1.
Tetawa Besar »Map
Orange Grove a gentle slope runs the length of this dive
site with an orange soft coral garden changing to hard
coral along towards the end of the slope, lots of schooling
fusiliers, usual to see a lot of Hawksbill turtles and
white tip reef sharks, lots of Mantas in the rainy season
and a huge variety of beautiful coloured nudibranchs.
Manta Corner another nice coral covered slope with the
hope of spotting mantas in the rainy season, nice coral
with leaf scorpion fish, blue ribbon eels, turtles, white
tips and lots of nice coral heads in the shallow to check
out the smaller critters.
2. Tatawa Kecil »Map
A small island that is in an area that gets a lot of current
in Komodo so not an easy site, but it's another that is
among one of the many world class sites here, schools
of pelagic fish patrol the waters, a huge school of bat
fish live here near a coral encrusted overhang, Napoleon
wrasse, bumphead parrot fish with nurse sharks and bamboo
sharks found hiding in cracks and crevices in the coral
encrusted boulders, the shallows again are a vibrant colourful
picture of hard corals that hide the sea snakes, coral
file fish and baby sharks.
3. Batu Bolong »Map
A small rock outcrop with a hole through it is the surface
mark of another world class site, these giant slabs of
rock which disappear into the depths are an amazing sight
to see, covered with every form of marine life and patrolled
by giant trevally, Napoleon Wrasse, sharks and turtles
with many pelagics sweeping in to check out the divers.
4. Batu Samsia »Map
This is one of a series of large underwater ridges in
the middle of the channel between Siaba (north of Rinca)
and Komodo. We had checked out the site twice before,
but there was just too much current, but we saw 4 manta
rays from the surface. The third time we were lucky and
the currents calmed down for an hour. We dived on a long
slope with several mini walls. The fish life was just
amazing, specially a huge school of rainbow runners. Mackerels,
giant trevally, Napoleon wrasses and tunas were mixing
with unicornfishes and doctorfishes. We saw several turtles
, sharks and really large groupers. A great dive! When
we surfaced the currents started again and when we left
the place was again closed for diving
5. Batu Tiga »Map
3 huge rocks in the middle of the strait between Rinca
and Komodo island marks the spot of this site, current
swept, it offers the chance to see everything from tiny
pygmy sea horses to sharks and barracudas, not a site
to be taken lightly and sometimes totally un-diveable,
but well worth it if you can get in, the topography of
the site is really amazing to see and covered in short
encrusting coral, no other coral could take the currents,
this I think is the most challenging site to dive in park,
situated in the strait between Komodo, Padar and Rinca
it gets water movement hitting it from many different
angles. Two huge fish eagles have their home on the rocks.
6.
Pantai Merah »Map
There as a great variety of fishes here and also a good
selection of critters such as leaf scorpionfish, blue
ribbon eels, crocodile fish, nudibranchs, and more. Visibility
varies but is best during falling tide. This is the most
frequently visited site in the Park for snorkeling and
diving. Snorkeling is excellent from the beach and there
is a very good dive around a small area of reef around
a steep rocky wall which is visible from the surface of
the water at low tide. This site is also a very good night
dive and offers excellent macro-photography opportunities.
Several mooring buoys are stationed at this site.
7. Pulau Damar »Map
A slope covered with small corals and sponges. There are
some very interesting tunicates (Neptheis sp.) growing
here. Instead of covering rocks with their colonies, they
form a colony that looks like a grape with a stem.
8. Tanjung Lelok Sera »Map
Large pelagic fish like dogtooth tuna can be seen circling
off the point and around the pinnacles. Turtles and large
fish such as monster- sized giant trevallies, potato cod,
malabar grouper, schools of bumphead parrotfish, napoleon
wrasse, manta rays and much more can be seen along the
wall. Superb diving all along the southern point of Loh
Sera, or off the point towards underwater pinnacles. Due
to potentially strong currents only experienced divers
should attempt to swim to the pinnacles. Beginner divers
should stay along the wall. Great snorkeling along the
northern shore of this cape.
9. Batu Gaja »Map
This is a sharp edged rock formation and the diving takes
place in the calmer are between these formations because
as soon as you dive too close, the water turbulence such
as down currents, whirls are soon just too much. We saw
a huge grouper (about 2m), several turtles, rainbow runners
and a large group of bumphead parrotfish.
10. Toro Bendera or Colleen's Corner
»Map
also called Colleen's Corner, a reef slope with blocks
of rock and a lot of whip corals in the deeper areas.
11. The End of the World
»Map
which lies close to Tala island.This dive site is a sheer
wall of black rock that goes down to about 100meter.
12. Manta Valley »Map
We dived early in the morning and just before the high
tide, when there was little currentand the light was just
beautiful over the coral reef. We stayed in shallow water
all the time and just floated a couple of meters below
the surface. Immediately the manta rays appeared swimming
close to the surface and then swept past us several times.
