Amazing cruise in Komodo 9 nights (Labuan Bajo - Labuan Bajo)

Itinerary
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Day 1 Labuan Bajo, Arrival & Boarding
After a one-hour flight from Denpasar (Bali) you will arrive in the small port town of Labuan Bajo, Flores.
Our Aurora staff will pick you up at the airport for immediate boarding and departure to our first dive site. Only a few miles from Labuan Bajo’s harbour lies the small island of Sebayur with a nice dive including marbled hatchetfish, lionfish, eels and possibly the resident ghost pipefish. The perfect “warm-up dive”. On the neighbouring reef, nudibranchs, pipefish, sea fans, sponges and scorpion fish. During the night dive you might see carpet sharks, nudis and crustaceans. -
Day 2 Gili Lawah Laut
Gili Lawa Laut,“Island Facing the Sea”, is home to two of the best pinnacles in all of Indonesia, "Crystal Rock" and "Castle Rock". Huge schools of jacks, giant trevally, white tip and grey reef sharks, barracudas, dolphins and a whole host of smaller reef fish that float amongst the fields of staghorn coral. A challenging site, but certainly worth a couple of dives!
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Day 3 Gili Lawah Darat
Discover the famous dive known as "El Toro", kind of a pot, where the current attracts pelagic, sharks, trevally, tuna and sometimes Mantas. Do not miss!
Go for an excursion on land, or on sea and meet the permanent family of dolphins in this area. The night dive named "Flamenco Show", the Spanish dancer and macro.
Lighthouse Reef: a nice dive site with hard corals and lots of bushes of black coral. -
Day 4 Komodo Channel
Tatawa Besar, one of the most colourful drift dives in all of Komodo. Look at the horizon while flying along endless coral gardens with sandy slopes. The Tatawa coastline alternates rocky landscapes and mangroves. Eagle rays and turtles are typical guests along this rich coral slope. The coastline is long enough so that the drift can last up to 40 minutes and cover almost 2 kilometres!
Batu Bolong: plenty of sharks and excellent visibility. This dive is also called “Current City”, and can only be dived when the conditions are fine.
Tatawa Besar: this drift is a Komodo classic. The site is covered with orange soft corals, schooling batfish and a beautiful shallow hard coral garden.
Tatawa Kecil: a spectacular drop-off. Impressive coral reef, turtles, tuna, giant trevallies, sweet lips, groupers and countless fish you will take home as a great memory of your adventure.
Takat Makassar, if currents allow: look out for manta rays at the cleaning station. You can go relatively close to observe them.
Takat Makassar West (Komodo Channel) alternatively is a great night dive. -
Day 5 Padar
Unique species of nudibranchs. The coral pillars, which sit in a strange “W” shaped configuration, are literally alive with colour. Holothurians cover almost every bare surface. Lionfish and Napoleons populate the tops of the pillars. Subject to strong currents and an almost permanent surge, this can be a challenging yet beautiful dive. A quick hike up the gentle slopes of Padar provides an outstanding view of both Komodo and Rinca.
Three Sisters / Tiga Dara: rocks nicely covered with corals and just teeming with life. You will dive sheltered from the current and finish on the peaks that rise up to 8 meters. -
Day 6 South Rinca / Horseshoe Bay & Nusa Kode
Horseshoe Bay is shaped like its namesake, with Rinca Island forming the outer arc and Nusa Kode forming the inner one. The colder plankton-rich waters of the Indian Ocean make this area a bit colder than the northern regions of the Park. The sea-life gets everyone into the water, even four times the day.
Cannibal Rock, a small submarine ridge. The reef-top is littered with feather stars, brittle stars, sea cucumbers, anemones and all kinds of corals. The deeper rocks provide hiding places for nudibranchs, frogfish and even rhinopias.
Torpedo Alley, named after the electrified rays, hosts also ghost pipefish and other extraordinary creatures. -
Day 7
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Day 8 Komodo South / Manta Alley
Have you ever seen a picture of dozen Mantas taken in Komodo? This is the place! With all the nutrients coming from the Indian Ocean and the abundance of plankton, Mantas love to hang around here, and often offer to divers the beautiful spectacle of their dance. Water can be chilled and visibility not all the time amazing but the dive site is full of fishes with a beautiful reef. When lucky, pelagic can also be encountered.
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Day 9 North Rinca / Loh Buaya Trekking
Stop near the "Second Ranger Station Loh Buaya", next to "Wainilu Island", the paradise of macro. Many different and rare kinds of nudibranchs, ghost pipefish and other surprises.
After lunch, we will begin our magnificent walk on Rinca Island to see the infamous Komodo dragons and we will be back in the water by noon. -
Day 10 Labuan Bajo
After a nice breakfast on board, our Aurora crew will organize, according to your flight schedules, your transfer to the airport of Labuan Bajo.
Unfortunately, our trip arrived at an end and we have to say goodbye but we hope to see you again on board.
Dates & prices
Departures for English-speaking groups:
No departure for now
Trip code: 63
Included
- Pick up and drop off (before and after the cruise) from the nearest airport to Aurora
- Accommodation in a double-bed or twin-bed cabin with en-suite bathroom, toilet and AC
- Meals and all soft drinks on board (excluding beer, spirits, wine, espresso coffee)
- Minimum 15 to 20 dives (inluding night dives), according to weather conditions and flights schedules
- 12L Tank, belt, weights and diving guide
- Nitrox. As a service offered by Dune, Nitrox can’t be subject to any complaint or refund in case of a possible failure or malfunctioning of the compressor
- Multilingual guides on board (French, English, Indonesian),
- Land excursions, according to the diving cruise itinerary
- Wifi : subject to network availibility - some areas might not be covered
Not included
- Scuba diving courses
- Rental diving equipment
- Dive insurance (mandatory)
- 15 L TankExtra excursion requested
- Beer, wine and spirits, Expresso coffee
- Souvenirs, laundry, use of satellite phone
- Tips on board (for crew): 15 USD minimum / person / day - to be paid in cash
- Port fee: 200 USD per trip per person