Some divers chase luxury. Others want simplicity done well. The Nusatara liveaboard falls firmly into the second camp, and that is exactly its strength. This 20.5 metre traditional wooden schooner carries just 6 guests across 3 cabins, each with a private bathroom and air conditioning. The number matters. 6 people means no queues for the dive deck, no loud groups, and no competing for space at the best sites. You eat together, dive together, and the crew get to know you properly. That kind of trip stays with you.
The Nusatara is owned and operated by Grand Komodo, a company with roots reaching back to 1987. These are the people who helped discover Komodo’s great dive sites alongside names like Gerry Allen and Roger Steene. They pioneered liveaboard diving in eastern Indonesia. So when they run a boat, they run it with quiet competence. No hype. No overpromising. Just decades of local knowledge applied to every tide, site, and anchorage.
On board the Nusatara, the spaces are practical and comfortable. An air-conditioned saloon doubles as the dining area, with a TV, DVD player, and a small library for quiet evenings. Above deck, the sun awning covers a lounge area with chairs and mats that are perfect for lying down between dives or watching the islands slip past. The dive deck includes dedicated stations for gear and cameras, plus an outdoor shower. Diving happens in groups of three per guide, using a motorised tender with a 40 HP engine. That ratio means real attention underwater. Your guide spots the pygmy seahorse. Your guide knows which channel to drift on a falling tide.
What sets the Nusatara liveaboard apart from bigger competitors is its intimacy. You will not find a spa, a jacuzzi, or a separate camera room. What you will find is a crew that learns your name by the first dive, a cook who adjusts spice levels to your taste, and a schedule that flexes with the group. Night dives happen when the group wants them. Surface intervals stretch when the conversation gets good. The boat moves at your pace, not the other way around.
Each trip includes land visits to see Komodo dragons and short hikes to viewpoints - the classic above-water experiences that round out a Komodo cruise. And if you want to extend your stay, the operator runs Komodo Lodge in Labuan Bajo, a simple land-based option for adding a few nights before or after your liveaboard. The Nusatara operates 7-night Komodo diving cruises year-round, departing from Labuan Bajo. For divers who value space, personalised guiding, and the quiet confidence of a local operator with real history, this boat makes a lot of sense.
Nusatara has 3 cabins with en-suite private bathrooms. There are 2 twin bed cabins on the lower deck, and 1 double bed cabin on the upper deck.
All the cabins have:
- Individual control air-conditioning
- Portholes (lower deck) or windows (upper deck)
- Toilet, hot water shower and hand basin
- Soap, bath and beach towel
- Reading lights
- Daily housekeeping
- Bedside table, cabinet, shelves and mirror
- Bedding
- Round 2-pin (European) mains outlet 110/220 volts - 24 hours per day
- Fire warning system, extinguishers and life jackets
No. of bathrooms / showers - 3 / 3 - hot water
Komodo National Park (8 Days / 7 Nights - 21 Dives)
Trip highlights: shark action, dolphins, manta rays, dugongs/manatees, turtles, great macro life/ marine diversity, schooling fish & big pelagics, non diving activities
Diving environment: advanced divers, drift diving, healthy reefs, very popular, wall diving
Dive sites and activities: Sebayur Kecil, Komodo: Gili Lawa, Shotgun, Castle Rock, Crystal Rock, Manta Alley, Batu Bolong, Tatawa Kecil, Pantai Merah, Manta Point, Pulau Damar, Loh Sera, Nusa Kode, Padar, Tatawa Besar, Siaba Besar, Komodo trekking, Padar trekking
Day 1
The Nusa Tara liveaboard will be anchored at Labuan Bajo harbour. A welcome drink and boat safety briefing come first, followed by cabin assignment. After lunch you set up your dive gear. The afternoon brings a check dive around Sebayur Kecil, a gentle slope of hard corals, seafans and sponges. No current, good visibility, and plenty of life: cuttlefish, octopus, ghost pipefish. A perfect warm-up. Dinner is served as the Nusa Tara heads into the park.
Core Days
Komodo delivers variety. The Nusa Tara moves between north and central sites, adjusting to conditions and giving you a true cross-section of what makes this park famous.
You will dive Castle Rock and Crystal Rock, 2 pinnacles where current brings the action. Fusiliers and anthias cloud the water. Reef sharks patrol the deeper edges. Soft corals drape every ledge. Then comes Shotgun, also known as The Cauldron. You drop into a channel between Gili Lawa Darat and Gili Lawa Laut, let the current take you, and watch the reef scroll past: yellow corals, sea fans, trevally, bumphead parrotfish, and if you are lucky, mantas in the flow. Batu Bolong is a hollow rock that delivers every time. Grey reef sharks hold near the ledge. Dogtooth tuna cruise past. The wall is thick with life.
Manta Point and Manta Alley are exactly what they sound like. You kneel on the sand or shelter behind a bommie as mantas glide overhead, sometimes singley, sometimes in groups. Cleaner wrasses attend to them. The rays circle, feed, and loop back. It is quiet, deliberate, and unforgettable.
