Komodo day trips labuan bajo vs liveaboard

[Bagfullofstories]

Hi!

I am currently travelling in Indonesia and heading to Flores soon. Ofcourse I want to dive Komodo. Just was wondering if anyone has advise on what is better.. day trip vs liveaboard?

On a budget point the day trips seem better.. but will I miss out a lot if I opt for this option or is this the same experience in your opinon?

Let me know. All info welcome!

Grtz

 

[outofofficebrb]

It can be done as day trips but you will get only 3 dives per day instead of 4 or maybe even 5 (rare). Days on a day boat are slow and long and it’s quite a journey. You start early, 7:30 or 8, and aren’t back until 5 or 6PM for 3 dives. Liveaboards are more convenient, and not having to schlep your stuff around is also nice. Wake up, and you are there. No back and forth. Often times you can be first or last on a site on a liveaboard or have more flexibility on when to dive it, conditions like tide and current permitting.

 

[runsongas]

similar to palau in that day trips involve losing some time on a boat ride out to the park each day. and you can't make it to the deep south sites. but day trips from LBJ are cheaper than malakal. downside is LBJ is kindy dingy to stay in.

 

[billt4sf]

I'm pretty sure a LOB would be better than staying in LBJ because of the long boat rides to get to the divesites, and also I think many of those day-boats will be cattle-cars: the more, the merrier, and not good divers, either - or so I have been told.

A compromise might be a resort like Komodo Resort & Diving Club which is in mid-Komodo and takes usually 45 mins to get to dive sites.

- Bill

 

[CrumhornDiver]

I did day trips in Komodo and enjoyed it. I actually went back and did it a second time and am considering a third. I didn’t find the days particularly long, for most people 3 dives are enough, and it was nice having the town there, though it was limited in options.

 

[AndyCahya]

i tried both LOB and day trips, personally i prefer LOB, less tired since we need to start in the early morning from LBJ and it will take around 1-2 hours to go to dive site and back to LBJ after 3x dive, if you LOB you can also get nite dive and may be more than 4x dives

 

[Luko]

The length of the transfer to the divespots with dayboats carries one more inconvenience : the time of the day you're on the dive site. Komodo NP is crowded with divers, it is critical that you beat the crowds and arrive earlier, you won't get first with a slow boat.
There is another way to cope, which is selecting a dive centre that provides speedboat transfers. There are a few in Labuan Bajo such as Blue Marlin or Red Whale, DDK used to but you have to check out whether they are still using one on request. There might be a surcharge compared to slow boats but it's worth : you on't get as many divers on the boat, you're guaranteed to be on premises earlier than the other cattle boats.
Moreover, those divecentre are potentially prone to book restricted Batu Bolong around 9AM while the flock of slow boats will fight to get a slot after 10AM.

 

[Benjamin Lloyd]

There are budget liveaboards that aren't too much more expensive than day-tripping. Check Dragon Dive, Divine Diving, Uber Scuba. Dragon has a 5d/4n 15 dive South Komodo trip starting in early October. You could do that plus a few days day-tripping from LBJ to hit the northern sites.

Scuba Junkie is another option. I did 9 days diving with them last October and loved it. Long days on the boat but it was comfortable. Bring books. No South Komodo though, don't think they started going til November.

 

[Luko]

There are budget liveaboards that aren't too much more expensive than day-tripping. Check Dragon Dive, Divine Diving, Uber Scuba. Dragon has a 5d/4n 15 dive South Komodo trip starting in early October.

Yep, I dived with them last year for a 4d liveaboard which transformed soon into a 5d. That was a great time although the cruise directors we had are not anymore working for them.