Sumbawa liveaboard: how trips to Moyo, Satonda and Saleh Bay work

By Sumbawa Liveaboard Editorial Desk

A Sumbawa liveaboard is a multi-day boat trip along the north coast of Sumbawa, sleeping on board between Moyo, Satonda, Saleh Bay and sometimes Sangeang. Named operators run them, either as short programmes from Sumbawa Besar or as longer crossings linking Bali and Labuan Bajo. This site explains what they publish, and its desk answers enquiries.

What is a Sumbawa liveaboard, and who runs these trips?

Sumbawa is a big island to cover by road: Wikipedia gives 15,448 square kilometres and an official mid-2025 population estimate of 1,673,700. Much of what draws a boat guest lies off its northern shore, in a chain of islands and one long bay. A liveaboard links those places with the cabin moving overnight, so you wake at the next stop instead of driving back to a hotel.

The trips described on this site belong to the operators named beside them. The table below is a map of who publishes what. It is not a list of things to book with us, and the dates and lengths are the sellers' own.

What kinds of boat trip are sold under this name?

The word liveaboard covers products that have little in common beyond a bunk. Sort a listing into one of these groups before you compare anything else about it, because each answers a different question and carries a different kind of price.

• Dive crossings. Scheduled dives are the point of the trip, as on Neptune One, whose rate Komodo Resort describes around dives with tanks and weights. Ask whether non-divers are welcome, because the day follows the dive plan. Diving on these routes has the site names and the levels operators ask for.
• Snorkel-led trips. Naga Biru's 15 days are sold to snorkellers, and the organiser warns that the running order can shift with the conditions.
• Short private programmes. A few nights from Sumbawa Besar, aimed at the whale sharks, Satonda and Moyo. Ask how many of the nights are actually spent on board.
• Shared passages. Open boats between Lombok and Labuan Bajo that pass the same coast. Asik Travel describes one leaving Kayangan Harbour around 14:00 and arriving around 13:00 on day four. Our Lombok to Labuan Bajo guide covers how those boats run.
• Day trips. A road and boat outing to the whale sharks from Sumbawa Besar is not a liveaboard, though it can look like an alternative to one. The choice between sleeping aboard and going for the day has its own page.

Which islands does a Sumbawa liveaboard usually visit?

The itineraries listed here draw on the same short list, and Tropical Snorkeling and Coralia both warn that stops can shift. Treat a named island as an intention until a written itinerary says otherwise.

• Moyo. An island off the north coast in Sumbawa Regency, 349 square kilometres according to its Wikipedia entry. Arenui and Coralia name its reefs, and Green Rinjani lists a stop for the waterfall inland. See Moyo by liveaboard.
• Satonda. A volcanic island of about 3 by 2 kilometres in Pekat District, Dompu Regency, per Wikipedia, with a lake filling its caldera. See the Satonda stop.
• Saleh Bay. A semi-enclosed embayment in northeast Sumbawa, directly connected to the Flores Sea, as the Important Shark and Ray Area fact sheet describes it. This is the whale shark stop, covered on the Saleh Bay page.
• Sangeang. An active complex volcano with two cones, the taller at 1,949 metres, in Bima Regency, per Wikipedia. Only some trips name it, so check which ones before you count on it.
• Tambora. Its 1815 eruption was the largest in recorded history, rated VEI-7, and led to the "Year Without a Summer" in 1816, according to Wikipedia. For boat guests the mountain is mainly a backdrop, explained in Tambora from the water.

Moyo and Satonda also share a legal identity. Both sit in a national park created by ministerial decree in 2022, according to the West Nusa Tenggara provincial government, and UNESCO lists the wider area as the Saleh-Moyo-Tambora biosphere reserve, nominated in 2019. What that means for fees and paperwork is on our Moyo Satonda National Park page.

How long do trips last, and where do they start?

La Galigo's cost guide says Sumbawa liveaboards typically run 4 days and 3 nights, 7 days and 6 nights, or 8 to 10 days on extended crossings. The named listings on this page sit at the short and long ends of that description, and two of them run past it: Tiger Blue's 10-night trip and Naga Biru's 15 days. We have not found a published two-day or three-day liveaboard from Sumbawa, so be careful with anything sold under that label and ask where you sleep.

Start point usually decides more than length, because it sets your flights and how many of the islands you can reach before the boat has to turn. Tiger Blue's and Sumbawa Tour's short programmes leave from Sumbawa Besar, and Sumbawa Tour's stays with Satonda, the bay and Moyo. Bali and Labuan Bajo anchor the longer crossings. The route patterns are laid out side by side, the Bali trips have a page of their own in Bali to Komodo via Sumbawa, and the four-day programmes are treated separately. To work out the connections, start with getting to the boat, where The Langkah's ferry timing from Lombok sits beside the flights.

When do whale sharks and calm seas line up?

They do not line up neatly, and the sources disagree in the open. The Important Shark and Ray Area record says whale sharks were observed regularly in Saleh Bay between 2017 and 2022, year-round, with the largest number of observations in March and April. Komodo Resort tells guests the season runs May to October, with June to August usually bringing the most consistent sightings. One is a scientific tally and the other is a seller's season, so read them as different things.

Weather pulls in its own direction. Climates to Travel puts the rainy season at December to March and the dry season at June to September, with about 1,400 mm of rain a year at Sumbawa Besar. So the months with the most recorded observations fall at or just after the end of the rains, while the operator's preferred months overlap the dry season. Calm water is an expectation here and not a measured figure. The month-by-month view sets these claims against each other, and the sightings page covers what operators say happens when no shark appears.

