any info on cenderawasih liveaboards?

[marijev]

Hi y'all!
I am planning my Raja liveaboard and probably will go spring 2017. Since it is a real long way out there it would be a pity to skip cenderawasih (the whalesharks). I have read some reviews of people who tried it on their own or via some kind of land operation and it sounded a lot of trouble and hassle and money. The liveaboards I checked do cenderawasih only in summer. Anybody has more up to date info on land or LOB based operations who do a decent job in cenderawasih?

I am also still looking for a (budget) live-aboard option, any good reviews are welcome!

marije

 

[Dan]

I went with Pearl of Papua last June & happy with the experience. I saw not only 3 whalesharks, but also the Mustangs, Japanese Mitsubitshi Zero airplane wrecks, large schools of barracudas. Very cool!

Pearl of Papua liveaboard | PEARL OF PAPUA

 

[priskilly]

I went with Pearl of Papua last June & happy with the experience. I saw not only 3 whalesharks, but also the Mustangs, Japanese Mitsubitshi Zero airplane wrecks, large schools of barracudas. Very cool!

Pearl of Papua liveaboard | PEARL OF PAPUA

Hi Dan_T,
I'm planning a live aboard trip to West Papua sometime in 2017 and am debating if I should go back to Raja Ampat (which was awesome) or try something new and check out Cenderawasih Bay. I'm a whale shark (and any kind of giant animals fanatic) so obviously CB sounds like a dream but I was wondering what you thought of the general diving in CB. Where did you go? Was it mostly big fish, schools, macro...? How was viz and currents and pristineness of the reefs compared to Raja or other parts of Indonesia? Any insight would be appreciated. Thank you!!

 

[AmphiBee]

Hi Priskilly, I dove there in November 2015 and we had a very nice trip from Manokwari to Biak.
More than 15 whalesharks together under the bagans (south of the bay). That was just amazing !
Beautiful WW2 Japanese wrecks close to Manokwari and Mansinam Island.
Despite the fact that fishlife and colors are not as rich as in Raja Ampat, I really enjoyed that one. We had many macro stuff, schooling baraccudas, sponge barrels, some nice corals, reef sharks (we even had a big bullshark), mantas and big stingrays (in Yapen Island and the tiny islands situated South-East from Biak).
Almost no currents during our dives. Viz was OK (from 15 to 40m)
The whalesark is the main interest of that cruise, for sure, but that itinerary was really complete, compared to the varied comments I heard about that area.
Trip was onboard WAOW, which was absolutely perfect. They sail there in November and January.
if you are looking for something similar to Raja Ampat, try Misool and Triton Bay (South West of West Papua). More colors, corals and fishlife than in Cenderawasih, and some bagans are around (good possibilities to see whalesharks as well).

 

[Dan]

Other than not seeing Walking shark, Wobbegong shark & soft corals like you see in Raja Ampat, the rest are just as good as Raja Ampat. The big pluses are diving with whaleshark and WW2 airplane wrecks that you won't see in any other place in the world. We went from Manukwari to Nabire, passing Pantai Mansinam, Pulau Auri, Pulau Sodompari, Pulau Matas, Pulau Roon, Pulau Jop. I don't have my logbook with me at the office. When I'm back home I'll post the map & some detail of what I saw there.

Check out this video:

 

[Dan]

I'm back home. Below are the map with sailing passages & itinerary. The first week we went to Bali. Basically, it's 2 week trip.

Visibility was about the same as Raja Ampat (40'-80') We had 100+ visibility in Pulau Wairundi. Not much current to speak of, far from what I have experienced in Raja Ampat & Komodo. They were all like swimming in the pool. Temperature was about 84F. It's a good safe place to dive for newbies.

 

[Dan]

 

[Dan]

 

[dirtfarmer]

I am also still looking for a (budget) live-aboard option, any good reviews are welcome!

marije

I was on a Raja Ampat trip aboard the Pearl of Papua last November and found it to be good in all aspects but two.

First they needed to improve safety procedures; during a high current dive all the groups got split up and spread out all over the place, after being picked up by the tender and delivered back to the boat that tender just remained with the main boat instead of heading back out to pick up divers. They looked at me when I told them they should be out picking divers up like I was crazy. This was a dive in high currents, and yes I had gotten completely separated from all the others in my group until during my safety stop where I was hanging on to a rock to avoid being swept into the blue until another group came along, I waited till their safety stop was done and surfaced with them. All the groups due to the high current were broken apart into smaller groups and me by myself until the end. There was also an elderly diver with us and I was concerned about her safety also. I could not for the life of me think that it was not a procedure to go back out until all divers had been recovered.

The other problem is in my cabin bathroom the sewage would back up onto the floor. It worked fine for the first few days but then it would back up after my roomate took a long shower and ewww. I would wear my beach shoes in the bath but still ewww. The cruise director says it was due to a missing pump but hell replace the pump huh? I think the design of the boat is faulty. So if I booked on the POP it would only be in a cabin on the top floor.

Other than those two issues, everything was good, the cruise director was excellent,( he was due to move to another boat at sometime this year) the crew excellent, the food was excellent too. Actually some of the best "budget" food I've had in Indo.

 

[Dan]

I was on a Raja Ampat trip aboard the Pearl of Papua last November and found it to be good in all aspects but two.

First they needed to improve safety procedures; during a high current dive all the groups got split up and spread out all over the place, after being picked up by the tender and delivered back to the boat that tender just remained with the main boat instead of heading back out to pick up divers. They looked at me when I told them they should be out picking divers up like I was crazy. This was a dive in high currents, and yes I had gotten completely separated from all the others in my group until during my safety stop where I was hanging on to a rock to avoid being swept into the blue until another group came along, I waited till their safety stop was done and surfaced with them. All the groups due to the high current were broken apart into smaller groups and me by myself until the end. There was also an elderly diver with us and I was concerned about her safety also. I could not for the life of me think that it was not a procedure to go back out until all divers had been recovered.

The other problem is in my cabin bathroom the sewage would back up onto the floor. It worked fine for the first few days but then it would back up after my roomate took a long shower and ewww. I would wear my beach shoes in the bath but still ewww. The cruise director says it was due to a missing pump but hell replace the pump huh? I think the design of the boat is faulty. So if I booked on the POP it would only be in a cabin on the top floor.

Other than those two issues, everything was good, the cruise director was excellent,( he was due to move to another boat at sometime this year) the crew excellent, the food was excellent too. Actually some of the best "budget" food I've had in Indo.

I was in the Trevally cabin, upstairs, so I wasn't aware of the problem, in the downstairs cabins.

We didn't get much current to speak of in Cendrawasih Bay trip back in June last year.

Yes, I like Ben, the cruise director.