Komodo Diving Liveaboard: Is It Backpacker Worthy?
It’s hard to spell Komodo without dragons and diving. This little archipelago is famous for its barren islands, quiet beaches, ancient Komodo dragons, and of course, brilliant water adorned with rich marine life underneath. Embarking on Komodo diving liveaboard is non-arguably the best way to explore this beautiful destination. It’s a sailing trip that enables to you to have exciting adventures in both worlds. Komodo diving trip shouldn’t be too different from other dive trips in the world, but it still have some unique aspects that you need to know. And most importantly, is it worth for budget backpackers?
Komodo Diving Liveaboard Is Pricier than Day Trips
There’s actually two ways of exploring the Komodo from Labuan Bajo. You could either go by day trips with speedboat or embark on multi-day sailing trips with liveaboard boats. Day trips are much cheaper and easier to arrange—usually you can made the booking in your hostels. It’s perfect for someone who are not really fancy being on the sea and just in for the sightseeing. Komodo diving liveaboard, however, is way pricier, but it gives plenty of lifetime experience. It’s perfect for someone who like to grab the opportunity to have multiple dives in a day, get the rare chance to do night and early morning dive, and explore the gorgeous islands in between.
The price of diving liveaboard and day trips also differs significantly for the facilities it gives. The lowest budget liveaboard diving cost around USD $120/ day/ night. For such price, you will have sleeping quarters and three meals a day plus snacks in between. Komodo liveaboard budget that cost around USD $180 – $250 usually gives you a private cabin for two, air conditioned rooms, meals, and even dive gear rents. So yeah. You pay what you get.
Liveaboard Finds Better Dive Sites
The thing that Komodo diving liveaboard offers is reach and flexibility. You know, as Komodo gets more popular, dive sites on the national park also get more crowded. Being in diving liveaboard gives you an opportunity to avoid crowded sites at peak hours, visit less-famous sites in the meantimes, and come to the popular sites on quieter time. Diving liveaboard also gives you chance to explore almost any parts of the park. They are moving between the northern to the central parts of the national park. That means you could get different taste of the rich marine life from various area of Komodo on a single trip!
Read More: Best Komodo Liveaboard Destinations for Beginner Divers
Level of Experiences to Enjoy Diving Liveaboard
Just as the name suggest, Komodo diving liveaboard accentuate diving more than anything else on the trip. If you are not familiar with diving, you might want to take a day trip or other liveaboard trip that put emphasis on island exploration featuring occasional snorkels. To enjoy diving liveaboard at it most, you need to have minimum Open Water diving certification. This is to ensure that you can handle the ocean and operate the gears correctly. However, considering the strong currents in Komodo, some companies require you to have minimum certain dives to be eligible joining the boat.
So, is Komodo diving trip backpacker worthy? We definitely say yes! It’s quite expensive than day trip, but it covers a lot of facilities that you only need to pay once and for all. This liveaboard diving trip definitely gives valuable lifetime experience you might not find at other opportunities. So save up and put this into your bucket list!
