TTA ... my apologies ... I'm responsible for the hijack of your thread ... so I won't carry on here ...
Diving Raja Ampat - Silolona or Arenui?
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Back to the original post. No one can report on the Arenui because it hasn't sailed yet. If you want info on them, e.g. boat ownership, crew experience, etc. contact Cindi at Dive Discovery or Janet Czapski at Dive Travel Services. They may have some people booked on the early trips.
Here's an informal list I made of boats plying the waters of RA. Crew experience is very important, which is why you want to avoid inexperienced boats. Reports are that new crew often don't know where the sites are. Sometimes veteran boats have inexperienced crew. Sometimes new boats have veteran crews. Choose wisely.
The two sure fire boats are the Seven Seas and AE II. Some people like the Pindito. Some don't like Edie. The PD is a big, comfy boat with inexperienced crew. Cheng Ho gets very mixed boat reviews, yet has a good crew. Ocean Rover is a wonderful boat that is going to Raja for the first time this year. Take a pass. The Ondina is not a great boat. The last group of Grand Komodo boats offer tremendous value and exerienced crew, albeit without all the luxury. The RA Explorer and Temu Kira are the most luxurious of the group.
Everyone's requirements and expectations are different with regard to a dive boat and diving in general. I can't wait to get back to Raja next month. Visibility is an overrated aspect of diving.
Seven Seas
Seahorse
Archipelago Explorer II
Paradise Dancer
Ondina
Pindito
Dive Damai (new, yet to sail)
Arenui (new, yet to sail)
Cheng Ho
Ocean Rover (one season scheduled)
Shakti
MSY Raja Ampat
Temu Kira
Bidadari
Putri Papua
Tarata
Nusatara
Here's an informal list I made of boats plying the waters of RA. Crew experience is very important, which is why you want to avoid inexperienced boats. Reports are that new crew often don't know where the sites are. Sometimes veteran boats have inexperienced crew. Sometimes new boats have veteran crews. Choose wisely.
The two sure fire boats are the Seven Seas and AE II. Some people like the Pindito. Some don't like Edie. The PD is a big, comfy boat with inexperienced crew. Cheng Ho gets very mixed boat reviews, yet has a good crew. Ocean Rover is a wonderful boat that is going to Raja for the first time this year. Take a pass. The Ondina is not a great boat. The last group of Grand Komodo boats offer tremendous value and exerienced crew, albeit without all the luxury. The RA Explorer and Temu Kira are the most luxurious of the group.
Everyone's requirements and expectations are different with regard to a dive boat and diving in general. I can't wait to get back to Raja next month. Visibility is an overrated aspect of diving.
Seven Seas
Seahorse
Archipelago Explorer II
Paradise Dancer
Ondina
Pindito
Dive Damai (new, yet to sail)
Arenui (new, yet to sail)
Cheng Ho
Ocean Rover (one season scheduled)
Shakti
MSY Raja Ampat
Temu Kira
Bidadari
Putri Papua
Tarata
Nusatara
cmuljadi
Guest
I am booked for Arenui Nov 09 so I can't say anything about the boat or the crew. They are suppose to launch late last year, then moved to early this year. My dive buddy and I get nervous since we do not want to be the first group to go. Hopefully not. I have been searching regularly for Arenui's review to show some sign of activity. We care more for the crew than the boat. I agree the crew is very important on picking the dive sites. So anyone that know anything about Arenui, please pm me.
Eskasi
Contributor
I would like to know any news of the Arenui too... Thinking of going in Sept to RA with them...
luppie
New
I was booked to go on the Arenui as well but the trip got cancelled for lack of divers. I still plan to go with them at a later time (whenever I can get away and when I'm sure the trip is going!). All I can say is my contacts with the Manager have always been very satisfactory - he seems very professional and responds thoroughly and rapidly to all my enquiries. But I would love to hear from anyone else about their experiences.
cmuljadi
Guest
Luppie, you are welcome to join our trip with Arenui in Nov09. I sent you pm. I agree the dive manager is very friendly. I had other people that did the dry run and speak highly of the owner and the boat.
some friends and i (5 in total) are booked to go to RA with arenui Feb '10 - we are very excited and after some initial reservations with the condition of the boat, its history, etc. the manager explained the cause for confusion and ultimately we got comfortable putting down the deposit. if you want some more details feel free to PM me!
Arenui Liveaboard
Registered
Hello everybody!
I just noticed that my boat belongs to someone else (a Dutch guy)
Arenui shareholders are all Italians and so far no Dutch people working in our company.
