Scared Silly
Contributor
A trip report from a dive trip to the Komodo Region about the Indo Siren 11-18 July.
Short version - great trip, cool waters (21C), fast currents (5 knots), good marco and pelagic action, fine live-a-board and excellent staff. Consistent currents IMHO makes the diving not for beginners. Would recommend.
Long version - We booked a seven day trip on the MV Indo Siren (Siren Fleet - Luxury Liveaboard Diving Holidays and Scuba Diving safaris) approximately five weeks out. The head office was very responsive and very helpful in getting everything set up. We booked directly with them and had them arrange one flight (DPS-BIM) on Wings Air because we could not go directly through with their site (which is Lion Air as Wings is their low cost carrier and has 10kb per person checked baggage limit). They are not listed through other online travel websites.
They sent out several reference sheets on the dive:
www.sirenfleet.com/downloads/pdf/komodo.pdf
www.sirenfleet.com/downloads/pdf/komodo_trip_info_sheet.pdf
One item that we had to provide that was different from other live-a-board was proof of dive insurance. We are DAN members but do not carry dive specific insurance because our insurance will cover chamber rides. They were satisfied with that.
Of the dive info the only missing bit is that I think they need to emphasize that given some the locations and currents that at a minimum each dive carry a SMB, whistle or other auditory signal device (dive alert). Additional items like a signal mirror, radio, PLB, etc. are worth suggesting. Because we were traveling before and after the trip we tried to cut on weight by bring our smaller SMBs and whistles. In hindsight I would have brought our larger SMBs and Dive Alerts. Not much more weight. I only used my SMB once and the few times I came up before everyone and the boat was a ways off I just yelled and the dinghy drivers heard me.
We flew to Bali and hung out there for a week before the trip. My only suggestion is to go to Ubud as it is the cultural center of Bali and skip the beach areas around Dempasar. Which is what we did given similar advice. We travel to Lombok and Gili Meno afterwards before returning to Bali and flying home.
The boat leaves from and returns to Bima whereas many others live-a-boards are out of Labuan Bajo which is a growing city and not having a strict Muslim culture is more popular for tourists. Bima on the otherhand is known for it's rice and offers little for tourists. We flew into Bima, were met by the boat crew at the airport, and went to the port which is well pretty much a crap hole.
Once on the boat we went did a tour and did an life jacket - muster station drill. After that was a quick lunch and set up our gear for the first dive in Bima Bay. Muck diving at it finest with a silty bottom complete with the "Usual Suspects" including bag fish and wrapper snappers. Oh and we saw our first cuttle fish.
For the diving each person has a dive station and a draw for their goodies. There are a max of 16 divers per trip. Our trip had 11 divers and 12 crew. We dove nitrox and the crew adapted to our having our own analyzers. The crew has what they call full wetsuit service. Your suit will be found at your station at the beginning of a dive, once your suit is on, they zip you up. When you return, they unzip you. After the dive you leave your wetsuit in the rinse tank. They hang it up. Unless you pee'd in it, then you were on your own. It was exceptional service, my only suggestion was they hang the suits inside out so the inside dries first (and airs out - nothing worse than monk suit).
The diving is all from two dinghies - four people and a dive master/guide. With a full boat it is 6/6/4 with three dive guides. There is always one dinghy on the dive site anytime divers are in the water. Back roll entries and short ladder coming back on board. Cameras were handed to you unless doing a negative entry. Note my camera moves around in a soft cooler - I liked that as did the dinghy drives as it was much easy to handle.
Before and after a dive you are met by the host with something to drink. Before hand it was always water. When diving the cooler water I asked Joe our host for double hot chocolate shots and always hand them. There are two wet heads for rinsing off - oddly few others used them. They typically went to their cabin instead or not at all. Me, I rinse off, finish whatever is needed with gear then go get dry shorts on. Even if the next dive is in an hour.
I am not going to go through the whole itinerary and dive sites other than to highlight a few things. There is current on most every dive. Sometimes the current is mild like you are in an "Estuary" sometimes the current is strong enough to make you think you are being blasted out a "Shotgun." Having dived a number of sites with current I would have to say that for some of the dives you really needed to pay attention to the current. It was not like Cozumel currents that are predictable and easy to manage. Komodo is not a place for beginners. Though you see plenty of beginners with some of the boats.
My wife and I dive as a team. Though we never got separated from each other or from our dive guide others did. There were no issues when they did but our dive guide appreciated that we kept with him and even complimented us on our buoyancy control. it was not that hard one just needed to know when to really work and when not to. The only time we separated was at the end as I was hovering my gas on this trip. That paid off as on one dive I came up early only to have the dinghy driver pickup me and run 100 m away so I could snorkel with a manta in shallow water.
A few sites: Crystal Rock (Gili Lawa Laut) - pelagic action at the front of the first (lower) of two pinnacles with strong currents. Negative entries. We dove the site twice (different days) the first time we hit the lower pinnacle but did not on our second dive. While there a diver disappeared and was not found. It happened four hours after we dove this site the first time.
