Recommend Komodo Liveaboards with best DM to guest ratio?

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There is still no daily direct domestic flight between Sorong and Makasar, I mean have to connect with Makasar, right? How reliable for those domestic flight like severe delay, cancellation or very short connection time?
How reliable are the flights now in the U.S. ? So what do you expect in Indonesia the coming months?
 
These questions are extremely difficult to answer considering the state of the world. We don't even know if the diving/ airline etc. businesses will be back. And if they are back will they be able to get back their experienced beloved crews who have all had to find other ways to support their families. Will the boats run after being unused for so long? Will compressors still work? So many unanswerable questions. We can only go off of what used to be and I don't think it will ever be the same. For some places like Komodo and Raja this might be a good thing since there were far too many boats operating in those areas.

Domestic flights have always been known for running late and often luggage gets left off, especially if there are a lot of divers on the flight with heavy gear. Flights into Komodo can also get turned around because of wind. Just keep all this in mind when you book. I will often have the Liveaboard I book with take care of domestic flights because then most of the other passengers (or a least a chunk) will be on the same flight with me so if there is a delay at least there is a high probability the boat will wait for us. The last LOB I was on there was a guy who didn't get his luggage we stayed in the area for one day extra to wait for his bag. Most of the time this is an option sometimes not. Just count on a full day for domestic flights. We have flown from Komodo to Raja via Bali and Makassar. Getting from Manado to Raja and vice versa was a ton easier. You may want to consider diving in Bali (Tulamben) for a good macro add on to a Komodo trip. It is a top macro destination as well and save Lembeh for a Raja pairing.
 
Just a tip, you have a daily flight now from Labuan Bajo to Surabaya and Makasar so from there you are able to rich easily Sorong, or Manado nearly without any long stopover.

Really and truly, a daily flight? Oh my gosh, I'm gonsmacked

There is still no daily direct domestic flight between Sorong and Makasar, I mean have to connect with Makasar, right? How reliable for those domestic flight like severe delay, cancellation or very short connection time?

These questions are extremely difficult to answer considering the state of the world. We don't even know if the diving/ airline etc. businesses will be back. And if they are back will they be able to get back their experienced beloved crews who have all had to find other ways to support their families. Will the boats run after being unused for so long? Will compressors still work? So many unanswerable questions. We can only go off of what used to be and I don't think it will ever be the same. For some places like Komodo and Raja this might be a good thing since there were far too many boats operating in those areas.

Domestic flights have always been known for running late and often luggage gets left off, especially if there are a lot of divers on the flight with heavy gear. Flights into Komodo can also get turned around because of wind. Just keep all this in mind when you book. I will often have the Liveaboard I book with take care of domestic flights because then most of the other passengers (or a least a chunk) will be on the same flight with me so if there is a delay at least there is a high probability the boat will wait for us. The last LOB I was on there was a guy who didn't get his luggage we stayed in the area for one day extra to wait for his bag. Most of the time this is an option sometimes not. Just count on a full day for domestic flights. We have flown from Komodo to Raja via Bali and Makassar. Getting from Manado to Raja and vice versa was a ton easier. You may want to consider diving in Bali (Tulamben) for a good macro add on to a Komodo trip. It is a top macro destination as well and save Lembeh for a Raja pairing.


Just to verify what others have said about @liveaboardlover comment about daily flights and easily being able to get to Sorong. As I posted in a different thread about Indonesia I went on a 1.5 month cave exploration trip in SE Sulawesi in July and it took me about 52hr to travel from Bali to my final destination which was only about 800km away yes you head correct 52 hours!! . Rules in Indonesia change every 5 minutes and do not believe anything that is posted on the internet or media unless it comes from an official Indonesia government site. Seems to be every day there is some new rumor about Indonesia opening or travel rules. Also if you want to do diving trips to remote areas you need to be very flexible. Originally I book a flight Denpasar to BauBau with a layover in Makassar total travel time was around 6hr. However the day of my flight I was notified my flight to Makassar was cancelled (this is very common in Indonesia they cancel flights the day of, just get use to it) and there were not other flights that day or for the entire week. They cancelled all flights to Makassar via Denpasar with all airlines due to lack of passengers. So I found a flight 2 days later from Denpasar to Jakarta, Jakarta to Makassar, then Makassar to BauBau. Once I took this flight when I landed in Jakarta they told me the flight from Makassar to BauBau was cancelled and there were not flight any time soon to BauBau. So then I decided to fly from Jakarta to Makassar over night in Makassar then fly to Kendari and from Kendari I took a 9hr long public boat ride to Wangiwangi. From Wangiwangi I took another public boat to Baubua oh and then from Baubau another public boat to Muna. Total travel time was 52hr plus a 2 day delay at the start of the trip. If you look on a map the direct distance I wanted to travel was only about 800km But it was total worth it, discover a lot of epic caves and laid a lot of new line.

As a foreigner having spent years living and traveling in Indonesia I can 100% tell you flights in Indonesia are not reliable and its is very typical Indonesian style to cancel your flight the morning of. Also most Indonesian airlines do not accept payment from foreign credit cards so making last minute bookings on Traveloka is a royal pain in the a$$ if you don't have a Indonesian bank account. Honestly a lot of remote stuck in small airport situations I don't know how I would have gotten out of them with out having a local bank account. Also if you want to get local deals everything is booked through WhatsApp directly with the guy and you pay on your local bank app and send a screen shot.

