Kararu - Cheng Ho - Don't Believe the Website - Part II

[GoorglinGeorge]

Diving Operations

Diving is conducted from two metal dinghies. Each dinghy has two 40 HP engines and is manned by a driver and assistant. When the boat is full, like this trip, the guests are divided into three groups for the purpose of getting them to the dive site. Suiting up for diving is done at the dive area at the bow of the boat. Those people who are comfortable with the process then don their tanks and walk to the ladder on the starboard side of the boat from which they can board the dinghy.

Extraordinarily care is required at all times when boarding and exiting the dinghies especially if there is any sea state. Boat crew provides assistance. The landing area is located near the engine exhausts and when the boat engine is operating then divers are literally sitting in a cloud of carbon monoxide smoke. This is both nauseating and dangerous.

There is also a tendency to bring two dinghies side by side when divers are boarding. If you are so careless as to put your fingers on the side of the dinghy then you could have them crushed by another dinghy. This could be prevented by not bringing more than one dinghy to the boarding area at a time.

Many times upon returning from a dive there would already be a dinghy tied up at the landing. The crew would then asked you to climb from dinghy to dinghy which is of course dangerous. This was not supposed to happen but they are just lazy. Upon insisting the dinghy at the ladder would be moved. This happened repeatedly.

Dive entry is a back roll and re-entry to the dinghy is via a ladder. There is no time limit on dives to include night dives and no requirement to dive with a buddy or to stay with a group.

Some Other Nuggets

19 August 2007

Upon arrival at Bima the first "hiccup" became apparent. Eleven (11) bags were not loaded on the aircraft. This is apparently standard Merpati procedure. They load what will fit and then leave the rest. Fortunately both of my bags were loaded. However, due to a missing passenger and the bags that were missing we are now going to the night at Bima Harbor. This means that we will have fewer dives tomorrow and that we will remain in the Bima area which has very poor diving.

20 August 2007

After the first dive the boat has returned to Bima Harbor to wait for the rest of the luggage and another passenger. Some passengers are going on a land tour. There is no second morning dive. As of 1400 the plane had not arrived and the boat is still at anchor in Bima Harbor. At 1700 there was another dive at the same place for a third time. They are offering a night dive at this spot. So far this trip is a bust. Note that the Dive Managers did not provide any information throughout the day as to why the boat still at Bima Harbor.

24 August 2007

Today there is walk on Komodo Island starting at the main Ranger Station. The walk begins at 0730. One of the Dive Managers said that fewer Komodo Dragons are being seen along the trail since villagers have increasingly been going into the islands interior to cut down trees to obtain firewood.

Due to the preference of the group all of the diving today was done at the rather mediocre Red Beach site on Komodo. The guests decided that they would prefer easier diving and slightly warmer temperatures rather than diving at Three Sisters. I wonder what they are going to say when we get to Horsehoe Bay.

25 August 2007


Upon returning from the night dive there was no hot water. By this I mean no water even coming from the shower tap.

26 August 2007

In fact I have not had any hot water all day. This is a common complaint by everyone on the boat. The Dive Managers are silent on the subject.

Today the Dive Managers had the crew place food on the beach. This was done to attract Komodo Dragons and was very successful. Guests were then ferried to the beach where several were chased by dragons. The boats cook, Steven, was chased and hurt his feet stumbling on rocks and running into the water to escape. Another guest fell, luckily for him in the sand, also running from dragons. It is nice to see that the boat managers allow the guests the flexibility to expose themselves to serious injury. It is refreshing!

27 August 2007

In addition to the standard briefing there was an additional set of comments on "Manta etiquette". This included subjects such as not planting yourself on top of the cleaning station and not charging the Mantas. As expected several divers did not follow the guidance. The start of the first dive was slow with Mantas cruising by on the top of the reef and at depths of 80+ feet.

Due to strong currents, at least that is what they say, the transit time was very long. This resulted in a change in the program to put the night dive after dinner. Also, since two guests have apparently not seen a Komodo Dragon, the boat is going to stay overnight so that these guests can go ashore for an excursion in the morning. This will also mean that tomorrows program will begin at 0700 with either a dive or a land excursion.

28 August 2007

The boat has not moved as was the original plan. Instead all but two guests are going for a walk to see dragons at 0700. Note. The reason for now moving to a better dive site was to enable a guest that chose not to go on the walk on Komodo to do so at Rinca.

29 August 2007

Hergen during his "leaving the boat" briefing suggested that small items be washed in your cabin so that your fellow divers would not accidentally or not accidentally take them. This is the first time I have ever had a Dive Manager suggest that your fellow guests would steal your gear. Refreshing once again.

