Thinking of a dive trip to Komodo but don’t know how long to take? Fear not, in this blog we will answer the question – How many days should I take to dive in Komodo? We will consider the diverse types of diving out there as well as some of the non-diving activities too. So, without further ado let’s get started…
The best starting point is making a choice of whether you want to be on a liveaboard dive boat or based on land going out on a day boat from Labuan Bajo. Liveaboards are more convenient, and not having to move your belongings around is also beneficial. When you wake up, you will find yourself there. No back-and-forth. On a liveaboard, you may often be the first or last diver on a site, or you can dive it whenever you choose, depending on the tide and current.
It can be done as a day excursion; however, you will only get three dives instead of four which you get on a liveaboard. Days aboard a day boat are sluggish and long, and the voyage is rather lengthy. You start early, around 7:30 or 8, and don’t return until 5 or 6 p.m. for three dives.
So now that you know how many dives you do a day on each trip type, then how many dives do you need to do to see a good sample size of what this amazing national park has to offer. We believe that the minimum number of dives you need to see a decent range is 15. We will go into detail on how we got to this number a bit later, but basically this amounts to about 5 days on day boats, or 4 days on liveaboards.
In reality though, this could actually be more on day boats, and here’s why.
When you go out on a day boat, chances are you will be with a different group every day, or at least every 2 or 3 days. The day boat operators also want to take as many people as possible to the highlight sites of the Komodo National Park. Therefore, if you dive 5 days with the day boats, then you may end up doing a few of the sites a few times over. For some people this is okay as highlight sites are highlight sites for a reason. But for those wanting to see the true variety of sites, getting to 15 separate sites could take 8 to 10 days rather than 5.
Of course if you are on a liveaboard that is out in the national park for 5 or 6 days, then you are going to see different sites on almost every dive as the whole group is diving the same schedule.
So now back to the question of why we say that you should do at least 15 dive sites in Komodo national park. Well, this is based on the types of dives and the different dive areas within the national park. Komodo is famous for currents, so obviously an action-packed drift dive like Cauldron (AKA Shotgun) is a must. But Komodo also has unmissable wall dives, submerged sea mount dives, night dives and macro filled muck dives. For example, many people come to Komodo and end up seeing many new species of Frogfish on muck dives then they could have ever even imagined.
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The next thing you want to get is a good spread of dive sites in the different regions on the Komodo islands. Basically, all the must visit dive sites if you only have around 5 to 6 days lie on the west side of Komodo island and to the north of Rinca island with a few smaller islands in between. If you have another 2 days to spare, then you can also delve a bit deeper into Komodo bay and the south of Padar island to really cover all the diversity of Komodo in about 20 dives.
This spread of regions will give you access to dive sites either side of the Lintah Strait, a section of deep water that cuts through Komodo from north to south and draws strong currents carrying fresh nutrients with it. Because of this you will experience a wide variety of marine life and dive conditions which really makes Komodo such a unique place.
Other than the diving, you really need to see some of the features of Komodo on some land tours. A full day tour from Labuan Bajo on one of your non diving days if you are on a day boat diving trip will cover most of the good spots. The Komodo dragons on either Komodo or Rinca Island, the viewpoint on Padar Island and pink beach are really the top highlights. If you are on a liveaboard then this will be included amongst the days on your trip so there is no need to allow an extra day for this.
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So, to wrap it all up how many days should I take to dive in Komodo? If you are on a liveaboard we recommend a 6 to 8 day trip. If you are diving from day boats, we recommend 9 to 11 days including the separate land tour day. If you follow these guidelines, then you will have truly taken in a great snapshot of the parks diversity and wonders of nature.
