Komentar :
Richard Blackburn (09/04/2018 12:10)
We did some research in choosing a liveaboard in South East Asia while visiting our sister in Singapore. We chose Indonesia as it was close, has an excellent reputation for diving and is below the equator.
After about a month of reading reviews, asking questions on Reddit and Facebook, we settled on a 7 day trip aboard the Mastro Aldo with Komodo Dive Center. One reason was they visit North, Central, and South Komodo Dive sites. And a catamaran is a better option for the seasick prone.
Our welcome by the crew was pleasant and the other guests for the first half of the trip were nice (you can book 4 or 7 days trips). We got settled in and headed out for our first dive (checkout by the crew to assess our abilities), and all passed the checkout dives. After the dive, they split us into groups based on skill and air consumption. Our guide, Dom, who is also the “cruise director”, would be our guide the rest of the trip.
About the trip:
the food is amazing
the diving was incredible
the hospitality was unbelievable
The cooks are chefs and whip up amazing foods for every meal. Breakfast is served family style, lunch and dinner are served beautifully plated (with extra bowls of everything for most meals). Can't say enough good things about the food, if anyone is disappointed I would be shocked. Other guests with dietary restrictions were also well fed.
The diving is done from speed boats that take you out to the sites and return you to the mothership. The currents can be strong but the staff are used to dealing with it as well as customers of all skill levels, so really well done and safe. Dom was excellent at finding and showing us incredible things, from nudibranchs of every color imaginable to pygmy seahorses both tiny, small, and regular sized.
We got spoiled with all the things to see. It was overwhelming the diversity of corals, fish, and sea life in general. It is so great to see such healthy and spectacular reefs! Sharks, turtles, travelli, grouper, tuna, and wahoo were some of the bigger things to see, not to mention the incredible manta dives. Our speedboat driver, Stephan, was an absolute gem! He helped Samma every dive get on the side of the boat for the backroll.
We had a sunset trek to climb a hill which was awesome. Samma opted to beach comb for shells, which turned into a game for the crew. They kept beach combing and bringing her shells till she finally told them she had too many.
We went to a beach to see the Komodo Dragons in the wild!!!! They are big and lumbering, but can sprint incredibly fast. Dom took my GoPro and set it up on the beach, then got the attention of a dragon. It charged Dom who lept out of the way so ran directly at the camera and knocked it over with its tail. Great video!
I can't say enough good things about the boat and crew. Friendly, always helpful and accommodating. Highly recommend this trip and would love to return someday or maybe the new sister boat coming in 2019.
Damien Sutanto (25/11/2017 04:17)
First meal was great, i.e. two course with tuna main. But the quality steadily drops over the meals in which the last meal was pasta with just a bit of beef bacon (no where near as good as real bacon) with no appetizer. First liveaboard I've been to with flies on the dining area, testament of the cleanliness. Some of the dive sites are great but visibility is not great in central and south area in November. DM is knowledgeable of the area. No aircon after 10.30 PM. Showers once a day only.
Felix Bechmann (05/11/2017 02:37)
Back home we want to say again a BIG THANKS to the Crew of the dive center. We had absolutely great 5 days full of diving and a little Dragon hiking! We can really recommend them. All guides are knowing the spots more than well and we felt always more than save down there. Briefings in front are also absolutely perfect and they draw nearly every stone to show you the spots and the specials you will see in front. We especially liked the north spots also because it is a little bit warmer there as in the middle of the national park :). Food was great and you can choose every day what you want to have next so you will not get bored for sure. They are always leaving early and come back late so you will really see the complete area and not just the Spots closest to Labuan Bajo. We are looking forward for our next time with you guys! Cheers and best regards, Felix & Claudia!
Sahand Saba (29/10/2017 03:21)
The KLM mastro liveaboard was great. Highly recommended.
Lisa Stevenson (08/09/2017 11:51)
We had a wonderful day of diving, friendly staff and beautiful waters, what more can you ask for? The only complaint and somewhat pain was that the booking is made beforehand but payment is made on arrival. We were never told payment was cash only, and it doesn't mention that anywhere in my confirmation or website. It would have been nice and much less hassle if that was known ahead of time. If you're looking to pay by card in advance or upon arrival, another dive center will have to be your choice.
Emilie Jousset (30/08/2017 23:25)
Our experience at KDC was fantastic !!! We loved it so much that we came back twice !!!
The dive masters were passionate, professional and funny.
We arrived with a list of dive sites we wanted to see and in 4 days we ticked them all.
I would recommend KDC to any sea lovers !
Tommy LaTulipe (29/07/2017 10:01)
Nice guys, safety & sustainability oriented, yet fun. We were only two for a guide, the boat was good (and lunch excellent).
Mikkel Bengtson (28/05/2017 10:50)
I have been diving with 6 different diving schools around Indonesia and this was by far the best place I have dived. The atmosphere was amazing the boat crew and the dive master were really friendly entertaining. But did not slack on security. Did a well informed breefing before every dive.
Charlie White (20/05/2017 18:34)
Best diving in my life. Amazing diving experience with these guys. Lovely boat and friendly knowledgeable divers working there. Honest information when researching, no hard sale, just frienly open advice. Very happy we went with them. Great value for the experience offered. Clean office and well organised kit, immediately knew this was a good centre to dive with.
