(Sipadan)/Komodo/Bali Trip Report

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Kevster

Contributor
Messages
437
Reaction score
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Location
Perth, Australia
# of dives
500 - 999
Sipadan – Komodo – Bali Trip report 08th - 23rd Aug 08.
Flights Baku-Dubai-Bangkok-KL-KK-TW-KK-Bali-LB-Bali-Jakarta-Dubai-Baku
Sipadan (3 Dive Days) - Borneo Divers
I have posted a more detailed trip report on the Malaysia board.
Very good diving but expensive & lots of divers wanting to dive few Sipadan sites.
Stayed at Borneo divers. Was nice resort, food was very average considering price (approx $350/d). Was a big problem with permits to dive Sipadan. We had permits one day but were not allowed to dive (too many divers).
In 3 days we had 2 dives at Sipadan. Barracuda pt was the highlight ,big ball of barra, lots of Bumperhead PF, excellent dive but up to 30 divers on the same site. The other dive at Sipadan was average. Viss less than 10 m , lots of turtles.
Diving Mabul was good. Nudis, frogfish, blue ring octopus!!1st time I have seen.
Overall good diving but too expensive & too many divers at Sipadan. Dive times were short, guides were insisting on 45 mins. Only dive more than 60 mins was sunset unguided dive!
Air Asia flight from KK to Bali was 18 hrs late! I will not fly with them again. Customer service was non-existent. No probs with excess baggage on any of the flights.

Komodo (4 Dive Days) - Reefseekers
Accom- Eco Lodge was good. Nice big clean room with A/c & fan. Very quiet peaceful location. Unfortunately it’s 15 min outside LB which was a bit inconvenient. I would stay somewhere else next time in LB. Staying outside LB limited the eating options. Generally if you are land based diving all you need is somewhere close to harbour, clean & cheap; as land based diving involves long days.
Weather – Sunny/windy. Sea conditions were not great .Choppy. Travel to Northern sites was 17 miles, 2hr 20 mins. 1 day was uncomfortable going out. Aug brings wind but also excellent viss.
The diving was AMAZING. The kind of diving I like. Good viss. Sandy slopes, interesting macro and worthwhile looking out into the blue.
Day 1 – Middle of Park(Snapper Pt,Orange Grove)
Day 2 – North of Park (Crystal rock,Coral Garden, the Cauldron)
Day 3 – Around Rincha (Dragon tour).(Penga,Snapper Pt) The least exciting day of the 4. Saw 8-10 dragons on a morning walk on Rincha.
Day 4 – North (Full moon, Stingray Pt)
Generally left hotel at 7 am, boat leaves harbour 07.30 got back to hotel at 18.00.
Water was a bit cold 26-28. I had 3 mm + shortie.
Viss was fantastic 20-30+m. Very fishy. With lots of large fish. GTs,Tuna, Napoleon,Sharks, lots of Mantas & even a dolphin with calf. The 1st day we had to rendezvous with a boat travelling from Lombok after our dives. This was really bad as we had to wait around for 2 hrs and then transfer onto Lombok boat to go back to LB. This boat was on a 3 day trip from Lombok to Komodo. The boat was shocking. Cannot believe anybody would consider a trip on high seas on it.
Reefseekers are a good dive op. They really ensure you are happy and split the groups up so the more exp divers are together. (Was surprised to see kids diving Komodo)They also give a very good talk/lecture about marine life on the way out to the sites. The diving was probably the best I have ever experienced. Crystal rock was really nice. The cauldron was big current but with lots of Mantas making many passes. Full moon was my best ever dive. Lots of big fish hunting, large grey reef sharks, white tips, Dolphins. I will definitely return to Komodo. Although the land based was very good I would consider a Live-aboard next time. Would choose local liveaboard.

Bali(2 Dive days)
Day 1 – Tauch Terminal Tulamben .
Morning dive at Liberty wreck was very good. The viss was excellent 20+m. Bumperhead parrot fish, schooling jacks & great viss. Really nice dive but was too short. 35 mins (10 mins at start waiting for diver with ear problems) Other dives at drop off & afternoon boat dive were very forgettable. Not too impressed with guides. Not very enthusiastic to say the least. Resort is nice.

