Pulau Kambing

Pulau Kambing is arguably the best night dive spot in Komodo National Park. This site is one of the top highlights for visitors to the Komodo area.

Topography: Slope
Max Depth: 20 meters
Typical Current: Mild
Best For: Macro Critters and Night Dives

Overview

Pulau Kambing is arguably the best night dive spot in Komodo National Park. This site is one of the top highlights for visitors to the Komodo area.

Located in Crocodile Bay in the North of Rinca, Pulau Kambing, which translates to “Goat Island”, is a small island with a sloping sandy bottom.

The island gets its name from…. You guessed it, having a bunch of goats on it.

Well, it used to anyway, but we have not seen any for a long time.

Possibly eaten by the Komodo Dragons on nearby Rinca Island, or just some hungry passing fishermen after a day of below standard catches.

How to Dive There

We start the dive in the centre of the western beach, out from the shore so that we are sitting in 5 meters of water. We back roll in with a positive buoyant entry and descend down.When we hit the 5 meter mark we will see that the gentle slope of the sandy beach drops down into a steeper gradient.

Depending on your dive guide and if there are other divers around, we will then either keep the slope on the left or the right, and start making our way down the sandy slope to explore the bottom for the most bizarre creatures we can find.  When we reach 20 meters we will spend some time exploring the flat bottom to see what we can find.

Once we have thoroughly explored the flat bottom we will start making our way up the slope in a zig-zag path to see how many great things we can find. Being a night dive, we will always spend a maximum of 45 minutes under the water, so we will be aiming to head up to the 5 meter mark for the safety stop about 40 minutes into the dive.

When we pop up on the surface you will experience the amazing night sky full of stars and the peaceful empty beach in the moonlight, before being picked up by the tender and taken back to the boat for a warm after dive drink and a cozy towel.

The Currents

This dive site always has a mild to no current due to its sheltered location in the bay, perfect for a night dive.

It is also one of the most reliable locations we haver found to see up to 3 varieties of Hairy Frogfish on night dives hiding around the rubble on the slope.

We also frequently see Bobtail Squid here hiding themselves in the sand at around 8 meters.

We see Seahorse species, many varieties of colourful Nudibranchs and even Melibe’s which can be seen actively hunting and trapping fast moving prey with their extendable oral hoods.

If you are a macro photographer this is one site you do not want to miss.

Pulau Kambing’s Scuba Diving Gallery

Your Dream Diving Trip to Raja Ampat or Komodo is Just One Click Away

Scuba diving, Snorkeling or just leisure? We got you. Contact us today to turn your dream into reality. Let’s go!