Putri Naga — an intimate Komodo liveaboard for small groups

Putri Naga is for divers who would rather share a boat with five other guests than fill a larger liveaboard. Its scale suits a family, a couple travelling with friends or a private group that wants the boat to remain personal from the first briefing to the last dinner. The 2025 renovation matters here: this is a small wooden vessel kept current for people who come primarily to dive, not a floating resort that happens to carry tanks. Komodo is the reason to board. The route reaches current-swept pinnacles, manta sites and quieter macro reefs, while the open-air spaces give a small group room to sit together without losing the sense of being at sea.

Putri Naga makes a compact impression at the dock: a wooden liveaboard built around a small number of guests rather than a long passenger list. The layout is easy to read, with the dive area close to the water and the social spaces above it. A single Isuzu Marine engine powers the boat, so engine sound is part of life on board rather than something hidden behind a hotel-style corridor. The recent renovation gives the boat a fresher working character without changing its intimate scale. By the second day, everyone knows who is heading for the next dive, who is staying on the sun terrace and whose gear is waiting on the platform.

Putri Naga is small enough for the crew to remain close to the diving instead of becoming a background service. English and Indonesian are spoken on board, and the dive master is described as professional, welcoming and attentive to different levels of experience. That combination matters on a six-guest boat: a briefing can stay clear, questions do not disappear in a crowd and the same people are present when divers return to the platform. Evenings are likely to gather around the open-air dining space, with the day’s current dives, mantas and macro finds providing more substance than organised entertainment. The atmosphere is personal because the boat has no room for anonymity.

The Komodo route combines exposed pinnacles, channels, coral slopes and macro sites. Batu Bolong is a tiny pinnacle dropping to -40m, with dense coral, giant trevally, Napoleon wrasse and reef sharks. Castle Rock reaches -30m, where nutrient-rich currents draw white-tip and grey reef sharks, eagle rays and barracuda; the cockatoo fish is recorded only there. Crystal Rock, also -30m, sits in the Lintah Strait and concentrates pelagic life, including manta rays. Siaba Besar is shallower at -18m, with frogfish, blue-ringed octopus and the ghost pipefish found only on this site. Shotgun and Tatawa Besar reach -25m and bring current, mantas or reef sharks over coral. Cannibal Rock and Golden Passage reach -30m; the first mixes macro life with schooling pelagics, while the second offers strong current and the route’s recorded leopard shark and glassfish. Sebayur Kecil, Siaba Kecil, Tatawa Kecil, Manta Alley and Pengah Kecil add shallow reefs, drift dives, pelagic action and manta encounters, with maximum depths of -25m, -30m, -30m, -20m and -25m respectively. Wainilu is the sandy-slope macro site. Trips run round-trip from Labuan Bajo for four to eight days.

Batu Bolong →

Max. depth · 40 m

Castle Rock →

Max. depth · 30 m

Crystal Rock →

Max. depth · 30 m

Siaba Besar →

Max. depth · 18 m

Shotgun →

Max. depth · 25 m

Tatawa Besar →

Max. depth · 25 m

Cannibal Rock →

Max. depth · 30 m

Golden Passage →

Max. depth · 30 m

Sebayur Kecil →

Max. depth · 25 m

Siaba Kecil →

Max. depth · 30 m

Tatawa Kecil →

Max. depth · 30 m

Manta Alley →

Max. depth · 20 m

Pengah Kecil →

Max. depth · 25 m

Wainilu →

Manta rays, reef sharks, sea turtles and nudibranchs recur across this route, with eagle rays, giant trevally, soft corals, barracuda and Napoleon wrasse also recorded at many sites. The larger animals are tied to the water movement: current at Castle Rock, Crystal Rock, Golden Passage, Siaba Kecil and Tatawa Kecil can bring sharks, rays and schooling fish across the reef. Manta Alley is the dedicated manta site, a channel where strong currents usher large groups of manta rays through the southern waters. The rarer sightings give several dives their own reason to exist. Golden Passage is the place for the recorded leopard shark and glassfish; Wainilu is where a sandy slope can reveal mandarinfish; Siaba Besar holds ghost pipefish and unicornfish; Siaba Kecil has the recorded lobster and angelfish; Sebayur Kecil is the site for clownfish and filefish. None of these animals is guaranteed, but the route gives divers repeated chances at both pelagic action and patient macro searching.

