Komodo National Park
Komodo National Park lies between Sumbawa and Flores, with Labuan Bajo on west Flores as its gateway. The park sits in the Sape Strait and the channels around it, where the Indonesian Throughflow and strong tides push water between the Flores Sea and the Indian Ocean. That makes for fierce, sometimes unpredictable currents, but also for very rich reefs and lots of big fish. The north (Gili Lawa, Castle Rock, Crystal Rock, The Cauldron) is warmer and clearer and famous for sharks and schooling fish; the centre (Batu Bolong, Tatawa, Karang Makassar, Mawan, Siaba) mixes fish-packed pinnacles with manta cleaning stations and is reachable on day trips; the south (Padar, Rinca, Nusa Kode, Manta Alley) has cold, plankton-rich upwelling water full of soft corals, sea apples, critters and mantas, and is usually dived from a liveaboard.
Dive sites
- Batu Bolong
- Batu Tiga
- Cannibal Rock
- Castle Rock
- Crinoid Canyon
- Crystal Rock
- End of the World
- Golden Passage
- Karang Makassar
- Langkoi Rock
- Lighthouse
- Manta Alley
- Mawan
- Pengah Kecil
- Pink Beach
- Pulau Kambing
- Sabolon Besar
- Sabolon Kecil
- Sebayur
- Seraya Kecil
- Siaba Besar
- Siaba Kecil
- Tatawa Besar
- Tatawa Kecil
- The Cauldron
- Three Sisters
- Torpedo Alley
- Wainilu
- Yellow Wall