Komodo manta season 2026–2027: what the wet season means for a snorkel trip

Indonesia's weather agency, BMKG, released its 2026/2027 rainy-season outlook in early October. iNews carried the regional detail on 3 October 2026. For East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), the province around Labuan Bajo, the rain comes in two steps. A small part of NTT turns wet in November 2026. Most of it follows in December.

February 2027 is the peak for much of NTT. Nationally, BMKG puts the peak between December and February, about three months long (InfoPublik, 2 October 2026). The agency also said this year's onset is running later than normal, with little time between the first rains and the peak. Put simply, it expects a lot of rain packed into a short stretch.

Wet season here isn't a solid wall of rain. A Komodo season guide dated 18 May 2026 describes frequent afternoon showers and rougher seas from November to March. It names January as the wettest month. That's the pattern across the park, and it says nothing certain about your three days.

The most detailed public record of Komodo's mantas we found is a study in the journal PeerJ, published on 16 May 2022. The team identified 1,104 individual reef mantas from photos taken between 2004 and 2018. Karang Makassar, the reef most boats call Manta Point, was one of its core sites.

Season showed up clearly. In the north-west monsoon, November to April, mantas visited the central sites more often, and Karang Makassar saw feeding groups of up to 30 animals. Sightings there dipped in August and September.

A Komodo dive center's manta guide (8 April 2026) narrows the feeding peak to December to March, with January and February strongest. Cleaning stations stay busy all year, it adds, so mantas can show up in any month.

Crowds follow a different calendar. The PeerJ team counted an average of 5.8 boats per survey at Karang Makassar in 2014 and 7.7 in 2017. July and August ran at about 12.3, roughly double the rest of the year. The wet months sit on the quiet side of that line.

• Manta Point, day 2 of the 3D2N charter route. The stop before dinner: drift with the current, eyes down.

Less visibility, mostly. The 18 May 2026 season guide gives 10 to 18 m for November and March, and 10 to 15 m for December, January and February. May, for comparison, runs 20 to 30 m. The April 2026 manta guide puts Manta Point at 10 to 12 m in the north-west monsoon and 15 to 20 m on a good day.

Green water has a reason. It's plankton, and plankton is what the mantas came for. On strong upwelling days the manta guide reports Manta Point as cold as 22 C. From December to March most of the park sits at 27 to 30 C, according to a dive-season guide updated on 18 August 2026. Bring a rash guard for those colder swims.

Reach changes too. The August guide calls the northern sites rarely reachable from December to February. It names central Komodo, home of Karang Makassar, as the fallback on windy days in January and February.

One honest limit. None of these figures was measured from NK Jaya 1 or NK Jaya 2. They come from dive centers and a resort working in the park, and we pass them on as their numbers, not ours.

On a bad-weather day, Labuan Bajo's harbor authority, KSOP, decides who sails where, working from BMKG's sea forecasts. On 22 February 2026 it barred tourist boats from Komodo and Padar for 23 to 25 February. Only speedboats heading for Rinca got a sailing approval (detikBali, 22 February 2026).

The dry season isn't immune. On 6 August 2026 KSOP shut the Komodo and Padar routes again, through 8 August, after a forecast of south-east winds up to 24 knots and waves up to 2.4 m. Rinca stayed open (detikBali, 6 August 2026).

Here's how that lands on an NK Jaya trip. Rinca isn't on any NK Jaya route. The operator's 2026 specifications for both boats state that the itinerary can change with the weather, so on a closed day the plan shifts within whatever the harbor allows. Which snorkel stops a closure touches depends on the wording of each notice.

Closures in these reports lasted 3 days each. That's short. It's also long enough to swap the order of a 3-day trip.

Mantas first? Book 3 days 2 nights. Manta Point is on the 3D2N and 4D3N routes of NK Jaya 1 and NK Jaya 2, and not on the 2D1N or the day trip. The open trip runs 3 days 2 nights too, from IDR 4,350,000 (≈ USD 267) per person in a Superior cabin, and its stops are confirmed when you book.

• November 2026: BMKG expects rain in only a small part of NTT, visibility runs 10 to 18 m, and the dive-season guide calls central Komodo very reliable. A good month if you want calmer water and a manta chance.
• December 2026: rain arrives across most of NTT and the feeding peak begins. The dive-season guide warns that holiday dates book fast.
• January and February 2027: the manta peak and the rain peak overlap. Plan on 10 to 15 m of water, a bumpier crossing and a spare day before your flight home.
• March 2027: rain eases late in the month, visibility climbs back toward 18 m, and you're still inside the manta window.

Budget for the park on top of the cabin: IDR 250,000 per foreign visitor for each day inside it.

• Kit check: rash guard, reef-safe sunscreen, a dry bag for the tender, a light rain shell, and seasickness tablets.

• Onset in Labuan Bajo itself. The BMKG outlook we read groups NTT by month, not by town.
• The boat limit at Karang Makassar. The 2022 PeerJ paper reports a cap of 32 boats there from September 2019, with up to 10 divers per boat. We found no 2026 notice confirming or changing it.
• Closure days. KSOP decides them from forecasts a few days out. Nobody can list January's closed days in October.
• Rules for snorkelers near the mantas. The study asks for minimum distances, briefings and a code of conduct at manta sites. We haven't seen a published park rule for snorkelers yet, so our crew's briefing on the day is the guide.
• Your manta. The study shows when the odds rise. It can't say what swims past on one afternoon, and neither can we.

We'll update this note when BMKG revises its outlook or the park publishes new rules for the manta reef.