What do published trips cost, and what is left out?

Prices on this coast come in units that do not compare, and the price table on this page shows four of them on purpose: a cabin rate on Mermaid II's 8-day trip, a "from" rate on Neptune One's 10-day crossing, a per-day mid-range estimate from a liveaboard operator's guide, and a whale shark day trip from Sumbawa Besar that is not a liveaboard at all. We do not average them, because an average of those four would describe no trip anyone sells.

Exclusions move the final bill. For one trip, Komodo Resort leaves Nitrox, rental equipment, the single cabin supplement, park and port fees and drinks outside the rate. Another seller's list will read differently. Compare rates only after you have laid the inclusion lists side by side, with help from the full cost page and what a rate usually includes.

What rules protect the whale sharks of Saleh Bay?

The species has full protected status in Indonesia under Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Decree 18/KEPMEN-KP/2013, enacted on 20 May 2013 and held in the ministry's legal database. Saleh Bay carries real weight in that protection: Konservasi Indonesia counts 174 individuals identified there through monitoring up to 2025.

The swimming rules are harder to pin down. Distance and group-size figures circulate through operator codes and conservation summaries, they are not identical, and we have not read the binding texts ourselves. So this page gives you no distance as law. The rules page sets out each layer with its source. Before you book, ask any operator which code it follows and who briefs the guests in the water.

How does this desk work, and what is our interest in your enquiry?

Sumbawa Liveaboard is a specialist maritime brand under Juara Holding Group: an English-language guide and a request desk. The site itself is not a contracting party: brokerage, central agency, charter marketing and commercial representation contracts are issued by PT Komodo Bahari Nusantara, and the other group companies are named in the footer.

You should weigh our interest. Requests through the desk can lead to a contract with our companies, so test our offer as you would any other. The comparison checklist applies to us as well.

When you write, the desk answers your questions. It does not hold space on the operators' trips described here, and nothing on this site is a quote. Only a written offer binds anyone, and any fee and payment terms are stated in the offer. A short note with your start point, month, number of guests and whether anyone dives is enough to begin. The contact page says what else helps, and the about page explains how we choose sources and show conflicts between them.

Where should you read next?

This page is the overview. The rest of the site splits by the decision in front of you, so pick the line closest to where you are.

• You do not dive: joining a trip as a non-diver.
• You are working out a budget: charges that appear after the headline rate.
• You are travelling as a group: what is public about private charters.
• You are weighing this coast against the better-known one next door: Sumbawa and Komodo compared.
• You want to know the risks: government advice and practical safety checks.
• You are packing: operators' own kit lists.

What do first-time readers ask about Sumbawa liveaboards?

Are the trips on this site your own departures?

No. Every route, rate and date described here belongs to the operator named beside it. If you want an offer from our companies, the desk will answer in writing.

Is a Sumbawa liveaboard the same as a Komodo liveaboard?

No, but they overlap. Mermaid II's trip runs Bali to Komodo and back with Saleh Bay in its name, and Tiger Blue's 10-night trip links Komodo with Sumbawa and Moyo. Check how many days each listing spends on either side.

Will I definitely see a whale shark?

No. No published sighting rate can be tested, and Sumbawa Tour states that it cannot promise a sighting or refund one because of sea conditions. This site never promises one either.

Can I reach a liveaboard without passing through Bali?

Yes. Wikipedia lists daily flights from Sumbawa Besar to Lombok as well as Denpasar, The Langkah describes a ferry from Lombok to Sumbawa, and some listings start from Labuan Bajo. The right gateway depends on where your boat departs.

Do these trips suit people who do not dive?

Some do. Tropical Snorkeling sells a 15-day trip built for snorkellers, and Sumbawa Tour's private programme lists snorkel gear. On a dive crossing the schedule follows the dives, so ask what non-divers do during them.

Which sources support this page?

• Wikipedia: Sumbawa
• Komodo Resort: Sumbawa liveaboard page
• Mermaid Liveaboards: Komodo and Saleh Bay, 8 days
• Tiger Blue: Sumbawa destination page
• Sumbawa Tour: private 4 days, 3 nights programme
• Tropical Snorkeling: West Komodo and Sumbawa trip
• Asik Travel: Komodo tour from Lombok
• Wikipedia: Moyo Island
• Wikipedia: Satonda Island
• Saleh Bay Important Shark and Ray Area fact sheet
• Wikipedia: Sangeang Api
• Wikipedia: Mount Tambora
• West Nusa Tenggara provincial government: park designation notice
• UNESCO: Saleh-Moyo-Tambora (SAMOTA) biosphere reserve
• La Galigo: Sumbawa liveaboard cost guide
• Climates to Travel: Sumbawa climate
• Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries: Decree 18/KEPMEN-KP/2013
• Konservasi Indonesia: Saleh Bay whale shark report, 2025
• Coralia Liveaboard: sample Komodo and Sumbawa itinerary (PDF)
• Arenui: sample Komodo and Sumbawa itinerary, 10 days 9 nights
• Green Rinjani: Komodo to Lombok, 4 days
• The Langkah Travel: Moyo Island guide

How do I reach the desk?

Tell the desk your start point, month, group size and whether anyone dives. WhatsApp +62 811-3941-4563 or email bd@juaraholding.com.