Between the big dive sites, Nusa Tara liveaboard explores Tatawa Kecil and Tatawa Besar, coral gardens so dense they feel almost artificial. Anthias everywhere. Turtles, groupers, sweetlips. At Pantai Merah (Pink Beach), the sand itself is unusual: a red-pink mix created by microscopic organisms. Look for frogfish, leaf fish, Coleman shrimp, ribbon eels. Pulau Damar and Loh Sera offer deeper walls where potato cod and giant trevally hold. Nusa Kode, at the southwestern tip, features massive coral-encrusted boulders and some of the largest resident groupers in the park.
On 2 separate days, you step ashore. A trek on Komodo Island puts you face to face with the dragons, ancient, slow, and genuinely wild. Rangers lead the walk. The encounter stays with you. A second trek on Padar Island takes you up a short, steep hill. The reward is a view across multiple bays: white sand, green hills, turquoise water. It is the kind of panorama that ends up framed on a wall.
Day 8
Enjoy a final breakfast aboard the Nusa Tara before saying goodbye to the crew. A transfer takes you back to Labuan Bajo Airport, where the crew assists with check-in. You leave with a memory card full of mantas, dragons and that particular Komodo light.
[Information is best estimate in ideal circumstances and subject to changes beyond our control. The itinerary is a guide only and may be adapted to best suit the weather, tides, currents, availability and other prevailing events. Price is for the cruise, not for an exact number of dives].
Here is a truth about small-boat diving: the routine finds you, not the other way around. The Nusa Tara liveaboard carries no more than 8 guests. So when the cook calls lunch, you hear it from anywhere on deck. When the guides spot a manta cleaning station holding action, the whole boat shifts. That flexibility shapes every meal and every dive.
Meals happen at a single table under an open-sided awning. No buffets. No assigned seating. The cook works from a tiny galley and serves family-style.
Breakfast might appear twice, first a light round of toast, fruit, and coffee before the early dive, then a proper hot meal afterwards. One morning you get bubur ayam (chicken congee with fried shallots and crackers). Another morning: omelettes stuffed with tomato and basil, plus a plate of watermelon slices.
Lunch follows the second dive. The cook looks at what the local market had that day. If the fishermen brought in small reef fish, you get pesan – fish wrapped in banana leaves with turmeric and chilli, then steamed. If not, maybe tempeh and tahu stir-fried in sweet soy sauce, served with a boiled egg and a spoonful of peanut sambal. Rice is always there. So are fresh vegetables. The Nusa Tara crew do not rush you. Guests sit in wet rash vests or dry sarongs, plates balanced on knees, talking about the drift they just did.
Dinner comes after the night dive, and it is worth waiting for. You surface around 7:30 pm, shower using the fresh-water hose on the dive deck, and climb into dry clothes. The cook has been slow-cooking something all afternoon. One evening it is ayam bakar - grilled chicken marinated in coconut milk, coriander, and garlic, served with sambal dabu-dabu (a fresh tomato and chilli relish) and boiled cassava leaves. Another night: sop konro - beef rib soup with nutmeg and kluwak nuts, dark and rich, served with a wedge of lime and a bowl of steamed rice.
Dessert is simple but honest - sliced papaya with a squeeze of lime, or banana cooked in palm sugar and coconut milk.
The Nusa Tara crew believe a hungry diver is a grumpy diver. So between meals, things appear. Fried cassava chips with chilli salt. Little cups of sweet tea. A plate of kue lumpur (soft coconut custard cakes). Fresh coconut cut open with a machete, handed to you with a straw. You learn to say yes to all of it.
A typical day with the Nusa Tara might look like this:
- 6 am: Wake to the smell of coffee. Toast and banana on deck. Dive briefing while the sun rises.
- 7 am: First dive. Usually the deepest or most current-prone site of the day.
- 8:30 am: Main breakfast. Hot food, second coffee, talk about what you saw.
- 10:30 am: Second dive. Often a coral garden or a gentle slope.
- 12 noon: Lunch. Family-style, as described.
- 1:30 pm: Rest. The boat moves to a new anchorage. You nap, read, or lie on the roof deck watching flying fish scatter.
- 3:30 pm: Third dive. Shallower. The guides slow the pace for macro hunting.
- 5 pm: Snacks and sunset. The boat anchors in a quiet bay. You swim or kayak if you have energy. Most just float.
- 6:45 pm: Fourth dive: night dive. The boat's torch beams cut the dark.
- 8 pm: Dinner. Then stars. Then sleep.
Drinking water, tea, and coffee run all day. Soft drinks and beer are available for purchase. The cook handles vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free requests if told before boarding. No fixed menu exists. No printed schedule either. What you get instead is a boat that feels like a shared house, a cook who takes pride in feeding you properly, and a daily rhythm that leaves room for the unexpected: a pod of dolphins, a request to stay longer at a pink beach, or simply an extra 20 minutes of lying on deck with a full stomach and no place to be.
