Trip Report Komodo Bajak liveaboard (Scuba Republic)

[Asanoth]

Hello,
recently I came back from a 4 days liveaboard with Scuba Republic on Bajak. This was my first liveboard and I only have had 37 dives before, so take the report as such, and as with any other report, this is my subjective opinion and impression and nothing else.
We, being on a very tight budget, chose the Scuba Republic, simply, because it was the cheapest, having 25 % discount, with good reviews. On 4 days, we did only 10 dives, which is 2 dives less than most LoBs do. Alternative was Dive Komodo, who make 13 dives, but it was about 200 USD more. This one was 700 USD including park fees (about 80 USD).
First, to sum up my impressions:

Good:
- very good food of much higher standard than I'd expect on a budget LoB
- helpfull and very nice crew
- good dive sites choice and order
- we were only 6 guests, which made for a cozy experience
- dive masters were attentive on board and mostly pleasant to deal with (all locals)
- "soft" gear such as wetsuits and most boots etc. were fairly newish
- of course, great diving

Bad:
- only 10 dives in 4 days, lowest amount of all Komodo LoBs, with only one night dive (which we knew when booking though)
- chaotic organization of diving
- (most) dive guides were really not so good
- much of, or at least some, gear had leaks and there had to be exchanges done post entering water - I used soap water last 2 days to check for leaks pre dive
- even though I liked the food and consider myself meat lover, I would appreciate more veggies, not necessarily choice of 4 meats every meal
- ship felt it would be very crowded with full 14 guests
- our cabin was good, but in another there was water dripping on a (empty) bed
- full price (800 + park fees) for 10 dives would be simply too high

As I said, we were 6 on board, 5 fun divers and 1 AOWD course (who went right after OWD, so with only 6 or so dives). They put us into 4 beds dorms by two, which was very nice and made for a lot of privacy, though I would not expect otherwise.
We were split into 3 groups: the AOW course, two most experienced divers (45 and I think 600 dives) and us the rest.
I was not particularly fond of our group, as the other girl (than my wife) was not really so much aware of her surroundings and kept hitting and kicking us. She also stayed very close to the DM all the time, which made it hard to see stuff he showed. Hard to blame her, as they were buddied together, but also the DM paid much more attention to her (had he even had a choice?). She led it to an extreme that when she lost her fin (had it in her hand) and was not able to put it on on start of one dive, she totally ignored me like 150 cm from her offering help and swam towards the DM for help. But she was a nice girl, do not get me wrong, and she kept apologizing for the kicking . DM himself was not really the best, not super aware of the (rest of the) group, often going way upfront (the girl followed him mostly wherever) and forgetting us in the back, making it impossible to "tell" him anything, not the best spotter (but definitely not the worst), and when he found something, he rarely did the hand sign, only pointed, so we did not even know if to look for a nudibranch or a ray . But he was kind and pleasant to deal with on land, just maybe has to work on his guiding a bit. Also, his first time with Scuba Republic, not sure if he had DMed Komodo before, which might be a factor. But he did keep us safe, which is important. Anyway, after 4 or 5 dives i realized the best is to do my thing with the buddy at the back and just keep him in sight, which worked out quite well. Also, complaining about people, I was worst with air of all of us (on boat).
What I got from other divers, another DM was also not really not so much on a group as well, once his guy had a problem with gear or cramp or whatever and it took him really long to notice he is not there. The AOW instructor was said to be great, but to be fair, he had only one person to care about, so this might make quite some difference .

Currents side note: There was not much current anywhere. Someone said it was because we were in a "half-moon", not sure... We did some drift dives, maybe 1 or max 2 m per s at places but is was very easily manageable. Generally it was managed as a drift and then we swam around a non currenty place until someone (me) got out of air.

Day 1:
On the first day, we met at 10 at the office and spend some time waiting, the boat set off at about 11 am. One or two more dives could easily be squeezed in here, if we met at 8. We arrived to Sebayur Kecil. On site, it was decided by the dive director we eat first. Not what I would do, but ok. After lunch, we dove:
Dive 1: Sebayur Kecil was not so special, it is after all used as a warm up dive. Coral was good, as everywhere on Komodo, saw two turtles.
When reaching the 2nd dive site, at 4:30 or so, it was supposedly too late to dive because of the light, which moved the dive to the next day.

