First time diving Indonesia Feb/Mar - Bali or Komodo?

[Centrals]

Scuba Junkie Komodo - Out of this world diving in Komodo National Park
No complaint whatsoever.

 

[Luko]

Luko, is the meat prepared Indo style?

you mean lots of chili?
No red meat, it's mainly chicken (or fish or squids) very mildly spiced. no chilies for chilly if that is the answer you expected (or not).
Once again, not a gourmet table, but honest carb loaded dive food..

pm me if you wanr real specifics

 

[Luko]

Scuba Junkie Komodo - Out of this world diving in Komodo National Park
No complaint whatsoever.

no land based operation goes south, SJ included. diving Komodo in feb is South.
they claim they go south but they're limited to Padar.

 

[dirtfarmer]

no land based operation goes south, SJ included. diving Komodo in feb is South.
they claim they go south but they're limited to Padar.

Unless your very special like me! I got them to but I think that was the one and only just like me!

(On their website SJ doesn't have any sites south of Padar listed as sites they visit)

Does the dragon dive LOB go south? My last trip I took a short budget south trip before I went to SJ but it was limited to the Rinca Bay area and not the southwest like Manta Alley Pink Beach.

 

[Centrals]

Only LoB goes true south in Komodo but the OP might not be able to fit in the schedule.

 

[billt4sf]

no land based operation goes south, SJ included. diving Komodo in feb is South.
they claim they go south but they're limited to Padar.

FWIW (OP) I was on a LOB from Bali to Komodo last month. Mentally I was disappointed that we didn't "go south" because of conditions. The diving was GREAT anyway though. Just sayin' -- unless you have something highly specific you're looking for, we found Komodo great and can't wait to go back! And we have dived Raja Ampat quite a bit.

- Bill

 

[Luko]

Does the dragon dive LOB go south? My last trip I took a short budget south trip before I went to SJ but it was limited to the Rinca Bay area and not the southwest like Manta Alley Pink Beach.

From October on they are scheduling south Rinca (ie Horseshoe bay et al.) and other sites on 4n/5 days, that's what both the owner and the cruise director informed me, but I can't tell anything else from experience since this summer I only dived north and central, like everybody else.
I don't know what will be their precise itinerary, but the thing I like with them is that they are very flexible on their itineraries and client wishes : for instance as they had an engine problem on the first day that "cost" us two hours and the frst dive, so they asked whether everybody would be happy stretching the LA with another day, of course everybody said "YES!" and so we went 5 days diving instead of 4 days, we chose the sites as we wanted on the 5th day, it lacked a bit of freshwater in the end... but really who cared?...

FWIW (OP) I was on a LOB from Bali to Komodo last month. Mentally I was disappointed that we didn't "go south" because of conditions. The diving was GREAT anyway though. Just sayin' -- unless you have something highly specific you're looking for, we found Komodo great and can't wait to go back!

See Bill : Komodo ain't that bad. Going so far to R4, while you had Komodo at your doorstep !
South is supposed to be wilder, lushier than central/north (but colder and less viz too), not even speaking of the manta ray trains.

 

[billt4sf]

See Bill : Komodo ain't that bad. Going so far to R4, while you had Komodo at your doorstep !
South is supposed to be wilder, lushier than central/north (but colder and less viz too), not even speaking of the manta ray trains.

We made a mistake. Emily and I were just talking about this the other day. The mistake was NOT that Komodo had no currents to worry about; the mistake was that RA had any more such currents than we had realized.

Now that we have had enough experience with the crazy currents in Indo we are much more relaxed in them. Is complacency next? Hope not!

- Bill

 

[NoNickName]

Thank you for all the information. I will look into the LOB suggestions posted here.

 

[charlier]

FWIW (OP) I was on a LOB from Bali to Komodo last month. Mentally I was disappointed that we didn't "go south" because of conditions. The diving was GREAT anyway though. Just sayin' -- unless you have something highly specific you're looking for, we found Komodo great and can't wait to go back! And we have dived Raja Ampat quite a bit.
- Bill

Due to the weather, many cruise directors decide to forgo a trip to the south. One other important factor is the expense. The fuel costs greatly factor into the decision for the two day excursion at Manta Alley and Cannibal Rock. My personal feeling is the cruise directors use the weather as an excuse in order to mitigate fuel costs. One other comment (not to be a naysayer) - I noticed theat many boats drop off divers at sites that are not optimal for the dive. Missing the split point, at the wrong corner given the tide, or perhaps just protecting the divers from currents.