Dive Review of Kalimaya in
Indonesia/Sumbawa

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Kalimaya: "A hassle to get to but well worth it", Mar, 2024, by Michael J. Millet, CA, US ( Top Contributor 101 reports with 63 Helpful votes). Report 12911 has 2 Helpful votes.
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Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	KALIMAYA REVIEW On March 2nd,I traveled from Labuan Bajo to Bima, Sumbawa via DPS. After a 2 hour van ride over some very steep hills with plenty of sharp curves (at night), arrived at Kalimaya Resort, located near the village of Sabe on the east side of Sumbawa. I was advised by the resort before arrival that alcohol cannot be purchased on Sumbawa. So while making the connection at DPS, some libations were purchased. After dinner and a brief orientation, I settled into a spacious bungalow near the dive center, camera room and jetty — quite convenient. The bungalow had large queen bed, lots of storage, A/C, mini-frig and a dimly lit bathroom. The camera room is quite spacious with several stations and plenty of charging outlets. It has A/C. The food here was generally nicely prepared with beef and fish sometimes overcooked. No pork is served. The cuisine was mostly Asian with a no-choice offering except for breakfast, which is made-to-order. The dining area is open-air with ceiling fans and next to the fresh water pool. The resort just had wifi installed, which is free and available in the dining area; not in the bungalows. The management team and the restaurant crew provided excellent service. I celebrated my 2800th dive at Kalimaya and the team made a little banner to commemorate the occasion. I was the only diver during my stay so the dive schedule was pretty much set based on my preferences. We usually headed out about 8AM for a 2 or 3 tank trip. On 3 tank trips, lunch was provided on the boat. On my first dive day, we blew bubbles on the north Sumbawa sites for 2 tanks. Next, day we to some south sites for 2 tanks then did a PM dive on the house reef. The 3rd dive day was wonderful diving Gilli Banta for 2 tanks on some shallow pelagic mania cleaning stations. The viz was quite good and the water a bit warmer — about 80f. There were 6-7 mantas that circled the cleaning stations quite close. We even had the thrill of encountering a pregnant manta. The boat ride to Gilli Banta is about 45 minutes each way. That afternoon, we dived the house reef off the jetty. Here the viz was marginal, the water colder and critter encounters OK. The next day, we did a 3-tank trip to Sangeang Volcano, an hour’s ride to the north. Here I enjoyed some of the best diving of the trip. Good viz, warmer water and no current. Very interesting to see the bubbles rising from sea bed. Lots of nice marine life photo ops. The next 2 dive days were both 3-tank trips to the north dive sites and to the far eastern dive sites. The later had a large sponge formation with 3 frogfish, eels and lots of cleaner shrimp. The dive crew was excellent — always friendly and helpful. After the day’s diving, the crew takes care of rinsing the dive gear. My dive guide, Jimmy, is one of the best I have had the pleasure of diving with — excellent dive site knowledge, great critter finder and reliable snoot handler. About the only hassle that I experienced was the inability to pay by CC even though the resort has wifi. This problem was solved by using PayPal. In summary, I very much enjoyed my experience at Kalimaya in spite of the logistics in getting there. If your dive travels take you to the Bali/Komodo area, consider a visit.
Websites	[same]
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	All over the Caribbean; Galapagos, Socorro, Fiji, Solomons, GBR, Vanuatu, PNG, Philippines, Indonesia, Palau, Yap, Kosrae, Truk Lagoon, Thailand
Closest Airport	Bima	Getting There	DPS to Bima
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, cloudy	Seas	calm, choppy
Water Temp	75-80°F / 24-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	25-60 Ft/ 8-18 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	1 hour dives; no deco
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	Squadrons
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish	N/A
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

Report currently has 2 Helpful votes

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Dive Review of Kalimaya in Indonesia/Sumbawa

Kalimaya: "A hassle to get to but well worth it", Mar, 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 in
Indonesia/Sumbawa