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Dive Review of Villa Ombak Diving Academy/KoKoMo Villas in
Indonesia/Gili T/Lombok

Villa Ombak Diving Academy/KoKoMo Villas, Oct, 2011,

by Mike Cavanaugh, TX, US (Contributor Contributor 12 reports with 2 Helpful votes). Report 6298.

No photos available at this time

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Accommodations 3 stars Food 4 stars
Service and Attitude 3 stars Environmental Sensitivity 3 stars
Dive Operation 3 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 3 stars
Beginners 4 stars
Advanced 3 stars
Comments Accommodations:

Kokomo was supposed to be the high end of the Gili T (Trawangan) experience. Gili T actually appeared to be a back packers place to go and on a global scale the infrastructure was still quite crude. No vehicles allowed on the island, lots of horse drawn carts with horses that appeared to be overworked and miserable in the heat. Kokomo was nicely furnished with an A/C that marginally worked. The 1 bdrm villa we stayed in had a nice fresh water Jacuzzi for after dive soaking. We booked Kokomo with breakfast included but they would only allow one cup of coffee. I would recommend Kokomo to others but I would personally want to check out others as a comparison. The food was touted as being top of the line for the island but we found that the only thing that was "top" was the price. While the food was average, we found that eating at other places gave us a benchmark comparison. Hygiene was a concern for me on Gili T. for food & water. I saw the same dolphin and barracuda laying on ice 4 nights in a row so I question the freshness and quality of the food on ice on the island. The water in the shower and the tap for Kokomo villa was salty, my guess is that the fresh water brought over by boat from Lombok is topped off or cut with sea water. The transportation from Lombok to Gili T was supposed to be a fast boat but it turned out to be a real mood killer. The boat was nothing more than a 12-14' ski boat with open deck. With a 2-3' chop on the water we and our baggage were hosed before we reached Kokomo.

Diving:

The dive leaders with Villa Ombak were polite and cheerful and did a fairly good job of pointing out the macro stuff. The dive leaders had a tendency to dive a deep profile (stay deeper longer) and then fast tracked the exit from the water. More than one dive leader followed that profile so I assume it is understood that they can shorten the time in water by staying deep longer. We would dive our own profile and they would wait for us to finish. The boat was an island boat which was difficult to enter and exit. The rule was that you would carry your own weights, fins and mask and the crews would do the rest. Our dive guide carried everything for us. The boat entry was a surf entry which was awkward with photo equipment. The boat crews did not help with equipment getting in the boat. Water entry during diving was a back roll into the water. This is normal procedure but the width of the seats made the strain much worse trying to reach the side of the boat with short legs. Exiting the water was done by handing off weights and then climbing out on an aluminum framed ladder which was too short. You could remove the BCD to exit but it was not encouraged because there were many divers trying to get out with surface current.

Reef/Marine Life:

The reefs looked fair with patches of color. There was quite a bit of reef damage from boats and divers. The turtles we saw looked emaciated (if that is possible). That may be a sign of not much to eat on the reef. There were many nudi's, clownfish, and small reef fish but very few large fish. The exception to that was a school of bump heads which were the largest I have ever seen. When I attempted to get close to video the largest one approached me to challenge my movement towards the school. Cool stuff but the teeth on that bump head were intimidating.
Websites Villa Ombak Diving Academy   KoKoMo Villas

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 501-1000 dives
Where else diving [Unspecified]
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, cloudy, dry Seas calm
Water Temp 81-84°F / 27-29°C Wetsuit Thickness 1
Water Visibility 50-70 Ft/ 15-21 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions Time. No deco.
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks 1 or 2 Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 3 stars Tropical Fish 3 stars
Small Critters 3 stars Large Fish 1 stars
Large Pelagics 1 stars

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subject Matter 3 stars Boat Facilities 1 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 2 stars Shore Facilities 1 stars
UW Photo Comments No place to store camera or video equip on boat. No rinse tank on boat. No rinse tank at dive shop (for video/photo equipment only). Crew was well versed in handling video/photo equipment in & out of water.
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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