Komodo Dive Sites

 

 

 

 

 

North Komodo Dive sites

  • Water temperature: 26 - 28°C
  • Depth: 5 - 40m
  • Visibility: 10 - 30m
  • Currents: Can be very strong
Crystal Rock
  • Location : North of Gili Lawa
  • Photography: Wide Angle
  • Best Depth 7-30m

Crystal Rock is a pinnacle that just breaks the surface off the northern side of the 2 small islets to the north of Komodo main island. It is another excellent dive site.

The reef is packed with bronze and rust coloured sponges and soft tree corals. The shallows host thousands of anthias and damselfish, large cuttlefish, pyramid butterflyfish, hawksbill turtles and several red octopus. On the north west side of the pinnacle is a submerged mound that rises to 14 metres or so, with a 20 metre deep saddle between the 2. Due to the strong easterly currents you'll need to make a quick descent to reach this area in anything other than slack tide conditions but the reward can be worth the effort since there is always great schooling action here. There are schools of yellow-ribbon sweetlips, black snappers, bluefin and bigeye trevally, Giant trevally, Napoleon wrasse and whitetip reef sharks.

Castle Rock
  • Location : North of Gili Lawa
  • Photography: Wide Angle
  • Best Depth 7-30m

1 kilometre further north from Crystal Rock, Komodo most action pack dive ,Castle Rock !! This is an underwater mound (top about 7m) nicely covered with table corals and small gorgonians. We always had a great time with lots of sharks, mackerels, tunas, Napoleon wrasses, groupers, jacks and snappers and sometime grey reef sharks. With a no current it is an easy dive(but usually not too many fish), with a moderate current a lot of sharks gather(white tip and grey) but there can also be some down currents and whirls in the water. At about 15m where sometimes huge schools of mackerels, doctor fishes and jacks are gathering, rising in a long band, then form whirls and walls. Just beautiful! At this place you might even see dolphins underwater, if you are lucky.

Shot Gun
  • Location : Between Gili Lawa Laut and Gili Lawa Darat islands
  • Photography: Wide Angle and macro
  • Best Depth 7-24m

The entry point for this dive site is inside the bay, along the eastern shore of the peninsula with the reef to the left side of the diver. The best time to dive here is while the current is running from east to west through the narrow passage between Gililawa Darat and Komodo Island. Save the last five minutes or so of your dive for a ride through this channel and prepare for the ultimate adrenaline rush as the current whisks you alongside schools of Giant Trevallies, Oriental Sweetlips, Jacks and even the occasional manta. A spectacular place in a nearby passage north is called FISH BOWL. Again just chock full of fish, heaps of big G.T.'s hanging like statues, all the surgeons and tunas, sweetlips, snappers, big eye travelly, Maori wrasse.

Batu Bolong
  • Location : North Komodo current city
  • Photography: Wide Angle
  • Best Depth 5-30m

Batu Bolong (Hollow Rock) in northern Komodo is a rock pinnacle that lies in 75 metres of water between Tatawa Island to the east and Komodo main island to the west. It is one of North Komodo's signature dive sites as the fish life here is always a full-on festival.

Due to the rock's topography and exposure to strong currents the reef has not been targeted by fishermen and is in superb condition. Hard corals and sponges cover the walls and slopes, but the main beneficiary here must be the fish life. The volume of fish here is awesome, right from the deeper water areas where Napoleon wrasse and whitetip reef sharks cruise, to the shallow where thousands of smaller reef fish battle it out for territorial and feeding rights.

Hawksbill turtles are frequent feeders on the sponges and tunicates, giant sweetlips lurk in the gullies and overhangs, palette surgeonfish dance across the current swept upper reaches of the rock. Stay a while here if you can as this Komodo dive site is really a great place to educate yourself and witness the full gamut of what being a reef fish is all about. Fish mating, fish laying and guarding eggs, fish hunting, fish hiding, fish fighting, fish feeding - it's all here on display from dawn 'til dusk. Perhaps the most spectacular side of the pinnacle is the north side, which is much steeper than the other gentler sloping sides. It has a small submerged pinnacle in the north east, and a huge deep gully from the surface down to about 27 metres. You can choose to drop down to depth here and either zigzag up the northern face, or spiral around the whole rock if the currents allow. Batu Bolong should not be dived if the currents in north Komodo are very strong since the site is small and there is no opportunity to drift..

Tatawa Besar
  • Location : North Komodo current city
  • Photography: Wide Angle
  • Best Depth 10-30m

Tatawa Besar ("Big Tatawa"), some 30km east of Komodo's northern-most point. When the current runs south, chances are you'll drop into a 2 or 3+ knot white-water current, probably on the north west corner of the island.The first stage of your dive can happen rather quickly and will require all of your attention as you are hit with an up-current just before you reach the split in the current. Then you'll descend down the endless sloping reef of orange soft corals that runs along the western coast of this island, to around 20 metres.

