Komodo is one of the world’s top three dive destinations — reef sharks, mantas, mola mola, soft coral walls, swim-throughs, current-fed bait balls. A dive charter (phinisi or liveaboard) is the only format that gets you to every region of the park at the right tides.
The North — Castle Rock, Crystal Rock, The Cauldron, Batu Bolong. Pelagics, schooling fish, current-fed action dives. AOW + experience required.
The Centre — Tatawa Besar, Mawan, Manta Point, Siaba. Gentler drifts, reliable mantas, turtles, ideal for warming up early in the trip.
The South — Manta Alley, Cannibal Rock, Yellow Wall, Pillarsteen, Horseshoe Bay muck. Cold-water nutrients, rhinopias, soft-coral walls, dedicated muck-diving sites unlike anywhere else.
A phinisi can dive Komodo well, especially for groups of 4–8 divers who also want a luxurious surface life. A dedicated liveaboard wins on dive logistics — lower freeboard dive deck, on-board compressor, tank racks, camera stations, faster surface intervals, more dives per day. For 18+ dives in a week, the liveaboard format is built for the job.
The headline Komodo dive sites — Castle Rock, The Cauldron, Manta Alley — only fire at the right tidal state. A live-aboard captain who knows the park reads the tide tables a week ahead and schedules the boat’s movements around slack at the right sites. This is why a day-boat trip from Labuan Bajo rarely catches these sites at their best.
The most reliable manta cleaning station in Komodo — south Komodo, multiple cleaning stations within one dive.
Underwater seamount in the deep north, schools of jacks, white-tip and grey reef sharks, dive at slack only.
Sister site to Castle Rock with even more pristine coral — pelagics, barracuda balls, technicolor reef.
The most photogenic reef in Komodo — pinnacle, soft corals, every reef species in the park in 30 minutes.
High-current drift between Gili Lawa and Komodo Island — fast, exhilarating, AOW + experience required.
South Komodo, soft-coral covered pinnacle, slow drift, rhinopias and frogfish for the macro photographer.
Vertical wall covered in yellow soft coral, south Komodo, easy drift dive.
Drift along a pristine soft-coral garden, turtles, white-tips, ideal warm-up dive.
Central park manta cleaning station, beginner-friendly, shallow.
Underwater rock pillars in south Komodo with caverns and overhangs.
April through November. July–September gives the most reliable Manta Alley action; January–March is rougher above water but mola mola peaks for technical divers.
OW + 20 dives for the central park. AOW + 30 dives for Castle Rock, Crystal Rock, The Cauldron, and Manta Alley. Tech divers welcome on dedicated liveaboards.
26–29°C in the north and centre. The south runs colder (22–26°C) because of nutrient-rich upwellings — 5mm wetsuit recommended for southern dives.
Yes. All our dive vessels rent full kit. Bring your own dive computer, mask, and dive lights if you have them — everything else can be rented locally.
