Scuba diving in Komodo National Park: an amazing experience
The Komodo National Park regularly ranks as one of the top dive areas in the world. It’s known for its pristine coral reefs and abundance of marine life – not to mention the stunning islands. Its most famous resident, the Komodo dragon, has made the park so famous.
When I visited in October 2023, I was excited to see what Komodo National Park looked like beneath the water line. Therefore, my sister, Lou, and I signed up for a day of scuba diving. It was an incredible experience, and one that I wanted to share with you here.
Why did I choose to go diving at Komodo National Park?
Going diving in Komodo was sort of a last minute decision. I was already visiting the islands in the Komodo National Park on a 4 day boat trip from Lombok to Flores. This meant that I’d already seen Komodo dragons on Rinca Island; paddled in crystal-clear water on Pink Beach; and watched the sun setting over Padar Island.
However, Lou and I were also interested in diving here, after hearing of its reputation. We’d just learned to dive a couple of weeks before, in Amed, Bali, so we were enthusiastic to test our newfound skills and gain some more experience. Plus: manta rays!
Many people choose to go on a liveaboard when visiting Komodo – this is where you stay on a boat that you can dive from, taking you around the islands. But being beginners to the world of diving, a liveaboard, which normally requires a minimum number of dives and is well above a backpacker’s budget, was simply not an option. Considering the cost, it would have to be a one day trip.
Organising our dive
There are dozens of dive centres in Labuan Bajo, the nearest town on Flores to the national park. It’s almost too much choice, and where do you start? Whilst there are plenty of dive sites that can be visited, ultimately most day trips visit the same set of dive sites, and the trips are pretty much all the same price (2,500,000 IDR, plus the entrance fee to the national park).
In the end we chose to go with the simplest option available to us and booked our dives with Uber Scuba. They are affiliated with the hostel we stayed at, Seaesta, and had really good reviews. The standard package was a day with three dives, including lunch and snacks.
Therefore, a few days before we set off on the boat trip to Flores, we messaged them on WhatsApp and booked a day of fun dives on our second full day in Labuan Bajo.
Postponing our dive
The day before we were supposed to dive, we visited the Uber Scuba shop in Labuan Bajo to fill in some forms and pay.
This was all fine. However, Lou was very sniffly after the boat trip from Lombok to Flores. During her most recent dive in Gili Air she had struggled to equalise for the same reason. Therefore, we decided to push back our dive by one day, filling the spare day with visits to Rangko Cave and Mirror Stone Cave.
Heading out into Komodo National Park
At 7 am two days later, we arrived at Uber Scuba dive centre in Labuan Bajo, ready to begin our diving trip.
A five minute walk brought us to the port where the boats were waiting. By this point, the dive crew had already separated us into two groups based on experience. Lou and I didn’t fail to notice we had the lowest number of dives of everyone on the boat – a bit nerve-wracking to say the least.
We boarded the wooden dive boat, which I thought was nice, especially compared to the boat we spent four days on whilst arriving in Flores. There was a front area with a dining table and enough chairs for everyone; a back area functioning as the dive deck; and a sun deck with cushions we could use for sunbathing.
The journey to the first dive site took ninety minutes, so we had bananas and donuts for breakfast, and relaxed.
Dive briefing
Fairly early into the day, we had a group dive briefing about the three dive sites for the day. The schedule was to be:
- Siaba Besar
- Karang Makassar, or Manta Point
- Sebayur Kecil
After, our dive guide introduced himself to us and our dive buddy; it was to be us three for the day. He took us through the conditions for each dive site, tailored to our experience. As the three of us were the most beginner divers on the boat, the extra information was useful and reassuring. He also checked the equipment and gear were correct for us.
Dive 1: Siaba Besar
After ninety minutes, we arrived at the first dive site, Siaba Besar. This dive site is very popular, so it was incredibly busy in the water. A couple of times we were surrounded by multiple other dive groups; I had to be very careful not to lose my dive guide.
The waters at Siaba Besar didn’t have much current. This area of the park is incredibly beautiful, and we saw so many developed corals. Excitingly, we also saw a lot of turtles – I counted twelve – as well.
The most confusing point of the dive was when another diver joined our group. Both Lou and I got confused in the water as we didn’t realise. Our dive guide signalled to us with four fingers to indicate she was joining but I completely misread the symbol!
Afterwards it became clear it was a diver who had lost their group. I should say that when we got out of the water, the divemaster heavily stressed that this is not the protocol we should do. (During the briefing, he had told us to search for your group for one minute, then rise to the surface as per dive guidelines.)
Dive 2: Karang Makassar
After our first dive, there was a break of around one hour as we made our way to the next dive spot. During this time, we ate more snacks and sunbathed a little.
The next spot was Karang Makassar, or Manta Point, the dive site I was most nervous to explore. In the briefing, the divemaster explained there was a strong current, which is pleasing to the manta rays that we were hoping to spot, but is not so fun for a beginner diver. Our dive guide showed us a hook and line that we would use to anchor ourselves to the rocks in case we needed to stop.