At one point a manta swam directly towards me, did a flip
and passed me so close, that I could have touched it.
After about half an hour they all disappeared and we continued
our dive by looking at all the small stuff you find here
also. The reef is beautifully covered and large schools
of yellow snappers are everywhere. We also encountered
some sharks and turtles and just before we surfaced, a
manta came back as if to say good by to us!
13.
Toro Moncong »Map
You dive on a slope with some larger coral blocks on 25
to 30 meters. There is a very nice miniwall on the uppper
part with cracks full of colorful glasfishes. The landscape
underwater is beautiful with table corals, small sea fans
and a lot of small fish and large schools of batfish.
A place to relax and look for small animals. I was lucky
and found a yellow baby warty frogfish (A. maculatus)
only about 5cm large and on another dive a pair of tiny
shrimps living in black corals and a rare nudibranch,
Notodoris gardineri. The bay Teluk Toro Monco is a good
place for a night dive.
14. Batu Toko-Toko (Castle Rock)
»Map
Curious batfish as well as schooling barracuda, trevally
and mackerels swim at 30- 40m depth. At approximately
20m depth there is excellent soft coral growth and numerous
seafans that host pygmy seahorses. The top of the rock
is a good, calm place to explore during safety stops.
This site usually has excellent visibility but is prone
to strong currents. The current usually flows eastwards
and is much stronger at the surface than in the deeper
water. However, the top of the rock, which is approximately
3 to 4m deep, also offers shelter from the current; hence
the name “Castle Rock”.Recommended dive entry
point is in blue water approximately 50m up-current from
the shallowest point of the reef.
15. Batu Gili Lawa Laut (Cristal
Bommie) »Map
Gili Lawa is located on the northern coast of Komodo Island.
A few best dive site on this island will include ‘Crystal
Bomie’ and ‘GPS Point’ Dive site is
beautifully covered by the best quality of marine life
both coral and fish. This place is well-known as the place
where Pigmy Seahorse (hippocampus Bargibanti) were first
founded. This a great opportunity to see big fish such
as sharks, groupers, octopuses, schools of batfish,mantas
and many more. Season of October-November will be the
aggregating time (mating season).We could also go out
for the muck dive of searching for Mandarin Fish (synchiropus
Spendidus) inside the bay where it is often found.
16. Kerita Tol »Map
lies east of Gili Motong (also called Gili Mota) in the
Molo Strait. From what I heard you might see mantas and
sometimes whalesharks here. It is supposed to be very
cold (upwellings) and visibility not always very good.
17. Apple Orchard »Map
Both Cannibal rock and the Apple orchard are also literally
covered with the colorful filter-feeding sea cucumbers
called sea apples (Pseudocolochirus violaceus). This sea
cucumber is round and of a bright red and purple color
with white or yellow stripes. It holds on to the substrate
with tiny feet (it looks like a colorful sponge) and stretches
its tentacles into the current for planktonic food. It
is rarely seen but here in the Komodo islands they are
very abundant. Cannibal rock is well worth doing several
dives because of the abundance of life here. On every
dive we saw several species of rare nudibranchs, special
crabs like Zebra crab or sea urchin shrimps, frogfishes
and scorpionfishes. On the reef top there are a lot of
anemones with their host anemone fishes, I recon there
are at least 5 different species close to each other.
The only disadvantage - the water here is really, really
cold!
18.
Cannibal Rock »Map
This was one of my favorite dive sites in the south. An
underwater mound covered with soft corals, sponges and
hard corals. On every available surface there are either
feather stars, brittle stars, sea cucumbers or sea stars
19. Overhang »Map
Overhang and Crinoids point (No. 20) are quite similar
- walls covered with feather stars and sea cucumbers -
and a short distance out the open ocean lies another excellent
dive site, the Pyramid. To some divers feather stars might
all look the same, but here you can really observe many
different species! These dive sites are specially cold,
since the water comes from the open ocean south of Rinca.
Specially good for nudibranchs (I saw 8 species on one
dive!), special shrimps like Vir philippinensis or the
needle shrimp which lives between the spines of the sea
urchins. On one dive there I even saw the extreemly rare
Coleman shrimp on one of the colorful toxic sea urchins.
20. Crynoid Point »Map
Quite similar with no.19
21. Chinese Mound »Map
lies in the north of Rinca and the coral cover is similar
to other northern dive sites. A slope with overhangs and
small caves and bowls. We saw up to seven Napoleon wrasses
together and also two sharks. There were a lot of angelfishes
around and under the overhangs were several of their colorful
juveniles.
22. Lohkima/Buaja »Map
On my fifth trip to the Komodos I didn't feel like going
on land to see the Komodo dragons, so I made a dive close
to the ranger station in Rinca. First it didn't look very
promising - lots of dead corals and low visibility, but
then we started to discover things - nudibranchs, some
of them only a centimeter long, three types of mantis
shrimps, banded pipefishes and to top it off several Mandarin
dragonets hiding under the large black sea urchins! So
next time there I want to do an early evening dive because
then the Mandarin fishes come out for foraging and mating.
