Raja Ampat / SMY Ondina
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oscar27573
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Hi,
I was in that trip last christmas. The weather wasn't good but usually is better. I have been in raja ampat 3 times, my 2 first times the water was like a plate.
The travel is wonderful, and is one of my favourites boats. The food is really good and I slept well despite the bud weather.
It's true that we lost 3 dive because the compresors.
For me was a nice travel. Here some examples that you can sea in this place:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/1...58414203594081
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/1...57217547935617
I was in that trip last christmas. The weather wasn't good but usually is better. I have been in raja ampat 3 times, my 2 first times the water was like a plate.
The travel is wonderful, and is one of my favourites boats. The food is really good and I slept well despite the bud weather.
It's true that we lost 3 dive because the compresors.
For me was a nice travel. Here some examples that you can sea in this place:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/1...58414203594081
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/1...57217547935617
Hamza83
New
Hi Marta,
I just joined scubaboard, mainly because I'm looking into an RA trip in April 2012. There's a 12 night trip coming up on the Ondina. Have you already been and returned from your RA experience? How was it?
H
I just joined scubaboard, mainly because I'm looking into an RA trip in April 2012. There's a 12 night trip coming up on the Ondina. Have you already been and returned from your RA experience? How was it?
H
paul_morton
New
Well i hate to say it but you should not have booked on the SMY Ondina! I did a 12 days RA trip over Christmas/ New Year that has passed and had the worst experience of my life. Besides the boat been completely run down and not maintained we faced many problems during the twelve days:
1. compressors broke,
2. boat leaked 3-4 of the 12 nights we were aboard,
3. diesel fumes choked the cabins the one night and woke all of us up,
4. i'm a vegetarian and the food selection was absolutely terrible. I basically ate the same food every day for 8-9 of the days, the rest of the time i didnt eat the food as i was tired of eating the same nonsense,
5. the DM's on the boat are not safe divers and allow way too much freedom for a lot of the dives. Many a dive i found myself diving alone 30m down with severe rip currents. If it wasn't as an experienced diver as what i am i would have been more vocal on the boat,
6. beware of the shower on the top deck, it electrocuted one of the girls on my trip,
7. We also suffered bad air from the compressor for 2-3 days diving and may of the divers aborted dives due to an "oily" taste in their reg's!
I have expressed all of this information to the owners and was disgusted at how they handled the situation. I only hope more people would pick up on my feeds and report i wrote on this site about my experiece and chose other boats like the Amira or the Mermaid 1.
Good luck to you!! The diving is good though, just a pity the people that own the boat don't give a damn and the cruise directors just get on with things so don't expect good service.
Paul
1. compressors broke,
2. boat leaked 3-4 of the 12 nights we were aboard,
3. diesel fumes choked the cabins the one night and woke all of us up,
4. i'm a vegetarian and the food selection was absolutely terrible. I basically ate the same food every day for 8-9 of the days, the rest of the time i didnt eat the food as i was tired of eating the same nonsense,
5. the DM's on the boat are not safe divers and allow way too much freedom for a lot of the dives. Many a dive i found myself diving alone 30m down with severe rip currents. If it wasn't as an experienced diver as what i am i would have been more vocal on the boat,
6. beware of the shower on the top deck, it electrocuted one of the girls on my trip,
7. We also suffered bad air from the compressor for 2-3 days diving and may of the divers aborted dives due to an "oily" taste in their reg's!
I have expressed all of this information to the owners and was disgusted at how they handled the situation. I only hope more people would pick up on my feeds and report i wrote on this site about my experiece and chose other boats like the Amira or the Mermaid 1.
Good luck to you!! The diving is good though, just a pity the people that own the boat don't give a damn and the cruise directors just get on with things so don't expect good service.
Paul
I did 2 komodo trips on the Ondina last year.
They were both fantastic trips!
The dive guiding was carried out in a safe and fun way.
Less experienced divers were well looked after and experienced divers given some freedom to go away from the guide as buddy teams.
Paul wrote "Many a dive i found myself diving alone 30m down with severe rip currents." Paul it sounds like you repeated choose to leave the group and go deep solo diving and blame the guide for not following you. The smart divers follow the guide to see all the great things they point out. It is not normally considered the guides job to follow divers unless they are beginner divers who stray by accident and need help. It sounds like you are not a beginner diver that needed help, but an experienced diver choosing not to follow the group. The guide will have identified divers that need help on the check dive and look after them throughout the trip.
