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Best Budget Diving Liveaboard Labuan Bajo (10 Cheap Liveaboards)

Best budget diving liveaboard Labuan Bajo - Liveaboard diving Indonesia
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Cheap diving liveaboards from Labuan Bajo for Komodo

If you like the idea of watching stunning sun rises, followed by beautiful early morning dives and enjoy stunning underwater scenery. Then to watch a beautiful sunset followed by a night dive.

If you like the idea of an evening under the stars with no light pollution surrounded by the best that nature offers too. Then scuba diving Komodo National Park by liveaboard should be top of your list. One of the best ways to dive Komodo is to join a one of the best budget dive liveaboards from Labuan Bajo.

Ten of the best budget diving liveaboards in Labuan Bajo includes six dive liveaboards rated more than 9.0 out of 10. The cheap liveaboards in this article have been chosen based upon being under £300 ($390) per night, with some under £200 ($260) per night!

The best way to dive Indonesia, whether that’s to Komodo or Raja Ampat, is by a scuba diving liveaboard. You can check the latest and best deals on Indonesia liveaboards using the following window:

The Best budget diving liveaboard Labuan Bajo

I have included below the best budget diving liveaboards leaving from Labuan Bajo. These are listed in order of cheapest first, but this list of 10 Labuan Bajo liveaboards are all on a budget.

10 of the best budget diving liveaboards Labuan Bajo:

  1. Akomo Isseki liveaboard – Rated 9.4 out of 10 and Superb. A traditional hand-crafted wooden Phinisi boat. A small diving liveaboard for up to 8 guests across 4 cabins. Suited for single or solo divers.
  2. Sinar Pagi Liveaboard – Rated 8 out of 10 and Very Good. A traditional wooden Phinisi sailing boat. A dive liveaboard for up to 12 guests across 6 cabins. Built for both couples and single divers.
  3. Oceanic Liveaboard – Rated 9.4 out of 10 and Superb. A dive liveaboard for up to 12 guests across 6 cabins. Designed for both single divers and couples.
  4. Indo Aggressor liveaboard (Formerly Komodo Dancer) – Rated 8.4 out of 10 and Very Good. Designed for up to 16 guests across 8 cabins. For both solo divers and couples.
  5. Sea Safari VII liveaboard – Rated 9.6 out of 10 and Superb. A larger dive liveaboard for up to 28 guests across 14 cabins. Suitable for both solo divers and couples.
  6. Cheng Ho Liveaboard – Rated 8.8 out of 10 and Fabulous. Diving liveaboard for up to 24 guests across 14 cabins. An Indonesian wooden schooner for both solo divers and couples.
  7. Seamore Papua liveaboard – Rated 8.4 out of 10 and Very Good. A traditional Indonesian wooden Phinisi boat for up to 18 guests across 9 cabins. With cabins for both single and couples.
  8. Manta Mae liveaboard – Rated 9.2 out of 10 and Superb. A traditional Phinisi style boat for up to 9 guests across 3 cabins. Suitable for both single divers and couples.
  9. Amira liveaboard – Rated 8.7 out of 10 and Fabulous. A luxury liveaboard offering scuba diving for up to 19 guests across 10 cabins. Suitable for both singles and couples.
  10. Duyung Baru – Rated 9.4 out of 10 and Superb. A traditional Indonesian Phinisi boat for up to 6 guests across 3 cabins. For both solo and couple divers.

What to expect on a Labuan Bajo liveaboard dive trip

A large number of dive tours going to the Komodo National Park begin from Labuan Bajo. Labuan Bajo was once a small fishing but is now a popular tourist destination. It lies on the coast to the western end of the region of Flores, Indonesia.

For a taste of the scuba diving in Komodo National Park, take a look at the video below. In this video you’ll see the Oceanic Mantas.

Liveaboard.com search Indonesia-scroll

Komodo National Park – Diving with Oceanic Mantas on Manta Point

Komodo National Park – Diving with Oceanic Mantas on Manta Point
Underwater video from diving with Great Oceanic Mantas at Komodo National Park (Indonesia)

The diving in Komodo National Park not only allows you to get up close with schools of Manta Rays, but on the dusk or night dives at Palau Siaba you can watch the beautiful Mandarin fish perform their mating dance ritual (see video below).

But then you can also get to walk with Komodo Dragons on Komodo island too.

The Magical Mating Ritual of the Mandarin Fish (4K)
Mandarin fish couples have an elaborate courtship ritual that involves them dancing closely to one another. It’s almost cheek to cheek, as they rise slowly through the water.

