Komodo Boat Charter is a Labuan Bajo-based team of 40+ full-time crew across our captains, on-board chefs, dive guides, naturalist guides, and shoreside booking team. Many of our crew were born in the fishing villages around Flores and have worked these waters their whole lives.
Our captains average 15+ years on Komodo waters — long enough to know which bays shelter in which winds, which dive sites fire at slack tide, and which villages have the best fish-market mornings. First mates and deckhands are typically locals from Labuan Bajo and the surrounding Flores villages, with a five-to-ten-year on-boat track record.
Dive masters are PADI-certified at MSDT level or higher; many hold rescue-diver and emergency-first-response certifications. Naturalist guides train continuously in Komodo dragon behaviour, reef ecology, and Bajo cultural history.
Every charter carries a dedicated chef and sous-chef. Most of our chefs trained in Bali or Jakarta hotel kitchens before joining the fleet — they cook a mix of fresh Indonesian (rendang, sate, gado-gado), pan-Asian, and Western menus, with dietary requirements (vegetarian, vegan, halal, gluten-free, kid menu) catered with advance notice.
Stewards on the larger vessels handle housekeeping, drink service, and the dozens of small touches that make a charter feel hosted rather than rented.
The Labuan Bajo office is open 07:00–22:00 WITA, seven days a week. The booking team handles inquiries, itinerary design, vessel matching, SiORA registration, park-fee handling, airport transfers, and the dozens of pre-trip details. They are reachable on WhatsApp, email, and phone — usually replying within two hours during office hours and within twelve hours overnight.
Every crew member completes annual maritime-safety refreshers, fire-suppression drills, and first-aid certification. Vessels are quarterly inspected. We carry comprehensive marine liability insurance on every charter and EPIRB + satellite-communication kit on every boat.
Lead navigator, weather and route decisions, ultimate safety authority on the vessel.
Watch-keeping, navigation support, day-to-day boat operations.
Engine maintenance, anchoring, tender operations, line handling.
Daily menu, dietary requirements, fresh-fish provisioning at village markets.
Dive briefings, in-water guidance, gear maintenance — PADI MSDT or higher.
Dragon-trek briefings, snorkel guidance, island-history storytelling.
Captains, dive masters, and guides speak fluent English. Some deckhands and stewards speak partial English — enough for service interactions, with the guide and captain available for anything complex.
Yes, gratuity is appreciated and customary — typically USD 20–50 per day for the full crew, pooled and split. Tip in cash (USD or IDR) on the last day.
Yes, the majority. Most come from Labuan Bajo and the surrounding Flores villages. We deliberately hire and train locally rather than rotating crew from Bali or Java.
A named booking-team member is assigned to your trip from the first inquiry through to disembarkation — you have one point of contact, not a generic inbox.
