Best month(s) for Komodo?

[qwimjim]

Hi, I've read a couple of threads on this topic but it's hard to know who knows what they're talking about and who doesn't, as there's some conflicting information

If I only have 4 days to dive Komodo from Lubuan Bajo, I will probably only be able to visit North/Central sites, in which case what are the absolute best months for visibility, currents, and sea life? Are these three mutually exclusive ie if you have great visibility there's strong currents, or if you have poor visibility there's generally more big stuff and fish? Or is there a time of year when there's great vis, currents are less intense, and there's lots of fish life and mantas?

A dive op I contacted said the window for diving the south is usually from oct to feb, but last year it was only possible to dive for a couple weeks in january and this year only dec and jan. Are the south sites better than north/central? Should one ideally plan a trip around diving the south if possible, or if you only have 4 days might as well stick to north/central and go in jul-aug-sep?

Thanks!

 

[Pearlman]

For North July-Aug is good. Jan is supposed to be rainy season from what I remember…

 

[qwimjim]

From what I read, the manta's are gone in Jul/Aug because it's too warm, but then would they still be around Nusa Penida? Is there a difference between the manta's in those two locations, in terms of size?

Has anyone been in late April or early May? I've read that this is a good time to still catch manta's, have good visibility, low winds, etc..

 

[Pearlman]

I had some spectacular Manta sightings in August - admittedly the dive was like an underwater trek where we covered a huge distance UW against a steady current to locate them kudos to the DM! Ultimately we had a really long wait on the surface with no boat visible on the horizon 360 degrees before one magically appeared to transfer us to our boat. The water surface at the end of the dive was still with no waves or choppiness so it wasn’t too bad…

But the same dive site had happy and easy sightings earlier for the other morning divers (we arrived post 11am) due to the colder water temps at morning. So you may be partially right there…

 

[Luko]

From what I read, the manta's are gone in Jul/Aug because it's too warm,

I've often had mantas in Komodo in my 3 trips in august : on the usual manta site on Makassar reef, in a bay near to Golden passage early morning, I almost bumped against one at the end of shotgun, even saw 3 doing a mating dance on top of Crystal Rock.

 

[boletus1973]

i have been to komodo in LOB 5 times plus one week on land.... always between the end of july and the beginning of september... only one time we stay a couple of days on the south.. with strong winds and huge waves... and mantas but i always saw mantas also in the north/central area...