Day 2:
As the dive was moved, we were due to do the monitor trekking on Rinca and subsequent 4 dives. Quite a full day. I wanted to do the long trek, because the monitors were the reason I flew to Komodo, but as we missed one dive the day before, I was told no problem, but I must skip the next dive. Thanks but no thanks... Anyway, Rinca is more of an amusement park than a nature lovers' site, you can read my review on Tripadvisor (same nick), so it was not such a shame, and I do not think there is a long walk anymore. Visiting in the morning, we saw many monitors, some of them you could even call "active". Not much other life except for deers, Komodo in the morning must be much better (we went there later also, but mid day).
Dive 2: Pengah Kecil, coral gardens. Blue spotted ray, white-tip, a turtle, a krait. My (new) housing started to fog at the end, which I, stupid me, neglected for the next dive. Also much of the dive (or what fells like that) was swimming against the current.
Dive 3: Mawan, my first proper drift dive. I am not so fond on even smaller currents, as I cannot stop and look at some small stuff, but the dive was nice: We had a glimpse of our first reef manta, we saw cowfish, blue dragon nudi, I saw a mantis shrimp and found a cuttlefish, which was a great deal for me, loving cephalopods and never having seen one. However, my housing fogged like hell during most of the dive, which I dealt with putting it to the fridge and closing it there before every other dive. That will not bring my cuttlefish close up photos back though...
After this, we learn, unsurprisingly, that there is no time for the 3rd dive and we only do the night dive.
Dive 4: Siabar Kecil, my first night dive. As expected, by me at least, night dives are sort of like insect spotlighting: you get to see quite a lot and it stays mostly put. Looking forward to the next one . Saw and octopus (and missed another one because taking a picture of a stupid hermit crab ), many crustaceans, resting fish.

 

[Asanoth]

Day 3:
We were told, that to be smart, we will jump into water at 7 to skip upfront other LoB, who jump at 7:30. At the site, everybody else got in at 6:30 and we got into water at 7:25 But, we still did not see much other divers, so cool - until we spoilt it ourselves.
Dive 5: Batu Bolong. This was "the best" site, as many bloggers call it. For me, however, one of the least pleasant dives. First, my fault, I expected the best site on Komodo to be something full of mantas and sharks, but this was full of corals and many many many fish. Sort of like the Phillipines, but with bigger fish and less slugs . Also, the dive's organization was not the best, we stayed at a closed "gorge" for quite a while as the DM was showing some nudibranch in the dark and they were trying to photograph it - there was a large sleeping turtle, but still kind of a bummer. Most importantly, meanwhile the rest of the boat caught up, so we spent the rest of the dive as a group of 9, which was sort of a pain for me. I am mad at myself I did not enjoy it more, but I am not so much fond of fish anyway .
Dive 6: Makassar reef - Manta point. My tank had a leak, so we had to change it, diving 10 minutes after the rest and that was luck! We saw 3 species of ray including a very long and close up sighting of a manta, two sharks, three turtles. The visibility here was worse than on other sites. The rest did not see any mantas and not really much at all... For me one of the top dives, but it was pure luck.
Dive 7: Crystal rock. Good, but I have nothing much to write about it.

Day 4:
This day was in the North Komodo and the best for me. The order of dives were chosen very well from this point.
Dive 8: Castle rock. Ok, I do not like (true) fish so much, but there were so many, many schools, many species, that even I was astonished. We saw both shark species and also a leaf scorpionfish (having started diving in the Phillipines, I do not really log scorpionfish, but we saw many during the trip). But I cannot get the white balance on photos right, Maybe the water had a violet hue or I dont know... Drives me crazy.
Dive 9: Cauldron - so many sharks! Great dive, almost no current. We were the only group not to see rays. Many garden eels. I just like sand...
Dive 10: Tatawa besar - probably the best dive for me. 5 green and 1 hawksbill turtles, I got almost hit by a black tip reef shark in a counter current, some nudis, much much much soft coral of all colours. Doplhins are sometimes seen here, but we did not have that much luck. The visibility was not as good as on the other sites.
After that we had lunch and headed back to Labuan Bajo.

It might seem I wrote a lot of negative things, but I would not like to leave that impression, as it would not be truthful: I enjoyed the Komodo and the Bajak liveaboard greatly and would like to come back sometimes, and would not hesitate to do so with Scuba Republic (but not for 10 dives in 4 days). The experience was very nice and I am grateful I could have had it .

 

[drrich2]

Thanks for your report. Good to see a thorough write-up on one of the budget options; some people come here researching for just such opportunities. Glad you had a good trip in Komodo.

Richard.

 

[AlMitch]

Ditto what Rich said above. Thanks a million for the review.

I'm assuming you have a poly carb housing for your camera? I used to have one and actually stuffed a few of those desiccant sachets into the gaps, and that helped a bit. Your fridge trick is clever!! ha ha
I now have an aluminum housing so it's a natural heat sink, so no more fogging!! Woop woop!