Manta Alley - One starts in a sheltered cove next to an outcropping well off shore. Once down you work your way to where there is current. Initially no mantas but then about 15 minutes in four came in. Unfortunately the dive briefing did not emphasize well enough to pick a spot and stay there. Several went chasing after them to get pictures. Which just caused them to leave the area and deprive the rest of us. As the dive was winding down they came back for a visit in shallower water. At this point, people were a bit more spread out so the mantas flew by most everyone at least once. I got several nice fly bys.
Other sites yielded lots of critters, huge cuttle fish, giant frogfish, mantis shrimp, ribbons eels, lots of nudis. pipefish, octopus, squid, all in all lots of good critters large and small. Personally seeing a Papua Toby Pufferfish was most gratifying. See my aviator and you will understand why.
Some other items about the diving, though on a seven day (vs a ten day) trip we actually did the ten cruise itinerary. So we got the best of Komodo. That was great. Except we were all prepared for the diving water of the Flores Sea rather than the Savu Sea. The Flores Sea water temps are in the low 80 whereas the Savu Sea water temps are in the low 70s. We borrowed 3 mm shorties from the boat to go over our 3-4mm full suits. That helped as well as the double hot chocolates.
Accommodations on the boat were good. The boat design overall was nice, the only two negatives was exhaust from the generators was on the port side and often blew up on on board. Getting to the sun deck always require a trip to the front of the boat and through the dripping wetsuits. Minor for the most part.
The crew was great, always there when you need them. I often went out to check my nitrox fills and no one would be around. As soon as David the engineer doing the filling heard my tank crack open he was there with the clip board to record the numbers. I think out of 20 dives only twice did I have go get the clip board. The food was hearty and good. Lots of variety so always something to eat. No mater what was for dinner the rice was from Bima.
All in all I would recommend diving with Indo Siren. In fact, we are lining up a return trip to dive Raja Ampart during the winter.
Oh and about the Dragons, Monkeys, and Sex on the Beach. No trip to Komodo would be complete without a land tour to see the infamous Komodo Dragons. After our tour where we saw six or so different dragons as were getting ready to walk the finial bit back to the boat a young dragon 1.5 meters) got a juvenile monkey for breakfast. The monkey clan went ape shite and went after the dragon who had the monkey in it jaws. After about 50 meters the monkey was dropped only because it could not be eaten in a single chomp. Regardless the monkey was toast because of the bite of the dragon which is venomous. We then watch the patriarchal male monkey have a stand off with the dragon. That was pretty cool.
But then a couple of hours later at our dive site with a beach we spotted a large male dragon on the beach. About 10 minutes later out came another dragon. Tails flipped quick and then yowza, sex on the beach as July-August is matting season.
Short version - great trip, cool waters (21C), fast currents (5 knots), good marco and pelagic action, fine live-a-board and excellent staff. Consistent currents IMHO makes the diving not for beginners. Would recommend.
Long version - We booked a seven day trip on the MV Indo Siren (Siren Fleet - Luxury Liveaboard Diving Holidays and Scuba Diving safaris) approximately five weeks out. The head office was very responsive and very helpful in getting everything set up. We booked directly with them and had them arrange one flight (DPS-BIM) on Wings Air because we could not go directly through with their site (which is Lion Air as Wings is their low cost carrier and has 10kb per person checked baggage limit). They are not listed through other online travel websites.
They sent out several reference sheets on the dive:
www.sirenfleet.com/downloads/pdf/komodo.pdf
www.sirenfleet.com/downloads/pdf/komodo_trip_info_sheet.pdf
One item that we had to provide that was different from other live-a-board was proof of dive insurance. We are DAN members but do not carry dive specific insurance because our insurance will cover chamber rides. They were satisfied with that.
Of the dive info the only missing bit is that I think they need to emphasize that given some the locations and currents that at a minimum each dive carry a SMB, whistle or other auditory signal device (dive alert). Additional items like a signal mirror, radio, PLB, etc. are worth suggesting. Because we were traveling before and after the trip we tried to cut on weight by bring our smaller SMBs and whistles. In hindsight I would have brought our larger SMBs and Dive Alerts. Not much more weight. I only used my SMB once and the few times I came up before everyone and the boat was a ways off I just yelled and the dinghy drivers heard me.
We flew to Bali and hung out there for a week before the trip. My only suggestion is to go to Ubud as it is the cultural center of Bali and skip the beach areas around Dempasar. Which is what we did given similar advice. We travel to Lombok and Gili Meno afterwards before returning to Bali and flying home.
The boat leaves from and returns to Bima whereas many others live-a-boards are out of Labuan Bajo which is a growing city and not having a strict Muslim culture is more popular for tourists. Bima on the otherhand is known for it's rice and offers little for tourists. We flew into Bima, were met by the boat crew at the airport, and went to the port which is well pretty much a crap hole.
Once on the boat we went did a tour and did an life jacket - muster station drill. After that was a quick lunch and set up our gear for the first dive in Bima Bay. Muck diving at it finest with a silty bottom complete with the "Usual Suspects" including bag fish and wrapper snappers. Oh and we saw our first cuttle fish.
