@rsingler
Just came off the Arenui in Komodo a couple of weeks ago. As you suggest, it's a great boat, with a great crew. The dive masters were also very (very) good (interestingly, two are from Manado - they claim they are best "critter finders" in all of Indonesia).
We had one of the owners on the boat with us for our trip, which allowed us to see the emphasis they place on the food and service first hand.
The reef hook thing was an issue. In Komodo there are a few places where you will want to hook in and watch the schools of fish. The Arenui (as a principle) tries to avoid using them (although they sell them on the boat). Because of this, we missed some of the best fish action on a couple of dives (compared to our previous trip to Komodo on another boat).
You mentioned the flights needed to get there. I too have been wondering if/when Sorong will be opened as another international airport (for regional connections, like from Singapore). Word is that it will not happen for a very (very) long time - the government has zero motivation to do so, while also seeing what has happened in both Bali and Manado.
Our solution: we fly (from SFO) to Singapore (direct or via Japan, Korea, or Taiwan) then spend the day/night in Singapore (great food, reasonably cheap). Then take the evening flight to Jakarta the next day, to catch the overnight flight to Sorong (BTW: Jakarta customs is easily 5x faster than either Manado or Bali). The night in Singapore really helps with resetting the body clock, etc. We've done this several times now - the only downside being the wait in the Jakarta airport late at night (which is okay, just a bit boring).
Without overstating it, Singapore is known for 2 things, food and shopping. The food at the hawker stands is both reasonably priced and very (very) good. Skip the shopping, but definitely stop and have a great meal. We like it so much we stop for a night on the way out as well.
