Sumbawa is the island travellers fly over. Wedged between famous Lombok and more famous Komodo, it has quietly kept the things its neighbours traded away: empty surf bays, villages where a foreign face still earns a wave, and a body of water near Saleh Bay that marine biologists describe with words they normally ration. The best way to experience it is not to base yourself here at all, but to sail straight through it — which is exactly what our open-trip phinisi do on the Lombok–Komodo crossing.
The whale sharks are the headline. The bagan lift-net platforms fish through the night for baitfish, and at dawn whale sharks arrive to hoover up the spill — a relationship between fishermen and fish that long predates tourism. It is one of the only places on the planet where you can swim beside whale sharks almost year-round, ethically, with Mount Tambora’s silhouette on the horizon and rarely another boat in sight. Our Lombok–Komodo sailing trip stops here on the second morning, before the boat continues east.
Sumbawa on the sailing route
Every one of our open-trip sailings between Lombok and Labuan Bajo threads the Sumbawa waters. After the whale sharks comes Satonda — a perfect crater lake inside a volcano flooded by the sea, with a short hike and a snorkel over its mysterious saltwater lagoon — and the turquoise pools and coral gardens that ring this stretch of coast. You can sail the route in either direction: westbound on the Labuan Bajo to Lombok 4D4N, or on the budget-friendly Lombok to Labuan Bajo open trip — both call at the same Sumbawa highlights on the way to or from Komodo.
How to see it
Because the best of Sumbawa — the whale sharks, Satonda’s crater lake, the empty reefs — sits offshore and is reached by boat, the most rewarding way to experience the island is on a multi-day sailing rather than from a hotel ashore. Every departure includes the pre-dawn whale shark stop, so the early alarm is non-negotiable and entirely worth it.
When to come
May to October brings the calmest seas and the most reliable whale shark mornings; the encounter happens at dawn in all seasons, so the 4 a.m. start is non-negotiable and entirely worth it. The wet season (December–March) stays warm, with brief afternoon storms.
Getting here
The prettiest way to reach Sumbawa’s whale sharks is by sea, on the open-trip phinisi that sail between Lombok and Labuan Bajo — you arrive the way the whale sharks do, across the bay at first light, with Komodo waiting at the far end of the crossing.
