Komodo

Komodo, one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature, is among the 17,508 islands comprising Indonesia. Located near Bali, it is noted for a beautiful pink beach and the endangered Komodo dragon. These attentive and spry predators are the largest and heaviest monitor lizards in the world, with some reaching up to 10 feet in length and over 366 pounds. These powerful hunters rely on their yellow forked tongues to scavenge any kind of meat, from rodents to wild boars.
Because it is located between two oceans – the Pacific in the north and the Indian in the south – Komodo is well-known for its diverse biodiversity. This makes it a perfect destination for scuba diving vacations. The vast differences in temperature, visibility, currents and marine life between the two oceans offer divers two very distinct diving adventures.
Komodo, which is part of East Nusa Tenggara, is among the Lesser Sunda chain of islands, part of which is in the Komodo National Park. Komodo liveaboard diving is very popular in the park.

Scuba Diving in Komodo

Komodo scuba diving offers two completely different diving worlds. The Indian Ocean in the south features frequent upwells as the ocean’s currents collide with the continental shelf. The cool waters are nutrient rich, offering a rich coral reef environment. There is less visibility, but the sea fans, soft coral and large fields of branching coral are as vibrant as ever. The nutrition attracts a lot of marine-life, like manta’s.
It’s easy to spot the multitude of plankton and manta rays, plus plenty of macro life, like frogfish, torpedo rays, nudibranchs, pygmy seahorses and much more.
The Pacific Ocean in the north is much warmer and has higher visibility. Its volcanic topography and strong currents attract the big creatures, like Napoleon wrasse, whitetip sharks, manta rays (?),blacktip sharks, mobula rays, giant trevally and grey reef sharks.
Scuba diving vacations to the island offer everything divers are looking for: great dive sites, colorful reefs, great views of sea life and diverse topography. Numerous sites are ideal for drift diving.

Komodo diving is considered world-class, with common sightings including reef sharks, manta rays, frogfish, Napoleon wrasses, turtles, schooling bumphead parrotfish and many other different schools of fish and unusual macro critters. Some dive travel expeditions have also documented sightings of mimic and wunderpus octopus, dugongs, Rhinopias and dolphins.

Komodo National Park, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is known for the best scuba diving in the world. Because of its vast area, liveaboard diving in Komodo National Park is the way to go.
Liveaboards in Komodo National Park enable divers to easily access and explore the unique dive sites. Divers to Cannibal Rock in Horseshoe Bay in south Rinca Island may even catch a glance of the park’s resident Komodo dragons from the water. The park’s waters hold 1,000 fish species, 250 coral species, lots of walls covered in soft and hard corals, plenty of unique rock formations, interesting caves and pinnacles, challenging slopes and plenty of critters. This wealth of underwater beauty is what makes scuba diving in Komodo top-notch and a must-do dive destination. Two notable pinnacles in the national park are Castle Rock and Crystal Rock. So many fish swim around the rocks that it’s hard to actually see them! Expect to spot reef sharks, eagle rays and schooling fish, to name a few. North of the national park, sharks are a highlight of Komodo diving, especially near the seamounts. Drift diving is also good here due to the fast currents.

Komodo liveaboard diving offers these key dive sites, considered among the best scuba diving in the world.

Batu Bolong – Located in the Komodo Flores channel, this pinnacle is known for its incredible hard coral gardens. Big schools of fish, as well as reef shark, are frequent visitors.

Pink Beach – This dive site gets its name from the pink sand on its beachfront. Underwater is just as colorful and bright, with hard corals in the shallow waters transitioning to vibrant corals decorating small walls. Plenty of fish life can be spotted here as well.

Manta Alley – South of Komodo Island, this alley created by rock formations is a great place to observe the behavior of manta rays as they often clean, feed and fly around here. Sunfish have been seen here, too.

Karang Makassar – This is another great site for watching manta rays feed. The long rocky bottom has some interesting coral bluffs that manta rays use as cleaning stations.

Makassar Reef – The 1.2 mile channel provides some excellent dive sites for Komodo scuba diving. Currents have created an interesting seascape of dunes made of small rocks and varying craters that some divers compare to the moon’s surface.

Cannibal Rock – The coral is simply awesome on this pinnacle. Small walls are covered in coral that attract incredible fish life. Look for numerous types of nudis, giant frogfish and pygmy seahorses.

Torpedo Alley – Located in the same bay as Cannibal Rock, liveaboards in Komodo often stay for night diving in this area. The black sand makes it ideal for spotting lots of critters. Look among the reef patches for nudibranchs, froggies, ghost pipefishes and various varieties of octopus and crustaceans.

Tatawa Besar – Thanks to the currents, coral is the showstopper at this site. Hard corals in the shallow waters attract an array of turtles, while soft corals shower the sea floor, attracting a bounty of snappers, batfish and anthias.

Sangeang – Northwest of Komodo Island is the island of Sangeang, home to Sangeang Api, an active complex volcano with two volcanic cones that still smolder plumes of smoke. Also called Gunung Api, the volcano’s lava flow has resulted in incredible rock formations and dark black sands, ideal for muck diving. A popular stop for liveaboards to Sangeang is Bubble Reef, named after the bubbles formed by underwater vents created by the volcano.

With so many great diving sites in Komodo, dive travel is year round and the sightings will not disappoint.

When to Go

Liveaboard diving in Komodo is year round, although there’s less chance of rain from May through November. Sea conditions, which can be rough in the north and south during certain months, rarely impact scuba diving in Komodo since the area has plenty of dive site options. The water temperature is an average 23 to 28 degrees C (73-82° F),with visibility varying between 10 and 40 meters (32 and 114 feet).