shutsal
Registered
Just got back from a week long liveaboard in Komodo on the Komodo Explorer run by Dive Komodo. The diving was fantastic and I would highly recommend it. I'll review things by section.
Diving
This was our first trip to Asia and we were thoroughly impressed. It was a great mix of muck and pelagic. Our highlight was probably Manta Alley, where we were surrounded by 10-15 manta rays that just made pass after pass for the entire 1 hour dive. I've only seen single Mantas before and they generally didn't stick around. These guys would come right up to us and just wanted their pictures taken. We probably preferred the southern sites a little more, even though they were a little colder. There were no other boats and the sea life seemed a little more undisturbed. Our other favorite dive site in the south was Cannibal rock. Tons of life, and the largest soft corals I have ever seen. The diving in the north parts was also great, but it was definitely more crowded. Our favorite site in the north was definitely Batu Bolong. Great macro dive with some of the friendliest turtles I have ever seen. Our dive master Herry, was fantastic. He timed things perfectly and knew exactly when to dive each site and avoid the worst of the current. Highlights of all the diving: manta rays, pygmy sea horse, blue ribbon eel, mandarin fish, mantis shrimp, very friendly turtles, sea apples, crinoid shrimp, orangutan crabs, and nudibranch galore. Below is a gallery of pictures for those that are interested.
Best of Komodo - a set on Flickr
Crew
The crew on the Komodo Explorer was great. As I said above the dive master Herry was fantastic. He was probably one of the best dive masters we have had. Since there were only 5 of us on the boat he was the only dive master. He was great at spotting macro life. He knew exactly what to look for in each different site and what sort of coral/chrinoid/sponge, depth, and current to look for everything. He clearly studied all the dive books and knows the exact environments to find each type of sea life. He was also great at knowing when to dive each site to avoid the worst of the current. Only once or twice did we have current that was bouncing us around or we had to really fight against. When we did a few land stops around the islands, everyone knew him and loved him as well. The locals we met said he knows the area better than anyone else in Komodo. It showed. The rest of the crew was great too. The chef made good food (could almost consider it great for a dive boat) and the rest of the guys on the boat were helpful and friendly. They tried their hardest to make up for the boat that had some obvious problems. They all had great senses of humor and very infectious laughs.
Boat
This unfortunately, was the only bad part of the trip. The boat is small, only designed for 6 divers, so it can be a little cramped. Nothing wrong there, since 6 divers means fewer bubbles and small dive groups. But all the cabins wreaked of gasoline from the engines. They tried to cover it up with the air fresheners which gave a headache inducing aroma of gasoline and artificial lemons. The boat was originally designed for a very wealthy family and has an entirely too complicated electrical system, which failed repeatedly. Half the times the lights wouldn't work, outlets wouldn't work to recharge cameras, and the air conditioning never worked. The lack of air conditioning was fine for the southern, cooler parts of the island, but in the north we just baked at night. The mechanic tried all he could to fix the electrics, but as an engineer myself I knew it was a lost cause. The electrical system looked like it belonged on the space shuttle. And if the boat is going at all forget about sleeping. The cabins are located right above the engines and the shaking is tremendous. There were some nice areas in the front and top of the boat to relax and sit in a nice breeze. The boat is solid teak throughout and looks very nice.
Owner
Unfortunately this is also the only other negative of the operation. We were never told before leaving that there was some boat issues, which they definitely knew, and after getting back from the trip all we were given was a half hearted, totally not sincere apology from the owner of the operation. At minimum he should have given us a sincere apology and acted like he cared. A very nice gesture would have been to waive the beer/soda bill (which was hardly anything). But you could tell he didn't care since he already had the money. If it wasn't for the amazing crew of this operation, they would be having problems.
So besides from negatives of the boat, would I dive again on the same boat? In a heart beat. Herry, the dive master, makes up for any short comings on the boat and I would love to go diving with him again. Everything we asked him to find us, he did.
Diving
This was our first trip to Asia and we were thoroughly impressed. It was a great mix of muck and pelagic. Our highlight was probably Manta Alley, where we were surrounded by 10-15 manta rays that just made pass after pass for the entire 1 hour dive. I've only seen single Mantas before and they generally didn't stick around. These guys would come right up to us and just wanted their pictures taken. We probably preferred the southern sites a little more, even though they were a little colder. There were no other boats and the sea life seemed a little more undisturbed. Our other favorite dive site in the south was Cannibal rock. Tons of life, and the largest soft corals I have ever seen. The diving in the north parts was also great, but it was definitely more crowded. Our favorite site in the north was definitely Batu Bolong. Great macro dive with some of the friendliest turtles I have ever seen. Our dive master Herry, was fantastic. He timed things perfectly and knew exactly when to dive each site and avoid the worst of the current. Highlights of all the diving: manta rays, pygmy sea horse, blue ribbon eel, mandarin fish, mantis shrimp, very friendly turtles, sea apples, crinoid shrimp, orangutan crabs, and nudibranch galore. Below is a gallery of pictures for those that are interested.
Best of Komodo - a set on Flickr
Crew
The crew on the Komodo Explorer was great. As I said above the dive master Herry was fantastic. He was probably one of the best dive masters we have had. Since there were only 5 of us on the boat he was the only dive master. He was great at spotting macro life. He knew exactly what to look for in each different site and what sort of coral/chrinoid/sponge, depth, and current to look for everything. He clearly studied all the dive books and knows the exact environments to find each type of sea life. He was also great at knowing when to dive each site to avoid the worst of the current. Only once or twice did we have current that was bouncing us around or we had to really fight against. When we did a few land stops around the islands, everyone knew him and loved him as well. The locals we met said he knows the area better than anyone else in Komodo. It showed. The rest of the crew was great too. The chef made good food (could almost consider it great for a dive boat) and the rest of the guys on the boat were helpful and friendly. They tried their hardest to make up for the boat that had some obvious problems. They all had great senses of humor and very infectious laughs.
Boat
This unfortunately, was the only bad part of the trip. The boat is small, only designed for 6 divers, so it can be a little cramped. Nothing wrong there, since 6 divers means fewer bubbles and small dive groups. But all the cabins wreaked of gasoline from the engines. They tried to cover it up with the air fresheners which gave a headache inducing aroma of gasoline and artificial lemons. The boat was originally designed for a very wealthy family and has an entirely too complicated electrical system, which failed repeatedly. Half the times the lights wouldn't work, outlets wouldn't work to recharge cameras, and the air conditioning never worked. The lack of air conditioning was fine for the southern, cooler parts of the island, but in the north we just baked at night. The mechanic tried all he could to fix the electrics, but as an engineer myself I knew it was a lost cause. The electrical system looked like it belonged on the space shuttle. And if the boat is going at all forget about sleeping. The cabins are located right above the engines and the shaking is tremendous. There were some nice areas in the front and top of the boat to relax and sit in a nice breeze. The boat is solid teak throughout and looks very nice.
Owner
Unfortunately this is also the only other negative of the operation. We were never told before leaving that there was some boat issues, which they definitely knew, and after getting back from the trip all we were given was a half hearted, totally not sincere apology from the owner of the operation. At minimum he should have given us a sincere apology and acted like he cared. A very nice gesture would have been to waive the beer/soda bill (which was hardly anything). But you could tell he didn't care since he already had the money. If it wasn't for the amazing crew of this operation, they would be having problems.
So besides from negatives of the boat, would I dive again on the same boat? In a heart beat. Herry, the dive master, makes up for any short comings on the boat and I would love to go diving with him again. Everything we asked him to find us, he did.