Napoleon Wrasse →

Cheilinus undulatus

Manta Ray →

Mobula birostris

Blue-ringed Octopus →

Hapalochlaena

Nudibranch →

Nudibranchia

Clownfish →

Amphiprion ocellaris

The dive operation is led by a professional dive master, with briefings kept clear and safety placed ahead of rushing the group into the water. The guide adapts the dive to each diver’s experience, which is particularly useful in Komodo, where a sheltered macro site and a current-swept pinnacle can demand very different judgement. English and Indonesian are spoken on board. Oxygen, first-aid kits and crew trained in first aid are carried, alongside marine communications and other boat-safety equipment. The available information does not set out guide-to-diver ratios, qualifications, logged-dive requirements or courses, so Putri Naga is best understood as a guided liveaboard for certified divers rather than a boat with a published training programme.

The dive deck is shaded and built for direct access to the water, with a dedicated dive platform and a separate rinse area for cameras. DIN adapters are available, and charging stations help keep lights and cameras ready between dives. A six-metre fiberglass tender powered by a Suzuki 20hp engine supports diver transfers and collection from the surface, while the main platform handles entry back onto the boat. Rental equipment is available as an option. The practical advantage is scale: with a maximum of six guests, the deck is serving a small dive group rather than a queue of divers. The listed setup does not provide tank material, tank volume, compressor or nitrox details, so those points should not be assumed from the boat’s general diving equipment.

Between dives, the main choice is simple: stretch out on the spacious sun terrace, sit in the open-air salon or get back on the water by stand-up paddleboard. The shaded areas matter in Komodo, where a surface interval can otherwise become a search for shelter. When the boat is moving between sites, the open deck keeps the islands and changing sea in view instead of reducing the crossing to a wait indoors. Land excursions and guided snorkeling are also part of the programme, so non-diving hours can lead ashore or into the shallows rather than being spent entirely on the boat.

A day follows the needs of the diving rather than a published clock. The first briefing comes before the first entry, followed by surface time for food, water, shade and equipment checks. Further dives are fitted around the route, with the boat getting underway when a move between sites is needed and the open deck keeping the crossing part of the day instead of dead time. Meals punctuate the intervals, and the tender collects divers when the current or site layout calls for it. An afternoon can shift from another dive to a land excursion, guided snorkeling or stand-up paddleboarding. After the daytime programme, a night dive is included on the itinerary, bringing the group back aboard to eat, compare what appeared after dark and settle into the cabins.

Full board keeps the day focused on diving: meals arrive between water time, rest and the next briefing rather than requiring anyone to go ashore. The kitchen serves both local and Western food, with vegetarian and vegan options available. Meals can be taken outside, which suits Komodo better than eating every plate below deck while the islands pass by. Coffee, tea, drinking water and snacks are provided; beer and wine are available for those who want them. On a boat carrying six guests, the table becomes part of the trip: a place to compare sightings, settle after a current-heavy dive and decide whether the next gap belongs to the sun terrace or the shade.

All three cabins are on the main deck, with air conditioning, hot-water private bathrooms and broad sea-facing windows. That arrangement keeps the cabins close to the centre of life on board, while the windows give each room daylight and a view of the water rather than a sealed interior. Putri Naga is not built around oversized rooms; its appeal is that every guest has a proper cabin without the boat feeling crowded with bunks. The space works best for people who value privacy after a dive but still want to step out and rejoin the group quickly. Daily cabin cleaning, towels and cabin safes add practical comfort without turning the boat into a hotel.

Putri Naga departs from and returns to Labuan Bajo. Airport and hotel transfers are included, with the arrangements communicated before the trip. Arriving in Labuan Bajo the night before is sensible, so the boat departure does not depend on a same-day flight or transfer.