Siaba Kecil

Overview

Siaba Kecil is a drift dive in central Komodo National Park that Komodo Resort describes as one of the park's quickest drifts. Blue Marlin Dive Komodo calls it the fastest drift dive in Komodo and lists it for advanced divers only. Starfish.ch explains that the site usually has strong current because it lies in a channel between two islands, and recommends diving it from north to south as a fast drift. The site page on PADI, contributed by the dive centre Dive Komodo, describes a drift along a mostly steep sloping reef covered in low-growing hard corals and sponges, with overhangs and gorgonian sea fans where big fish rest out of the current.

The dive

Komodo Resort describes a steep slope reef with ledges and caves that flattens into a plateau in the shallows, and says divers typically make negative entries and fast descents to reach the coral face before the current carries them past it. It adds that divers often hook onto rocks or shelter in eddies to watch schooling fish. Starfish.ch describes a slope with ridges, funnels and channels where the current has smoothed the reef and kept coral cover low, and suggests sheltering in the overhangs and behind outcrops, where sharks sometimes also rest. The same account says the dive finishes on a large field of staghorn coral, and that the writer saw at least one turtle on every dive there.

Blue Marlin Dive Komodo describes small caves along the reef face sheltering angelfish, batfish and sweetlips, giant trevally schooling in the shallows, and a shallow hard-coral plateau at the end of the dive that it says is home to turtles and mandarinfish. PADI's page says the end of the dive depends on the tide: on a rising tide it finishes in a protected coral garden, and on a falling tide mandarinfish, turtles and giant morays can be seen during the safety stop. Komodo Resort lists large trevally, whitetip reef sharks, batfish, sea snakes and harlequin sweetlips along the walls, turtles on the plateau and occasional dugong sightings. Red Whale Dive Center reports schools of sweetlips and snappers over healthy reef and soft corals.

Conditions and level

Accounts of the difficulty differ: Blue Marlin Dive Komodo rates it for advanced divers only, while Red Whale Dive Center describes a light drift suitable for intermediate divers. Komodo Resort says conditions are very sensitive to the current: at low tide they can be calm enough for experienced divers with good buoyancy, but only experienced divers should attempt it when the current is strong. Starfish.ch recalls one dive with no current at all, when the whole distance had to be finned. Blue Marlin Dive Komodo considers it a good place to practise diving in current because down and up currents are rare there. Depth figures also differ: Komodo Resort gives an average depth of 15 to 22 metres for the main wall, Blue Marlin Dive Komodo an average of 15 metres and a maximum of 30 metres, and Red Whale Dive Center a maximum dive depth of 25 metres.

Komodo Resort advises that every diver here carries a surface marker buoy, a dive computer and an audible signalling device. It says day trips from Labuan Bajo often end at Siaba Kecil or Tatawa Besar once the currents ease, and that operators pair it with neighbouring Siaba Besar so that divers of different levels can split between the two sites.