Can Non-Divers Join a Liveaboard? Snorkelling in Komodo and Raja Ampat

By Salah Teman · 5 August 2026

This is one of the most common questions we get, usually from someone whose partner dives and who is trying to work out whether a week on a dive boat would be tedious. The honest answer is no — but it depends on the destination and the sites.

Snorkelling is included

Mask, snorkel and fins come with your package. You are not renting equipment or paying per session.

Where non-divers do best

Some of the finest sites in both destinations are shallow enough that snorkellers see as much as divers, occasionally more. At Arborek Jetty in Raja Ampat the soft coral grows on the pilings from the surface down, so the interest is concentrated in the top few metres. Melissa’s Garden in the Fam islands is a shallow hard coral plateau. In Komodo, Pink Beach has reef starting metres from shore, and mantas at Karang Makassar are regularly seen from the surface.

What else fills the week

The boat is not only a dive platform. Padar’s three-bay viewpoint is a land walk. Komodo dragons are a land excursion. There is kayaking, beach time, and the long stretches of the day when divers are on the boat anyway, eating and sleeping. Full-board meals, snacks, soft drinks, coffee, tea and unlimited water are included for everyone, diver or not.

Which destination suits non-divers better

Komodo, on balance. The land excursions are stronger — dragons and Padar have no equivalent in Raja Ampat — and the season coincides with the driest weather. Raja Ampat rewards snorkellers well, but its appeal is more heavily underwater.

Mixed groups

On a 12-guest boat, mixed diving and non-diving parties are normal rather than awkward. Tell us the split when you book so the itinerary balances shallow sites and landings rather than optimising purely for depth.

About the boat

The KLM Teman is a 36-metre Indonesian phinisi carrying 12 guests in 5 ensuite cabins with a crew of 10 and a Cruise Director. See our full FAQ for booking and onboard detail.

Salah Teman

Salah writes for Teman Liveaboard, the owner-operator of the KLM Teman. The Teman is a 36-metre Indonesian phinisi, handbuilt in Sulawesi and launched in 2017, carrying 12 guests in 5 ensuite cabins with a permanent crew of 10 and a Cruise Director. The team behind her has more than 20 years sailing the Indonesian archipelago. The boat works Komodo National Park from June to September out of Labuan Bajo, Raja Ampat from November to April out of Sorong, and runs Banda Sea and Ring of Fire crossings between the two seasons. The dive site guides on this blog are written from the operator's own logs and itineraries, with conditions, seasons and equipment guidance checked against the dive team who work these sites every week. Where a detail depends on the day — depth on a given tide, or where a current will take you — we say so rather than guess, because that is a briefing the Cruise Director gives on the boat, not something a web page can promise.

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