Komodo: Land-based or Liveaboard? (Mermaid 1 ?)

[Carlos Diver]

What's PBJ?..Peanut Butter Jelly/Jam?



Isn't Delvin Homestay in Raja Ampat, not Komodo? Are they still operating?..Loved that place

Yes, PBJ is a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich. It's a staple for picky eaters of a younger age .

 

[FishWatcher747]

Yes, PBJ is a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich. It's a staple for picky eaters of a younger age .

Or in my case a staple for an older picky eater.

Yes Dani from Delvin Homestay on Kri is in Raja but I suspect no current no fish applies to Komodo also. I will verify this on my booking with Scuba Junkies Komodo next year.

 

[Carlos Diver]

Being able to predict smokers on a boat will be nearly impossible. Thinking about it, I don't remember ever being on a LOB or day boat that didn't have some smokers. Usually our Euro friends smoke more than the Americans I have been with (which really surprised me), but its always group to group, boat to boat.

That said, I am extremely sensitive to cig smoke and the smokers on the SJ boat never bothered me.

 

[Searcaigh]

I used Blue Marlin last April and stayed at their place in Labuan Bajo which also included breakfast.

Everyone met at the dive centre by 07:00 and it was a leisurely 10 min walk to the jetty. If diving mid Komodo we were splashing around 08:20

Coffee and donuts for the first SI and then a sort of packed lunch (rice, chicken and veggies) with fresh fruit afterwards.

Shared head, plenty of room for changing if need be, and smoking was only allowed on the sundeck (i.e. cabin roof). We were back by 15:00-15:30 most days and every dive was no less than 60 mins. I'd definitely use them again.

 

[potato cod]

Thank you all for very helpful information. We just made our deposit on the Mermaid 1 Bali-Komodo-Bali with whale sharks trip for early next July!

SJ was a contender, but although the liveaboard is more $, it is also more days, more dives, more comfortable, more/better food, and no time/hassle/expense of a domestic flight. Dan's video of the whale sharks also blew us away!

 

[cetacean]

@potato cod

Lots of good advice already given, so I will only add:
I've done Komodo both from liveaboard departing LBJ, and departing Bali.

Even though more days may mean a reasonable time left to dive Komodo, understand that it will take 2 days to get to the park from Bali, and usually 1.5 days to get back. So a 9 day itinerary may only leave you ~5 days of diving in the park, and the trip to see the lizards replaces one of your morning dives. Some liveaboards do the trip 1 way for one itinerary (depart Bali, end in LBJ) and then reverse it for the next trip (so you only have 1 flight to deal with).

There are actually several sites that you may want to use a reef hook (more than just Shotgun) however they are easy to deploy and use - it's more of a convenience if you want to stay near or at a manta cleaning station or where mantas are feeding (like while diving Manta Alley).

My wife and I dived Little Cayman many years ago - 95% of the diving offered in Indonesia will make you forget about Little Cayman completely.

For Komodo, the liveaboard option will be better (won't have to transfer back to a land based resort each day, you will be able to dive more of the park, including a few of the more remote sites, and most importantly, a liveaboard will get you on the most popular sites earlier in the morning, so there will be fewer divers and other boats to deal with - this is critical for world famous sites like Batu Bolong).

 

[stiebs]

Even though more days may mean a reasonable time left to dive Komodo, understand that it will take 2 days to get to the park from Bali, and usually 1.5 days to get back. So a 9 day itinerary may only leave you ~5 days of diving in the park, and the trip to see the lizards replaces one of your morning dives. Some liveaboards do the trip 1 way for one itinerary (depart Bali, end in LBJ) and then reverse it for the next trip (so you only have 1 flight to deal with).

There are actually several sites that you may want to use a reef hook (more than just Shotgun) however they are easy to deploy and use - it's more of a convenience if you want to stay near or at a manta cleaning station or where mantas are feeding (like while diving Manta Alley).

I just got back from Bali-Komodo-Bali aboard Mermaid II two weeks ago. It was 7 nights, 8 days including embarking / disembarking days, so 20 dives over 6 days.

11 of those dives were in and around Komodo, including 2 at Manta Alley. One of those manta alley dives was the only one that reef hooks were used on.
4 dives were around Sangeang volcano, which are well worth it. Highly rate those dives!
The remaining 5 were around Mojo island and Satondo island, breaking up the transit between Bali and Komodo. Also excellent dives and not to be missed.

Just don't be thinking that you'll get a lot of bird watching in. We only had about two hours on Komodo Island itself. Also a short visit (about an hour or so) to Bontoh village on Sangeang. So not a lot of time on land for bird watching.

 

[jetsettingbarista]

We just completed that route. Full trip report here. Personally, I wouldn't recommend this route. You spend ~2 days in transit to Komodo, which means those dives are pretty below the quality we were hoping for in ID. It's more convenient, for sure, but you pay for it. We dove Tulamben in the north of Bali before, and while the Liberty wreck was good, I wouldn't prioritize the location unless you really want to do some land based diving.

 

[potato cod]

Thanks again for all the input--much appreciated. We did end up booking this itinerary. We rather enjoy the transit on boats versus wasting two days getting to/from LB. It's going to be epic for us just to get to Bali, so relaxing on board, enjoying the vistas, and some other types of diving (black sand volcanoes, whale sharks) enroute appealed to us. According to the itinerary, 18 of the 26 dives are in the national park, so that seems good to us.

@jetsettingbarista, sorry to hear about the maintenance issues you encountered. At least Mermaid worked hard to accommodate you with alternative diving (unlike, ahem, Indo-Aggressor). That is good to hear. The boat is scheduled for two weeks in port, then a 10-day trip right before ours, so hopefully it will be all serviced for us.

@stiebs, we will birdwatch in northern/western Bali and east Java either before or after the trip. We're working with a birding guide for that. Glad to hear you enjoyed the dives enroute!

@cetacean, thanks for the info on reef hooks. I'm worried that this will make us forget about Little Cayman. The Pacific is sooo far away for us.