windy here.

When I go home from Komodo, we dive at the island of Moyo north of Sumbawa. We see some reef sharks, beautiful corals, lots of fish and quite a few eagle rays. As the icing on the cake, a group of just under ten hammerhead sharks. When we all get up, a whale shark passes us right by the boat. It will be a wonderfully perfect ending to a truly fantastic one diving trip  A day later we are back in Bali the next morning where we finish with breakfast and check out. There will be a few days of relaxation and vacation in Bali after this fantastic diving safari.

Summary

To end this trip, I can only say: - Go on a diving trip and liveaboard to Komodo in Indonesia! - You will not regret it. It's absolutely fantastic. You will have a great diving trip and vacation. Be aware that you will need a few extra nights in Bali or somewhere along the way. No matter which plan for a diving trip with your liveaboard here in Komodo and Indonesia you choose, it is necessary.