Turtles seem to be everywhere and you can expect to see many as you navigate the site. Before you leave the currents behind watch out for the blacktip reef sharks, giant trevallies, great barracuda and manta rays also make occasional guest appearances.

Once you round the southern corner, the rollercoaster is over for this dive and you'll have time to appreciate the remainder of your stay at this beautiful Komodo scuba diving site. Bumphead parrotfish are resident here and you're likely to meet quite few of them in loose groups.

The west face of Batu Besar offers a series of steep drops to about 30 metres, and several interesting coral caves. The soft coral cover is very good, and there are lots of fish, including large schools of sweetlips. Sharks are again common here, as are turtles and very large fantail stingrays

Tatawa Kecil
  • Location : North Komodo current city
  • Photography: Wide Angle
  • Best Depth 5-25m

South of Tatawa Besar is Tatawa Kecil ("Little Tatawa"). It's best to dive the west site of this island to explore its vibrant shallow coral gardens full of anthias. Its caves and boulders are perfect harbours for larger groupers. There are also large schools of humpback snapper, giant sweetlips,.. School of big eye jack, barracuda. Whitetip sharks, Manta rays are quite common at this site. The whole place is like an Aquarium especially during slack tide. Beware of down current and you should follow your dive guide closely when the current pick up.

Makassar Reef (Manta Point)
  • Location : North Komodo current city
  • Photography: Wide Angle
  • Best Depth 10-14m

This drift dive site lies north of Batu Samsia close to the Komodo mainland. You dive on a relatively flat channel covered with about 2 km of rubble and with only a few coral blocks and just look out for Manta Rays. They come here to get cleaned, so you can go relatively close to them to observe them. Sometime up to 5 Mantas in different cleaning station. Its not surprise to find 20-30 mantas feeding when the water is rich with plankton. We also saw Whitetiip, Black tip sharks and a really large thorny ray , eagle ray and some bumphead parrotfishes and a napoleon wrasse.

South Komodo Dive sites

  • Water temperature: 22-24°C
  • Depth: 5-30m
  • Visibility: 5- 30m
  • Currents: Can be very strong
  • Surface Condition : can be rough
Manta Alley
  • Location : South Komodo
  • Photography: Wide Angle
  • Best Depth 10-30m

A bit of a giveaway from the name of the site, but this signature Komodo dive is the main location in Komodo to find manta rays - often as many as 10 or 20. It's a rock islet that just punctures the sea's surface in a small craggy chain, inside the bay along the south coast of Komodo Island.

You'll start your dive to the east of the rocks where another submerged mound rises to just a few metres below the surface. In the lee area between this mound and the rocky islet, where the maximum depth is 15 metres, there are almost always a couple of juvenile mantas playing around.

Another option however, is to drop down the steep eastern slope of the mound to the site's deepest section. Follow the slope of orange soft corals and encrusting invertebrates down to depth where giant trevally, white tip and black tip reef sharks roam in search of food. Make your way round to the north and in the direction of the islet chain, keeping alert for some huge black fantail rays resting on the bottom of the reef's substrate.

Eventually you arrive at a series of 3 underwater channels that run between the islet and its most northerly rocky protrusion. The channels are 18 metres or so deep and quite wide. Often schools of large bumphead parrotfish hang out here and mantas circle this area too.

Once you're through the channels onto the west side of the islet, you'll be out of bottom time and making your way up to 5 metres. Again the shallows here seem to be a favourite jaunt with manta rays. If the rays are not present then watch the surge areas close to the rocks. These are home to some formidably sized fish such as mangrove red snapper, emporers and giant sweetlips. Great barracuda often patrol here too.

Manta Alley is always one of the most frequently requested dives on any Komodo liveaboard, provided that you can handle the chill of these southern waters. (22-24 deg) Make sure you have hood, glove and at least 3-5mm full suit.

Cannibal Rock
  • Location : South Komodo, Horse shoes Bay
  • Photography: Marco & Wide Angle
  • Best Depth 5-25m

Cannibal Rock - Unlike many Komodo diving sites, there is little heart-stopping action here but in terms of colour and activity there are few better spots. There is just so much going on around this sea mount: purple gorgonians, anemones, yellow and white spiral corals and sea apples that together create a riot of colour. In and around this vibrant sessile tableau live all sorts of sea-life making night diving here simply awesome. All the while rays, snappers, sweetlips and turtles cruise around the rock. Night or day, Cannibal Rock inspires. The only disadvantage - the water here is really, really cold here!

Yellow Wall
  • Location : South Komodo, Horse shoes Bay
  • Photography: Marco & Wide Angle
  • Best Depth 5-25m

Yellow Wall Of Texas - Another of Komodo Island National Park's signature dives, Yellow Wall is so called because of the proliferation of robust sea cucumbers - they are all over the place and their bright yellow hue dominates the vista. Not only does the wall itself promise much in the way of entertainment but sharks, manta rays and turtles are all frequent passers-by.