When is the diving season in Komodo North?

The diving season in Komodo North runs May to November, and it is at its best June to October.

Is the diving in Komodo North good for beginners?

It is better with some experience. It suits Advanced Open Water divers or equivalent, so newer divers should ask the local operator which sites fit their level.

How warm is the water in Komodo North?

Between 28 and 30 °C at the surface across the year, coldest in August and warmest in November. It runs cooler below the thermocline.

What wetsuit do I need in Komodo North?

A skin or 3 mm shorty covers the coldest water of the year. The same suit works all year.

What is the visibility like in Komodo North?

Roughly 10 to 30 m depending on the month. That is estimated from satellite chlorophyll-a rather than measured in the water.

What will I see diving Komodo North?

The most consistently recorded species are Reef manta (near-guaranteed), Whitetip reef shark (near-guaranteed) and Hawksbill turtle (near-guaranteed), from 942 records within 60 km.

Does Komodo North get tropical storms?

Yes. Over 30 years of records a storm passed within 250 km in Apr, most often in April at 2 of 30 years.

Is there current in Komodo North?

The tide rises and falls 1.8 m around the full and new moon, against 1.0 m in between. How much of that becomes current depends on the shape of the channel.

When should I avoid Komodo North?

December–February are the weakest months for conditions.

How do you dive Komodo North?

Mostly from liveaboards and day boats. Trips run through the season, May–Nov.

Indonesia · North

Best Time to Dive in Komodo North

8.46°S 119.58°E

Go June to October, when the rain backs off — 6 wet days a month instead of 19. The marine life holds steady all year, so the weather picks the month. The full season runs May to November.

Best time: Jun–Oct
Water: 28–30 °C
Visibility: 10–30 m
Season runs: May–Nov
Dived from: liveaboard and day boat
Tidal range: 1.0–1.8 m
Species logged: 10

Where it is

Indonesia

Site	Best months
North	Jun–Oct
South	Dec–Mar

111 km across · coastline from Natural Earth 10m

Diving in Komodo North — monthly breakdown

Best months at this destination

A year of scuba diving conditions at a glance. Hover a month to isolate it.

Month by month conditions, water temperature, visibility and marine life
	January	February	March	April	May	June	July	August	September	October	November	December
Conditions	Poor	Poor	Moderate	Poor	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Poor
Water temp (°C)	29	28	29	29	29	29	28	28	28	29	30	29
Visibility (m)	15–25	15–25	15–25	15–25	20–30	20–30	20–30	20–30	15–25	15–25	15–25	10–20
Marine life	Peak	Peak	Peak	Peak	Peak	Peak	Peak	Peak	Peak	Peak	Peak	Peak
Best time						Peak	Peak	Peak	Peak	Peak

Excellent Good Moderate PoorPeak season Jun–Oct

Long-term averages, 2016–2025. Visibility is estimated from satellite chlorophyll-a. Water temperature is the surface mean; it is cooler at depth.

The Komodo North diving season

2 seasons

May to November · Peak season

7 months

JFMAMJJASOND

Water temperature: 28–30 °C
Visibility: 20–30 m
Rain: 7 days a month

Diving conditionsThe sea is calmer. It rains less.

Marine lifeReef manta (near-guaranteed) peaks at Komodo North in these months.

December to April · Off season

5 months

JFMAMJJASOND

Water temperature: 28–29 °C
Visibility: 15–25 m
Rain: 22 days a month

Diving conditionsThe sea is rougher. It rains more.

Marine lifeReef manta (near-guaranteed) peaks at Komodo North in these months.

Spring tides run 1.8 m against 1.0 m on neaps, so currents build around the full and new moon.
Water temperature is satellite sea-surface temperature, so expect it cooler below the thermocline.
Visibility is estimated from satellite chlorophyll-a.

Komodo water temperature and weather

942 underwater observation records · 22 surveyed years of ocean data · 10 years of sea temperature

Water & weather

Komodo North water temperature by month

The dashed line is the monthly average. Eight days in ten fall inside the band.

10th to 90th percentile rangemonthly mean

Rarely

rough enough to cancel

Seas top 2.5 m on under 1% of days. Enough to cancel a liveaboard crossing

blowy days a month

Gusts over 40 km/h, about where a day boat stays in port

wet days a month

2 of them bring heavy rain

Monthly sea state, wind, rain, air temperature and daylight
Month	Swell	Gusts over 40 km/h	Wet days	Heavy rain	Air	Daylight
January	0.9 m	0%	25	7	29 °C	12.4 h
February	0.8 m	0%	24	5	29 °C	12.3 h
March	0.8 m	0%	24	3	30 °C	12.1 h
April	0.5 m	0%	15	2	30 °C	11.8 h
May	0.5 m	0%	9	0	31 °C	11.6 h
June	0.6 m	0%	6	0	30 °C	11.5 h
July	0.7 m	0%	4	0	30 °C	11.6 h
August	0.6 m	0%	4	0	30 °C	11.7 h
September	0.5 m	0%	6	0	31 °C	12.0 h
October	0.5 m	0%	7	0	32 °C	12.2 h
November	0.4 m	0%	14	1	32 °C	12.4 h
December	0.7 m	1%	23	6	30 °C	12.5 h

Swell is the rough end of the month: nine days in ten come in under it. Sea temperature covers 10 years, waves 4.

