Komodo, the Realm of Dragons & Coral Reefs

Komodo Island is famously known as the home of the world’s largest lizard, the Komodo dragon. A face-to-face meeting with these giant reptiles is undoubtedly a bucket-list experience — but far from the only thing that lures divers to this region of south-central Indonesia.

Komodo National Park is named one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature, and not just for the lizards. The waters surrounding the park’s 10-island archipelago are rich in coral reefs that support one of the world’s most bio-diverse marine ecosystems.

My interest in the waters of Komodo was first sparked by a description penned more than two decades ago by photojournalist and Indonesia diving expert Maurine Shimlock, who wrote “We enter the cool transparent water, leaving behind Komodo Island’s baking hot primeval landscape. Drifting easily down a volcanic slope flamboyantly adorned with soft corals, we slip through undulating masses of transparent fish. Perched on a mass of pastel-colored soft corals is a rare lacy scorpionfish, camouflaged as a filter-feeding crinoid nestled among the gorgonians. Moving carefully, and willing myself to breathe calmly, I raise the camera to my eye and begin to photograph this exquisite