By the way I invite everybody to have a look at what we did in the last couple of years. I hope you like it!
I just noticed that my boat belongs to someone else (a Dutch guy)
Arenui shareholders are all Italians and so far no Dutch people working in our company.
By the way I invite everybody to have a look at what we did in the last couple of years. I hope you like it!
The underlying concept of the Arenui is to provide you with the convenience of a fully equipped dive liveaboard together with all the richness, artistic touches and comforts of a top-notch luxury boutique hotel
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cmuljadi
Guest
I just came back from RA (Nov 16 - Nov 27th 09) with Arenui. Great boat (new), great crews (super nice and they do extra miles to make you comfortable), great safe dives (I was the only person that never skipped a dive), great food, great 4 DMs and great cruise directors.
They did excellent job combining: luxury, pampering (23 crews vs 11 guests), safety and at the same time turn it into dive boat. It is fit for serious divers and photo/videographers. Our group (5 of us) had to get used to all the pampering. We set up our gear at the first day at the gear room and we never had to mess with them again. The DM and the dingy team made sure they were set up, tanks was filled on every dives. They even rinsed our wetsuits, gloves, boots and hang them after every dives. Typical days for us were 6:30 wake up call, small breakfast, 7:30 1st dive, big breakfast, 11:30 2nd dive, lunch, 3:30 3rd dives, snacks, 7 pm 4th dives, and dinner at 8:30 pm. The crew even took our language and check in for us at Sorong airport so in case if there were flight delay we could wait at the boat. By the time we were at the airport, we had our boarding pass and boarded the plane. Sorong airport has no AC and it was super hot + crowded.
We went to Misool, Batanta and north RA. Viz was about 50 feet except on the last dive day at Damper straight. It only rained couple times during the day. No waves and mostly flats. Current was not that strong (medium to none). It was half moon phase during our trip and the DM said the trip before ours had strong current. The DM and cruise director picked the dive sites depending on the conditions. Safety was always their top priority. They have nitrox and we dove 32% on all our dives. We saw more than 4 wobegongs, 3 walking sharks, couple white tip, black tip sharks, 7 Mantas and other rays, 2 sea snakes, couple green turtle and tons of other small weird creatures. Lots of nudies, slugs and some of the dives were quite fishy dives.
Overall was excellent trip. RA and Arenui were beyond my expectation.
PM me if you have any further questions on my own personal RA and Arenui experiences. If you have questions regarding the boat and your future trip with them, email the Arenui staffs since I do not work for the boat.
They did excellent job combining: luxury, pampering (23 crews vs 11 guests), safety and at the same time turn it into dive boat. It is fit for serious divers and photo/videographers. Our group (5 of us) had to get used to all the pampering. We set up our gear at the first day at the gear room and we never had to mess with them again. The DM and the dingy team made sure they were set up, tanks was filled on every dives. They even rinsed our wetsuits, gloves, boots and hang them after every dives. Typical days for us were 6:30 wake up call, small breakfast, 7:30 1st dive, big breakfast, 11:30 2nd dive, lunch, 3:30 3rd dives, snacks, 7 pm 4th dives, and dinner at 8:30 pm. The crew even took our language and check in for us at Sorong airport so in case if there were flight delay we could wait at the boat. By the time we were at the airport, we had our boarding pass and boarded the plane. Sorong airport has no AC and it was super hot + crowded.
We went to Misool, Batanta and north RA. Viz was about 50 feet except on the last dive day at Damper straight. It only rained couple times during the day. No waves and mostly flats. Current was not that strong (medium to none). It was half moon phase during our trip and the DM said the trip before ours had strong current. The DM and cruise director picked the dive sites depending on the conditions. Safety was always their top priority. They have nitrox and we dove 32% on all our dives. We saw more than 4 wobegongs, 3 walking sharks, couple white tip, black tip sharks, 7 Mantas and other rays, 2 sea snakes, couple green turtle and tons of other small weird creatures. Lots of nudies, slugs and some of the dives were quite fishy dives.
Overall was excellent trip. RA and Arenui were beyond my expectation.
PM me if you have any further questions on my own personal RA and Arenui experiences. If you have questions regarding the boat and your future trip with them, email the Arenui staffs since I do not work for the boat.
Ralph Arbeid
New
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Thanks to share your experience with us. We are booked for next February and will be able to report back. You didn't give the water temperature and what kind of wetsuits you were wearing. From all above messages I understand that everybody perceives Luigi as a very nice person who goes out of his way to explain things. We fully agree. 100%.
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