It is not surprising, for this nation of islands, that seafaring is deeply rooted in Indonesian culture. The Komodo Dancer was built and designed specifically as a dive liveaboard in Bira in South Sulawesi, the home of the prahu or pinisi and where they are still built today.

After discussing measurements and making a quick sketch on the back of a cigar box construction started in June 2000. After 15 months she sailed to Surabaya for finishing and from there to Bali where all the dive hardware was installed. A naval architect then re-calculated the hull measurements and found them to be almost perfect.

On the morning of December 29th 2001 the Komodo Dancer was ready to start operations and she set sail for the Komodo National Park on the first of many trips.