I found the food great and plentiful. The remote areas do not have much or any chance of restocking fresh vegitables and other foods during a trip. Remote area liveaboards do the best they can with food available in the area and the port they sail from. Perhaps very expensive liveaboards have gourmet dining and fly in food. The Ondina is not a top end liveaboard and is about diving more than dining. Although that said I enjoyed the food and there was lots of it.
Sounds like you had some bad luck with the weather which can make things uncomfortable. Very bad weather will lead to leaks in wooden boats. It will also make the chefs job very hard and limit what food is available.
Also bad luck the compressor broke down. It sounds like great work on the Ondinas crew/owners part that a replacement compressor was found so quickly even though you were in a very remote area and had very bad weather.
I hope I can make it to RA on the Ondina one day.
They were both fantastic trips!
The dive guiding was carried out in a safe and fun way.
Less experienced divers were well looked after and experienced divers given some freedom to go away from the guide as buddy teams.
Paul wrote "Many a dive i found myself diving alone 30m down with severe rip currents." Paul it sounds like you repeated choose to leave the group and go deep solo diving and blame the guide for not following you. The smart divers follow the guide to see all the great things they point out. It is not normally considered the guides job to follow divers unless they are beginner divers who stray by accident and need help. It sounds like you are not a beginner diver that needed help, but an experienced diver choosing not to follow the group. The guide will have identified divers that need help on the check dive and look after them throughout the trip.
I found the food great and plentiful. The remote areas do not have much or any chance of restocking fresh vegitables and other foods during a trip. Remote area liveaboards do the best they can with food available in the area and the port they sail from. Perhaps very expensive liveaboards have gourmet dining and fly in food. The Ondina is not a top end liveaboard and is about diving more than dining. Although that said I enjoyed the food and there was lots of it.
Sounds like you had some bad luck with the weather which can make things uncomfortable. Very bad weather will lead to leaks in wooden boats. It will also make the chefs job very hard and limit what food is available.
Also bad luck the compressor broke down. It sounds like great work on the Ondinas crew/owners part that a replacement compressor was found so quickly even though you were in a very remote area and had very bad weather.
I hope I can make it to RA on the Ondina one day.
Darnold9999
Contributor
Will be on the Ondina in a couple of weeks. Will report back.
However, if it rains I expect that the boat will leak. I also expect tht there will be places to stow stuff so that it will remain dry. I also expect that the actual bed I am sleeping in will also remain dry. We will see.
I own a wooden boat - it leaks when it rains. Plug one leak - another appears.
As a relatively experienced photographer, I certainly hope that the dive guides will not be herding me around. Will be pissed if they insist on diving that way. Seriously doubt any liveaboard would.
However, if it rains I expect that the boat will leak. I also expect tht there will be places to stow stuff so that it will remain dry. I also expect that the actual bed I am sleeping in will also remain dry. We will see.
I own a wooden boat - it leaks when it rains. Plug one leak - another appears.
As a relatively experienced photographer, I certainly hope that the dive guides will not be herding me around. Will be pissed if they insist on diving that way. Seriously doubt any liveaboard would.
tsk! Doug! Hmm, your room will be smaller 
Darnold9999
Contributor
Could hardly be anything but smaller. The room on Damai was bigger than my bedroom at home!
Retirement income is significantly less so I will just have to make do.
Retirement income is significantly less so I will just have to make do.
SMY Ondina
Registered
Well, what can I say.....All my replies are somewhere in the first thread Mr. Morton created after his cruise. I think most of his posts were removed but that is another story he knows very well. Thanks to all the buddies who write expressing the good cruises they have enjoyed on board the SMY Ondina. Really appreciate!
Let me just tell everybody about Mr. Morton's cruise:
Yes, we have bad weather and leaks. (the worst unexpected bad weather in that season for many years).
Yes we broke the 2 compressors onboard during the cruise. First time ever (that is why we have 2 compressors on board). we have already bought a new one and repaired the other two. Can it happen again?....yes, Peter's principle say it can happen again but hopefully not in your cruise.
Yes, we had bad air a couple of days due to the malfunctioning of one of the compressors before breaking down. We have compensated all pax the service of their regulators. (those who happily accepted, not Mr. Morton, who did not accept do not know why)
No, we did not have blund or repeated food during the cruise. Most of the pax onboard were vegetarian and most of them have congratulated us for the food during that particular cruise. I express my sorry to Mr. Morton for not liking it.
Our Dms not being safe: Absolutely untrue. But again I asked Mr. Morton for excuses if he had that perception.
Do not know why my way of dealing with the problem disgusted Mr. Morton so much althoughh it may be related to his false accusations of us operating illegally in the area when we are one of the most active collaborators with all local organisations, NGOs, Conservation International, Gahawishri organisation of liveaborad operators...etc.etc. and that point in particular he doesnt mention any more.
