Diving in Komodo

The World Heritage Site

Komodo Island and national park reserve offers the liveaboard diver just about every type of tropical diving imaginable - from warm, calm and colourful shallow reefs alive with hundreds of colourful reef fishes and crammed with invertebrates, to current-swept deep cool water sea mounts, walls and pinnacles patrolled by sharks, tuna and other big fish.

The variety of marine life for scuba diving in Komodo rivals the world's best dive destinations. This is the world's epicentre for marine diversity and you'll see loads of stuff here on a diving cruise that you just won't see anywhere else in the world - From sunfish, mantas, dolphins and eagle rays to pygmy seahorses, ornate ghost pipefish, clown frogfish, nudibranchs and blue-ringed octopus - all at home amongst a spectacular range of colourful sponges, sea squirts, tunicates and corals - a macro enthusiast's heaven.

Geologically, Komodo and Rinca are part of Flores, separated from Sumbawa to the west by the Sape Strait. In the middle of the strait, the bottom drops to almost 300 metres. The many islands and relatively shallow seas between Flores and Komodo's west coast mean very fast currents at tidal changes, especially when the higher tidal waters of the Pacific Ocean in the north flow through into the Indian Ocean to the south. The upwellings from the deep surrounding seas bring nutrients and plankton to keep the Komodo waters rich and well-fed.

The island is also famous for its Komodo dragon monitor lizard, the largest lizard in the world. An alert and agile predator and scavenger that can reach 2.5 metres in length and 125 kg, they are known locally as 'Ora' and now about 1,100 inhabit the island and about half that live on nearby Rinca Island.

Highlights

There are a lot of excellent dive sites around the park, many of which would be the jewel in the crown of lesser dive destinations but if we have to limit the highlights then we could do no better than to recommend to you:

Cannibal Rock - Unlike many Komodo dive sites there is little heart-stopping action here but in terms of colour and activity there are few better spots. There is just so much going on around this sea mount: purple gorgonians, anemones, yellow and white spiral corals and sea apples that together create a riot of colour. In and around this vibrant sessile tableau live all sorts of sea-life making night diving here simply awesome. All the while rays, snappers, sweetlips and turtles cruise around the rock. Night or day Cannibal Rock inspires.

Yellow Wall of Texas - Another of Komodo National Park's signature dives, Yellow Wall is so called because of the proliferation of robust sea cucumbers - they are all over the place and their bright yellow hue dominates the vista. Not only does the wall itself promise much in the way of entertainment but sharks, manta rays and turtles are all frequent passers-by.

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How to Dive Komodo

Although there are a few resorts beginning to pop up around the area, the dive sites are well spaced out and the only way to truly see all of Komodo is by liveaboard. There are plenty of liveaboard options and there should be something for every budget.

Diving Season

You can go liveaboard diving Komodo all year round. The liveaboards here do not close for an off-season because every month of the year promises top quality action. Overall, the absolute best visibility is from November to January.

January to March can have rough surface conditions at the northern dive sites. July and August can have rough seas in the south and Rinca. But these conditions rarely interfere with the liveaboard schedules to any great extent.

Reef Summary

Great for: Large animals, small animals, wall dives, underwater photography, drift diving, reef life and health and advanced divers
Not so great for: Wrecks and beginner divers
Depth: 5 - >40m
Visibility: 5 - 30m
Currents: Can be very strong
Surface conditions: Can be rough
Water temperature: 20 - 28°C
Experience level: Intermediate - advanced
Number of dive sites: >35
Distance: ~490 km east of Bali (24 hours), 20 km west of Labuan Bajo (Flores, 2 hours), 90 km east southeast of Bima (Sumbawa, 8 hours)
Access: Liveaboard cruises
Recommended length of stay: 6 - 11 days

Dive Site Descriptions

For more information on the detailed dive sites:

• Komodo Island tourist information

View a map of:
• Komodo  -  Indonesia

• Scuba diving vacation enquiries

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