Diving Komodo - Area information
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Click here to read a child's view on Komodo
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by John Patin
Below is a sample of a dive cruise starting from Bali. For more information about alternative itineraries Click here!
Satonda Island - an extinct volcano surrounded by lush green forest, home to thousands of flying foxes (fruit bats) and a large crater lake. Dives here are all easy, generally clear water averaging 20m visibility, with no or very little current. The main site here is a reef boxed in by a sandy slope, great for the smaller creatures. Night dives here usually come after the bat show, as all night dives this one comes with many surprise bottom dwelling critters! Land tours are also offered; you can go make your wish come true on this island walk.
Sangaeng Island - this time an active volcano 1949m in height that can often still be seen smoking on clear days. Dives here are all on black sand, giving great contrast to the colourful corals and creatures that live here. Visibility varies from 10 - 20m; the reefs here range from colourful soft coral covered walls, coral ridges with hundreds of crinoids and huge varieties of coral and critters. Then there are the black sand slopes that always look like nothing at a glance but looking closer they are home to lots of rare and unusual marine life.
Sumbawa (Bima Bay) - a very strange and special place for those small, favourite critters that are all found at very shallow depths too. The favoured site is a shallow reef top with lots of leathery corals, a sloping sand patch and a few small rocky spurs where most of the little critters hide. The list of critters seen here really is too long to start if you really want to know mail me. There is another site specially hidden away for those who are real muck divers, unidentifiable and very rare and unusual creatures have been seen here making it for those who really are after something different, visibility is generally very poor, and can get down to less than 5m.
Banta Island - this is now closing in on Komodo, appearance is generally fairly baron looking, a total contrast to the underwater scenery here. Generally good visibility here with up to 30m at times and with reefs that range from walls, mild sloping reefs with amazing hard coral garden reef tops, a large sea mount for those who like to go in search of the biggies and another amazing sand slopes filled with wicked critters. A night dive here will keep you awake thinking for hours after, trying to remember all the amazing things you saw. There are other dives that have to be dived on the slack tides due to very strong currents, there are others which are always easy and filled with your choice be it macro or wide angle scenery.
Komodo Island - we awake to the view of Loh Liang Bay where we will go to see the legendary Komodo Dragons. Dragons are often seen around the ranger station here but those wanting a little more, a short trek is arranged to take you in a little further. You can often see wild pigs, deer, wild orchids, many different birds and usually Komodo dragons in their natural habitat. After the walk you can buy locally made wooden Komodo Dragons, locally cultured pearls and other handicrafts.
Diving Komodo Island - now changes dramatically as we enter an area where up-wellings bring with them colder water (5mm even 7mm wetsuits are recommended if you feel the cold). The visibility generally drops down to an average of around 15m though later in the year it can get much better. Lots of nutrients come in to feed thousands of invertebrates that cover most of these very unique sites in the Komodo National Park.
Of the kind of dives you are likely to encounter, there are pinnacles, great wall dives, small coral gardens filled wicked critters and those amazing sandy slopes for the most memorable night dives. There are sites where larger marine can be seen, often currents affect these and diving them during the slack tides ensures diver safety. Manta rays, large Napoleon wrasse, sometimes sharks and other large pelagic fish regularly visit these sites. Coral reefs throughout the Komodo National Park are densely populated by invertebrates, the most colourful soft corals, black coral bushes and the fish life in places is also as good as the reefs themselves.
Padar Island - lies within the National Park. White sand beaches and variety of dives, they just get better in this area as we go. Choices of dive here are a series of pinnacles that are covered in colourful invertebrates with lots of nudibranchs, hundreds of smaller fish all over these pinnacles with many different schooling fish off reef. There is a great wall dive and a small coral garden with a wicked critter filled sandy slope for an amazing night dive, others too but these are the guaranteed best.
Rinca Island (Horseshoe Bay) - still within the Komodo National Park this really is one of the highlights as it is an amazing area. In the bay we are surrounded by hills, often Komodo Dragons are seen along with monkeys and wild pigs wandering along the beaches. However it is the diving here that is really something special, seamounts, walls, slopes with huge coral bommies, and of course more black sand critter slopes. This whole area is filled with critters and excellent scenery, the general visibility here will be average of 10 - 15m. It really is so good that two days are often not enough for most divers.
In all Komodo has to be one of the most interesting places for diving on the planet. This is due its diversity, amazing fish, critter life and of course those beautifully colourful reefs.
Interested? Click here to link to my "inquiry and feedback" page.
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