Komodo Dancer questions....can someone help??

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ewaiea

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Location
Minnesota (USA)
# of dives
200 - 499
I am curious...

I've been reading up about diving in Komodo Marine Park and it sounds like a pretty awesome trip. If I go I'm going to go onboard the Komodo Dancer Peter Hughes boat since it has a good reputation and is a reputable dive operator (lets not get into the Belize Wave Dancer discussion again, they've learned their lesson....).

From watching videos and also reading articles and books; the southern end of the dive area is said to have waters that are around 68-70 degrees (maybe less) and the northern section is said to have water temps around 85 degrees or so. What percentage of time on your past trips was spent at sites with cooler water temps versus the time spent at warmer water dive sites. I'm just trying to get a feel for what your experiences were. I like diving no matter what and if there is neat stuff to see I don't mind adding layers, but diving in just a rash guard and swim suit is alot more fun if the water is warm enough. I have a 3mm full suit and a 3mm shorty to put on top, would that be enough? Or is a hood an absolute must for the colder sites?

Thanks!
 
Don't read this if you don't want to spend the money to go. :-0

I was on the Komodo Dancer in January. Yes, it was an awesome trip. Not flawless but none are. I would go again. Right now. I would rather spend less time on the muck diving sites because what we usually found wasn't particularly spectacular though still cool, but vis also usually sucked because it's volcanic soil (ran into the bottom before I could tell I was on the bottom). I enjoy bigger stuff so I'd have spent more time at Manta Alley and Cannibal Rock. First dive on Cannibal Rock was one of my top five dives ever (3 other dives made the list too, including a night dive): big marbled ray, sharks, frogfish, moray eels, mantis shrimp, octopus, all different nudibranches, so many lionfish they became old hat, leaf scorpionfish, literally millions of golden sweepers, a solid cloud of them all over the reef side, fish of every color darting through them, big school of fish hanging on the reef, sun shining through the water onto the corals. Etc, etc, etc. Blew away most places. It lived up to every expectation of Indonesia. When I want to tell people what I saw, I just bring out the creature ID book and say "That's what I saw." Basically all of it. The beginning dives had WAY more life than most of the best dives I've done in the Caribbean. Indonesia was very cool.

Where you dive will depend on time of year. You won't really spend time in both places because one or the other will be rough. What you need to wear is more dependent on the individual than the temp. If you're typically cold, then you'll be cold. If you have your own insulation and always dive in a T shirt, then you only need that. I brought 3MM and 5MM fullsuit and never use a hood except here in Ca where it's mandatory. I'm probably mid range tending towards being warmer.

When we were there, I dove almost every dive in my 3MM. Partially because my weighting is perfect with it but I was plenty comfortable. A few places had some cold water currents here or there but never the whole time. Those cold spots were probably very low 70s max. Definitely chilly but tolerable. Air temp was mid 80s to low 90s with humidity, though less in Komodo area itself. Looks a lot like California.

Tips:
- always do dive one because vis is best (applies anywhere)
- you can get some pretty good rockin' and rollin' weather on your night crossings. More than I expected. Have some great video that would probably put a damper on bookings. :)
- weather every day was rain like heck very early morning, then sun, beautiful day, then clouds in later afternoon, then maybe some rain; repeat.
 
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