Komodo Park Scuba Diving
Denise Nielsen Tackett & Larry Tackett
Liveaboards Operating in Komodo National Park
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Sea fans, soft corals, sponges, basket stars, sea apples, and feather stars cover all available substrate.
Some liveaboard trips to Komodo National Park begin and end in Bali, diving around Lombok and the north coast of Sumbawa along the way. Some depart from areas closer to Komodo and involve a short domestic flight from Bali. Either way, if you're going to Komodo, your first stop is Bali.
As you travel east, volcanoes give way to white sand beaches and coral reefs in warm water, 28º-30ºC (86-90ºF). Visibility is excellent at 20-40m (66-130ft). The reefs are healthy and diverse with large stands of corals and exotic animals. The diving is easy and night diving is good. Heading south to Komodo and Rinca islands, water temperatures drop to a chilly 20º-24ºC (70-78ºF). A 5mm wetsuit with hood, at least, is recommended. The cooler Indian Ocean meets the warmer Flores Sea in the Sape and Lintah Straits, creating one of the richest marine environments in the world. Nutrient-rich upwellings rise while warmer waters sink dropping visibility to 5-20m (15-66ft). This process creates currents, whirlpools and thermoclines bringing in scores of fishes and filter-feeding invertebrates. The reef is dramatic with drop-offs, outcrops, canyons, pinnacles and boulders, bursting with color. Sea fans, soft corals, sponges, basket stars, sea apples, and feather stars cover all available substrate.
Great Year-Round Scuba Diving at Komodo National Park
Banta Island has several terrific sites such as Star Wars, GPS Point, K-2, and Small World. Small World is an excellent macro spot with snake eels, ghost pipefish, bubble shells, and stargazers.
The best time to visit Komodo is March to June and late September to December. July and August are good times to go, but windy conditions sometimes prevent diving at the exposed southern sites. Horseshoe Bay, formed by Rinca and Kode islands, is a protected bay with several world class dive sites like Cannibal Rock, Crinoid Corner and Yellow Wall. There's a host of unexplored sites too. Mentjang Wall, on south Sangiang Island, drops off to 20m (66ft) and turns into a black sand slope. The wall is beautiful with soft corals, crinoids and basslets. The slope harbors a fascinating assortment of nudibranches and other invertebrates.
Banta Island has several terrific sites such as Star Wars, GPS Point, K-2, and Small World. Small World is an excellent macro spot with snake eels, ghost pipefish, bubble shells, and stargazers. Star Wars, GPS Point and K-2 are wide angle spots with big fishes, sharks and sea fans. The Gili islands, off northeast Komodo, have sites like ETF Rock, HTF Rock and Table 4. All have current, loads of fishes and good coral cover. Tatawa Besar/Sambal is excellent for wide angle with a gradual reef slope covered with table corals and masses of orange soft corals. Fishes include sweetlips, bumphead parrotfish and Napoleon wrasses. Pink Beach takes its name from the bits of broken red corals that litter the beach. The water is noticeably cooler here and the marine life is excellent. Huge boulders covered with soft corals go to 30m (100ft). Sea apples and toxic sea urchins appear for the first time. Mobulas frequent the reef. On the south side of Padar island is a series of rock pillars that extend underwater called Pillarsteen. The huge rock faces are covered with invertebrate growth and lead to canyons and caverns. There's good fish life too.
Mantas, Sharks, Eagle Rays, Tuna, Amphipods, Crinoids–Everything!
There are many beautiful dive sites in Indonesia but there is only one Cannibal Rock!
There are many beautiful dive sites in Indonesia but there is only one Cannibal Rock. This is a big rock with profuse and colorful reef life. There are frogfish, Miamira nudibranches, huge basket stars and bright red sea apples. It's a hub of activity any time but especially around sunset as the day and night animals switch places. Baitballs, sharks, tuna, snappers, groupers, eagle rays, reef fishes–they're all here. Night dives are incredibly colorful.The Yellow Wall is at the southeast entrance to Horseshoe Bay. It's best dived in the afternoon when the sun lights up the wall of yellow tree corals that bloom in the current. The wall has many crevices and a deep undercut at 26m (95ft) where the wall really turns completely yellow. Everything's yellow–the soft corals, the nudibranches, and the crinoids–everything. Ladybug amphipods live on colorful sea squirts in the shallows.
Komodo Dive Site Map
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About the Authors
Larry and Denise Tackett are the authors of all of our Indonesian dive site and regional descriptions. They are professional photographers specializing in underwater and terrestrial natural history and travel subjects. They are represented by stock photo agencies in the US and United Kingdom and their photographs have been widely published in books and magazines worldwide. Their work has appeared in magazines such as National Wildlife, Islands, BBC Wildlife, Ocean Realm, Asian Diver, Unterwasser, Tauchen, Canadian Wildlife, Popular Science, Sport Diver, National Geographic Kids, Geo, and many others.
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