Secluded diving in Sumbawa: a review of Kalimaya dive resort

Did you know that the East coast of Sumbawa offers some great diving? Kalimaya dive resort is the only way to dive the incredible Sangean island and the West part of Komodo without a liveaboard. Find out how to get there and what to expect from a diving trip to Sumbawa.

Why Trust This Kalimaya Dive Resort Review?

I stayed at Kalimaya Dive Resort myself, and everything in this review comes from that stay, photos included, shot on my own camera. Indonesia has been my home for the past ten years, and I’ve traveled it far beyond the resort islands: more than 20 trips to Raja Ampat and Komodo, expeditions through Halmahera, Alor and the Banda Sea, road trips across Sumba and Flores — sleeping in everything from Nihi Sumba, once named the best hotel in the world, to remote island guesthouses with no running water or electricity. That range is what my ratings are measured against: I know what world-class looks like here, and I know what the journey to reach it really costs you. Add a career of near-weekly hotel stays as a management consultant and travel to 135 countries, and you’ll understand why I judge places on what actually matters and publish the cons alongside the pros. More on how I review on my author page.

How to get to Sumbawa and the Kalimaya dive resort.

The Kalimaya dive resort is located in Sumbawa. It feels like the end of the world but it is surprisingly easy to reach from Bali

option 1: Flying to Bima

The closest airport is Bima in Sumbawa.

As we were during Coronavirus, the only airline flying to Bima at this time was Wings air that is part of the Lionair group.

I usually try and avoid Lionair in Indonesia as they charge a lot for luggage’s and flights are sometimes canceled or delayed.

Our flight to Bima was however on time.

Tip: Lionair offers discounted Swab Antigen tests for their customers that can be done in the Mercure Harvest Kuta hotel or at the airport. I did my test there for 95000 Rp. It was fast and efficient. It took about 25 minutes to get the results that were uploaded directly into the EHAC application of the Indonesian government.

We arranged the airport transfer through the resort. It wasn’t a great start to the trip as the driver was 15 minutes late and we had no phone numbers to call. But we eventually found the driver and from then on we had a great time while at Kalimaya dive resort.

The road from the airport to the resort is stunning, winding through a mountain and scenic ricefields. It was raining heavily when we arrived and some part of the roads looked like a river.

It took us a bit less than 2 hours to get there because we had to drive slowly due to the heavy rain. In normal weather, it should take about 90 minutes from the airport to Kalimaya Resort

Option 2: Taking the ferry between Sumbawa ( Sape) and Flores (Labuan Bajo)

Another option to get to Kalimaya is to come from Labuan Bajo ( Komodo) which is one of the top diving destinations in the World

We took the ferry at the end of our trip from Sape to Labuan Bajo

There is a public ferry going from Labuan Bajo to Sape most days at 9 am and it takes about 8 hours to cross. It is a bit more of an adventure as nobody speaks English. The ferry was canceled on the day we wanted to take it for maintenance so we had to spend an extra night to Sape.

The ferry costs 83000 Rp. per person. We were offered an officer cabin on the top deck for a small fee which made the journey very comfortable. Our cabin had airconditioning, 2 beds, and a desk.

Alternatively, if you have a group is to rent one of the Kalimaya speed boats, It takes about 2 hours from Kalimaya resort to Labuan Bajo and we were quoted 9 million Rp for the whole boat.

Review of the common areas at Kalimaya dive resort

Kalimaya dive resort is located on a private beach in East Sumbawa.

The location is stunning with views of the beach and the gently sloping hills in the background.

We were there at the end of the rainy season and everything was green.

The garden at Kalimaya dive resort is pretty and lush with bougainvilleas, banana trees, and plenty of lemongrasses.

At Kalimaya dive resort, life centers around the restaurant building. A large airy building with a bar, the library, dining tables, and a lounging area. The beachfront pool is located nearby and is surrounded by lounge chairs.

The beach is long and pretty. However, it is not a great place for swimming directly from the beach as there are many shallow corals. If you want to swim, you are better of walking to the end of the pier.

Tip: Wear a wetsuit or rash guard as there are jellyfishes in the water and someone got stung during our trip

Review of the room at Kalimaya resort

There are about 10 rooms at Kalimaya

Most of the rooms are in small beachfront bungalows.

Tip: There seems to be one bungalow that was a bit set back from the beach and in my opinion, its view is not as good to make sure to request a beachfront bungalow when you book.

I stayed in room number 1. It is the bungalow the closest to the restaurant and the pool.

The advantage of Bungalow number one is that you are close to the pool and the restaurant. The disadvantage is that you can hear the music and people talking. It was not super loud, but you might prefer a room away from the restaurant if you are a light sleeper.

