Liveaboard advice - Raja Ampat vs PNG

[jedah]

Hey guys!

Planning a trip to PNG or Raja Ampat in October 2008!

We are looking at the following liveaboards, and would appreciate your input:

1. Adventure Komodo (Raja Ampat)

or, in PNG:

2. Golden Dawn

3. Telita

4. Star Dancer

Would appreciate your input on:

(1) Raja Ampat vs PNG diving in October

(2) Liveaboard choice in PNG

My understanding is that Larry (AK) and Craig (GD) are extremely seasoned captains/divers in Raja Ampat and PNG, respectively. But we'd like to hear about your experiences and honest opinions about these boats and how you'd say they compare.

One of the drawbacks (for us) of the adventure komodo is the shared bathrooms, but we can easily deal with that if the level of service on the boat / quality of the diving in Raja merits it....

THANKS!

J.

PS: Will be posting this on the liveaboard and Indonesia forums as well.

 

[Adventurenut]

I'm going to Raja Ampat next year also. If you go to PNG, go with the Golden Dawn to the Eastern Fields. Pristine coral, huge Queensland groupers, lots of BIG silvertip sharks and whitetip sharks. Exiting remote pinnacle diving. Best dive trip I've ever taken. Better than Milne Bay PNG, better than Galapagos, better than Cocos, better than Palau.. I can't speak for Raja Ampat but will find out next year.

 

[jedah]

Wow,

Sounds like a cool dive site!

We were actually planning on going a little earlier (October), and the Golden Dawn doesn't make it to Eastern Fields until early November......

If it is this good though, we may delay until November!!!

Still waiting on the exact GD sailing dates for next year.

How did you like the boat / crew itself?

J.

 

[Adventurenut]

The boat and crew are as good as they get. Once when climbing on board, I dropped my mask, and a random crew member in full clothing sprang from the deck, swam down about twenty feet, grabbed my mask and retrieved it for me. Craig Dewitt gave me personal detailed instruction when I wanted to use one of his dolphin rebreathers (I'm already rebreather certified), and Craig always hits some exploratory dive sites never seen by other divers which really adds adventure to the trip. Large comfortable cabins, I can't think of anything negative.

 

[Adventurenut]

Oh, and the most important thing, the reason why I loved the Eastern Fields sites so much was the completeness of the ecosystem. In some other areas of the world you can find barn door sized sea fans, huge table coral the size of dining tables, walls of splendrous soft coral, and fields of immaculate staghorn and other hard corals. In other areas of the world you can also find clouds of anthias and swarms of the usual assortments of tropicals, including napoleon wrass and bumphead parrotfish. Other places have great pelagic action with huge groupers, sharks, and tuna. Other places have great viz. The thing about Eastern Fields was that on several dive sites, ALL of this was going on simultaneously. I have about 750 dives in various tropical and temperate locations, and I really enjoy land based explorations as well. All told, I believe Carl's Ultimate Reef, on the days we dove it, in the Eastern Fields, is the most beautiful place I've ever been, above or under water. It is simply fantastic. Lucky you if you get a chance to go there. And I am not related to Craig Dewitt.

 

[silent running]

Hey guys!

Planning a trip to PNG or Raja Ampat in October 2008!

We are looking at the following liveaboards, and would appreciate your input:

1. Adventure Komodo (Raja Ampat)

or, in PNG:

2. Golden Dawn

3. Telita

4. Star Dancer

Would appreciate your input on:

(1) Raja Ampat vs PNG diving in October

(2) Liveaboard choice in PNG

My understanding is that Larry (AK) and Craig (GD) are extremely seasoned captains/divers in Raja Ampat and PNG, respectively. But we'd like to hear about your experiences and honest opinions about these boats and how you'd say they compare.

One of the drawbacks (for us) of the adventure komodo is the shared bathrooms, but we can easily deal with that if the level of service on the boat / quality of the diving in Raja merits it....

THANKS!

J.

PS: Will be posting this on the liveaboard and Indonesia forums as well.

Hello Jedah, I've no experience with Raja Empats, but I'm going to Ambon in March with 2 other CCR divers for some land based diving, should be very good.

Frist, I would second everything Adventurenut says about GD, I've spent many weeks aboard her. Capt Craig is the best, taught me a lot. But in my experiance, his description could be go for pretty much all of PNG. E.Fs was real good, Hammers galore, including a Great H, tons of shark activity, lots of life. From talking to some people who've been to Raja Empats, the main difference seems to be that you probably won't see nearly as many big fish as in PNG. BTW, GD is currently booked up for all of Oct...

As for the boats, I'm not a fan of Catamarans, don't like the weird motion of the ones I've been on, both deep draft and planning types. I can't see how they could handle more than say 6ft seas. So, not sure how the AK will handle if the going gets tough offshore during crossings, you don't see too many Cats making trans oceanic passages... May not be an issue if the RE itinerary is through a lot of sheltered areas.

Both Telita and GD have active and passive stabilizers. GD can handle anything, been through some very heavy seas on her, never had to turn back or change an itineriary due to heavy weather. I'd bet Telita's no slouch either. The interior of Telita has extra headroom to accomodate Bob Halstead's height. She was recently refitted and has all ensuite bath cabin arrangements. I'm not sure if Bob is still Captaining her. Food on GD was the best I've ever had on a dive vacation, Craig goes out of his way to get trained chefs-homemade ice cream, fresh caught tuna sashimi for appetizers. The food was not bland and more on the healthy side than some of the other boats I've been on. Don't know about the food on Telita.

As for Star Dancer, I've been on her and yes she's bigger than the others, but I'm not a fan of ex oil rig tender boats, which she and most franchise LBs are. They are not very commfortable in bigger seas. I watched the SD stay in Kimbe rather than follow GD out to the Witus in 6ft seas. All that being said, with Cpt. Alan running her, or one of his people, I'm sure a trip on SD will be very good as long as the conditions stay favorable. -Andy

 

[peterjmaerz]

Hi Jedah,

Here are links to my two trip reports, one on the Star Dancer in PNG and the other, from this past NOvember, on the Ondina in Raja Ampat (warning; lengthy reports! )
PNG: http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=58335&highlight=Star+dancer+peter


RAJA: http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=176785


Hope these help....

Regards,