Komodo liveaboard 3D2N

[Centrals]

We are arriving at DPS late afternoon/early evening on April 26, too late to catch a flight to LBJ unfortunately. So our plan was to fly to LBJ on the 27th, dive the 28th through the 30th, and fly back to DPS on May 1. Then we'd go up to Ubud for a couple of days before our flights out late afternoon on May 3.

You won't be able to dive at SJ on 28th with your schedule because the daily transfer is on early afternoon.
Your best bet is to find another land based operator in LBJ.
I assume you are not interested to see the Dragon?

 

[Centrals]

What’s the big upside for SJ besides obvious comfort of land based? Does Scuba Junkie not suffer from all the same things that people say makes Komodo a great liveaboard destination?

I also have been on LoB to dive Komodo. But my experience with SJ convinced me that it is the way I would prefer.
Nothing is perfect but flexibility wins.
This also applies to R4, Homestay over LoB any time.

 

[bfwolf1]

You won't be able to dive at SJ on 28th with your schedule because the daily transfer is on early afternoon.
Your best bet is to find another land based operator in LBJ.
I assume you are not interested to see the Dragon?

Seeing dragons is a must.

I didn't put together until I just looked on a map that Scuba Junkie is not in Labuan Bajo. I guess that is a huge part of the appeal...it's further south so closer to the dive sites?

So are you saying there's a daily transfer from LBJ to the Scuba Junkie resort? Doesn't seem like early afternoon would be an issue since there are flights DPS->LBJ that land at 9:10 am.

 

[Carlos Diver]

Our transfer was at 1400 on the day we arrived. Our return was scheduled at 0800, but SJ can arrange for a local boat to take you to Rinka Island on your last day instead, the extra cost came out to 1.5 million Rupiah, that three of us split. That boat, after the visit to Rinka, got us back in LBJ around 1330.

 

[bfwolf1]

How long/comfortable were the diving boat rides?

 

[Centrals]

27th: Arrivng at LBJ and transfer to SJ in early afternoon. You should be able to do a check out dive, I did not pay for that, on the house reef.
28th: Diving. The boat was comfortable enough for me. Food was simple.
29th: Diving
30th: Diving
01st: Leaving to LBJ via Rinka for the Dragon. Make sure your flight to DPS is in late afternoon.

Make sure to bring an smb and listen carefully on the pre-dive briefing especially Crystal Rock and The Shot Gun(leave your camera behind and bring a reef hook for the latter).

Have fun.