Must Do Komodo National Park Dive Sites
It’s Komodo Week here at the Underwater Tribe in relation to the launching of our October Liveaboard Trip to Komodo. As part of our Komodo Week we are featuring a series of posts about the best Komodo National Park Dive Sites. Part one of this series focuses on two famous “Rock” sites of Komodo, Crystal Rock and Cannibal Rock. Stay tuned for further site descriptions later in the week of other Komodo National Park Dive Sites.
Considering a trip to the Komodo National Park? Komodo is one of the most well known destinations in Indonesia, famous for big critters and drift diving. With a wide variety of dive sites in the region, it’s often difficult to know which are the best sites to make sure you visit during your trip. Not to fear, we give a brief description of the “Not to be Missed” sites on your trip to Komodo.
Castle Rock
One of the signature sites of Komodo, and indeed Indonesia, is Castle Rock. This submerged pinnacle, also known as Hard to Find Rock, is located in the northern area of the park near the island of Gili Lawa Laut. The top of the pinnacle is at approximately 3 metres depth and falls off into depths of more than 50 metres. A dive on this site starts with a drop into the blue and a quick fin down to 20 or 30 metres on the current side of the pinnacle. When the currents are running correctly, white tip and grey reef sharks cruise among a backdrop of schooling fish. Large predatory packs of trevally chase large schools of fusiliers while napoleon wrasse wait to pick off the stragglers. On the reef itself, soft corals and hard corals provide ample photographic subjects while turtles and sea snakes are common encounters. This site should be done when the current is running in order to watch the action at its peak. However, it’s also a great site to dive at slack tide in order to explore the entire area without having to worry about current.
Cannibal Rock
Located at the far southern end of the island of Rinca, Cannibal Rock is the foremost site in the aptly named Horseshoe Bay. Cannibal Rock is another pinnacle that actually rises to the surface and is exposed at low tide. This large pinnacle extends well beyond 40 metres in depth and is home to an incredible variety of marine life. The bottom is covered in a colourful variety of soft corals and sponges while schools of fusiliers are chased by predators in the water column. Anemones and anemone fish are common on this site and turtles are encountered on almost every visit. For those who are into the little things in life, Cannibal Rock is home to plenty of obscure critters. Ladybugs can be found on the deeper areas of the site, frogfish are common, and one of the world’s most spectacular nudibranchs is also found here. Cannibal Rock is such a great dive that most visitors request to dive it at least twice.
Check back in tomorrow for the next Komodo National Park Dive Sites feature on Manta Alley.
