Real Time Blue Manta Review: Banda Sea 9 – 19 Sept 2019

[scubaNYC16]

This liveaboard is the best one out of 15 liveaboards I have been in, including the noisy Mermaid & 2 Aggressors (Palau & Maldives), but food wise, Mermaid is better. DM, I’ve seen better elsewhere.

Told ya. I booked Mermaid I for Raja Dec 2020 and switched to BM while I was on the boat. Luckily, Mermaid has small cancellation fee.

 

[outofofficebrb]

This liveaboard is the best one out of 15 liveaboards I have been in, including the noisy Mermaid & 2 Aggressors (Palau & Maldives), but food wise, Mermaid is better. DM, I’ve seen better elsewhere.

We are half way, 5th day. We’ll be diving the 1st day in the Banda Sea region (won’t mention the detail location for the fear of longline shark fishiherman lurkers who are checking out this post) for the hammerheads.

Glad to hear it, Dan. The boat itself is a big part of it and it looks like an amazing boat. I'd love to hear a more detailed review from you on the operational, logistical, and staff side of things as far as diving goes once you are back. I am sure the staff are very good and attentive. What really moves the needle for me on a liveaboard is how well the dives are coordinated, how the briefings are, how good the guides are both in their attentiveness/awareness underwater and on the surface, how familiar they are with the site and or the region, especially as it relates to currents (a big one in Indo), their spotting skills, plus how they handle various levels of air consumption among the group, or even a dive group that they are supervising.

I've spend a lot of time traveling to dive (as you know) and I am very aware when it comes to the guides and the things they do or are not doing. I have seen a fair share of excellent guides to awful guides. I am willing to sacrifice some comfort or luxury on a boat and make it a secondary or tertiary thing if it means that I can get a better/good/excellent guide and in my mind, better diving as a result. It is then that I look at the liveaboard as a whole package.

Some of the best dive guides I've ever had were in Indonesia. Some were very in tune with my dive style as well as what I liked to photograph and would go out of their way to show me those things. I have had some guides spend extra time with me down under when everyone surfaced due to low air and/or didn't call it a firm 60 minute dive limit even if that was the limit. I had some nice 70-80 minute dives in Raja and Lembeh. They also spent some time with us topside and shared in my sense of humor which was nice.

I'm crossing my fingers, toes, and eyes for you on the hammies!!!

 

[billt4sf]

I’m on this trip too and have quite a different take in things.

Yes some drop(s) by some of the DM(s) on day 1 were not too hot but these sites are not often dived and currents are regularly changing. So far for all dives our group has had perfect drops and dives.

The staff and food are amazing. We had chateaubriand quality beef a few nights back, giant prawns the other night, Cordon-bleu chicken last night ... that’s just half of the choices. Amazing food.

We’ve had some moderate seas when moving overnight between sites. That caused a tender to leak and mostly sink. This crew spent a day floating it, beaching it, repairing it, and now it’s hoisted on the stern. They did an amazing job. What did we lose ... ONE dive which we are making up for today!!

Even in these moderate seas, it’s a stable vessel ... my electric toothbrush hasn’t even toppled over at all.

Sure there’s some finessing that can be done re acoustics, and other MINOR things.

I’ll express my feedback on those things constructively at the appropriate feedback time.

We’re going to be rendezvousing with the New White Manta in a couple of days as she’s enroute for delivery. I believe we’ll be one of the first customer to see her. It’ll be interesting to compare some aspects.

Net net. This is an awesome boat, awesome crew, and awesome trip so far.

Except for one or two ugly guests, yes, it's pretty good.

In any case, I will stick with my assessment that there is a design flaw in making the boarding platform the same height as the ocean. I want to see what they did with the White Manta.

- Mr. Beautiful.

 

[Jay]

Glad to hear it, Dan. The boat itself is a big part of it and it looks like an amazing boat. I'd love to hear a more detailed review from you on the operational, logistical, and staff side of things as far as diving goes once you are back. I am sure the staff are very good and attentive. What really moves the needle for me on a liveaboard is how well the dives are coordinated, how the briefings are, how good the guides are both in their attentiveness/awareness underwater and on the surface, how familiar they are with the site and or the region, especially as it relates to currents (a big one in Indo), their spotting skills, plus how they handle various levels of air consumption among the group, or even a dive group that they are supervising.