Pick your week

48 weeks from the daily record. Darker is better, against this site's own year. Pick a month for the detail.

Conditions by week, four weeks per month

Week 1	January week 1: Poor	February week 1: Poor	March week 1: Poor	April week 1: Poor	May week 1: Excellent	June week 1: Excellent	July week 1: Good	August week 1: Excellent	September week 1: Excellent	October week 1: Excellent	November week 1: Excellent	December week 1: Poor
Week 2	January week 2: Poor	February week 2: Poor	March week 2: Moderate	April week 2: Poor	May week 2: Excellent	June week 2: Excellent	July week 2: Good	August week 2: Excellent	September week 2: Excellent	October week 2: Excellent	November week 2: Excellent	December week 2: Poor
Week 3	January week 3: Poor	February week 3: Poor	March week 3: Moderate	April week 3: Poor	May week 3: Excellent	June week 3: Excellent	July week 3: Excellent	August week 3: Excellent	September week 3: Excellent	October week 3: Excellent	November week 3: Good	December week 3: Poor
Week 4	January week 4: Poor	February week 4: Poor	March week 4: Good	April week 4: Moderate	May week 4: Excellent	June week 4: Excellent	July week 4: Excellent	August week 4: Excellent	September week 4: Excellent	October week 4: Excellent	November week 4: Good	December week 4: Poor

Excellent Good Moderate PoorBest week to go: fourth of July

Week	Conditions	Water	Swell	Wind	Rain chance
Week 1	Poor	29 °C	0.9 m	13 km/h	75%
Week 2	Poor	29 °C	0.9 m	14 km/h	76%
Week 3	Poor	29 °C	1.0 m	16 km/h	85%
Week 4	Poor	28 °C	1.0 m	17 km/h	87%

Week	Conditions	Water	Swell	Wind	Rain chance
Week 1	Poor	28 °C	0.9 m	17 km/h	86%
Week 2	Poor	28 °C	0.8 m	15 km/h	83%
Week 3	Poor	28 °C	0.8 m	14 km/h	80%
Week 4	Poor	28 °C	0.9 m	14 km/h	78%

Week	Conditions	Water	Swell	Wind	Rain chance
Week 1	Poor	29 °C	0.9 m	14 km/h	78%
Week 2	Moderate	29 °C	0.9 m	13 km/h	82%
Week 3	Moderate	29 °C	0.8 m	13 km/h	76%
Week 4	Good	29 °C	0.6 m	13 km/h	71%

Week	Conditions	Water	Swell	Wind	Rain chance
Week 1	Poor	29 °C	0.5 m	13 km/h	66%
Week 2	Poor	29 °C	0.5 m	13 km/h	57%
Week 3	Poor	29 °C	0.5 m	14 km/h	46%
Week 4	Moderate	30 °C	0.5 m	16 km/h	34%

May, week by week

Week	Conditions	Water	Swell	Wind	Rain chance
Week 1	Excellent	30 °C	0.5 m	18 km/h	30%
Week 2	Excellent	29 °C	0.5 m	20 km/h	29%
Week 3	Excellent	29 °C	0.5 m	20 km/h	26%
Week 4	Excellent	29 °C	0.5 m	19 km/h	25%

June, week by week

Week	Conditions	Water	Swell	Wind	Rain chance
Week 1	Excellent	29 °C	0.6 m	19 km/h	24%
Week 2	Excellent	29 °C	0.6 m	20 km/h	25%
Week 3	Excellent	29 °C	0.6 m	21 km/h	21%
Week 4	Excellent	29 °C	0.7 m	22 km/h	19%

July, week by week

Week	Conditions	Water	Swell	Wind	Rain chance
Week 1	Good	29 °C	0.7 m	22 km/h	22%
Week 2	Good	29 °C	0.7 m	23 km/h	16%
Week 3	Excellent	28 °C	0.7 m	23 km/h	9%
Week 4	Excellent	28 °C	0.6 m	22 km/h	10%

August, week by week

Week	Conditions	Water	Swell	Wind	Rain chance
Week 1	Excellent	28 °C	0.6 m	21 km/h	14%
Week 2	Excellent	28 °C	0.6 m	20 km/h	17%
Week 3	Excellent	28 °C	0.6 m	20 km/h	14%
Week 4	Excellent	28 °C	0.6 m	20 km/h	11%

September, week by week

Week	Conditions	Water	Swell	Wind	Rain chance
Week 1	Excellent	28 °C	0.5 m	20 km/h	13%
Week 2	Excellent	28 °C	0.5 m	19 km/h	17%
Week 3	Excellent	28 °C	0.5 m	18 km/h	22%
Week 4	Excellent	29 °C	0.5 m	17 km/h	25%

