Liveaboard Diving – Unveiling the Secrets!

Have you ever considered a liveaboard diving holiday but not sure of how it all works? We here at Scuba Junkie have launched KLM Eliya – a Komodo based liveaboard offering 6 Day / 5 Night trips throughout Komodo National Park. 

We understand that for many the idea of doing a diving liveaboard can be a little daunting so we thought we would explain a little more how it all works! 

Liveaboard literally means live-on-board! This means that you spend your entire trip on the boat. Imagine falling asleep to the sound of waves lapping against the side of the boat and waking up in the morning to find yourself already at the first dive site and all of your gear is ready to go! 

Liveaboard diving comes with many benefits. The crew aboard Eliya are ready to make sure your every need is met. Once you come aboard and get settled in your cabin our crew will help you setting up your dive gear. From the moment you set your gear up until the moment you leave our crew offer ‘full-service’ diving helping you change tanks, washing your gear, making sure you have everything ready before you jump in the water.

Eliya is currently based in Komodo National Park. One of the big benefits of diving off a liveaboard is that you can easily fit 4 dives into the day. Onboard Eliya we aim to do 20 dives over the duration of each trip! This means that you get a lot more diving in a shorter space of time. It’s also a great way to rack up the number of dives in your logbook!

A regular day onboard Eliya will look something like this. 

Our smiling crew will be ready to wake you up nice and early for your first dive of the day. You can start with a quick cup of coffee and a little snack if you are hungry while listening to the dive briefing & then straight in the water for the first dive of the day!

Once you come back from your first dive breakfast will be ready and waiting for you. While you are eating breakfast Eliya will be making its way to the next dive site. After dive 2 you will be served a hot and tasty lunch and then will have plenty of time to relax and take in the views before your 3rd dive of the day.

The 4th dive will be a dusk or night dive depending on the location. Once you are out of the water, showered and refreshed after your dive there will be delicious Indonesian cuisine waiting for you. You can choose to eat in the open air dining area under the stars or be a little more relaxed in our covered cabin. 

Liveaboard diving also comes with other perks – being on KLM Eliya means you will wake up to beautiful Komodo sun-rises and be able to relax in the evenings surrounded by stunning Komodo sunsets – one of our favourite things about being onboard KLM Eliya! For many people floating on the ocean and hearing the sound of the waves brings a peace and calm that can’t be beat! If you want to escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life then a trip onboard a Komodo liveaboard really is the only way to switch off and unwind. 

One of the main questions we get asked about liveaboard diving is “am I a good enough diver, will it be too intense for me?”

Diving in Komodo can be challenging and 4 dives a day can seem like a lot if it is not something you have experienced before. Doing 4 dives a day is a lot easier than trying to do the same schedule on a day trip because KLM ELiya is already at the dive sites! The first dive is early in the morning with 2 dives during the day and then a 4th dusk or night dive so the diving does actually feel very spread out through the day. There is no need to rush and you will have plenty of time to relax between dives! 

The KLM Eliya has a super experienced dive crew that will ensure your safety and enjoyment while onboard. We keep dive groups small (so no more than 4 divers to the same guide) and we try to match people of similar experience levels. This is why we do not have a minimum number of dives or minimum certification requirement to dive with us. Although we will always encourage our guests to have and advanced certification or deep adventure dive before starting the trip.

As Scuba Junkie we know the Komodo National Park very well as our Komodo Resort has been running in the area since 2015. The main consideration while diving here are the currents, but our Crew know these waters like the back of their hand! Many of our dive sites can be dived in a few different ways so how the guide chooses to dive a particular site will depend on the experience and comfort levels of the group. 

Liveaboard diving often means a bigger number of dive sites to choose from as the boat is always in the National Park. This means that at certain times of year the dive sites that you will visit onboard Eliya are not accessible by day trip boats which gives the added value of being somewhere a little more remote with strong chances of having the dive sites all to yourselves! The other advantage of completing 4 dives a day usually means that, for sure, on the first and last dive of each day you will be the only divers at the site as none of the day boats will be around!

We have only touched on a few things here, but there are many reasons divers love liveaboard diving and many reasons why people choose just to do this type of diving on their holidays! Whether you are looking to try your first liveaboard diving experience or you have done some before KLM Eliya is the perfect choice. 

Get in touch with us to find out a little more or even if you just have some questions about liveaboard diving in general please let us know and we will be happy to help!