Seven Days in Komodo Island with Shaw Manta

Komodo Currents

20 dives, chaotic waters, and a week aboard a yacht in one of the world’s most demanding dive environments.

The currents in Komodo don’t ease you in. They demand your full attention from the very first descent. One second of distraction underwater and the ocean decides where you go next.

For divers exploring the , that unpredictability is part of the draw. Known for powerful currents, thriving reefs, and challenging dive sites like SHOTGUN, the region has become a destination divers work toward—not just visit.

For 26-year-old traveler, filmmaker, and software developer Kshitij Zodape, the trip had been on the bucket list for years. 

Alongside 17 friends who shared the same obsession with scuba diving and ocean travel, he travelled from Mumbai to Bali before boarding a privately chartered yacht in Labuan Bajo for a seven-day liveaboard expedition through Komodo National Park.

Life Between Dives

On his wrist throughout the trip was the Shaw Manta, an automatic dive watch designed for real-world performance and everyday wear.

Life on the yacht quickly settled into a rhythm of exhaustion, excitement, and complete unpredictability.

When the group wasn’t underwater, there was constant chaos onboard—camera gear scattered across tables, dive briefings, late-night conversations, and the occasional silence that only comes after hours spent battling strong currents underwater.

“There’s always something happening when you travel with friends,” Kshitij says. “Especially when everyone’s exhausted from diving all day.”

One of those moments came during an encounter with an octopus hidden within the reef. While a diver tried filming it up close, another octopus emerged from nearby camouflage, grabbed onto the GoPro, and refused to let go. The group eventually recovered it after realizing the octopus was defending a hidden baby nearby.

Moments like that became part of the trip’s rhythm—unpredictable, raw, and impossible to stage.

Diving in Komodo

Over the course of the expedition, Kshitij logged 20 dives, reaching depths of up to 27 meters.

The marine life delivered everything the Komodo Islands are known for: manta rays, white-tip sharks, turtles, massive pelagic species, and some of the healthiest coral ecosystems he had experienced so far.

But it was the currents that defined the experience.

“Lot of hard finning, constantly checking air, staying focused,” he explains. “You cannot afford to think about anything else underwater.”

At SHOTGUN, one of Komodo’s most notorious dive sites, the current lived up to its reputation.

“One second of distraction and you’ll go flying away.”

During one particularly demanding dive, the ocean claimed his GoPro entirely—swept away while he fought against the current.

“It belongs to the Komodo reef now,” he laughs.

The Watch in Real Conditions

Throughout the expedition, the Shaw Manta never left his wrist.

It went through all 20 dives, repeated jumps from the yacht, long swims, and the dusty hike up Padar Island under the Indonesian sun. Not as a prop, but as part of the equipment he relied on daily throughout the diving expedition.

“As someone who handles heavy camera rigs, I need gear that feels like an extension of my body rather than a hindrance,” Kshitij says.

The bezel became an essential underwater tool, used to track surface intervals between dives. Even in moving water, the grip and tactile feedback remained easy to operate.

What stood out most, however, was something simpler.

Despite saltwater, boat ladders, volcanic rock, and strong currents, the sapphire crystal dive watch returned without a single scratch.

“In an environment aggressive enough to literally rip a camera out of my hands, I trusted it completely.”

Beyond the Spec Sheet

Real performance is rarely decided on paper.

It reveals itself slowly—in moments where gear either disappears into the background or becomes a problem you constantly notice. Through seven days in Komodo, the SHAW MANTA-an Indian brand dive watch did what the best tools are supposed to do: quietly handle the environment around it without demanding attention.

The watch came back untouched.
The GoPro didn’t.