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The Naga Biru, a 115-foot Bornean ironwood liveaboard launched in 2024 and designed by Italian Antonello Benedetti
 

The story of Naga Biru begins, appropriately enough, on a boat. Marcus Blake was sitting with Antonello and Stefano, watching the sun disappear behind the islands of Komodo. As it often did, the conversation drifted towards boats, travel and the future.

The three had spent years working together at Komodo Resort, dreaming about remote corners of Indonesia and, inevitably, building a liveaboard of their own. Then Antonello asked a question: “How much savings do you have?” Marcus told him. “That’ll do.” It was everything he had.
 

Komodo National Park features some of the richest and most vibrant coral reefs in the world
 

A giant frogfish surveys the reef from his vantage point
 

Local children freediving with their homemade goggles has become a well-known sight for divers visiting Alor
 

Somewhere between the sunset and the second drink, a dream became a commitment. For Marcus, the project was the culmination of nearly two decades in the diving industry. He began as a divemaster in Koh Phi Phi before working across Thailand, the Maldives and Indonesia, managing everything from backpacker operations to luxury resorts.

Along the way he fell in love with underwater photography and eventually settled in Komodo, where he met Antonello and Stefano. The three shared the same outlook. They loved the ocean, loved exploring, and were always looking towards the next adventure. One destination surfaced repeatedly: Alor.

Then COVID arrived. Like much of the tourism industry, their plans stalled overnight. Rather than sit still, Marcus and Antonello borrowed one of the resort’s boats and headed east for what was meant to be a 10-day trip. Ten days became six weeks. “We were discovering something new almost every day,” Marcus told me. “New reefs, villages, coastlines. We’d spend all day exploring and then every evening we’d talk about the future.”
 

Left-right: Nico GJ, Antonello Benedetti and Marcus Blake
 

By the time they returned, the dream no longer felt hypothetical. When international travel resumed, Marcus returned to the UK, but the idea refused to disappear. Stefano joined the project, bringing decades of experience building resorts and boats across Indonesia, while trusted colleague Nico completed the team with his operational expertise.

The right builders were found in South Sulawesi, where wooden boatbuilding remains a way of life. Entire families worked on the vessel as ironwood ribs slowly emerged from the shipyard, traditional craftsmanship blending with modern engineering. Marcus describes watching the process as seeing something alive being born. Eventually, the boat found its name: Naga Biru. The Blue Dragon.
 

Skilled South Sulawesi boatbuilders brought Antonello Benedetti’s design of a luxury phinisi-style liveaboard to life
 

While the boat’s appearance mattered, the team remained focused on something less obvious: safety. Indonesia has suffered a worrying number of liveaboard fires in recent years, particularly aboard traditional wooden vessels. Marcus and his partners wanted to do things differently, incorporating modern fire-retardant insulation throughout the boat from the outset.

The same thinking shaped the vessel itself. Rather than squeezing in extra cabins, they chose space instead. There is room to breathe, generous communal areas, and cabins that feel unusually spacious for a liveaboard.

Then came what Marcus calls “the nightmare before launch.” Before welcoming its first guests, Naga Biru was hauled onto a beach in southern Komodo for final painting and finishing work. Everything went smoothly until it was time to return her to the water: She wouldn’t move.
 

Tense moments as everyone pulls together to ease a completed Naga Biru back into the water
 

The boat had settled deep into the sand. With the inaugural voyage only days away, panic spread. Another vessel under construction was brought in to help. Ropes stretched across the bay. Engines roared. Villagers pushed. Crew members pulled.

Slowly, almost reluctantly, the Blue Dragon slid free. “It was one of the most stressful days of the entire project,” Marcus admitted. Eventually, she floated and the dream survived.

Today, Naga Biru explores Komodo, Alor and Sumbawa, but for Marcus the boat represents something more personal than another luxury liveaboard. It is the product of friendship, shared experience and years spent imagining the sort of vessel he wanted to travel on himself.
 