Bungalow number 5 is the furthest away from the restaurant and near the dive center.

The Seaview bungalows, on the other side of the restaurant, are also a bit back from the beach. 2 rooms share one bungalow so those are a good option for families.

While the bungalow is small, it very pretty and well designed.

A lot of attention to detail has gone into it.

The room has a cozy bed, a desk, and multiple charging plugs. The natural wood, soft colors, and wooden sculpture give it a natural and ethnic feel.

The bed is comfortable. It doesn’t have a mosquito net but it didn’t feel needed. I used an electric plug mosquito repellant and had no mosquitos or other insects in the room

There is a fridge in the room, air-conditioning and tea, and coffee facilities.

You will be given 2 reusable bottles of water that will be refilled every day.

The bathroom is semi-outdoor and also looks pretty with its wooden walls. There is hot water.

Hairdryers, shampoo, conditioners, and soap are provided. Bathrobes are also provided.

The patio opens up to the beach and is a great place to relax by the sound of the waves.

The sunrise view for the bungalow was splendid

Dive organization at Kalimaya dive center.

Life at Kalimaya revolves around diving.

They go out every day at 8 am for 2 dives with a comfortable speed boat.

The boat is fast, has a shaded area, a sundeck, and even a bathroom.

The dive center is located near the jetty and has space to wash and store diving equipment.

It also has a large and well-equipped camera room.

The diving service was truly 5 stars. They did everything for us. From carrying our equipment to the boat to bringing it back and rinsing it for us every day.

We would just need to put on our wetsuit and bring our cameras. Everything else would be waiting for us on the boat.

Nitrox is available for an extra 70000 Rp. per tank. It is useful as we did reach the no-deco limit on most dive sites and had to come shallower.

They create groups by experience level. We were 4 divers per divemaster. Our divemaster Jimmy was friendly, attentive, and able to find a lot of small critters for us.

Habibi, the boat captain, and his assistant were always smiling and helping us putting on diving gears or changing tanks.

Maximum dive time was 60 minutes but they were flexible on exceptional dive sites. For example, the bubble dive site at Sangean was 70 minutes. And the dusk dive where it was only me and Jimmy lasted 85 minutes!

Review of the food at Kalimaya resort

Food is a mix of Indonesian specialty and western dishes.

It is a set menu but they offer alternatives for vegetarians or people with dietary restrictions.

The food was tasty and plentiful.

Breakfast was served at 7 am. 5 options were offered and we had to order them the night before.

We would get lunch after the two morning dives, usually around 2 pm. Lunch would be 2 courses.

Dishes were varied and included grilled fishes, chicken, quiche Lorraine, pasta, tom yam soups, tacos,…

The diner was served at 7 pm. The diner would be 3 courses including dessert. The chef was great at baking fresh bread and deserts. We had carrot cakes, apple crumble, and chocolate brownies.

Everyone would gather around a large table, mingle and share stories of their day’s adventure so the place would also suit single travelers wanting the meet other people.

Review if the diving in East Sumbawa

Kalimaya dive resort is located 20 minutes north of Sape. It has access to a range of local dive sites with beautiful soft corals and corals and lots of critters and nudibranchs. I was however surprised by the lack of schools of fishes. Compared to the protected area of Komodo and Raja Ampat, you can see that the area of East Sumbawa is being fished heavily.

We still had a great time diving and it is so remote that you are unlikely to see any other divers underwater

TIP: Bring a 5-millimeter wetsuit to stay warm.We were there in March and the water was colder than I expected at 25 or 26 degrees

Canyon dive site review in East Sumbawa

The canyon dive site is on an island about 35 minutes southeast of the resort.

The canyon visible from the boat and goes underwater until 25 meters.

It is a swim-through that splits the island in 2. The width of the swim through is about 4 meters at the beginning and narrows down to one meter at some points. The canyon becomes shallower and shallower and is about 5 meters near the end.

Tip: deflate your BCD as soon as the current picks up. the canyon becomes shallow very fast and the currents picked up. We were not prepared for it and ascended too quickly. Some people in the group could not control it and pop up to the surface. So deflate your BCD before to avoid popping up…

After the canyon, we got to a sloppy reef full of hard and soft corals and millions of small fishes. It was utterly beautiful but the current was very unpredictable with some up and down current

Tip: Bring your reef hook as current can be strong and it is nice to be able to rest and stop at some point.

We spent the surface interval by a spectacular pink beach

Babylon island dive site review in Sumbawa

Babylon is composed of 2 small islands The dive site starts in the channel between the two islands. We can then continue the dive to the other island. The current was very strong from the south so we dove the protected side on the north. We found a few nudibranchs and critters and the hard corals are pretty.

