After a fantastic week of diving in Bali we dried and packed our equipment and made our way to the airport and onto Labuan Bajo. Here we were greeted by the friendly staff of Komodo Island Resort. A short ride to the pier and we boarded our private boat for the 1.5-hour transfer to Sebayur Island. Here, on this otherwise deserted island, sit 16 beautiful air-conditioned on-suite luxury bungalows, an open-sided restaurant, a beach bar and dive centre. Surrounded by uninhabited islands and calm blue water, Komodo Island Resort is magnificent. All meals are included- a lush breakfast buffet, and lunch and dinner pre ordered a la carte, all 4 courses! Yum.
Excited to get diving we did a relaxed afternoon dive on a nearby reef. The closer sites (3-10 mins away by boat) offer awesome critter hunting, pretty reefs and protection from current; perfect for later afternoon and night diving. The following day we set off on our boat for the hour long journey to some of the further Marine Park dive sites. The boat was extremely comfortable, with large bean bags and shade cover on the upper deck, and ample seating and kit up space on the lower deck. The crew loads equipment and rinses it for you daily and provide tea and snacks during surface intervals
The week’s diving did not disappoint. The water was clear and mostly a comfortable 28C. Some of the sites are prone to strong currents at certain tides, but the benefit of diving at these times is a greater chance of seeing pelagics and sharks. We were lucky enough to encounter manta rays on several of our dives, as well as black tip reef sharks and schools of jacks and barracudas, and countless hawksbill turtles. The reefs are in superb condition and teaming with fish. At times one could not even see the reef through the schools of fish!
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