fuggler
Contributor
From Nov 17-24, we were on Grand Komodo's Nusa Tara. It has three cabins and we got the only one that has side-by-side twin beds (instead of bunk). (I recommend requesting that when you book.) It felt like we had more space. There were 8 Indonesian crew members, including our amazing dive guide, Putu, who is only 23 years old! The schedule was easy to follow: I was awake by 6 (preparing my camera gear and having tea+biscuits), the 1st dive was at 7, followed by breakfast, 2nd dive was at 11, followed by lunch, then a naptime break before the 3rd dive at 3, followed by a snack, a night dive at 7, then dinner.
Our group's main complaints were the redundancy of some food items and the lack of hot shower and/or pressure in all the cabins. The boat also ran out of fresh water halfway through the trip and had to fetch some more from their sister boat. All the crew members were nice and helpful though, and that definitely made up for those minor shortcomings. Overall, I recommend the Nusa Tara for budget-minded divers.
As for the diving... WOW WOW WOW. I had two "double rainbow" moments on that trip. The first was when we saw mantas at Taka Makassar and the second was at my favorite site, Crystal Rock. Imagine a huge wave of fusiliers circling around you and some brightly colored reefs. Truly unforgettable. Water temp was never below 82 degrees but the viz was pretty bad at some sites. My favorite sites were Crystal Rock, Cannibal Rock, Three Sisters, and Yellow Wall. We did Current City at the worst possible time (high tide AND full moon, bloody hell!), but the scariest current dive we did was at Shotgun (hence the name). Our guide said it was 12 knots, which was kind of traumatizing for us because we're from Northern California and don't deal with currents! Komodo is definitely not for the inexperienced diver. We enjoyed some sites during slack tide but like our guide said, "no current means no adventure".
Here are some pictures from our trip:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/underwater-photography/361860-pics-my-komodo-liveaboard-trip.html
Our group's main complaints were the redundancy of some food items and the lack of hot shower and/or pressure in all the cabins. The boat also ran out of fresh water halfway through the trip and had to fetch some more from their sister boat. All the crew members were nice and helpful though, and that definitely made up for those minor shortcomings. Overall, I recommend the Nusa Tara for budget-minded divers.
As for the diving... WOW WOW WOW. I had two "double rainbow" moments on that trip. The first was when we saw mantas at Taka Makassar and the second was at my favorite site, Crystal Rock. Imagine a huge wave of fusiliers circling around you and some brightly colored reefs. Truly unforgettable. Water temp was never below 82 degrees but the viz was pretty bad at some sites. My favorite sites were Crystal Rock, Cannibal Rock, Three Sisters, and Yellow Wall. We did Current City at the worst possible time (high tide AND full moon, bloody hell!), but the scariest current dive we did was at Shotgun (hence the name). Our guide said it was 12 knots, which was kind of traumatizing for us because we're from Northern California and don't deal with currents! Komodo is definitely not for the inexperienced diver. We enjoyed some sites during slack tide but like our guide said, "no current means no adventure".
Here are some pictures from our trip:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/underwater-photography/361860-pics-my-komodo-liveaboard-trip.html