[vladimir]

George, sorry you had a lousy trip. I did a Kararu trip from Bimi to Bali a couple of years ago on a different vessel, the Safari, I think. It was a traditional Indonesian wooden schooner and although it was a little on the musty side, it didn't bother me too much (drove my girlfriend crazy though.) We had an attentive crew that made a good effort to make us comfortable, and our food was okay, particularly the Indonesian selections. They moved the boat constantly and gave us a great variety of sites. Kararu will not be my first choice the next time I take this trip, but I did enjoy my last trip. What other liveaboards have you taken?

[GoorglinGeorge]

Vladimir,

The diving was good except for the program changes that caused repeated dives at poor locations. I have been on many liveaboards - Star Dancer, Pelagian, Ocean Rover, Aggressor boats, Big Blue Explorer, Golden Dawn, Telita, etc. I didn't expect "luxury" since that word is a bit over used but hot water is not a luxury nor is having enough food. As you noted, Kararu would not be my choice for future trips.

[bodiver13]

George, sorry you had a lousy trip. I did a Kararu trip from Bimi to Bali a couple of years ago on a different vessel, the Safari, I think. It was a traditional Indonesian wooden schooner and although it was a little on the musty side, it didn't bother me too much (drove my girlfriend crazy though.) We had an attentive crew that made a good effort to make us comfortable, and our food was okay, particularly the Indonesian selections. They moved the boat constantly and gave us a great variety of sites. Kararu will not be my first choice the next time I take this trip, but I did enjoy my last trip. What other liveaboards have you taken?

Hi, sorry to hear about your bad experience, I certainly hope this problem you had will not be repeated next time.

Personally, I had NEVER dove with Kararu nor know the management, but I heard from my friends that their services were always superb.
My guess is that maybe since your trip might be one of the earliest one since they just contracted the ChengHo and its not yet fully renovated also its possible that they have new and inexperience staffs?
Why don't you send a complaint email to Kararu and see if their good name holds to their standard or not.

The only experience i had (indirectly) related to Kararu was that we are now using the Seasafari III, which was the boat Kararu used for few years before their contract ended. It's also happened to be the one Vladimir was on before.
It was not as big as ChengHo, but I am very happy with all the adjustment Kararu made before. So far, this october will be our 5th trip with Seasafari in a year.

Cheers,

[GoorglinGeorge]

This was their fourth trip with the Cheng Ho and their are definitely issues with the boat. I was told that they would make improvements IF they decided to continue the lease with the boat. By the way, they renamed the boat - it is actually the Sea Safari V. I will send an email to Kararu.

[vladimir]

I appreciate the trip report George, and it makes sense in the context of my own experience, though different trip directors may have tipped the scales in our favor. I asked about your other liveaboards to see your basis for comparison, and it is similar to mine, with quite a bit of overlap actually. The Telita, for example, with it's one head on the main deck, was hardly a luxury boat, but it was somehow comfortable and we had a fabulous trip. I remenber one night we were tied to a tree on the edge of the jungle with an anchor line in the water aft. During the night, the boat's lights attracted thousands of termite-like insects that covered the boat a couple of inches thick. I went above to the main deck to use the head and had to wade through all theses insects barefoot, then dust them off the toilet seat. Not for the squeamish. It was one of my best trips ever though; we had a great crew and a great group of passengers, and, of course, great diving. The crew can make all the difference. If I was able to plan this far ahead, I'd be booking a Peter Hughes trip with the same Komodo itinerary.

[The World In My Eyes]

As Bodiver stated if you felt there was good reason for complaint,you must do it and as for baggage not but on plane this happens and actually happened to our party after arriving at Bima,what gets me about this is its bad enough and if your baggage is taken off then you should be informed that this has happened before flight has taken off so you know

[eupyrmna_sp]

Thank you for your detailed review. I've been on the Cheng Ho and had some similar experiences. I will not take advantage of their return customer discount.

[reubencahn]

While I've read any number of positive reports on various Kararu trips, I personally will never book another trip with them. Below are links to my trip report. In rereading the reports and recalling the trip, I actually think I was far too kind. Incidentally, a lengthy e-mail to the management about my complaints brought no response, not even a "we're sorry."

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread...ghlight=kararu

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread...ghlight=kararu

[pakman]

sorry to hear about your trip.

I was on a Sea Safari 8 trip a few years back. Nice boat. Didn't have any of the problems that Chengdu (SS 5) has. Our tour took us to Rinca instead of Komodo to see the dragons and according to the trip organizers for the exact reasons you mentioned above. We had some great close encounters.

We had a nightmare experience with Merpati. They cancelled our flight from Bima to Bali while were still at sea. This forced us to stay within cell phone range until the flights could get sorted. In the end, we got stuck staying over an extra night at port, then...

Halfway to Bali in the air, 1 of the engines conked out... But they decided to turn around to Bima!! where there are no technicians rather than make it to Denpasar (I reckon we were close to halfway there!). Talk about nervous passengers when we were asked to get aboard the SAME plane after they said the engine was repaired...