I Love's me some Komodo- Trip Report

[luft]

I Love's me some Komodo.
My previous trips there were via Liveaboard and were epic, so when I got the opportunity in January to do some more diving in Komodo I had high expectations of more great diving, I was not disappointed. Komodo served up some great dives on sites I had done before, and great dives on many new sites that I hadn't had the pleasure of diving before.
I chose to go land based to keep my budget down, and had seen that Scuba Junkies had opened a new resort close to the central area of the the park, so I could dive the central area which I hadn't done before. One other benefit to the central location is the access to dive the southern sites, which are some of my favorite sites. Weather and visibility conditions even co-operated to give me a day diving up north also.
I had 11 days of diving and I enjoyed them all. The diving was fantastic and the central area has some really good dive sites. Yes there were Manta's to be seen, and on one of my favorite dives we had just dropped in and started to look for the Rhinopia we knew was hiding in the area, and a Manta decided to hang out circling overhead. I have some cool video footage of the Rhinopia with the Manta Ray cruising by in the background.
One of the things I love about Komodo is the diversity of sites and sea life to be found there. It has everything from beautiful reefs with large schools of fish of all sizes, to looking for strange and wonderful macro critters, to adrenaline fueled drifts. We dove mostly in the central region which were new sites to me. I also chose Scuba Junkies as they can dive the southern sites which I was lobbying heavily for as I think they are some of the best in Komodo. My wishes were granted with first a trip to the Padar area, which produced some great dives. First we dove Pillarstein, which has great topography of boulders, cracks, crevasses, and walls. It has quite a bit of surge on parts of it but that just made for a some fun surge riding. The walls there sport a profuse amount of life and plenty of subjects to photograph, two male frogfish hanging out with a female was a highlight. Then we dove 3 Sisters which is a fantastic site of 3 submerged pinnacles that are covered in colorful sea life with hoards of fish swimming all around them. It's one of my favorite Komodo sites now and 3 Sisters does remind me a bit of the diving in the Misool area of Raja Ampat.
The next day we left the resort early ( the boat usually departs at 7:30am) as we were heading to one of my all time fave area's of Komodo, Horseshoe Bay. Cannibal Rock here we come! It was simply put, fantastic. But then my world view was shattered as for the second dive we did Eagle Point and now it in my opinion tops Cannibal Rock. Why? Not an empty space to be found there; hard coral, soft coral, sponges, hydroids, feather stars, loads of fish, lots of nudibranches, you name it it's got it. We then cruised north for the third dive of the day on 3 Sisters which I wasn't complaining about not in the very least. It was long day out on the sea but well worth it.
Currently Scuba Junkies is building another dive boat that will be equipped to make overnight trips so they can dive the South more and burn less fuel getting there.( I can hardly wait to go back) When I departed they were repainting and repairing their present dive boat to keep it in tip top shape. Rohan and Carys are partners in this SJ location, and are constantly improving the new resort and it showed just in the time I was there. The resort is located by Warlocka, about 1.5 hours from Labuan Bajo. It's newly constructed, planned well and has room to grow. They have a range of accommodation choices ranging from traditional open bales to dorm rooms to private rooms. The clientele was mostly of the backpacker persuasion. ie young travelers.
I dwarfed most of the other divers in experience and was releaved and rewarded to dive mostly with my own guide or just one other experienced diver. My guide Solomon was an excellent macro spotter and has been guiding Komodo for many years and I was super lucky to have him to myself for most of the time. His attention to safety I also appreciated as I'm a photographer and some guides tend to leave me behind with me looking up from shooting photos to find no one around. Funny thing, it turns out my guide later this trip in Lembeh was Soloman's nephew; small world it is.
The food is good, breakfast is simple and served on the boat, consisting of fruit, pancakes, omelets, and homemade bread with jam or peanut butter/chocolate spread. Lunch is boxed and again served on the boat. Dinner is a wide variety of Indonesian fare but when it was Italian night I was overjoyed to have some homemade pasta. I chose to stay in my own private room, which was clean and comfortable. It did not have a/c so before going to bed I would cool off with a cool shower.
The resort/boat is well run and organized, and Rohan and Carys and the rest of the staff aim to please and provided me with a enjoyable stay.