I've spend a lot of time traveling to dive (as you know) and I am very aware when it comes to the guides and the things they do or are not doing. I have seen a fair share of excellent guides to awful guides. I am willing to sacrifice some comfort or luxury on a boat and make it a secondary or tertiary thing if it means that I can get a better/good/excellent guide and in my mind, better diving as a result. It is then that I look at the liveaboard as a whole package.

Some of the best dive guides I've ever had were in Indonesia. Some were very in tune with my dive style as well as what I liked to photograph and would go out of their way to show me those things. I have had some guides spend extra time with me down under when everyone surfaced due to low air and/or didn't call it a firm 60 minute dive limit even if that was the limit. I had some nice 70-80 minute dives in Raja and Lembeh. They also spent some time with us topside and shared in my sense of humor which was nice.

I'm crossing my fingers, toes, and eyes for you on the hammies!!!

We spotted a small hammerhead today. Enroute for a volcano and more tomorrow.

Re the interim answers for your other questions. In our group they all get positive answers. More detail later ...

 

[Dan]

Batman redeemed himself and found this Denise for me today. That's the best my camera can do in a 100' depth wall with slightly surging current.

 

[Dan]

We spotted a small hammerhead today. Enroute for a volcano and more tomorrow.

Re the interim answers for your other questions. In our group they all get positive answers. More detail later ...

I didn't see it, but Egoi told me that it was a juvenile great hammerhead, not scalloped as the latter usually come in school.

 

[diverken374]

I was just on the boat 2 weeks ago loved the music in the room with the announcements. I thought that was a really nice added touch and was never too loud.

I had no problem understanding Egoi the cruise director but I’m from NYC and hear all sorts of different accents. Super nice guy!

I really liked the food and the fact that it wasn’t western. I loved trying different noodles and having an awesome soup for breakfast.

That stinks about the noise in the salon, I had a room on the top deck which was very private and they don’t charge extra for those. Just need to request an advance.

I loved the boat overall and thought the best thing about it was the size of the rooms and having all the extra space on the boat. Crew was top notch as well. Say hi to DM Batman (Danny).

I agree. The first week on the boat they did not have the usual dinners so was a repeat buffet similar to the lunch. It was a request by one of the groups and was not discussed with the rest of the passengers. Next week back to normal with a la carte dinner and deserts.
Dani aka Batman is one of the more if not most experienced DM's on the boat. I had him as a DM in 2017 and was pleased to get him on our return to the Blue Manta. We had him on our first trip and requested him on our second of back to back trips this time. We saw many things that other groups did not see thanks to Dani. Sometimes it's just the luck of the draw. Looking forward to our return trips x 2 on the Blue Manta in February 2020 to Raja Ampat!

 

[acidrush]

I'm not sure if DM Mimpi is still around. He is a Hammerhead whisperer. We saw hammerheads on 5 of our 6 dives in the secret dive spot that other boats don't go to. However it requires swimming out into the blue where you don't see the bottom and also below the thermocline in murky 50-60 ft visibility and colder water. Its the banda sea, you're not there to see macro stuff.....

 

[Dan]

Yep, it’s a murky cold water. Nothing like Cocos, the capital scalloped hammerheads of the world.

We are getting ready for 2nd day of hammerheads searching. Hopefully we see some today.

Mimpi is still here. He’s a cool guy. I like him. May be I'll get a chance to be guided by him someday.

Yesterday morning I got a cold wet wetsuit to start with. Apparently they stored it below deck and got drenched with sea water during the high wavy ride at the night. I was shivering during the 3 dives we made yesterday. Tried to ask them to put mine on the main deck, last night, but it was too late. They already buttoned them up together in a bundle for another cold wet wetsuit day. My buddy skipped the last dive yesterday because of getting cold. I hope I can keep up with another day of cold diving on 5mm. I wish I brought my 7mm. Begin to dislike this trip.

 

[Dan]

We are down to 2 working dinghies. It’ll slower now to get to the drop off sites.

Due to the flooded dinghy being propped up on the loading deck, We started to get on & off the dinghy from the side of the motherboat. So it is getting more difficult & dangerous to get on / off the dinghies from the side during choppy conditions. Hopefully no one gets hurt. Fingers crossed.