23. Pillarsteen »Map
Very interesting reefscape. Large schools of fusiliers
can be found here along the reef slope, which is covered
in an interesting variety of soft corals. Sharks and the
odd turtle are often encountered. Pillaarsteen is a rock
pinnacle located on the shore of a small island east of
Padar Besar. Best diving entry is just off the point below
the rock where there is a nice wall. Continue swimming
to the west towards interesting caves and swim-throughs
at different depths. Diving is particularly good at around
30-40m depth. This site is a good choice when other sites
have too much current. This area may be effected by surge
when there are swells from the southwest.
24. Three Sisters »Map
These are three large rocks connected to each other, nicely
covered with corals and just teeming with life. Around
30m are two smaller boulders that are specially nice.
We saw several species of nudibranchs, small seacucumbers
and a special starfish. You dive in the shade of the current
and finish the dive on the peaks which top at 6,7 and
8 meters respectively.
25 Tondok Rasa »Map
The fierce currents that can develop here give this dive
site its name. Actually on one of our dives we startled
a shark which was laying in one of the crevices and even
he started to struggle getting swept up and down until
he managed to get around the corner to calmer waters!
The conditions made for a exhilarating dive. On another
dive we had so much up current, that we were swept dangerously
fast up form about 18m to 8m and had to finish the dive
early out in the blue - there was no way we could have
gotten back to the reef.
But this dive site is also the place I saw the largest
group of sharks while diving in the Komodo area. There
is an impressive area with large blocks of rock and a
deep canyon between them around 45 meter depth. On the
way up I had just spotted three large whitetips below
me, when a large gray shark appeared in the somewhat murky
water (visibility around 15m) and swam directly towards
me. Suddenly there loomed another gray just behind him
and they started to circle. I had to go up, because my
computer showed me deco approaching fast, when suddenly
five whitetips joined the grays. Great!
26. Tanjung Tondok Rasa »Map
The large bay (tanjung) between GPS-Point and Tondok Rasa
forms a protected area ideal for a night dive. On one
dive we so saw so much, we didn't want to leave the water!
It started with a small black frogfish perching on a red
sponge, then a real stonefish, large nudibranchs and several
species of colorful flatworms, crabs and shrimps and to
top it off a sleeping shark.
27. GPS-Point »Map
is a submerged sea mound and lies some distance north
of Banta in an exposed area. This dive was recommended
to us by several fellow divers and it lived up to our
expectations! Currents were moderate (but our dive guide
said, they can be fierce!) but we saw eight whitetips,
a large school of barracudas, several groups of king mackerels
and dogtooth tunas and a large turtle. But even with relatively
calm waters it was amazing how just a couple meter over
and closer to the reef there were strong whirls and eddies.
28. Galley Rock (Ghally's Rock)
»Map
When we arrived by boat we circled around the rock and
tried for some fishing. Looking at the surface current
it seemed a dangerous place to dive. Everywhere whirls
and the water crashing against the jutting rocks. Several
times the whole boat was slightly turned by the strong
current. Then our dive buddy (an Englishman who actually
likes to cook, specially if it is freshly caught fish),
who was fishing caught something so large, that it got
off the hook again (there went our dinner - sigh!), we
decided this had to be a great dive area. When the current
calmed down some time later we jumped in the area just
in-between the two arms of current running against and
around the rocks. A great dive with sharks, large tunas,
yellowfin barracudas and several Wahoos. The dive area
is first a gentle slope but then changing to a wall, then
around 30m it is relatively flat with large sponges. You
can dive both the north and the south side depending on
the currents. Actually there is a difference in the type
of animals living on each side, similar to the differences
observed when diving in the northern or southern part
of the Komodo islands. What was not so great here - it
was 24° C- f... cold!
29. Batu Baso »Map
This partly submerged rock lies smack in the middle of
the Sape strait, a short distance south of Banta. This
strait is a major throughflow for water coming from Sulawesi
in the north and flowing to the Indian ocean in the south.
Currents mostly flow north to south and around an obstacle
like Bato Baso. From the boat we could see whirls and
whorls trailing the rock for hundreds of meter! We dived
both sides before and after the change of tides. This
is such a great place! On our first dive we saw a marble
ray that must have been more than 2 meter in diameter
and a huge school of rainbow runners and several Spanish
mackerels. On the second dive there were so many sharks
(small and middle size, whitetips and greys) that I gave
up counting. Deep down, large schools of bannerfish and
damselfish were doing a syncopated dance for us.
30. Sebayur Kecil (Southwest of
Labuan Bajo ) »Map
Walls and slopes of every kind of coral you can imagine,
with a wide variety of marine life to be seen at this
site, a great place for macro photography with leaf scorpion,
Ornate ghost pipe fish, robust pipe fish, banded pipe
fish, blue ringed octopus, crocodile fish to name a few.
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