Today our first two boat dives to the spots Siaba Besar & Tatawa Besar in Komodo National Park were on the program.
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Diving in Komodo National Park
On the dive days we started at just before 8 o’clock with the resort’s own dive boat of the Angel Island Eco Resort. The dive boat of the Reefseekers Dive Center is well equipped and offers enough space for all divers. On the upper deck there is also a large area for sunbathing and relaxing. Since the trips to the dive sites can take about 1 to 1.5 hours, depending on the location and distance, you could relax nicely on the sun deck and let the wind blow around your nose. Before the respective dive spots Luke and Caitlin always gave us a detailed briefing about the dive site and the underwater life. So we knew beforehand what we could look for. The water temperature in the Komodo National Park was at 29°C to 30°C, which was insanely pleasant, because there was no danger of spending the dive trembling and freezing 😉
There were always between 6 and 8 divers on board, so we went into the water as teams of three or four – each with a Divemaster. That was a nice, relaxed group size. About 10 minutes before arriving at the dive site we have all finished so that we are ready to go when the skipper gives the GO. Often the dive sites were close to a rock or we had to jump in at a certain point so that we could dive with the current. So there was no time for rum-shaming, when it started, everyone jumped in one by one with a “Big Step” and then went into hiding.
The dive spot Siaba Besar
Siaba Besar is a beautiful coral garden on a white sandy soil. The maximum diving depth here was about 12m, so we could also dive for a good hour. The dive was very relaxed, as there was no current and one had enough time to look at the individual corals and to look for special fish or marine animals. On the dive we saw, among other things, a turtle, an eagle ray, a crocodile fish, several colorful nudibranchs, a lobster, crabs, clownfish hiding in an anemone, a blue dot stingray and a flounder (with a perfect camouflage). The view was gigantic at about 30 meters and the water crystal clear.
The dive spot Tatawa Besar
Tatawa Besar is also a beautiful coral garden where you can make a good drift dive at a depth of 15 to 20 m. At the end of the drift you can expect a sea of beautiful deer antler corals. During the 41-minute dive we saw, among other things, an eagle ray, a blue-point stingray, pusher fish, bat fish, many nudibranchs, clownfish, trumpet fish and lipfish. The current was partly a bit strong.
The diving spot Penga Kecil
Penga Kecil was also a nice dive at about 25 meters, where we saw big giant mussels, many nudibranchs, clownfish as well as buffalo-headed parrotfish. After 40 minutes we were here unfortunately “out of air” due to the depth.
The diving spot Waenelu
Waenelu is a beautiful dive site where you can dive directly opposite the beach. At first we were a bit disappointed because of the lack of colour and broken corals, but that quickly substused, because all of a time we saw two beautiful squid right in front of us. The two were quite relaxed and let us film and photograph themselves calmly 🙂 The dive lasted a little less than an hour and led us to max. 14m depth over a sandy soil with all sorts of soft corals. Here we discovered an octopus, which had hidden well under a coral, firefish, cleaning shrimp, a puffer fish, ghost moray as well as the clownfish, which can be found here at almost every dive site.
The diving spot Batu Bolong
Batu Bolong is on the surface only a small rock that protrudes from the water. But beneath the surface of the water, all the splendor of colored corals and schools of fish really shows madness. Sometimes you couldn’t see the other divers, because there are thousands of fish around you. The dive was really great, because here was again a great view in a crystal clear water. In about 52 min we have seen well camouflaged scorpion fish, a turtle, clownfish, nudibranchs, manta shrimps, a large buffalo-headed parrotfish as well as many monk fish.
The diving spot Horseshoe Reef
Horseshoe Reef was actually an “alternative dive site”. Originally we wanted to go to the Manta-Point, but unfortunately the current was too strong, we had to reschedule. It is a pity that we would have liked to have seen mantas here, but safety is taking place. During the one-hour dive at Horseshoe Reef, however, we also saw some great rare fish, e.g. four white rocking fish, which you can usually only see at second glance due to the perfect camouflage. But also a moray eels, a puffer fish, a lobster, our well-known clownfish, firefish and a “Flying Gurnard”, which we had never seen before.
The diving spot Crystal Rock
Crystal Rock is often referred to on the Internet as the best dive site in Komodo National Park. At low tide, you can already see a mini-part of the rock on the surface of the water, where you then dive. Under water you can see again a beautiful colorful coral garden with all kinds of fish, e.g. puffer fish, pusher fish, an eagle ray, whitetip reef sharks, an octopus, clownfish and groupers.
The dive spot The Calderon
The Calderon was our last dive site. Here you can make a good drift dive in the sandy canal between the two islands Gili Lawa Laut and Gili Lawa Darat. Between the different corals we saw, among other things, a turtle, an octopus, a blue-point stingray, which had dug beautifully in the sand, a crocodile fish, eels, nudibranchs, groupers, a moray eel and scorpion fish.
Our videos of diving in Komodo National Park
Here you can find the videos of our dives in the Komodo National Park.