As I have said this wasn't my first time diving Komodo and it won't be the last. I had a fantastic time, with good company and great diving. Komodo proved itself to me once again to be worthy of it's reputation for great diving. I found myself loving the area even more and my enchantment of Indonesia grows. Scuba Junkies motto is " fuel your addiction " and my time in Komodo certainly was that, as I often say that the diving in Indonesia is addicting.

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I'm booked for January for 9 days! Can't wait

 

[chillyinCanada]

Just so's I'm clear on this, does Scubajunkies have *any* air-con rooms? I'm all jacked up for this place based on dirtfarmer's glowing reports, so had plans of trying for some time there in January or February 2017.

 

[dirtfarmer]

I'm booked for Nov and can hardly wait.

Chilly, SJ doesn't have a/c, I can run hot too, so without it I take a cool shower or even put a wet towel on me. I've told them they should have an a/c option...pay to have the breaker turned on...right now they are limited by generator size. Their customers tend to be backpackers on a budget so I don't think it's a high priority for them until they have enough people ask for the option.
I know comfort can make or break a trip, and when I was there last Jan the Temps were pretty reasonable, and for me the location and price has me returning, risking some hot nights.
I'm also booking a budget LOB and their cabins only have double beds so I'm taking the option of sleeping on deck and hoping the boat isn't fully booked, so i might have a cabin. Normally I wouldn't go to such extremes but it's a trip to the south of the park where my favorite sites are.

 

[luft]

Just so's I'm clear on this, does Scubajunkies have *any* air-con rooms? I'm all jacked up for this place based on dirtfarmer's glowing reports, so had plans of trying for some time there in January or February 2017.

No A/C, but I've stayed in places with fans and a sheet and it's not as bad as you'd think. I'm from Canada too and I'm going alone, January 18-26th. Carys sound awesome!

 

[chillyinCanada]

I've stayed in places with a fan and a sheet too and for me, unbearable. That said, I've even turned AC off when it's available. But i can't deal . . .can not deal . . .when I need it and it's not available to me.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Dirtfarmer, sending you a pm.

 

[runsongas]

If you have more questions, let me know. I just wrapped up a stay at Scuba Junkie Komodo.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Please do share your experience.

 

[runsongas]

had a good trip overall with some caveats.

pros: good value per dive. dive op is run pretty well. rental gear in good shape. indonesian food served at dinner is tasty. mattresses were comfortable.

cons: monotonous menu especially with breakfast/lunch. no milk/juice available, need to buy and bring with you from labuan. lack of air con, hard to sleep if it doesn't rain in the afternoon/evening to drop the humidity. dive site selection sometimes constrained due to guest turnover (eg boat heads to manta point 2 days in a row because some people are leaving soon and still havent seen any mantas), experience level of other divers, and need to accommodate refreshers/classes.

 

[UFOrb]

I 'm also looking for that Holy Grail.

That 's why we're always going back to Bali but so far Panglao (on a lower level Sipalay) in the Phils, Lembongan (Ok that's also nearby Bali), Alor (only at Eco divers), Murex Bangka or Gangga island, and though in the "no beach but great jetty" category like in Raja ampat resorts or Borneo Divers Mabul did not disappoint (especially when day tripping to Sipadan)

In the "that's OK to leave you diving the full day because the beach is really nice and there's enough to do around", you can try Kata beach on Phuket or Koh Lipe. Panglao also allows me day trips to Balicasag.

The real "guilt trips" are named Ambon, Anilao and Lembeh.

Hi Luko, I came across this post searching for info on Panglao and would be interested in your opinions, particularly compared to Bali, for a May or July trip. You may remember I have two young kids (1 and 4) so also looking for the Holy Grail - good diving not too far from nice beaches (with snorkelling), straightforward transfers and preferably with nice food available too!

How is the diving around Panglao Island? How does Bohol stack up against Bali? - we generally prefer colourful reefs with the possibility of bigger stuff to muck diving, but a mixture would be fine. I'm also considering Dauin for easy access from Dumaguate & easy access to Apo island.

Cheers.