Max Wholey (15/01/2017 11:59)
Awesome experience! Totally surpassed our expectations. Arrived a little skeptical about the livaboard experience but felt totally at home and taken care of. Super friendly staff, great accomadation, and great food! The diving was also world class.
Marco Mainz (29/10/2016 01:21)
Had some great days diving with them. They're very familiar and make you feel comfortable all the time. You will do stuff depending on your diving level/ experience. The whole team is super friendly and funny. There are not so much people (in my case only 5) on the boat as on other dive schools in komodo. Diving in kokodo NP itself is of course also superior. Full recommendation. :)
Jennifer Carnaby (22/08/2015 07:50)
From start to finish everything about our liveaboard experience was top notch.
Moritz is extremely professional and a pleasure to deal with.
We booked the 6n7d trip and by the end we weren't ready to leave. The Mastro Aldo is a comfortable place to call home for a week with all the facilities you need.
The boat's crew and captain are incredibly hard working and great at what they do, they ensure that your stay with them is perfect.
Dimas is unreal in the kitchen, every meal was beyond anything we ever imagined, beautiful presentation and even better flavours. They aren't joking when they say that you won't lose weight onboard.
All of the equipment was in new condition and worked perfectly. Partway through, my mouthpiece on my regulator broke and when I brought this to Dom's attention he fixed it right away.
The dive guides, Dom, Jonas, and Ody, are skilled divers and know their stuff. The currents in Komodo are unreal but when diving with these guys we never felt unsafe, even when hanging on for dear life at Castle Rock! Aside from being great guides and fun people to dive with they are also really cool people and are fun to hang out with in between dives. They make you feel like family.
All in all this has been the best experience we could have ever hoped for and we definitely plan to go back to Komodo to dive with KDC.
The only thing that could've made this trip any better was if Moritz would give Dom the new silver torch that's in his desk drawer.
Just a side note, make sure you book flights to and from of Bajo in advance, and give yourself some extra time as flights don't always land... Especially the Garuda ones. Also, the flights get booked up weeks in advance so don't leave it to the last minute!!
Thank you for the memories. Cheers.
valeri havia (20/07/2015 13:25)
Friendly, helpfull and nice place.
Sven van Bekkum (18/07/2015 06:02)
Great staff, beautiful boat and of course the best divespots in the world. We went to Batu Bolong, Manta Point and Tatawa Kecil. The best dives I made in Indonesia
Serge HUBER (04/08/2016 19:51)
Bien
Jonathan B (25/09/2015 05:36)
Komodo Dive Center
Das Hausboot vom Komodo Dive Center ist einfach super. Die beste Crew die ich in Indonesien bis jetzt erlebt habe. Eigentlich sieht man Niemanden von der Crew, wenn man aber Jemanden braucht, steht wie von Zauberhand einer da, der die Lösung des Problems hat.
Die Tauchguides sind auch Klasse. Zum einen kennen sie die Tauchgebiete wie ihre Westentasche und haben die Strömungen, die hier zum Teil sehr stark ausfallen können, immer bestens vorhergesagt. Außerdem geben Sie sich richtig Mühe, unter Wasser möglichst viel zu finden und das dann auch bestmöglich zu präsentieren. Einfach toll. Vor jedem Tauchgang gibt's ein ausgereiftes Briefing, bei dem auf alle wichtigen und weniger wichtigen Aspekte des Tauchgangs eingegangen wird.
Unter Wasser... Was soll man da sagen. Quasi ein Aquarium nur live in echt und viel viel größer. Von Mantas bis zu den kleinsten Fischen und anderen Lebewesen, hab ich den vier Tagen echt viel gesehen.
Wer in Komodo Nationalpark Tauchen möchte, dem kann ich das Komodo Dive Center wirklich wärmstens empfehlen.
Ein weitere Grund gefällig?
Das Essen! Wir haben nicht einmal das Gleiche bekommen, ok nur beim Früstück, und die Qualität ist perfekt. Sozusagen "Sterneküche" auf hoher See. Ach ja un decker ist das auch noch.
So ein Tagesablauf schaut folgendermaßen aus:
6:30 kleines Frühstück
7:00 erster Tauchgang
9:00 große Frühstück mit allem was man so mag und braucht
11:00 Zweiter Tauchgang
13:00 Mittagessen mit zwei Gängen
15:00 dritter Tauchgang
Dazwischen Snacks Obst oder was grad am Tisch steht... Getränke Tee und Kaffee sowieso den ganzen Tag. Nur für alkoholische Geträne muss bezahlt werden, was in dem muslimischen Teil Indonesiens normal ist.
18:30 Nachttauchgang
20:30 Abendessen auch zwei Gänge.
Die Zeiten wurden immer angepasst, so das möglichst keine anderen Taucher am nächsten Spot unterwegs sind.
Am Abend will man eigentlich nur noch schlafen. Einerseits weil der Tag anstrengend war, andererseits weil das Boot einfach echt erhohlsam ist. Denn wenn man nicht beim Tauchen oder Essen ist, liegt man eigentlich die ganze Zeit am Sonnendeck und lässts sich gut gehen.