More Reading: What Is Night Diving (21 Night Diving Tips)

How to get to Labuan Bajo to scuba dive

There are a number of ways to get to Labuan Bajo, but all require youto get to Bali in the first place. These are your choices:

  • A three-day ferry from Bali port.
  • Speed boat from Sape in Nussa Tenggra. This takes a few hours depending on sea conditions.
  • Take a liveaboard dive cruise starting in Bali that finishes in Labuan Bajo.
  • Take a flight from Bali to Komodo Airport.
  • If you’re on a real budget and if you’re looking save money, fly to Bima and take the bus from there on to Labuan Bajo.

Komodo International Airport is an airport near the town of Labuan Bajo on the island of Flores in East Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia. The proximity to the airport is what makes it a popular destination for tourists visiting Bali and other areas of Indonesia.

The town is the departure point for many of the park’s diving liveaboards, which I’ve included in this article and have been listed above. Many of these diving liveaboards depart from Labuan Bajo’s port.

More Reading: How to book last minute liveaboard Komodo (Indonesia diving deals)

Indonesia dive liveaboards table

This list of Indonesia liveaboards is in descending customer rating order, followed by Scuba Diving Luxury Rating (SDE Lux Rating, see below), so the liveaboards with the highest customer rating and the best SDE lux rating will be at the top of the list. If you want to change the list order, use the “Sort by” dropdown below.

Search
Sort by
Total Records Found: 85, showing 10 per page
Discover LiveaboardCustomer RatingSDE Lux Rating %Flexible BookingDive CoursesDietary RequirementsNitroxGear Rental
Review: MV Seaisee; Book: MV Seaisee 10 90% YES NO YES YES YES
Review: Scubaspa Zen; Book: Scubaspa Zen 10 88% YES YES YES YES YES
Review: Jakaré; Book: Jakaré 10 81% YES YES YES YES YES
Review: Leyla; Book: Leyla 10 73% YES YES YES NO YES
Review: Seven Seas; Book: Seven Seas 10 71% NO NO YES YES YES
Review: Cahaya Bersama; Book: Cahaya Bersama 10 63% YES YES YES NO YES
Review: MV Tarata; Book: MV Tarata 10 52% NO NO YES YES NO
Review: Wisesa; Book: Wisesa 9.9 71% YES YES YES NO YES
Review: MV Blue Manta; Book: MV Blue Manta 9.9 69% NO YES YES YES YES
Review: Tiare Cruise; Book: Tiare Cruise 9.7 87% YES YES YES YES YES

The Scuba Diving Earth Luxury Rating (SDE Lux Rating) is explained on each liveaboard review when you click the “Discover Liveaboard” link, and is my own Liveaboard Luxury Rating I’ve assigned to all liveaboards. Choosing between liveaboards is helped by customer scores, and if you get stuck choosing between two or three liveaboards, where each one has a high customer score out of 10, you can use the SDE Luxury Rating to help narrow down your choice.

Think about it like using Booking.com when searching for the best hotel. Booking.com also use a customer score where each customer rates hotels out of 10. This is similar to the liveaboard customer rating, which is also rated out of 10. But let’s say you only like to stay in hotels rated 8 and above on Booking.com, but you also want the hotel to have WIFI or parking, or to have a swimming pool etc. The features each hotel has is usually secondary to the score out of 10.

I hope you enjoyed this article about budget liveaboard Labuan Bajo

I’d love to hear from you. Tell us about your adventures of diving and snorkeling, in the comments below. Please also share your photos. Either from your underwater cameras or videos from your waterproof go-pro’s!

If this article hasn’t answered all of your questions. If you have more questions either about snorkeling or scuba diving (or specifically on budget liveaboard Labuan Bajo), please comment below with your questions.

There will also be many more articles about scuba and scuba diving safety tips (and on snorkeling too) for you to read and learn about this fabulous sport.

Have fun and be safe!

More Reading: How to book a last minute liveaboard Raja Ampat cruise (Indonesia diving deals)

Best Budget Diving Liveaboard Labuan Bajo (10 Cheap Liveaboards)

Article written by Russell Bowyer who has been a scuba diver since diving on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia in 1989. After his first dive he trained as a BSAC diver in the UK. He attained his Diver Leader certification with BSAC. He then went on to become a scuba diving instructor, teaching others how to dive and was voted as Diving Officer and Treasurer for the Saffron Walden BSAC club too. Russell has dived all over the world, including the UK, on liveaboards in the Red Sea, the Caribbean, South Africa and the USA. Russell is experienced in all dive types, including drift diving, deep dives that involved decompression stops and recreational dives too.

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