Is This Northern Komodo Only?

[divinh]

I've read that Northern Komodo is warm while Southern Komodo is cooler, necessitating perhaps a 5mm wetsuit. I was going to hedge my bet with a 3/2mm full wetsuit and a 2/1mm top for both Northern and Southern Komodo. Unfortunately, the wetsuit combo I ordered was too small for both. I'm now interested to see if I could get away with a full 3/2mm or 4/3mm.

It seems the liveaboard I signed up for only goes as far south as 3 Sisters. Is that still considered Northern Komodo, in which case I would opt for 3/2mm.

Day 1 - Labuan Bajo, Bidadari island, Sebayor Keci
Day 2 - Castle Rock, Cristal Rock, Shot Gun, Night Dive at Gililawa Darat Bay
Day 3 - Golden Passage, Batu Bolong, Tatawa Besar, Night Dive at Sebayor Besar
Day 4 - Makasar Reef, Sraya Kecil, Night Dive at Waenilu
Day 5 - PulauTengah Kecil, Pink Beach, Loh Namu, Night Dive at Pink Beach
Day 6 - 3 Sisters, Padar Kecil Channel, Night Dive at Pilar Stin
Day 7 - Taman Rahasia, Bonsai Rock

I'm only 5'3" and do not want to spend a ton on a full wetsuit since most of my diving is in warm waters, in which case I'll usually opt for shorts and rash guard. (This is for temps from 27-30 C with repetitive dives.) With my height, I've found inventory to be limited and moreso when looking for a sale price.

Thanks!

 

[Mike Veitch]

Depends on your dates? When are you going? South is warm 26 - 28 C from Nov to April but then tends to drop to 18-24C from May to Sept/Oct. In the North its typically 27-28 from May to Nov/Dec but can then drop to 24/25 from Dec to April

Of your list

Night Dive at Waenilu - Can be 20 - 24 in the May - Oct
Day 5 - PulauTengah Kecil, Pink Beach, Loh Namu, Night Dive at Pink Beach can be 20-24 May- Oct
Day 6 - 3 Sisters, Padar Kecil Channel, Night Dive at Pilar Stin can be 20-24 May to Oct
Day 7 - Taman Rahasia, Bonsai Rock

 

[Dan]

3 Sisters (2) is considered middle Komodo. Southern Komodo is Nusa Kode / South Rinca area (3, 4, 5, 6) Longkoi Rock, Tata, Tanjung Loh Sera & Manta Alley as shown, below.

If you were still referring to the same liveaboard (KLM Seamore Papua) with only Satellite phone as way of communication (no DSC / AIS) as you mentioned in the other thread, may be it’s a blessing that the boat won’t be going to the south. If you were lost at sea in the southern Komodo, the next land is Antarctica.

Back in 2008, I read about a group dove around northern Komodo (Tatawa Besar?) during new moon & low tide (when current was at worst condition) and got swept away by strong & circulating (“washing machine”) currents. They were able to tie themselves together & landed in Komodo dragon infested Rinca island after floating for 9 hours over night. They had to fend off the Komodo dragons until Search And Rescue team came & got them off the island.

Stranded divers had to fight off Komodo dragons to survive

Missing Divers - Komodo National Park

 

[divinh]

Dates are June 25th - July 2nd, so I guess I better prepare for cooler waters.

Depends on your dates? When are you going? South is warm 26 - 28 C from Nov to April but then tends to drop to 18-24C from May to Sept/Oct. In the North its typically 27-28 from May to Nov/Dec but can then drop to 24/25 from Dec to April

Of your list

Night Dive at Waenilu - Can be 20 - 24 in the May - Oct
Day 5 - PulauTengah Kecil, Pink Beach, Loh Namu, Night Dive at Pink Beach can be 20-24 May- Oct
Day 6 - 3 Sisters, Padar Kecil Channel, Night Dive at Pilar Stin can be 20-24 May to Oct
Day 7 - Taman Rahasia, Bonsai Rock

Dates are June 25th - July 2nd, so I guess I better prepare for cooler waters for Day 5-7!

I did look at the Komodo water temps for June/July and it is the coolest period, but still indicated 26-28 C /on average/, which is the range I'm okay with in a shorts and rash guard elsewhere.

Komodo Sea Temperature June Average, Indonesia | Sea Temperatures

Of course, I realized /on average/ might not be a true indicator of what I would be dealing with, thus the question. Thanks!

 

[divinh]

3 Sisters (2) is considered middle Komodo. Southern Komodo is Nusa Kode / South Rinca area (3, 4, 5, 6) Longkoi Rock, Tata, Tanjung Loh Sera & Manta Alley as shown, below.

View attachment 448939

If you were still referring to the same liveaboard (KLM Seamore Papua) with only Satellite phone as way of communication (no DSC / AIS) as you mentioned in the other thread, may be it’s a blessing that the boat won’t be going to the south. If you were lost at sea in the southern Komodo, the next land is Antarctica.

Back in 2008, I read about a group dove around northern Komodo (Tatawa Besar?) during new moon & low tide (when current was at worst condition) and got swept away by strong & circulating (“washing machine”) currents. They were able to tie themselves together & landed in Komodo dragon infested Rinca island after floating for 9 hours over night. They had to fend off the Komodo dragons until Search And Rescue team came & got them off the island.

Stranded divers had to fight off Komodo dragons to survive

Missing Divers - Komodo National Park

Yikes! I'll have to read about this tomorrow!

 

[Luko]

Back in 2008, I read about a group dove around northern Komodo (Tatawa Besar?) during new moon & low tide (when current was at worst condition) and got swept away by strong & circulating (“washing machine”) currents. They were able to tie themselves together & landed in Komodo dragon infested Rinca island after floating for 9 hours over night. They had to fend off the Komodo dragons until Search And Rescue team came & got them off the island.

From what I heard it was Batu Bolong on the wrong side at that time of the day.

It seems that apart from the dive manager who apparently refuses to dive anymore with her customers, they didn't learn much from it.
I dived with this operation a couple of years later in 2010 and wasn't impressed with the way they managed their dive boats and the safety management.
Despite several warnings mentioned to the dive manager, notably from another dive customer who happened to be an mechanical engineer, our boat broke its engine while we were diving Batu Bolong, -without any 2nd engine of course- when we surfaced it was drifting 300m from where we were, so we hitchhiked another dive boat after 40 minutes that also had to tow our late boat back to LBJ.
Luckily that was Batu Bolong, the most frequented dive site... I hardly imagine what would have happened if we were diving Castle Rock.

 

[Mike Veitch]

If you were lost at sea in the southern Komodo, the next land is Antarctica.

I think you just upset all of the Aussies on here

 

[Dan]

I think you just upset all of the Aussies on here

Oops!

Correction:
After a day floating in Indian Ocean, you might land on Sumba Island. If you miss it, Indonesian Throughflow - Wikipedia “typically” would take you southwest to Antarctica, “During June to August, southeasterlies of the southwest monsoon predominate over Indonesia and drive strong Ekman divergence (southwestward flow in the Southern Hemisphere thus increasing ITF to 15 Sv)”, but you might get on a stream that take you straight south to Western Australia, which is teaming with great white shark (GWS). Since you’ll be going in June (fall/winter time in Australia), you probably succumb to hypothermia before being eaten by GWS.

How’s that sound, @Mike Veitch ?

 

[Mike Veitch]

Much better, I like the bit about the GWS

 

[Dan]

Much better, I like the bit about the GWS

That is one thing that scares me to go diving there. I rather go diving in bleached out GBR.