Sharks are sleeping under the table corals.

In between the dives, we went to a gorgeous pink beach that was totally deserted

Laponia island site review in Sumbawa

Laponia island dive site is located by the island with a natural arch above the water.

We started from the south and went to check the overhang. there is a wall around the corner. You can see that the current is often strong and that the site has been dynamite fished as the corals are small and broken.

There are however plenty of nudibranchs and scorpionfishes.

There is a swim-through cave at 20 meters. It is not very long so a torch is not required. We were lucky to find 2 big white tip sharks swimming in the cave. There was also a marble ray by the exit.

On the way back to the overhead is a sloping reef. We saw a blue ribbon eel, a cuttlefish, and a very big crocodile fish in the shallow end.

So despite this site having fewer fishes, corrals, and soft corals than the dives yesterday, we were rewarded with a lot of interesting fishes and creatures.

We visited another of Sumbawa’s great beaches during the surface interval

Habibi falls dive site review in Sumbawa

Habibi fall is a wall corner along the main island of Sumbawa. There is a sloping coral garden and it was a gentle drift dive

We first saw mushrooms corals pipefishes.

Around the same time, 4 mobulas rays passed by. We were told that they saw a manta there last time so this is definitely a place where it pays to watch out in the blue.

There is a shallow cave starting at 5 meters where a family of sharks was swimming. There was also a juvenile batfish and a few pipefishes.

Review of Kalimaya house reef dive site

I did a sunset dive on the house reef and it was fantastic.

We saw plenty of weird nudibranchs, pipefishes, cuttlefish, octopus, crocodile fish, leaf fish, and even a big marble ray.

It is a sandy bottom populated with corrals bommies and soft corals. A section is very scenic with lots of elephant ears corals. The depth goes from 5 meters to about 15 meters.

Tip: Kalimaya allows you to do unlimited complimentary house reef dives with your buddy so make sure you take advantage of that. I enjo

yed going at 5:30pm  so we would get a mix of day dive and night dive

Diving in Sangean island

Sangean is in my opinion the most underrated macro diving destination in Indonesia.

The place is absolutely stunning with myriads of gorgeous soft corals and too many nudibranchs to count. We also saw an octopus and a pink pipefish that I had never seen before.

Diving in Sangean is simply magical but it is a hard place to get to.

It is usually only accessible to liveaboards except for the Kalimaya dive resort.

It takes about 1 hour from Kalimaya dive resort to Sangean by speed boat.

Review of Bubble dive site in Sangean island

The first dive site was bubbles that got its name from all the bubbles coming out of the ground. We are diving on an active volcano.

The temperature was a bit warmer than the other dive sites nearer the Sumbawa mainland which might be due to the warmth of the volcano underneath.

The bubble dive site is composed of a few rocks that stick out of the water. It starts at about 4 meters and goes down to below 40 meters. Corrals bommies are surrounded by areas of black sands. Some of the rocks create walls that are fully covered in the most flamboyant soft corals and tunicates. We dove 70 minutes here but I could have honestly stayed another 30 minutes. It was so gorgeous!

Review of Farmers wall dive site in Sangean island

The next dive site is the farmer’s wall, on the south side of Sangean island.

It is a mix of rocky slopes that becomes a wall.

the wall goes down to 25 meters and is covered in soft corals. Unfortunately, the current was quite strong in that part of the dive. We passed the wall in less than 5 minutes which was too fast to really enjoy it.

We found a huge white frogfish and a few nudibranchs.

Review of Pulau Ular dive site by the main coast of Sumbawa

The Pulau Ulardive site is by a small rocky island by the main coast of Sumbawa.

This is a place to look for critters. It is a sandy bottom populated by small corals and soft corals bommies.

It is an easy dive from 8 to 14 meters and is quite similar to Kalimaya house reef. We found some ornate ghost pipefishes, leaf fish, cuttlefish, and a few nudibranchs

Review of Tanjangao dive site by the main coast of Sumbawa

The topography of this site is quite similar to the previous one but with even fewer corals. It is mostly a muck dive. We saw a few nudibranchs, seahorses, and shrimps.

In conclusion of my review of Kalimaya dive resort

Sumbawa is a very remote and mostly unexplored diving destination that has a lot to offer. It is perfect for adventurers and divers wanting to be away from the crowd. Macro photography and nudibranch lovers will adore diving Sangean island. The Kalimaya dive resort is the perfect dive resort with good food, friendly staff, and comfortable rooms.

I really enjoyed my stay at Kalimaya dive resort and would love to go back and explore more  dive sites of West Komodo

To book, check the Kalimaya Dive Resort website