Komodo Trip Report - Ondina
Back in August this year i went onboard with Ondina Liveaboard for a 6D/5N Komodo Southern route trip.
Komodo (Indonesian Pulau Komodo) is one of the 17,508 islands that compose the Republic of Indonesia. The island is particularly notable as the habitat of the Komodo dragon, the largest lizard on Earth, which is named after the island.
Komodo is part of the Lesser Sunda chain of islands and forms part of the Komodo National Park. In addition, the island is a popular destination for diving. Administratively, it is part of the East Nusa Tenggara province.
The trip went super awesome :
On Day 1 i was transfered together with the other dives to the boat upon arrival in Labuhan Bajo, welcome drink were served by the friendly crew, then we spent our afternoon unpacking, some of the guests join for a check dive in the underwater mountain in Pulau Sabolan near Labuanbajo. Some of the guests decided to relax onboard like me.
The second day we spent the whole day dive around Pulau Padar, in famous submerged ridges of Three Sisters, Secret Garden or Pilarsteen. Night dive at Evening Star, a mini-wall covered with invertebrate life, was very beautiful ;-)
On the 3rd day, we did 4 dives at Nusa Kode, on world famous sites such as Cannibal Rock, an underwater mountain literally coated in marine life and invertebrates, and Yellow Wall, Boulders…. then followed a night dive in Torpedo Bay.
The 4th day we went to the South Komodo and did three dives at Manta Alley, German Flag, Tanjung Lehoksera of Batu Gajah during the day, and a sunset dive in a wreck of a 100-foot wooden Pinisi boat.
The last diving day we did two dives at Batu Bolong and Castle Rock. Then we sailed back to Bima.
During the trip, we visited the pink sanded beach, the famous Komodo dragons. The diving in Komodo were just unforgetable! The abundance and variery of large and small animals, reef creatures and pelagics, invertebrates and vertebrates, shallow reefs, drop-offs and drift dives did produced some exceptional diving! We encountered with many small reef creatures and Manta rays, reef sharks..... Amazing!
For people heading to the Southern Komodo, i do recommend to bring a 3mm plus a 5mm wetsuit, as the water temperatures can vary greatly within the park ranging from a low of 22C in the south to a high of 29C in the northern region.
Enjoy!
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