For the diving each person has a dive station and a draw for their goodies. There are a max of 16 divers per trip. Our trip had 11 divers and 12 crew. We dove nitrox and the crew adapted to our having our own analyzers. The crew has what they call full wetsuit service. Your suit will be found at your station at the beginning of a dive, once your suit is on, they zip you up. When you return, they unzip you. After the dive you leave your wetsuit in the rinse tank. They hang it up. Unless you pee'd in it, then you were on your own. It was exceptional service, my only suggestion was they hang the suits inside out so the inside dries first (and airs out - nothing worse than monk suit).
The diving is all from two dinghies - four people and a dive master/guide. With a full boat it is 6/6/4 with three dive guides. There is always one dinghy on the dive site anytime divers are in the water. Back roll entries and short ladder coming back on board. Cameras were handed to you unless doing a negative entry. Note my camera moves around in a soft cooler - I liked that as did the dinghy drives as it was much easy to handle.
Before and after a dive you are met by the host with something to drink. Before hand it was always water. When diving the cooler water I asked Joe our host for double hot chocolate shots and always hand them. There are two wet heads for rinsing off - oddly few others used them. They typically went to their cabin instead or not at all. Me, I rinse off, finish whatever is needed with gear then go get dry shorts on. Even if the next dive is in an hour.
I am not going to go through the whole itinerary and dive sites other than to highlight a few things. There is current on most every dive. Sometimes the current is mild like you are in an "Estuary" sometimes the current is strong enough to make you think you are being blasted out a "Shotgun." Having dived a number of sites with current I would have to say that for some of the dives you really needed to pay attention to the current. It was not like Cozumel currents that are predictable and easy to manage. Komodo is not a place for beginners. Though you see plenty of beginners with some of the boats.
My wife and I dive as a team. Though we never got separated from each other or from our dive guide others did. There were no issues when they did but our dive guide appreciated that we kept with him and even complimented us on our buoyancy control. it was not that hard one just needed to know when to really work and when not to. The only time we separated was at the end as I was hovering my gas on this trip. That paid off as on one dive I came up early only to have the dinghy driver pickup me and run 100 m away so I could snorkel with a manta in shallow water.
A few sites: Crystal Rock (Gili Lawa Laut) - pelagic action at the front of the first (lower) of two pinnacles with strong currents. Negative entries. We dove the site twice (different days) the first time we hit the lower pinnacle but did not on our second dive. While there a diver disappeared and was not found. It happened four hours after we dove this site the first time.
Manta Alley - One starts in a sheltered cove next to an outcropping well off shore. Once down you work your way to where there is current. Initially no mantas but then about 15 minutes in four came in. Unfortunately the dive briefing did not emphasize well enough to pick a spot and stay there. Several went chasing after them to get pictures. Which just caused them to leave the area and deprive the rest of us. As the dive was winding down they came back for a visit in shallower water. At this point, people were a bit more spread out so the mantas flew by most everyone at least once. I got several nice fly bys.
Other sites yielded lots of critters, huge cuttle fish, giant frogfish, mantis shrimp, ribbons eels, lots of nudis. pipefish, octopus, squid, all in all lots of good critters large and small. Personally seeing a Papua Toby Pufferfish was most gratifying. See my aviator and you will understand why.
Some other items about the diving, though on a seven day (vs a ten day) trip we actually did the ten cruise itinerary. So we got the best of Komodo. That was great. Except we were all prepared for the diving water of the Flores Sea rather than the Savu Sea. The Flores Sea water temps are in the low 80 whereas the Savu Sea water temps are in the low 70s. We borrowed 3 mm shorties from the boat to go over our 3-4mm full suits. That helped as well as the double hot chocolates.
Accommodations on the boat were good. The boat design overall was nice, the only two negatives was exhaust from the generators was on the port side and often blew up on on board. Getting to the sun deck always require a trip to the front of the boat and through the dripping wetsuits. Minor for the most part.
The crew was great, always there when you need them. I often went out to check my nitrox fills and no one would be around. As soon as David the engineer doing the filling heard my tank crack open he was there with the clip board to record the numbers. I think out of 20 dives only twice did I have go get the clip board. The food was hearty and good. Lots of variety so always something to eat. No mater what was for dinner the rice was from Bima.
All in all I would recommend diving with Indo Siren. In fact, we are lining up a return trip to dive Raja Ampart during the winter.
Oh and about the Dragons, Monkeys, and Sex on the Beach. No trip to Komodo would be complete without a land tour to see the infamous Komodo Dragons. After our tour where we saw six or so different dragons as were getting ready to walk the finial bit back to the boat a young dragon 1.5 meters) got a juvenile monkey for breakfast. The monkey clan went ape shite and went after the dragon who had the monkey in it jaws. After about 50 meters the monkey was dropped only because it could not be eaten in a single chomp. Regardless the monkey was toast because of the bite of the dragon which is venomous. We then watch the patriarchal male monkey have a stand off with the dragon. That was pretty cool.
But then a couple of hours later at our dive site with a beach we spotted a large male dragon on the beach. About 10 minutes later out came another dragon. Tails flipped quick and then yowza, sex on the beach as July-August is matting season.
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