The dream realized: The Naga Biru accommodates 16 guests in beautiful cabins and features an excellent camera room for underwater photographers

A Week Aboard the Blue Dragon

My wife Marie is a lifestyle journalist. She likes beautiful hotels, comfortable beds and bathrooms that function properly. However enthusiastic, she was also fairly new to snorkeling. A liveaboard, at least in theory, wasn’t an obvious fit. Yet when I suggested spending a week exploring Komodo National Park by boat, she didn’t hesitate.

Many liveaboards are designed by divers for divers, with comfort sometimes taking second place to compressors, camera tables and kit storage. Naga Biru felt different from the moment we stepped aboard.

As Labuan Bajo disappeared behind us and Komodo’s islands emerged from the haze, one thing became immediately apparent: There was space. Wide decks, quiet corners and comfortable communal areas made it easy to forget we were sharing the boat with a dozen other guests.
 

Vibrant yellow-banded sweetlips school along the wall
 

A green turtle catches some rays as it cruises the reef
 

A bright red emperor shrimp hitches a ride on the nudi “express”
 

Each morning brought a different view. One day we woke beneath the dramatic slopes of Padar. The next we were anchored in a deserted bay, surrounded by Komodo’s unmistakable jagged hills. After a while, we stopped asking where we were. It hardly mattered.

Life quickly settled into an easy rhythm. Coffee on deck at sunrise. Breakfast while cruising between islands. Hours spent in the water or exploring and hiking ashore to incredible viewpoints. Evenings ended with gin and tonics as strangers from half a dozen countries gradually became friends.

Marie and I were the only snorkelers on board. It could easily have felt like an afterthought, but the crew made sure it never did. While the divers disappeared below, we drifted—or occassionally flew, thanks to Komodo’s famous raging currents—over coral gardens, before climbing back aboard to a chorus of “Welcome back!”
 

Komodo is a famed for its large populations of resident reef mantas
 

Mola mola sightings are a seasonal occurrence in Alor’s waters
 

The ocean’s biggest fish are regularly spotted in Sumbawa’s Saleh Bay
 

At Manta Alley we slipped into murky, plankton-rich water. Visibility was poor, but within moments a manta ray materialized beneath us, Marie’s first encounter with my favorite marine animal. The divers surfaced beaming. They’d counted 16 mantas circling the cleaning station below.

Pink Beach revealed healthy coral gardens alive with turtles, fusiliers and reef fish, while Tatawa Besar offered some of the most colorful shallow reefs I’ve seen in Indonesia. Komodo may be famous for diving, but its snorkeling deserves equal billing.

The highlights weren’t confined to the water. On Rinca we walked among Komodo dragons. At Padar we climbed to watch evening light fall across one of Indonesia’s most photographed landscapes. From Gili Lawa, we looked out across an archipelago that seemed to stretch forever.
 

A harlequin shrimp shows off its stunning colors and unique pattern
 

The weedy scorpionfish: A highly prized find for divers and underwater photographers
 

By the middle of the week, Marie had stopped comparing the experience to a hotel. Instead, she’d started comparing hotels to the boat, and began asking when our next lievaboard would be. I could feel the zeros disappearing from my bank balance…

By the time we returned to Labuan Bajo, the spell was beginning to break. Dive gear was packed away, photographs were exchanged and plans for future adventures were already taking shape. Naga Biru may have started as an ambitious idea shared over sunset drinks, but somewhere between South Sulawesi’s shipyards and the reefs of Komodo, that dream became something tangible. After a week on board, it’s easy to understand why.
 

A broadclub cuttlefish bids us a fond farewell—for sure we will be back…
 

About the Author: Aaron Gekoski is a renowned environmental photojournalist and film producer, who has been documenting our complex relationship with animals for nearly 20 years. His photography regularly appears in the international press and he has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2024 Environmental Photographer of the Year grand title. Aaron produces documentaries for international broadcasters, with the aim of making conservation accessible to all through entertaining and educational content.