Last updated: September 2026 · Prices & availability verified for the 2026/2027 season
On 15 August 2026 a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck roughly 200 km offshore from Labuan Bajo. No tsunami followed, and every guest and crew member on our fleet was safe. The harbormaster’s notice, Maklumat 05/MP-VIII/2026, cleared sailing the same day. This is our hour-by-hour operational record of that morning.
This page replaces our first bulletin from that weekend. The facts have not changed; the format has. Guests planning trips through 2027 keep asking what actually happened, hour by hour — so here is the operational record, written by the team whose crews were at sea with guests when the earthquake struck.
The Facts First: Magnitude 7.7, ~200 km at Sea, No Tsunami, Sailing Same Day
| Fact | Record |
|---|---|
| Earthquake | Magnitude 7.7 — BMKG’s final figure, revised up from an initial estimate of 7.0 — early morning of Saturday 15 August 2026 (05:58 local time) |
| Epicenter | At sea, roughly 200 km from Labuan Bajo |
| Tsunami | None — the precautionary alert was lifted the same morning |
| Guests and crew | All safe and accounted for, on every boat and every shore group |
| Sailing | Reopened the same day: Maklumat Pelayaran No. 05/MP-VIII/2026 |
| Our fleet | Back on the water that afternoon; trips normal from 16 August |
Those six lines are the whole story in summary. The rest of this page is how each of them came to be true, in order.
The Hour-by-Hour Record
The tremor: what guests on deck felt versus what the instruments said
At 05:58 local time, most of the fleet was at anchor with guests asleep or watching the early light on deck. A distant offshore earthquake does not reach a boat the way it reaches a building: it arrives as a low shudder through the hull, not the sharp shaking felt on land. The instruments told the fuller story — an event first read at magnitude 7.0 and later finalised by BMKG at 7.7, roughly 200 km away at sea. That mismatch between mild sensation and serious reading is exactly why our protocol treats instruments and official alerts, not gut feel, as the trigger.
First 30 minutes: crew protocol, headcounts, and radio checks across Ayvara, Malca, Catnazse and Naturalia
The sequence that followed was standing protocol, rehearsed long before it was needed:
- Boats moved to deep water. Captains took vessels away from the shallows and held position offshore — the standard maritime response while a precautionary alert is active.
- Life jackets on. Guests were briefed calmly and put on life jackets, as the protocol requires during any alert.
- Shore groups moved to high ground. Guests on land excursions were walked to elevated points by their guides and kept there until the all-clear.
- Every head counted. Each captain and guide confirmed a full headcount — all guests safe and accounted for — before anyone stood down.
- Hold until cleared. No vessel resumed its itinerary until the authorities said the water was open.
Radio checks ran across all four boats we own — Ayvara, Malca, Catnazse, and Naturalia, which between them have logged 761 shared-trip departures in our schedule records. None of this was invented that morning. Safety briefings happen on day one of every trip; 15 August was simply the day the routine was tested in public.
BMKG assessment: a final M7.7, epicenter roughly 200 km offshore, no tsunami
BMKG, Indonesia’s geophysics agency, first estimated the event at magnitude 7.0 and later revised its final figure to 7.7, with an epicenter roughly 200 km from Labuan Bajo, at sea. The precautionary alert for the region was lifted about three hours later. No tsunami formed. Our boats stayed in deep water until that assessment was final — the protocol does not shortcut the science.
Mid-morning: our call with the Labuan Bajo harbormaster (KSOP)
The decision to sail again was never ours to make, and that is the point. Komodo departures are governed by the Syahbandar — the harbormaster at KSOP Labuan Bajo — who issues port clearance voyage by voyage. Mid-morning, our operations desk was in contact with the KSOP office, like every operator in the harbour, waiting on a single question: is the water open? Every boat held position until the answer came in writing.
Maklumat 05/MP-VIII/2026: the same-day clearance to sail, in writing
It came the same day. Maklumat Pelayaran No. 05/MP-VIII/2026, issued by the harbormaster on 15 August 2026, reopened sailing from Labuan Bajo. A written notice, numbered and dated, from the authority that controls the port — not an operator’s opinion. That distinction is the reason this record exists: when someone asks whether Komodo is open after the 2026 earthquake, the answer comes from a document, not a sales desk.
Afternoon: the scheduled departures that went ahead as planned
With clearance in hand, our fleet returned to the water on the afternoon of 15 August and scheduled itineraries resumed. The detail most guests never see: this was not special earthquake procedure. The same clearance sits behind every ordinary departure — the harbormaster’s permission is filed before any boat leaves, on the calmest day of the year.
