Komodo Island Scuba Diving Holidays

Komodo Island and national park offers divers every type of tropical diving conceivable, which is why the waters around the island have earned the reputation for one of the world’s best dive sites.  Divers can experience sites with warm, calm, shallow reefs which shelter colourful reef fish and macro critters as well as cooler, deep-water sea pinnacles and walls patrolled by sharks, tuna, and large schools of pelagics.

Komodo lies in a region which is the world’s epicentre for marine diversity.  There are more fish species there than any other place on the planet.  Much of the marine life which can be seen in around Komodo is rarely found in other parts of the world – sunfish, mantas, dolphins, eagle rays, ornate ghost pipefish, pygmy seahorses and blue ringed octopus.  An array of corals, sponges, squirts and tunicates make these dive sites incredibly colourful.

Komodo and Rinca Islands 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 waters of Komodo Island rich and well-fed, which makes perfect conditions for some spectacular scuba diving.
On land, the unusual landscape of Komodo Island sets the perfect backdrop for the home of the world’s largest lizard, the Komodo Dragon. The 'ora' as they are called locally, can be seen on excursions on the island.

Because there is no accommodation on the island itself, Komodo is best dived from a liveaboard.  The liveaboards often visit the sites around Komodo, Rinca, and Flores.  
 

KomodoNational Park is located between the islands of Sumbawa and Flores in the Lesser Sunda Islands, at a distance of 200 nautical miles to the east of Bali. It has a total land area of 75,000 hectares and encompasses a number of islands, the largest of which are Komodo (34,000 hectares), Rinca (20,000 hectares), Padar, Nusa Kode, Motang,  numerous smaller islands, and the Wae Wuul sanctuary on Flores. A total of 112,500 hectares of the surrounding waters are also under the jurisdiction of the park rangers.

Komodo National Park has the lowest annual rainfall in all of Indonesia, with an abbreviated rainy season in the month of January. For most of the year Komodo is dry and hot, parched by arid winds from the Australian desert that blow from April through October. Maximum temperatures reach 43 C, with minimums of 17 C in August.

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 - up to 8 knots
Surface Conditions: Can be rough
Water Temperature: 20 - 27°C
Experience Level: Intermediate - advanced
Number of dive sites: >35
Distance: ~490 km east of Bali (24 hours)
Access: Liveaboard cruises from Bali
Recommended length of stay: 6 - 11 days

You can go liveaboard diving in Komodo all year round. The liveaboards do not close seasonally, as the diving around Komodo is excellent any time of the year. 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.
 

Batu Bolong
A small rock between Komodo and Tatawa. by a completely intact reef with hard and soft corals surrounded by a wall, pinnacles and fantastic canyon.
Thousands of reef fish in magnificent colors are found along the first meters. 15-20 meters from the diver to meet a lot of big fish like sharks, Napoleon, mackerels, tunas, large schools of rainbow runner, turtles, and occasionally even a manta or eagle rays.
Because of this diversity, this dive site is world class! 

Tatawa Kecil
For experienced divers.
A small island south of Tatawa Besar with caves, overhangs, rock formations and a spectacular coral reef. At moderate flow are dipped in fish shoals of snapper, schools of fuselier, jacks, sharks and turtles. Manta Rays love the coral plateau in the north and south, and dugongs have been spotted.

Crystal Rock
Only when the tide of this small rock is visible. As the name implies, water is very clear from the stone surround. Covered with very colorful soft coral with large schools of oriental sweet lips and bat fish, multicolored scorpion fish, moray eels, frog fish, tuna and mackerel. This site is worth a few dives!

Castle Rock
Also in fantastic clear waters, this underwater mountain (like a lock) north of Crystal Rock, about 5 meters of the surface unknown. meters in about 30 minutes. You can see huge schools of barracuda, mackerel, tuna, white tip and gray sharks above 20 meters. There are beautiful hard and soft corals, sea fans in a lot where you can find Pygmy seahorse.

Small Makasar
A sand bank between Komodo and Batu Bolong. A favorite place of the Manta Rays sometimes scattered or sometimes in large groups of 40 to attract even Mantas. There is little coral diversity, but we have spotted dugongs.

The Alley
A fantastic dive site in the south of Komodo, a small island in the southern bay. The world is impressive with hard corals and soft corals intact, huge thick head mackerel, sharks (white tip, black tip and gray sharks) and manta rays, feeding into the bay to come. Mola Mola, or were Sunfish been spotted here.

Cannibal Rock
A small underwater mountain between Rinca and Nusa Kode. Known as the most species-rich world with soft corals Seeäpfeln, superb snails, "Spanish Dancer", most colorful of fish, scorpion fish, schools of surgeonfish and red snapper, pygmy sea horses and frog fish.

Yellow wall
A yellow wall at the entrance of South Rinca and Nusa Kode, significant mainly for its yellow soft corals. Known as the most soft coral species world, superb nudibranch, "Spanish Dancer" and colorful marine life, scorpion fish, schools of surgeonfish and red snapper, pygmy sea horses and frog fish.

Effective Jan 26, 2010, visitors holding valid passports from certain countries (Please check with your nearest Indonesian diplomatic mission or Tourism Indonesia office to know eligible countries) can now only obtain a 30-days visa on arrival (VOA).

The official entry requirements for the issuance of this 30-days visa-on arrival:
Passport must be from one of the countries listed above (Please check with your nearest Indonesian diplomatic mission or Tourism Indonesia office to know eligible countries).
Passport must be valid for a minimum of 6 (six) months from the expected date of departure from Indonesia.
Payment of US$25 must be paid at the gateway.
Onward or return tickets are compulsory.
Visitors must enter and exit through one of the 15 airports or 21 seaports officially approved as an "international gateway" by the Indonesian Immigration department.
Please make sure that you have one entire blank page for the placement of your visa. If there is no page available, you run the risk of being turned away from Indonesia.

The visa on arrival facility will only be available at the following international gateways:
Airports: Medan, Pekanbaru, Padang, Soekarno-Hatta (Jakarta), Halim Perdana Kusuma (Jakarta), Surabaya, Bali, Manado, Yogyakarta, Solo, Mataram (Lombok), Balikpapan, Makassar, Kupang.
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For further information, please check with your nearest Indonesian diplomatic mission or Tourism Indonesia office.

Following a number of deaths resulting from the consumption of local arak contaminated with methanol in 2009, travellers to Indonesia are advised to be extremely cautious when consuming local liquor. Most of the fatalities have occurred in Bali, the Gili Islands and Java.
Required vaccinations
The only vaccine required by international regulations is yellow fever. Proof of vaccination will only be required if you have visited a country in the yellow-fever zone within the six days prior to entering Indonesia.