What to Pack for a Komodo Liveaboard
A practical Komodo liveaboard packing list: what the boat supplies, what it does not, why you need cash in rupiah, and the four items travellers most often wish they had brought.
Packing for a Komodo liveaboard is mostly an exercise in not bringing things. Cabins are small, there is nowhere to store a large suitcase, and you will live in swimwear and one dry outfit for two or three days. Bring a soft bag rather than a hard case.
The four items travellers most often wish they had brought are not the obvious ones: a power bank, a dry bag, closed shoes, and cash in rupiah. Everything below explains why.
Check Availability
What the boat already supplies
Do not duplicate these. Every liveaboard on this site includes:
- Snorkel gear and life jackets. Standard on every boat here. If you have your own mask and prefer it, bring it — otherwise leave it.
- All meals, plus water, coffee and tea. Three cooked meals a day is the norm, with free-flow drinks. Alcohol is generally excluded and often not sold on board.
- Towels, on most boats. Several listings name beach towels explicitly; the budget tier sometimes does not, which is the one to check.
The what-to-expect guide goes through the on-board setup in more detail.
The four things people wish they had brought
A power bank. This is the one. Cabin sockets run off the boat’s generator, and many boats shut the generator down for part of the night — so the phone you plugged in at bedtime can be at 40% in the morning. On a trip whose entire point is photographing a sunrise, that matters. Bring a charged power bank and treat boat power as a bonus.
A dry bag. Landings at Padar, Pink Beach and most snorkel stops are made by tender, and tenders are wet. A 10–20 litre dry bag keeps a phone, a camera and a passport safe on the transfer. Nobody supplies one.
Closed shoes. The Padar ridge is a stepped trail and the Komodo Island ranger walk is dry, rocky ground in full sun. Both are done in flip-flops by people who then wish they had not. Trainers or trail sandals are enough — nothing technical.
Cash in Indonesian rupiah. Two unavoidable costs are cash-only: the Komodo National Park entry, ranger and conservation fees, roughly IDR 650,000–750,000 per foreign visitor, and crew tips, which are optional on paper and customary in practice. Draw it in Labuan Bajo before you board — ATMs there run out, especially at weekends, and there is no cash machine in the national park. Full detail in the fees guide.
Clothing
Pack for heat, sun and salt water, and for one cool evening on deck.
- Swimwear ×2 so one is always dry.
- A quick-dry towel, even if the boat provides one — a second towel is genuinely useful.
- Light, loose clothing for the deck. Cotton and linen; nothing you mind getting salty.
- A long-sleeved rash vest or light shirt. More useful than sunscreen for the middle of the day, and it is what you will wear snorkelling.
- One warm layer. Evenings at anchor and the pre-dawn tender ride to Padar are cooler than the brochure photographs suggest.
- A hat with a brim and a strap, because there is wind.
Modest dress is not required on the boat. It is worth having a shirt and shorts that cover the shoulders and knees for time ashore in Labuan Bajo.
Sun, sea and health
- Reef-safe sunscreen, high factor. You are snorkelling over living coral in a protected marine park; the mineral formulations exist for this.
- Seasickness tablets, taken before you need them. The overnight repositioning leg is the roughest part of any Komodo liveaboard, and every operator here lists seasickness-prone travellers as unsuitable. If you know you are susceptible, this is not optional.
- Personal medication. Excluded from every listing, and there is no pharmacy at sea.
- Insect repellent for the Kalong Island evening and the island landings.
- A basic first-aid kit. Several boats explicitly exclude one, which is worth reading twice.
Photography
The park rewards a camera and punishes a careless one.
Salt spray gets everywhere on a tender, so whatever you bring goes in the dry bag between stops. A GoPro or waterproof phone case earns its place at Manta Point and the reef stops. Note that several boats here — the budget shared-cabin liveaboard and the VIP boat among them — include drone, GoPro and mirrorless documentation of the trip as standard, so check your listing before packing a drone of your own.
That last point is not only about weight. Drones are explicitly prohibited on at least one boat in this catalogue, and Komodo National Park is subject to government regulations and visitor limitations that operators enforce. If flying your own drone matters to you, confirm it with the operator before you book rather than at the harbour.
What to leave behind
- Hard-shell suitcases. There is nowhere to put them.
- Hairdryers and anything else high-draw. The generator will not thank you.
- Valuables you would mind losing to salt water.
- Fireworks and explosive substances, which one operator lists as prohibited — an item on a packing list only because someone once tried.
Before you board
Draw your rupiah, charge the power bank, and check your boat’s own exclusions list for the two things that vary most between operators: whether towels are supplied, and whether the park fee is paid in cash on the day or in advance.
Not booked yet? The buying guide compares every boat we cover on price, cabin and rating — or check availability above for the most-reviewed overnight sailing in the park.
Two Nights on the Water, Ten Stops, One Sunrise
The 3-day, 2-night Phinisi sailing is the format most Komodo travellers book, and the one that puts you on Padar before the day boats leave Labuan Bajo. Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Check Availability & Book