Dive Komodo — PADI 5 Star Centre in Labuan Bajo since 1996, with the Tatawa Liveaboard

Dive Komodo was founded in 1996 by the diving pioneer Mark Heighes, whose exploration of the Komodo area dates back to 1981, and is still run by the Heighes family from its shop on Jalan Soekarno Hatta in Labuan Bajo. It is a PADI 5 Star dive centre with a team of instructors and guides, two boat captains and a dozen boat crew, and it pairs daily diving with its own small liveaboard.

Day trips leave the harbour on the boat Elang Laut Bajo early each morning for three guided dives at sites such as Batu Bolong, Castle Rock, Crystal Rock, Manta Point, Tatawa and Siaba, chosen each day for the conditions and the group's experience, with a hot lunch on board and a return to town in the late afternoon. Groups are kept to four divers per guide and the boat takes up to 16 divers; snorkellers and non-divers can join too. PADI courses run from Discover Scuba Diving and Open Water through Advanced, Rescue, Emergency First Response and specialties to Divemaster.

The M/V Tatawa is a traditional wooden liveaboard with five fan-cooled cabins for a maximum of eight guests and two dive guides. Trips run from 3 days/2 nights (9 dives in the north and centre of the park, plus a Komodo dragon walk on Rinca) to 6 days/5 nights (21 dives, including the far south), with Padar Island and Pink Beach on the longer routes.

At the time of writing, a three-dive day trip costs IDR 2,750,000 with full equipment and lunch included, plus the national park fee (IDR 300,000 a day), and the three-day PADI Open Water course costs IDR 8,500,000 including eLearning and equipment. Tatawa trips cost from IDR 10,500,000 per person for 3 days/2 nights in 2026. Check the website for current rates.