- Circular itinerary visiting the best sites around Komodo
- Meet Komodo’s iconic mantas at multiple cleaning stations
- Enjoy the current swept Lintah Strait
- Marvel at the macro critters of Padar
- Trek in search of the world's largest lizard, the Komodo dragon
- Kayak around mangrove islands and watch Kalong’s famous flying foxes
Day 1:
After departing from Labuan Bajo, we will head to the nearby island Sebayur Kecil for our check dive, this reef is ideal to start our trip, a shallow reef that turns into a white sandy bottom at around 14 metres, garden eels live in the sand, small critters can be found in between the corals. In the afternoon we will dive under the Sebayur Jetty and the sloping reef around it, schools of big-eye trevally and surgeonfish are common to see around the jetty.
Day 2:
After a short drive with the boat we will arrive at Tatawa Besar, the reef contains lots of orange soft corals and hard corals, turtles and reef sharks live on the reef, from time to time a manta ray passes by, so keep an eye in the blue during this dive.
After this dive we sail towards the north of Komodo National Park to dive the Cauldron, we start this dive in a coral garden with calm waters, halfway the dive we will pass through a channel in between two islands, where we can have a thrilling drift over the 'shotgun' and end up again in a beautiful coral garden.
In the afternoon we dive the coral garden of Gili Lawa Darat, this reef is the ideal place for juvenile fish that hides in between the branches of the staghorn corals, eagle rays passing by over the reef from time to time and on the reeftop we can find turtles feeding on sponges that grow in between the corals.
Day 3:
The small reef mountain Castle Rock can be full of shark and trevally action. It's common to see large napoleon wrasses and moray eels.
Crystal bay is a nice alternative when currents are too strong at Castle and Crystal Rock, it has clear blue waters where we search for cuttlefish and turtles. Crystal Rock right next to Castle Rock has schools of trevally and sometimes eagle rays that visit the pinnacles. Sweetlips and surgeonfish are also common.
Day 4:
We start this day with a dive at the Golden Passage, this is a similar dive as the Cauldron. We will dive in between two islands to meet schools of sweetlips and batfish, sharks and turtles also belong to the local marine life.
At Manta Point we will search for.....indeed, mantas. The long stretch of shallow volcanic rock bottom contains a lot of 'coral boulders', rocks with hard corals and reef fish, which are the cleaning stations for the mantas.
Last dive of the day before enjoying a beautiful sunset on the deck towards Padar is Batu Bolong, this is a small rock in the middle of the 'Lintah Strait'. The rather 'deserted' rock seen from above the water doesn't reveal all the action under water, beautiful hard corals grow against each other on the rocks like plants fighting for sunlight, hundreds of orange anthias fish swim above the coral and from time to time a trevally attacks the reef fish searching for his little snack.
Day 5:
In the morning when the tropical sun isn't too hot yet, we will visit the viewpoint on the island Padar, three beaches, three different colours.
The marine life around Padar is different from that in the centre of Komodo, colder water from the South brings in a lot of nutrients, soft corals and strawberry corals grow on the walls and rocks of Pillarsteen, nudibranch are common to spot on this site.
At the divesite Tree Sisters we will have another look of the reef life in this area, 3 submerged pinnacles beautifully overgrown with corals and reef sharks patrolling the pinnacles.
Day 6:
Back in the centre of the park we will drift along the reef of Siaba Kecil, check big overhangs and end our dive in the coral garden hidden from the current. On the nearby island, Siaba Besar, we can find strange critters such as frogfish, seahorses and flamboyant cuttlefish in the shallow sand of the bay. The beautiful island Mawan is one of the common sites to spot manta rays hovering above the reef.
Day 7:
Today we will go for a short trekking on the island Rinca, one of the islands where the famous Komodo dragons can be seen. After the hike we will dive Wainilu, this is a top 'muck' dive site.
Depending on our desaturation time before flight we will dive Batu Pengah, colourful walls, dominated by wire corals, fan corals and strawberry corals and a plateau extending from the island with lots of table corals underneath baby whitetip reef sharks. Turtles and sweetlips live on these reefs in healthy numbers. In the evening we'll witness the flying foxes leaving Kalong island.
Day 8:
Check out after breakfast in Labuan Bajo.
Sample itineraries are for guidance only. Actual itineraries may differ slightly due to factors such as weather, wildlife, logistics and local regulations.
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