Mr. Morton, Sorry for being the main reason for your bad experience. We cannot say much more, we already offered you the same compensations than to the rest of the passengers on that cruise. We have improved in many ways thanks to your comments and for that we also thank you. If you think you have to continue reminding everybody about that particular bad things in that cruise, although you can read from other buddies who where at the same time onboard saying that it wasn't that bad, you have to know that you are damaging a business who has been operating for 11 years, that has a current yearly occupation of over 80%, that has had some "bad" cruises in these eleven years but many, many more good ones and we are an operation with many, many repeaters. We will continue providing good cruises, some of them absolutely outstanding and unfortunately I am sure we will still suffer some bad cruises in the years to come...we will try them to be the least.
There is something you are right, our colleagues from Mermaid or Amira as you reccommend and many others, like Pindito, Kararu, Arenui and many more, are great boats, with great management and therefore I happily tell everybody to join any of their cruises with the same tranquility as you should join any of ours, because you know what.......some times they also have a bad cruise or a strongly dissatisfied guest.
By the way have a look at our facebook site with the incredible shots from our last cruises to Cenderawasih Bay ( http://www.facebook.com/groups/167233633392305/#!/pages/SMY-Ondina-Dive-Indonesia/196221535156) and, although in spanish, you can also follow the blog where the famous reporter and adventurer Chano Montelongo wrote his experience on board the SMY Ondina from the 5th till the 15th of Feb this year, En Busca del Kraken.
Good dives everybody!
Let me just tell everybody about Mr. Morton's cruise:
Yes, we have bad weather and leaks. (the worst unexpected bad weather in that season for many years).
Yes we broke the 2 compressors onboard during the cruise. First time ever (that is why we have 2 compressors on board). we have already bought a new one and repaired the other two. Can it happen again?....yes, Peter's principle say it can happen again but hopefully not in your cruise.
Yes, we had bad air a couple of days due to the malfunctioning of one of the compressors before breaking down. We have compensated all pax the service of their regulators. (those who happily accepted, not Mr. Morton, who did not accept do not know why)
No, we did not have blund or repeated food during the cruise. Most of the pax onboard were vegetarian and most of them have congratulated us for the food during that particular cruise. I express my sorry to Mr. Morton for not liking it.
Our Dms not being safe: Absolutely untrue. But again I asked Mr. Morton for excuses if he had that perception.
Do not know why my way of dealing with the problem disgusted Mr. Morton so much althoughh it may be related to his false accusations of us operating illegally in the area when we are one of the most active collaborators with all local organisations, NGOs, Conservation International, Gahawishri organisation of liveaborad operators...etc.etc. and that point in particular he doesnt mention any more.
Mr. Morton, Sorry for being the main reason for your bad experience. We cannot say much more, we already offered you the same compensations than to the rest of the passengers on that cruise. We have improved in many ways thanks to your comments and for that we also thank you. If you think you have to continue reminding everybody about that particular bad things in that cruise, although you can read from other buddies who where at the same time onboard saying that it wasn't that bad, you have to know that you are damaging a business who has been operating for 11 years, that has a current yearly occupation of over 80%, that has had some "bad" cruises in these eleven years but many, many more good ones and we are an operation with many, many repeaters. We will continue providing good cruises, some of them absolutely outstanding and unfortunately I am sure we will still suffer some bad cruises in the years to come...we will try them to be the least.
There is something you are right, our colleagues from Mermaid or Amira as you reccommend and many others, like Pindito, Kararu, Arenui and many more, are great boats, with great management and therefore I happily tell everybody to join any of their cruises with the same tranquility as you should join any of ours, because you know what.......some times they also have a bad cruise or a strongly dissatisfied guest.
By the way have a look at our facebook site with the incredible shots from our last cruises to Cenderawasih Bay ( http://www.facebook.com/groups/167233633392305/#!/pages/SMY-Ondina-Dive-Indonesia/196221535156) and, although in spanish, you can also follow the blog where the famous reporter and adventurer Chano Montelongo wrote his experience on board the SMY Ondina from the 5th till the 15th of Feb this year, En Busca del Kraken.
Good dives everybody!
oscar27573
Registered
- Messages
- 19
- Reaction score
- 2
I have been 5 or 6 times in Ondina (the last one with paul) and for me is one of the best diveboats.
This summer I will go to Komodo in Ondina again.
oscarmiralpeix.blogspot.com
This summer I will go to Komodo in Ondina again.
oscarmiralpeix.blogspot.com
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