Celebes Explorer Liveaboard

[redseal1tx]

Has anyone had any recent experience (last 12 months) positive or negative with the Celebes Explorer Liveaboard? Celebes Explorer provides an itinerary in the Celebes Sea in the Sipadan region.

Thank you for your time.

 

[Quero]

I have not been on a CE trip myself, but I book a number of them for my divers. The boat is sort of old, nothing fancy, but my clients have all had a good time because of the quality of the dive staff and of the diving. CE gets the same maximum number of Sipadan permits as even large resorts (14), but because the boat is not large for a liveaboard, they plan the itinerary to dive at Sipadan every day. At a land-based resort you go to Sipadan a few times in a weeklong stay because the 14 permits must be shared by all guests in a fair way.

 

[jeanco]

I dove CE in Sipadan in January 2012:
Old boat, need a face-lift as my wife said.
Staying in a cabin on the right of the main deck: was OK.
Food was nice , more quantity than quality.
Dive masters was very good ,you can see their love for Sipadan.
The dive: as you know sipadan as a restricted as number of divers, every day we all dove Sipadan.
spectaculars, love barracuda reef ,we dove it 5 times and 2 times saw the huge squadron of barracudas.
lot of turtles, swim to the cavern. White and black tips shark. Plus all the small critters. Night dives was very interesting.
There is a lot, but a lot of underwater life.Crew try to help you as much they can.
CE is the onlyboat on Sipadan and we really enjoy it. At least to do one time in your lifetime.May be two times!

 

[jake11]

We were on the Celebes Explorer and LOVED it! The boat was old and kind of smelly in the rooms but the crew was fantastic and the diving was EXCELLENT! With that kind of diving you tend to overlook the condition of the boat. We would go back on the CE in a heartbeat! Have fun!

 

[capt539]

Yes I lead a group of 12 divers on it in April 2011 for a 10 day trip. The boat is adequate but more of a 3 star boat then a top world class liveaboard which is reflected in the pricing. The diving was very good and yes there are some highlights such as the schooling barracuda, turttles and large school of humphead parriotfish. As long as you want to dive Sipadan everyday, it is ok for that. Divemasters were good, accommodations fair and food ok. Most people only go aboard for 3-4 days so the repetitions itinerary is ok. If you are looking to do a longer trip, then beware you will likely be diving the same sites a lot. We were lucky enough to have about 4 days with only our group so we were able to dive some of the other islands in the area, but this is not their regular itinerary.