Komodo National Park rules that affect a party on a boat: balloons, plastic, music and group fees

We read the sources below on 26 October 2026. They are the park authority's visitor brochure, the text of Government Regulation 36 of 2024 (PP 36/2024), and news reports of statements by the Komodo National Park Authority (BTNK) between 2024 and 2026. The authority's own website did not open from our connection that day, so we did not read it.

The brochure is an undated copy hosted on a sailing-information site; its file name points to January 2018. Its visitor rules don't take long to read. Do not leave rubbish in the park. Do not feed the animals, Komodo dragons included. Do not take marine life, alive or dead, and that includes sand. Do not hold the reef or stand on it. Follow your guide.

For boats the brochure adds two lines aimed at captains: keep to no-wake speed near marine animals, and drop an anchor only on sand deeper than 30 m. Those are for the captain, not for you.

Nothing in it mentions balloons, confetti or music. Not mentioned isn't the same as allowed, and each section below says which is which.

No source we read lists balloons or confetti. The rule that does apply is the one about rubbish. A balloon that bursts or drifts, a handful of confetti, a pinch of glitter: each becomes rubbish in the park's water the moment it leaves the boat.

So what follows is our advice, not the park's. Keep party decoration tied down on board and carry all of it back to Labuan Bajo. Leave out helium balloons, confetti, glitter and loose petals on deck and on the beach stops. Fireworks and sky lanterns are not suggested in a national park, so we do not plan with them.

Photos of Carnaby 2 show staged scenes with flowers and petals. That staging is not included in the fare. Decoration is a service we arrange, quoted separately, and a cake, flowers and a musician go through a request. Tell us what you plan and we say in writing what stays on deck.

Two documents touch plastic. The first is Regent Regulation 16 of 2025 for Manggarai Barat, signed on 27 May 2025, on limiting single-use plastic products and packaging. detikBali reported it on 28 August 2025. It lists tourist areas, hotels, restaurants and public places among its targets.

At the time of that report it applied first to regency offices and businesses with permits. No start date for the rest was given, no boats were named, and no penalties were mentioned.

The second is older. On 7 July 2022 the head of the provincial tourism office told ANTARA that visitors to Komodo and Padar must bring a bag for their rubbish and carry it back to Labuan Bajo. The tourism office head described the regulation as still being drafted, and we found no later text that finishes it.

None of the sources we read bans a named plastic item on a boat inside the park. They all point the same way, though: your rubbish goes home with you. Bring a bag for the walks, and take cake wrappers, candle packaging and party bags back to the harbour.

We found no noise limit in any source. The brochure asks boats for no-wake speed near marine animals, and says nothing about speakers. Both Carnaby boats have a lounge with TV and karaoke in their facility lists, so music at anchor is part of the boat.

A speaker that a guest brings is a different question. We confirm it for your boat and date. The captain has the last word on board.

Our suggestion is a practical one. Play the playlist at anchor, switch it off on the walks and when a ranger is speaking, and keep the volume where the next boat does not hear it. Komodo Island walks are ranger-led, and people stop to listen.

Fix the date early and stick to it. A ticket carries one date, and the crew can no longer shift a birthday by a day as a favour on the jetty.

Count your guests by passport and by weekday. A mixed group of foreign and Indonesian friends pays two rates, and Indonesian guests pay the higher rate at weekends and holidays. Collect the tickets from friends as a separate line, apart from the boat share.

Ask for the Padar slot together with the date. The morning session is the one we request for a group photo, and the hour is confirmed.

Keep decoration on board and tied down, and carry the rubbish back. If the captain moves the toast because of the weather, the rule about rubbish does not move with it.

Limit: figures and rules here come from reports dated 2024 to 2026, and the daily cap changed in September. The written quote shows the fee applied to your dates.

Left out because we could not source it

We've left four things out deliberately. First, any rule that bans balloons or confetti by name. Second, any noise limit. Third, a group rate for park tickets. Fourth, a fee for ranger services, which we did not find in a source and which is quoted separately.

If you read a park authority notice that covers any of them, send it to us and we update this page with its date and link.