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Topography: Channel drift dive
Max Depth: 25 meters
Typical Current: Strong
Best For: Amazing golden soft coral bed and stunning drift dive
Snorkeller friendly
Golden Passage is located Just north of Komodo island, the biggest of all the islands in the national park. On the northeast tip of Komodo island lies a smaller island named Gili Lawa Darat, this dive site is in the small channel between the two islands.
The site gets its name from both the golden soft corals that lie on the raised saddle in the middle of the drift dive, as well as the above water views of the golden hue on the water’s surface and golden tussock grassland when you stand looking between the two islands at sunrise or sunset.
This is a large dive site with a lot to explore and can be dived many times to still see new things. The site is great for snorkellers as they can hide around the corner over the shallow reef near Gili Lawa Darat out of the current. Given this site is known for strong currents we advise more advanced and experienced divers for this site.
Given this site is known for strong currents we advise more advanced and experienced divers for this site.
Golden Passage is another classic Komodo dive site for having an array of marine life diversity. Not only is there nice coral here, but fish wise you can find schooling Sweetlips, Trevally, Fusiliers, sharks like White Tip and Black Tip Reef Sharks and Grey Reef Sharks.
Other species here include Manta Rays, Devil Rays, Eagle Rays and Turtles. Look closely and you can find Nudibranchs, Pygmy Seahorse, and all sorts of Crabs and Shrimp too.
We will always try to dive this site when there is an east to west current which takes place on a rising tide. This is the best time for a decent drift through the site. We will drop into the water in the side of the channel on the shallow east bay, heading down to 20m as we follow the slope and let the current take us along.
First, we will come across a beautiful coral garden as we drift through. About halfway through the channel we will hit the saddle that raises up to 10m, we fly across this section.
Be careful here as some sections can get quite shallow so we don’t want to lose track of our buoyancy and get too close to the surface in case there are any passing motorboats. The saddle drops off and we will come down a little more on the western side of the passage. We will spend the rest of the dive exploring these areas before we start to raise our profile in anticipation of our 5m safety stop.
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