So moral of the story is at this moment its is almost impossible to plan a LOB trip unless you are already in country and have a very flexible schedule and you know someone that can hook you up with a very nicely discounted LOB which at the moment there are some amazing deals.
 
OH BauBau... fond memories of that airport!!! Thank goodness I was traveling with easy going people!!

@marsh9077 We had a very similar experience trying to get to Timika for our Asmat trip. They canceled the flight and there were no others. We had to zig zag through Indo to finally get there. It is always an adventure and you have to go with the flow!
 
since mid October 2021; I have travelled by flight for thousand miles - Lagos - Doha - Jakarta - Lombok, Bali, Yogyakarta, Padang - all flights are going well; except the flight from Padang to jakarta delayed for an hour.
Still in Jakarta right now - will return "home" by end of this week.

Ironically, my daughter - she lives in London; stuck in Bergen Norway; her flight to London is canceled. The worst thing she can't work from Norway due to tax reason.
Her sister, in US experienced two flight cancelation in December only.
In July 2021, my flight from West yellowstone to Cincinnati delayed for two hours.
 
From Wangiwangi I took another public boat to Baubua
Why would you want to keep on going to stinky place, instead of just stay in sweet smelling place? Just kinding. In Bahasa Indonesia, Bau means stinky. Bau Bau mean really stinky. Wangi means sweet smelling. Wangi wangi means really sweet smelling. 😜
 
OH BauBau... fond memories of that airport!!! Thank goodness I was traveling with easy going people!!

@marsh9077 We had a very similar experience trying to get to Timika for our Asmat trip. They canceled the flight and there were no others. We had to zig zag through Indo to finally get there. It is always an adventure and you have to go with the flow!

Never mind BauBau more like ohhhhh Timika!!! even fonder memories of that place! What a place...


Why would you want to keep on going to stinky place, instead of just stay in sweet smelling place? Just kinding. In Bahasa Indonesia, Bau means stinky Bau Bau mean really stinky. Wangi means sweet smelling. Wangi wangi means really sweet smelling. 😜

Haha yeah all that just to haul tanks through the jungle to lay lots of new line.
 
To be fair to others reading these posts- traveling through Indonesia to the major dive areas is hardly the adventure it was ten or even five years ago... especially when it comes to Labuan Bajo and Sorong. Heck, my friends and I have been multiple times to the Komodo Park and Alor without any problems throughout the pandemic. When I moved to Jakarta thirteen years ago the only way to Komodo was an overnight in Bali followed by a Wings or Xpress prop plane to Labuan Bajo. The process was total sketch and it truly was the end of the earth. Today there are more than five direct flights from Jakarta flights a day on a Boeing 777...and more from Bali. One can leave Jakarta at 7 Am and be checked in to the liveaboard and scarfing decent Italian food in town by 2 PM.

I will be the first to admit, anything more remote than Alor can be challenging, but for 97% of people coming to dive Indonesia, the horror stories of smokey, grimy airports and luggage left on the runway are nostalgic myths of the "good ole days" and akin to walking uphill in the snow to get to school.
 
I thoroughly enjoyed my back pack travelling in the country back to 1992. Flew three times on domestic and they were all punctual. Picking the luggage was indeed new experience. The rest were mostly by bus, ferry and train and I fully understood the meaning of rubber time!
Food was available on the ferry from Parepare(Sulawesi) to Samarinda(Kalimantan) but you have to provide own eating utensil and I did not have any. Luckily I had bought several spring rolls at the terminal so..... It was a long journey and the first thing I did when arrived at Samarinda was to eat first before looking for accommodation. Good fun.
 
To be fair to others reading these posts- traveling through Indonesia to the major dive areas is hardly the adventure it was ten or even five years ago... especially when it comes to Labuan Bajo and Sorong. Heck, my friends and I have been multiple times to the Komodo Park and Alor without any problems throughout the pandemic. When I moved to Jakarta thirteen years ago the only way to Komodo was an overnight in Bali followed by a Wings or Xpress prop plane to Labuan Bajo. The process was total sketch and it truly was the end of the earth. Today there are more than five direct flights from Jakarta flights a day on a Boeing 777...and more from Bali. One can leave Jakarta at 7 Am and be checked in to the liveaboard and scarfing decent Italian food in town by 2 PM.

I will be the first to admit, anything more remote than Alor can be challenging, but for 97% of people coming to dive Indonesia, the horror stories of smokey, grimy airports and luggage left on the runway are nostalgic myths of the "good ole days" and akin to walking uphill in the snow to get to school.

Yes maybe my 52 hour travel story is on the other side of the spectrum, I am guessing most are not doing full on remote cave exploration in the middle of the jungle that requires bringing tanks, compressor, O2, booster pump, rope/climbing equipment, ect with you.

I would agree having spent almost all of 2020 and about 6 months of 2021 in Indonesia if you are going to any major city of big tourist areas with huge dive centers hotels and touristy stuff then yes places like Bali, LB, Sorong, Manado, Lombok, etc are fairly easy to get to during pandemic. I would also agree that it is much easier to travel then it was several years ago. Also the discount airlines have gotten better too (compared to Merpati Airlines for those that had the pleasure of flying that super sketch airline be for they went out of business) Also right now most of the discount airlines are giving you free 20kg of checked baggage which always helps with the dive gear. Unless you like me and you have to ship Sofnolime, booster pumps, tanks, rebreathers, etc. and then play the game of hoping all your equipment makes it.
 

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