Komodo · Indonesia · Seamount · Pinnacle
Crystal Rock
Soft-coral mound with sharks holding in the flow
Photo: Justin Philbois · CC0
Crystal Rock is a sea mound covered with soft coral, and the current across it can be very strong. Whitetip, blacktip and grey reef sharks hold on the rock while giant trevallies and dogtooth tuna hunt through schools of fusiliers and surgeonfish. The normal diving depth is 10 to 25 m, and visibility often runs to 30 m and more.
Also known as Crystal Bommie.
Where it is and how deep
8.4390° S, 119.5666° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
Crystal Rock is a sea mound covered with nice soft coral, and the descent onto it is quick, because the current here can be very strong. The profile settles at the normal diving depth of 10 to 25 m once you have the reef under you. Visibility often runs to 30 m and more, so the shape of the mound and the fish holding on it are readable well before you arrive.
Whitetips and blacktips work the shallower coral and grey reef sharks hold deeper, while many giant trevallies and dogtooth tuna hunt around the rock. Schools of trevallies, fusiliers and surgeonfish stack up in the flow, batfish come in close enough to crowd a camera, and Napoleon wrasse and turtles move along the coral.
The soft coral is the other half of the site, carrying the smaller life between passes of the bigger fish, and dives end shallow on it. Crystal Rock is rated for advanced divers and can be dived all year long, with the plan on any given day set by the tide rather than the clock.
Marine life and season
- Reef sharks
- Trevally & jacks
- Tuna
- Napoleon wrasse
- Sea turtles
- Reef fish swarms
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Prime | Good | Prime | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Prime |
Season follows Komodo: Liveaboards run all year: April is often rated the best month, July to September is the big-fish peak, and the rainy months bring the best visibility and the mantas.
Know before you go
- The current can be very strong: this is an advanced-diver site, and the dive depends on making a controlled descent onto the mound rather than being carried past it.
Dive videos
Crystal Rock Komodo. Amazing Marine life. Scuba Diving Komodo Islands. · Reef Nomad on YouTube
A Hidden Peak Full of Life | Crystal Rock Dive · Between Breaths on YouTube
Questions divers ask
How is the visibility at Crystal Rock?+
Reports put it at 30 m and more, clear enough to see the reef sharks and the schooling fish long before you reach them. The current can be very strong, so the site is rated for advanced divers.
Sources
- Crystal Rock dive site — Divezone
- Crystal Rock dive site — PADI Travel
Photo credits
- Whitetip reef shark holding in the current with small reef fish around it. by Justin Philbois, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
More dive sites in Komodo
A holed rock at the surface, a coral-covered pinnacle below
Reef
Big-fish habitat in a current that usually runs strong
Soft coral and macro on a rock in the cold south of the park
A submerged pinnacle where the sharks hold in the current
Coral garden
The sheltered coral garden at the end of the Cauldron ride
A calm northern bay for skills practice near Crystal Rock
Reef
A sloping northern passage dived on generally strong current
Rock corridors on the south coast where the mantas feed
Similar dives elsewhere
Fusiliers roll down the slope thick enough to block the view.
An isolated seamount that pulls in barracuda and trevally schools
Oceanic and reef mantas share one cleaning station
A serrated ridge in open blue water, falling away on both sides