divekraz
Contributor
Dove on Damai 2 in the Komodo Islands from 12-13 to 12-24-13. We had Cabin 6 which is the largest room with high ceilings. A toilet on the port side and large shower on starboard. About 450 square feet at the stern of the ship. Large bed with double bed and 2 desk areas. Each room had a flat screen with movies available from a computer play list. Private balcony except when crew needed to move lines. Cabin 5 directly below 6 and is similar but with lower ceilings and smaller balcony. The other cabins were all very nice but smaller and below the salon deck. Ship is about 3yrs old. We had two nice size closets which have A/C units above them and may have damp areas in the closets due to the A/C. Main salon door slides but is very hard to move. Laundry is done every day and placed in your cabin the next day. 7:30am, 11am, 3pm, 6pm are approx. dive times. Crew would go out 15 minutes before dive time and dive the site for current, temp, viz information. They would come back, brief us on conditions and take a max of 4 divers per boat with a guide. Your boat number was rotated so if you went on the first boat today, tomorrow was boat 2 and the next day was boat 3. All gear/cameras are brought to the Skiff by the crew, you gear up on the site and back roll. At surface you hand up gear to driver and walk up ladder. Easiest entry exit of liveaboards I've been on. There are two skiffs so if you come up early the skiff will take you back to the boat provided there is always one skiff at the dive site. The crew rinse out your wet suits, hang them, and put them on your station prior to each dive. You get a towel with your dive station logo so you always have the same towel. Water or hot chocolate before and after each dive. Dry breakfast at 6am dive then breakfast of your choice, usually eggs, bacon, pancakes. Lunch usually a small salad, protein, fruit salad. Dinner soup/salad protein and small dessert, sometimes a fruit salad. Only snack is around 3pm which could be a cookie. Drinks are included but diving stops with the first beer. Food portions are not large. Quality was good. One crew member provided 3 massages per day on first come basis according to a sign up page with your time. This was done on the upper deck on a lounge chair. There is suppose to be a maximum of 10 divers which I verified with Alberto on more than one occasion with 18 total crew. On my trip they had 12 divers. One was the brother of the dive master and the other was a working guest as he was to evaluate the electrical on the ship. This did make a total of 12 divers rather than the 10 maximum I was told.
UW Photography Comments: Each person has their own camera station with shelves, closets, electrical outlets. Each diver had their own rinse tank exclusive to that diver for their camera equipment or whatever you wanted to use it for. Tank was filled with fresh water about 3 times.
Dive your own profile: yes
Any dive restrictions: No max dive time. 3 day dives and 1 night dive. 1 dive guide per 4 divers. The guide would come up after 60 minutes but you were able to stay down. If you wanted to solo, your choice. Guides were very good in finding things and I stayed with my guide most of the time. One site had about a dozen Manta. We saw dolphin at the surface but not while diving. We were taken to the shore to see Komodo dragons but no one got out of the boat for a closer look. The crew used forked sticks to keep them out of the boat. Turtles on most dives. Single Sharks about 5 dives. The night dive was always a muck dive in the sand. You could go on a jungle hike with a Komodo ranger but it rained the last few days so no one went on the hike. Great variety of Coral and wildlife. From LAX I had a 10 hour flight to Tokyo, Fuel for 2 hours, 7 hours to Malaysia, 4 hour layover and 3.5 hour flight to Bali. Stayed overnight then 1 hour prop plane to Komodo to get on the boat. 9 days of 4 dives and 1 day of two dives. We did not have a check out dive the first day as the divers flights were coming in erratically. They give you a list of all your dives with gps along with a map of your trip. The crew was very nice and helpful. The easiest of all trips I've had to get in and out of the water.
UW Photography Comments: Each person has their own camera station with shelves, closets, electrical outlets. Each diver had their own rinse tank exclusive to that diver for their camera equipment or whatever you wanted to use it for. Tank was filled with fresh water about 3 times.
Dive your own profile: yes
Any dive restrictions: No max dive time. 3 day dives and 1 night dive. 1 dive guide per 4 divers. The guide would come up after 60 minutes but you were able to stay down. If you wanted to solo, your choice. Guides were very good in finding things and I stayed with my guide most of the time. One site had about a dozen Manta. We saw dolphin at the surface but not while diving. We were taken to the shore to see Komodo dragons but no one got out of the boat for a closer look. The crew used forked sticks to keep them out of the boat. Turtles on most dives. Single Sharks about 5 dives. The night dive was always a muck dive in the sand. You could go on a jungle hike with a Komodo ranger but it rained the last few days so no one went on the hike. Great variety of Coral and wildlife. From LAX I had a 10 hour flight to Tokyo, Fuel for 2 hours, 7 hours to Malaysia, 4 hour layover and 3.5 hour flight to Bali. Stayed overnight then 1 hour prop plane to Komodo to get on the boat. 9 days of 4 dives and 1 day of two dives. We did not have a check out dive the first day as the divers flights were coming in erratically. They give you a list of all your dives with gps along with a map of your trip. The crew was very nice and helpful. The easiest of all trips I've had to get in and out of the water.