October, week by week

Week	Conditions	Water	Swell	Wind	Rain chance
Week 1	Excellent	29 °C	0.5 m	17 km/h	23%
Week 2	Excellent	29 °C	0.4 m	17 km/h	19%
Week 3	Excellent	29 °C	0.5 m	17 km/h	20%
Week 4	Excellent	29 °C	0.6 m	16 km/h	24%

Week	Conditions	Water	Swell	Wind	Rain chance
Week 1	Excellent	29 °C	0.4 m	15 km/h	29%
Week 2	Excellent	30 °C	0.4 m	15 km/h	40%
Week 3	Good	30 °C	0.4 m	14 km/h	50%
Week 4	Good	30 °C	0.4 m	14 km/h	62%

Week	Conditions	Water	Swell	Wind	Rain chance
Week 1	Poor	29 °C	0.5 m	14 km/h	69%
Week 2	Poor	29 °C	0.6 m	15 km/h	74%
Week 3	Poor	29 °C	0.7 m	16 km/h	77%
Week 4	Poor	29 °C	0.9 m	15 km/h	77%

10 years of daily records, averaged into weeks.

Gear & storms

What to wear

Off the coldest water of each month, not the average — that is what the suit has to cope with.

Wetsuit thickness by month
	January	February	March	April	May	June	July	August	September	October	November	December
Suit	January: skin	February: skin	March: skin	April: skin	May: skin	June: skin	July: skin	August: skin	September: skin	October: skin	November: skin	December: skin

One suit covers the whole year: a skin or 3 mm shorty.

Swell through the year

The rough end of each month — nine days in ten come in under it.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Amber is over 2.5 m.

Tides

Daily tidal range across one lunar month.

Tropical storms

2 of the last 30 Aprils saw a tropical storm pass within 250 km. April is the only month with a recorded pass.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Share of the last 30 years with a storm that month.

NOAASea surface temperature, from OISST and MUR
ERA5Wind, waves, rain and air temperature, via Open-Meteo
OBISMarine species records within 60 km
IBTrACSTropical cyclone tracks, 1996 to 2025

Komodo North marine life — what you'll see diving

942 records within 60 km

Species	When	Reliability	Evidence	Records
Reef manta	All year	Near-guaranteed	16/22	202
Whitetip reef shark	All year	Near-guaranteed	15/22	82
Hawksbill turtle	All year	Near-guaranteed	15/22	158
Napoleon wrasse	Jun–Jul, Sep, Nov	Likely	13/22	64
Bluespotted ribbontail ray	All year	Likely	12/22	62
Blacktip reef shark	All year	Likely	11/22	127
Green turtle	All year	Likely	11/22	145
Bigeye trevally	May–Aug	Likely	9/22	36
Ocellated eagle ray	May–Jul	Likely	11/22	22
Bumphead parrotfish	Jun, Aug–Sep, Nov	Likely	7/22	19

Peak Present

Observed window: Months with records. Peak is where most of them fall.
Reliability: Near-guaranteed in 60% of surveyed years or more
Likely 30% to 60%
Hit-or-miss under 30%
Evidence: Years it was seen, out of the years anyone surveyed.
Records: OBIS sightings within 60 km.

These are sightings people logged, not a full survey of the reef. A species missing from a month may just mean nobody recorded one.

Diving Komodo North — common questions

When is the best time to dive Komodo North?: Go June to October, when the rain backs off — 6 wet days a month instead of 19. The marine life holds steady all year, so the weather picks the month. The full season runs May to November.
When is the diving season in Komodo North?: The diving season in Komodo North runs May to November, and it is at its best June to October.
Is the diving in Komodo North good for beginners?: It is better with some experience. It suits Advanced Open Water divers or equivalent, so newer divers should ask the local operator which sites fit their level.
How warm is the water in Komodo North?: Between 28 and 30 °C at the surface across the year, coldest in August and warmest in November. It runs cooler below the thermocline.
What wetsuit do I need in Komodo North?: A skin or 3 mm shorty covers the coldest water of the year. The same suit works all year.
What is the visibility like in Komodo North?: Roughly 10 to 30 m depending on the month. That is estimated from satellite chlorophyll-a rather than measured in the water.
What will I see diving Komodo North?: The most consistently recorded species are Reef manta (near-guaranteed), Whitetip reef shark (near-guaranteed) and Hawksbill turtle (near-guaranteed), from 942 records within 60 km.
Does Komodo North get tropical storms?: Yes. Over 30 years of records a storm passed within 250 km in Apr, most often in April at 2 of 30 years.
Is there current in Komodo North?: The tide rises and falls 1.8 m around the full and new moon, against 1.0 m in between. How much of that becomes current depends on the shape of the channel.
When should I avoid Komodo North?: December–February are the weakest months for conditions.
How do you dive Komodo North?: Mostly from liveaboards and day boats. Trips run through the season, May–Nov.

Elsewhere in Komodo

1 other site

South

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