Dive Review of Kalimaya Dive Resort in
Indonesia/Komodo

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Kalimaya Dive Resort: "Critters, Nudis and Dragons in Exquisite Isolation", Apr, 2024, by Laura Todd, CA, US ( Sr. Reviewer 9 reports with 10 Helpful votes). Report 12977 has 3 Helpful votes.
Photos Submitted with this Report Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Kalimaya is located on the eastern edge of Sumbawa island just past the western edge of Komodo National Park and features the beautiful scenery, wild open spaces and great diving that area is known for without the crowds. In fact, we did not see another dive boat in our entire 10 days. The Resort: Is small with only 8 bungalows, all but one laid out along the beach. The grounds are nicely landscaped with bougainvillea arching over many of the walkways. The rooms themselves are small, but have a large porch with glass doors and a partially covered bathroom. I found the AC and electricity very reliable. The best feature of the whole place, though was the common area, with a large beachfront pool surrounded by daybeds, hammocks and creatively lighted seating areas. Always a good vibe. The food: This is the only area where Kalimaya struggled a bit. They relied a little too heavily on vegetarian staples such as tempeh and tofu for us meat eaters and they ran out of fruit entirely on our penultimate day. That said, the food was always tasty and there were very few repeated dishes over the 10 days we were there. Breakfast is cooked to order from six or so choices of Indonesian and western options. Lunch and dinner are set menus which are posted ahead of time. The restaurant manager is very personable and available and always open to changing or customizing a dish with notice. There are loads of delicious coffee options. Very little in terms of alcohol on offer – if you want something specific, bring it from duty free. The Diving: Is done from the resorts two cabin cruisers, both with marine heads, shaded bench seating, topside sundecks, radios and safety gear. These are moored at bouys off their long dock so a very short shuttle ride is involved. The sea was so calm for most of our stay that we couldn’t hear the “waves” from our beds, just meters away, but when it did get lumpy, boarding the transfer dinghies was tricky. The gearing up area is well laid out with shade, plenty of washing and hanging space and showers. Its about a 50 meter walk down a hot dock to reach the boats – wear/bring shoes of some kind. One thing to know is that the boat rides here are relatively long. The resort dives 3 main areas, the closest of which are 20 minutes away. The dive managers will announce the following days dive plan at dinner. They are open to requests and discussion, but my recommendation especially in the beginning of your stay is to follow their plan. They really do make an effort to get you to a variety of sites and scenic surface interval spots. Local sites: these in my opinion, are among the best sites and range from nice patch reefs to small rocky walls to a special black sand muck area (note: the sand in this area is generally white). At these sites we found loads of baby frog fish, a variety of nudis, including the stunning Miamira flavicostata, Pegasus seamoths, an inimicus scorpionfiah, some crocodile fish, a juvenile round brown leaf fish, assorted pipefish, large mantis shrimp, and blue spot sting rays. While the nudi spotting was excellent throughout the area, I have to mention the tremendous variety of Marionia species at the local sites. We saw an average of one per dive at least, some of which were very unusual and one that no one, including a couple of nudi experts, could identify (partly due, of course, to my atrocious photos, but a great find anyway). DO NOT MISS night dives at the local sites. A smattering of what we saw: several coconut octopus, free-swimming flatworms, a beautiful pink sea hare, a cockatoo waspfish, a pair of Euselenops luniceps (a crazy-looking slug) a Randall’s frog fish and one of those unusual pale orange juvenile froggies covered in little dark orange spots. I had been looking for one of these for years. Also in this area is a stunningly beautiful pink sand beach that makes a wonderful surface interval, just like the one in the national park, except yours will be the only boat there. Komodo sites: these are 1 to 1.5 hours away and we got the least time at these areas, possibly because we had a brand new diver with us much of the time and as you know, Komodo is renowned for its strong and tricky currents. Although we didn’t see the famous big animals, the Komodo dives were very fishy. On 2 dives we got trapped between strong opposing currents and had to end early. Of all things, our amazing guide Alex found a psychedelic batwing (a TINY exquisitely beautiful slug) here. Some of the islands here are uninhabited (due to no water source) and present the awesome white beach, bright green open grassland scenery you came to see. Guests are strongly cautioned, however, not to go to the beach under any circumstances, as dragons could be present at any time. Sangean Volcano: This classic cone volcano is about 1 hour (south side) to 1.5 hours (north side) boat ride. Kalimaya advertises this area as critters in the north and nice patch reefs in the south. I found the north sites relatively forgettable, but the south (closer) sites were a nudi wonderland. Some unusual species included: Bornella stellifer, Dendronotus Sp. 3, and Eubranchus Sp,2. These were topped off with loads of common species from a variety of genera. We came up after one dive here to the sight of a LARGE group of the local water buffalo treating themselves to something of a spa day just meters away in the shallows. There is also a house reef right off the dock that you can dive any time after an orientation with staff. The visibility here is unimpressive but there was a large black frog fish, schooling batfish, the only turtle of the trip and the largest marble ray I’ve ever seen. This guy was much bigger than most mantas I’ve encountered. When the guide pointed it out, I thought I was looking at the center of a huge fallen palm frond, but it was the tail of this enormous animal. The Staff: Everyone at Kalimaya was kind and invested in their job and guests. The boatmen and captains in particular were incredibly helpful. They sent two people to assist me on the house reef (shore) dive.I had a minor disability at the time and one of them was always there to carry heavy stuff and assist me to and from the boat. At least one of the managers was always present on the boat and around the resort and all were fun to just hang out with. They have relatively few guides as the managers often do double duty, but our guide Alex was excellent, particularly at spotting macro creatures. A Couple Things to Know: The resort is accessed via a 90 minute drive on a very curvy road from Bima airport or a 1.5 hour boat transfer from Labuan Bajo. Also, about 30% of the dive sites feature Komodo’s infamous chllly water, often by surprise. The coldest temperature I recorded was 76F. Bring a 5 mil suit unless you run really warm. Will I go back? Absolutely!
Websites	[same]
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Philippines, Indonesia, Tahiti, Malaysia, Bahamas, Galapagos
Closest Airport	Bima	Getting There	Bali to Bima, then car transfer
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	calm
Water Temp	76-85°F / 24-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	40-60 Ft/ 12-18 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Be at the boat within 70 minutes. No Deco dives
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	There is aa air conditioned, well laid out camera room next to the gear up area.

Report currently has 3 Helpful votes

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Dive Review of Kalimaya Dive Resort in Indonesia/Komodo

Kalimaya Dive Resort: "Critters, Nudis and Dragons in Exquisite Isolation", Apr, 2024,

Photos Submitted with this Report

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

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

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

Dive Review of Kalimaya Dive Resort in
Indonesia/Komodo