Kelor, Taka Makassar, Siaba and Gili Lawa: The Underrated Stops

Why do the small stops matter more than you expect?

Komodo’s marketing runs on three images: the Padar ridge, a dragon, and a manta. Those are the reasons people book. But when we ask guests at the end of a sailing what they would repeat, the answers cluster around the smaller stops — the ones with no queue, where the tender drops eight people on an empty sandbar and comes back in an hour.

Part of that is scarcity of crowds. Part of it is that these stops are where the trip stops feeling like a checklist. Below, one card each.

Kelor Island — the twenty-minute summit

Kelor sits close to Labuan Bajo, which makes it the classic first or last stop of a sailing. It is a small island with a beach on one side and a steep grassy cone behind it. The climb is short — roughly fifteen to twenty-five minutes — and steeper than it looks, on grass and loose soil that gets slippery. From the top you get a compact panorama of the surrounding islands and your own boat at anchor below, which is the photograph most people actually frame at home.

The snorkelling off the beach is decent rather than remarkable: sandy entry, coral either side, small reef fish. Its real value is scheduling. On a departure day it fills a couple of hours beautifully without committing you to a long crossing.

Taka Makassar — a sandbar that is not always there

Taka Makassar is a crescent of white sand in the middle of open water, close to Karang Makassar. It has no vegetation and no shade, and its size depends entirely on the tide: at low water it is a generous curve you can walk end to end, at high water it can be reduced to a sliver or submerged completely.

That tidal dependency is the thing to understand. If your boat visits at the wrong state of tide, there is no sandbar to stand on. Skippers plan around it, and it is one of the quiet advantages of an operator who runs the same water constantly. Combine it with a drift snorkel on the neighbouring reef and it is the most photogenic hour of the middle day.

Siaba Besar — where you actually meet turtles

Siaba Besar is a broad, sheltered bay with seagrass beds and coral patches in shallow water, and it is the most reliable easy turtle encounter on the route. Current is usually mild, depth is forgiving, and the animals are feeding rather than passing through, so they stay.

Turtle etiquette, briefly, because it is routinely ignored elsewhere: never touch, never ride, never block the path to the surface. A green turtle has to breathe, and a swimmer hovering above a feeding animal can genuinely prevent it. Stay to the side, give it three metres or more, and it will carry on eating with you alongside — which is a far better experience than a startled animal leaving. This site does a lot of work on our snorkelling-focused Komodo cruise for non-divers because it rewards nervous swimmers immediately.

Gili Lawa Darat — the northern ridge

In the north of the park, Gili Lawa Darat offers a sheltered anchorage and a ridge walk of roughly thirty to forty-five minutes up dry grassland. The view down onto the horseshoe bay with boats at anchor is the closest thing the park has to a second Padar, without the pre-dawn alarm — it works for both sunrise and sunset.

The catch is geography: it is far enough north that short itineraries cannot reach it without gutting the rest of the day. It is one of the concrete reasons to add a night, which is why it anchors the northern leg of the 4D3N Yumana circuit.

Kanawa — the easiest good reef on the route

Kanawa lies between Labuan Bajo and the park proper. Its appeal is simplicity: walk off the beach or the jetty and you are on a shallow reef slope with hard coral, reef fish and frequently turtles, with no tender, no current briefing and no drift. For guests who found Karang Makassar intimidating, Kanawa restores confidence. For everyone else it is a pleasant final swim before the run back to harbour.

Where these five stops appear on a given sailing depends on route direction and weather — the sequence is set out in our itinerary broken down hour by hour. For how these same anchorages are used by other vessels in the group, see our parent operator’s overview of north-park anchorages. And if you are weighing which stops are worth an extra night, our comparison of 2D1N, 3D2N and 4D3N itinerary lengths is the practical next read.

Frequently asked questions

Is Taka Makassar always visible?

No. It is a tidal sandbar and its size varies with the tide, occasionally disappearing at high water. Skippers time the visit around the tide, which is why the stop sometimes moves within the day’s schedule.

Where is the best place to snorkel with turtles in Komodo?

Siaba Besar is the most reliable easy option: sheltered, shallow, with seagrass that turtles feed on. Kanawa’s house reef is a close second and requires no tender at all.

How hard is the Kelor Island climb?

Short but steep — roughly 15 to 25 minutes on grass and loose soil. Grippy closed shoes make a real difference, especially on the way down.

Is Gili Lawa Darat included on a 3D2N trip?

Not usually. It sits in the north of the park and reaching it comfortably normally needs the extra night of a 4D3N sailing. Ask when you enquire if the northern ridge is a priority.

Can beginners snorkel at these stops?

Yes. Siaba Besar, Kanawa and the beach at Kelor are the gentlest water on the route, with mild current and shallow entries. They are where our crew starts guests who are new to snorkelling.

Are these stops crowded?

Far less than Padar or Pink Beach, though Taka Makassar draws day boats around midday. Being anchored inside the park lets us take them early or late, when they are frequently empty.