Then off we went into the water! This was a drift dive, so we did not attempt to go against the current – we just swam with or across it. The ground was mainly dead broken coral, so fortunately there was little to damage. Our dive guide suggested swimming low to the ground, as this was where the current was weakest.
During the briefing, the divemaster really stressed that it was hit and miss whether we’d see a manta ray, as the last month or so they’d only seen them every other day. So I was pretty excited to see them (it felt like a treat). Whenever we saw one, we would swim in its direction for a better view and then anchor ourselves to the ground using the hook. We could then watch in awe until the manta ray swam away.
Over the course of the dive, we saw six or seven manta rays, plus one mobula ray. We got excited particularly during our safety stop, as we could see three manta days (much deeper in the water) all in our line of vision!
Lunch
Back on the boat, we waited for the other dive groups to come up. Whilst we were doing this we saw a pod of dolphins swim past. They were in the distance, but still, it was thrilling as I’d not previously seen dolphins before whilst on a stationary boat. I’ve seen them a few times playing in the waves of a moving boat, but here they were going about their ordinary lives.
I also saw something jump out of the water. As it was big I reckon it was a manta or mobula ray, but it was quite far away, so I’m not entirely sure. Regardless, I was excited!
Lunch was served, which consisted of a mix of four salads. Then we set sail to the next dive spot. We actually ended up changing the dive site at this point as the dive masters deemed it too busy, with too many boats already there, so we moved to a less busy site. I think this was a good decision, as the final dive site was fairly quiet.
Dive 3: Sebayur Kecil
The third dive was at Sebayur Kecil. It was mainly corals, with a big drop off. The diversity here was crazy, and it was nice to be one of a handful of groups exploring it!
The biggest problem with the dive, for me, was that my goggles kept steaming up. After having this problem numerous times, Lou and I normally used our own toothpaste, which had previously worked effectively for us.
This time, though, I’m not sure what went wrong, which ended up with me finding the third dive as my least favourite.
The best part of the dive for me was right at the end, when we saw a blue spotted stingray. I know that in these waters they are quite common, but Lou had seen them a couple of times in Bali and I’d missed them every. Single. Time. Getting to see it moving around the rocks was super cool!
After the dive, we headed back to the harbour, with a ninety minute journey back. We had a final briefing and then we were free to go.
The practical details
In this section, I’ve included some answers to questions you might have. It also includes some practical information on organising a dive yourself, if that’s what you want to do.
Is diving in Komodo National Park suitable for beginners?
Before arriving, I was nervous about diving in Komodo. I’d heard that the national park had strong currents, which made them dangerous or unsuitable for beginners.
In hindsight, I didn’t need to worry. There are plenty of dive spots in Komodo which are unsuitable for beginners due to more difficult conditions, but there are many other spots across the national park with shallow waters or little currents.
At two of the three dive sites I visited, the current was slow and manageable. The second dive at Manta Point had a strong current, that’s for sure. However, we only went with or across the current, except for when we spotted a manta. The guides have lots of experience in these conditions and knew how to deal with it, making sure we were hooked in so we didn’t have to push against the current for long periods.
Also, I always felt like they knew what to do if there was a problem. At one point I nearly drifted away from the group when we spotted a manta, and our guide came to grab me and reunite me with the others.
Don’t let the currents put you off from diving at Komodo!
Is diving at Komodo National Park worth the money?
There’s no denying it: scuba diving at Komodo is expensive. A three-dive day trip costs from 2,500,000 IDR ($154 / £113); plus, you also need to budget for the daily entrance fee to the national park (150,000 IDR / $9 / £7).
However, I should say this fee includes three guided dives, equipment, breakfast, lunch and snacks. It takes ninety minutes by boat to get to the dive sites from Labuan Bajo, so the journey itself is long too.
I’m super glad we did it, but is it worth it? For me, I would’ve regretted not going. But shoestring backpackers would struggle to justify the expense.
I should say that you’ll most likely be asked for tips anyway. I thought it was a bit cheeky considering the cost of the tour, as you’d hope staff wages would reflect the tour’s higher price, but anyway.
How to organise your own dive
If you’re coming to Labuan Bajo, you can organise a dive in the Komodo National Park online or in person. You have so many options, so check out dive centres in advance, and make sure to check their reviews too. Much about them is similar – many of the dive guides are freelance and most of the dive spots are the same – so looking at specific details, like the boat facilities or lunch quality, is the easiest way to distinguish them.
Serious divers might want to look into a liveaboard, which take you to further away dive sites, often with advanced conditions. But for the rest of us, a day trip (or multiple, if you have the time and money) is fine!
I went with Uber Scuba and thought the dive trip was great, but I have also heard great things about other dive centres in Labuan Bajo.
Conclusion
The scuba diving in Komodo National Park was amazing. The corals that call it home are sprawling and diverse, and there’s so much marine life: not just turtles and manta rays, but also shoals of fishes, stingrays, sharks and other organisms.
Is it expensive to dive at Komodo? Yes. But still, I am so glad I went!
Do you have any questions about diving in the Komodo National Park? Let me know in the comments.
