Well, I basically showed up in LB without any reservations or anything. I checked out the shops, and did a day trip with Dive Komodo. The following day I got lucky and was able to hop on a LOB with Dive Komodo that visited the North and South Komodo sites. I found the Northern sites to be very different and equally as good as anything in the South. I was under the impression that the South was supposed to be way better, but I did not find that at all. That being said, you can dive many amazing sites on day trips using about four or five operaters in LB. There are LOB's being organized all the time, and I do not think it would be hard to get one together. I can be very cheap if you are just there at the right time and place. No worries on it all- It is very easy to organize on arrival, and many people are doing that.
As far as the lost divers... Well, I am sure you heard about the incident this summer (I think there are tons of threads about this on here), this was not as serious.. Basically a group of divers got lost due to the strong surface currents and the boat man wasn't able to find them. They were not in the water to long when a passing boat (another dive company) saw, and picked them up. Some of these currents are 6 knots or so, meaning you can haul ass pretty good, and get yourself into a real situation.
The problem that is re-occuring is that this company is dropping off two groups of different skill levels and while the first group comes up (if they take a while to get outta the water) the other group can get sucked into the strong surface current. You will see when your over there, exactly how easy this can happen if you come up in the current and boat isn't very close.
That is what happened when I was there. Based on that, I felt it was better to have one group, on one boat, at one time.
Hope that helps...