Day 2 – BIDP Nusa Penida, Crystal Bay for Mola Mola. Was really impressed with BIDP. Excellent value & really friendly service. Water was really cold 20-24 C. Coldest conditions I have experienced. Again viss was excellent. When we got to Crystal bay there were already 7 boats there. No Mola Mola . But enjoyable day anyway. I thought that CB would be a drift dive but it was just waiting at a nearby cleaning station looking out to blue water.
Would definitely dive with BIDP again.

Overall Komodo was really really good & was actually the cheapest of the 3 locations. Will definitely return to Komodo.
 
The boat was shocking. Cannot believe anybody would consider a trip on high seas on it.

Kevster -

Thanks for the report! I'm curious about this "shocking" boat ... was it a LOB, or just an inter-island "bus"? We're planning Komodo sometime, and just wondered if this boat had a name that we should watch out for.
 
boat was not a dive liveaboard. It was a 3 day transfer boat from Lombok to komodo. It was called the Perama or something similar. It was for backpackers. They were sleeping on the upper open deck and the lower enclosed deck. There was only 3 cabins that were very small. A lot of unhappy faces. they had rough seas and a lot were very ill.
 
The land based diving leaves from Labaun Bajo on Flores island, not Komodo island.
There are no real "resorts". Flores has basic facilities. They have a real problem with water supply. I believe most of there water is imported.
There are several medium class hotels (>$50 /night) and lots of lower end accom (backpacker approx $20/night). I would consider Green hills or Golo hill top.
Aug seems to be peak season . I was told all the cheap accom was sold out while i was there. One of the opeartors told me he had a few backpackers sleeping in his office. The flights were also very busy. Not much availability. There are 3 airlines that fly bali- LB. Cost one way was about $100.
 
Thank you for the trip report. I am heading to Indo soon, and planning on doing the same dives (North Komodo, Bali) The info is very helpful to me right now. Did you find many operators in LB heading down to the Southern sights? I contacted Reefseekers and they said they go if they have enough divers, do you know if this happens very often? Thanks..
 
In LB there are 4 dive shops next to each other on the same street.
Reefseeker (British), Bajo Diving (German), Grand Komodo (Indo), Devine Diving. There are prob a few more smaller outfits.

The southern sites are a long way from LB.
I spoke to a local dive guide on the reef seeker boat and he had NEVER dived the southern sites so that should give you an indication on how infrequent they visit these sites.
I guess if you were travelling in a big group you could book out the boat and head south.
The sites to the south are far away, departure would be 5am, water is way colder , and the seas can be rough, big swells in the south. The northern sites seemed to be more sheltered when I was there in Aug.

I think Grand Komodo would be you best bet to hit the sites to the south. They do a 3-4 day Liveaboard which really is the only way to go for Southern Komodo. Its too far for land based IMHO.

Saying that the diving in the north was very good.
 
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Bali -Liberty Wreck & Jacks


Mabul




Sipadan
 
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Great pics! That tornado of jacks with the sun behind must have been really nice to watch... Any Komodo pics coming up?

adamtodd, I've visited Labuanbajo a few times, and I've visited the southern sites on each trip - basically because I've been asked (after discussion on the boat) if I was willing to chip in with the other divers for the higher petrol costs and early departure, to which I said yes. It can be organised, depending on tides and the other divers... Maybe the weather also - I've visited around easter each time, when the seas have been pretty much flat as a mirror (luck plays its part).

He, I've also travelled twice from Lombok to Labuanbajo on a Perama boat (a bigger one with 7 cabins). With calm seas and an uncrowded boat it can be a really good trip. Not sure I'd enjoy it so much during peak season, and choppy seas!
 
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Great trip report....I did 10 days at Sipadan a few years ago....thought it was very overrated diving. Where as Bali is very under rated...been to Bali 3 times really enjoyed it.....Nice photos.

Kevster how do you compare Komodo to Palau?
 
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