Evening: what we told guests boarding the next morning
Guests boarding on 16 August received the same facts this page opens with: the magnitude, the distance, no tsunami, and the written clearance. We did not dress it in slogans — we do not use absolute promises about nature, and we did not use them that evening. Trips have run normally since 16 August. What guests got instead was the briefing every departure gets on day one: life jacket locations, muster points, and what the crew does if anything changes.
What This Record Shows About How Komodo Sailing Is Regulated
No clearance, no departure — the Syahbandar rule that applies every single day, not just after earthquakes
Every Komodo voyage begins with a Surat Persetujuan Berlayar — port clearance issued by KSOP Labuan Bajo together with a passenger manifest, voyage by voyage. On 15 August that system worked in real time: pause, assess, written reopening within hours. For travellers, the practical meaning is structural rather than rhetorical: an operator cannot simply decide to sail. The port has to open first, and on the one morning that rule was tested hardest, it worked exactly as designed.
Planning 2027: How to Read Risk Like an Operator Does
Guests planning ahead ask how to think about this for 2027, and our honest answer has three parts. First, rely on the system, not on promises: daily harbormaster clearance governs every departure, ours and everyone else’s. Second, book with the normal rhythm — across our booking conversations, reservations close about three months before departure, and August alone drew 1,114 trip inquiries in our chat archive against 48 for November, so peak-season cabins do not wait for late deciders. Third, know the real costs: shared cabins on the Komodo open trip 3D2N sailing schedule start from USD 300 per person, and the Komodo National Park fee is set under Government Regulation No. 36/2024 as displayed by the Balai (IDR 250,000 per international visitor per day, IDR 50,000 per Indonesian visitor per day), confirmed by our desk as its own line on your invoice, whatever its length.
If you want the boat-level view, two of the four vessels named in this record sail year-round: the Ayvara Komodo liveaboard and the Catnazse phinisi charter — same crews, same protocol, same daily clearance.
Questions Guests Actually Asked Us That Week
Is it safe to go on the boat after the earthquake?
Sailing from Labuan Bajo is officially open — Maklumat No. 05/MP-VIII/2026 — and conditions since 16 August have been normal. We will not attach a percentage to nature. What we can state is procedure: every departure runs under daily authority clearance and the protocol described above.
Are there still aftershocks?
Aftershocks follow any event of this size, and BMKG monitors them continuously. Sailing has remained open. If a reading ever crossed the authorities’ thresholds, departures would pause the same way they paused on 15 August — by rule, not by debate.
Were your boats or the harbour damaged?
Our fleet returned to the water on the afternoon of 15 August — the clearest answer we can give. The harbour is operating, and the harbormaster has kept sailing open since.
My trip is soon — is it still confirmed?
Departures have proceeded as scheduled since 16 August, and they continue as long as BMKG and the harbormaster keep the water open. Our team confirms each departure directly on WhatsApp; if anything changes for your date, you hear it from us first.
FAQ
How safe is a Komodo shared boat tour in terms of life jackets, emergency procedures, and crew training, especially for non-swimmers?
Life jackets are carried for every guest, briefings happen on day one, and crews rehearse emergency sequences as routine — the 15 August 2026 protocol in this record was that training running in real conditions, and every guest and crew member was safe. Non-swimmers can enjoy the full itinerary: trekking and beach stops involve no swimming, snorkeling is optional, and crew accompany guests in the water.
Are life jackets provided and worn during all sailing segments on Komodo shared trips, or only during specific activities like snorkelling?
They are provided for every guest and always accessible on deck. In normal cruising conditions you are not required to wear one continuously; they are worn during tender rides to shore, during any alert, and whenever the crew calls for them — as happened fleet-wide on 15 August 2026. You are welcome to wear one at any time you feel more comfortable in it.
For travellers with mild anxiety about water, how close is the boat usually anchored to shore, and are there safe options for people who don’t want to swim?
Boats anchor in sheltered bays, usually a short tender ride from the beach, and overnight anchorages are chosen for calm water. You never have to swim: every landing is by tender, the Padar and Komodo stops are walks, and you can skip any snorkel session and stay on the shaded deck with the crew.
For Komodo shared tours, how strict are the schedules for visiting Komodo dragons, Padar Island, and Pink Beach, and can weather cause major changes?
The stops are fixed; the order is not. Captains re-sequence around wind and current — Padar at dawn one day, mid-morning another — rather than cutting sites, and dragon trekking follows ranger hours inside the national park. Weather severe enough to cancel is a harbormaster decision: if the port closes, no boat sails. On 15 August 2026 that system ran in reverse — assessed, cleared, sailing the same day.
If you are weighing a sailing for late 2026 or 2027 and want operational answers rather than marketing ones, message the team that wrote this record on WhatsApp at +62 811 3823 875 — or pick a date on the Komodo open trip 3D2N sailing schedule. The clearance system described above will be working that morning, the way it works every morning.
