Trip Report:
Just back from a 13 day 12 night trip over Easter on the SYM Ondina Raja Ampat to Lembeh. There has been a lot of discussion on the Ondina on the forum and actually was quite concerned after booking this last minute trip.
Below are my reflections of the trip
Route into Sorong : into Singapore Manado Sorong
Took a stopover in Manado just to be on the safer side w.r.t connections into Sorong. Overnight at the Novotel next to the airport.
Novotel : is great if you just want to catch the early morning flight to Sorong. Room including breakfast was about USD 50. Taxi from the airport to the hotel is about USD 5. Transfer shuttle from the hotel costs a bit more. Note there is nothing nearby so if have more time and want to explore the town you should probably choose a hotel in the city.
Manado to Sorong : Flight options Lion Air / Merapati / Express Wings
If you take Silk air into Manado from Singapore the connection on Lion air is about 1.5hrs later ( so no need to stop over in Manado) Chose the safer option but could have got this connection.
Express Air: Baggage Allowance 10kg, excess baggage 50,000 Rp / kg
So paid about USD 55 for 10kg excess weight.
Tip: Take more hand luggage than what is permitted. Does not seem to be controlled in Indonesia. Passengers seem to carry 3 pieces each.
The Merapati flight at the same time has 20kg allowance and excess baggage was 15,000 Rp / kg. On that day everything on Merapati went well and some other divers on it had no issues. But there are bad several stories about Merapati.
Anyways reached Sorong on time and was picked up by the cruise director.
First few hours on this Boat:
Checking of C cards / insurance / signing of waiver / safety briefing / ship orientation / dive tags for Raja Ampat etc
The boat was a private charter and 2 of us were last minute additions. In all 16 divers plus 1 snorkeler. Of the 16 divers 12 were serious underwater photographers, 2 of us including me with a point and shoot and 2 diving without a camera. All divers excepting me ( 50 dives) had more than 400 dives, and the other diver not part of the group was certified solo diver. So my buddy would be the dive guide.
The Boat: The Ondina is a 10yr old boat, well maintained however you can see the wear.
Cabins: Basic but clean and comfortable beds and air conditioned. Not much space for anything else.
There is a double bed in each cabin and a single bunk bed. Since I was the last one on the boat got the bunk bed.
Bathroom : Marine Toilet and sink. A cold water hose ( sprinkler) in case you want to have a shower.
Clean sheets and towels were provided every 3 days.
Salon cum Dining : Two tables mainly used for all the meals. There is a TV / Media system a small collection of booked and some board games
Outside area seating area with a table and two hammocks and a sun bed lounging area on top.
Diving Prep Area: Place for 15 tanks with a box below for fins etc, 16th tank on the floor with the box under to photo table area.
Photo Table: Place for 5 big cameras , dont know how we fit 12.
Overall: The Ondina is a functional dive boat, it is clean. But space is limited with a full charter. We were 17 guests + 16 crew and this is definitely not ideal. One of the DMs had to sleep in the Salon after all the guests went to bed. The Damai is bigger and takes on 8 guests. But you pay about 2K more per person potentially.
Food:
The food throughout the trip was good. The chefs tried to make some vegetarian options for some of the guests but that was limited to tofu or corn. All meal buffet style rice / noodles, Chicken / meat, Fish / Shrimp, Salad and a vegetable. For dinner there was an additional desert. Soft drink offered with lunch and dinner.
Snack were plenty. They were restocked when we reach Lembeh.
Overall : Good
Diving:
Preparation : Dive guides before every dive went and checked the current. This was followed by a briefing. Groups split into 4 with one dive guide. Crew loaded and offloaded the tanks from the tender so guests did not need to carry heavy tanks up and down the steps.
Space for preparation as mentioned earlier ideal for 14 divers max.
Diving Etiquette: Atrocious
The group we had was serious amateur cum profession underwater photographers. I have limited diving experience but have not seen such lack of respect towards each other / the reef just to get that perfect photograph. Fins everywhere . Coral damage..On more than one occasion the dive was ruined by overzealous photographers.
Manta Sandy just one example were divers sat right on the cleaning station till the Manta disappeared and never came back.
Because of this some people from the group got special treatment from the cruise director. Dives starting before the rest of the group. Guess if you organize the trip you get special treatment.
Dive sites :
Raja Ampat definitely lives upto its reputation. Lots of effort is being taken to preserve the area. Eco resorts playing their part and thanks to them they have some spectacular house reefs.
Cape Kri and Misool Shadow reef highly recommended.
However we also dived Pisang / Halmahera's Gorachi islands and Tifore on the way to much diving in Lembeh. The sites we dived in Pisang and Gorachi were completely dynamited. Tifore however was spectacular . 500 barracudas + manta on the same dive. Beats the barracudas tornado in Sipadan.
Lembeh is critter paradise if you are into them..
Macro and Super Macro in the photog sense.
Safety:
On one of the earlier dives in the trip I lost my group, did a safety stop and surface. Ofcourse no one else had surfaced. The dive tender came around to pick me up. I had over 100 bar left so went back down and stayed close to the tender.
Further through the trip everyone was basically diving solo. In the same neighbourhood but rarely as a buddy pair.
If you accept this style of diving and you are responsible for your safety then diving was safe. In case you had to surface there was always a dive tender above and everyone had an SMB.
Crew:
The crew was hard working and helpful. Only question was could the cruise director have enforced a better diving etiquette and been a bit more equal in treatment of all guests.
Conclusion:
Ondina is a basic but functional dive boat. Crew is hard working and has good knowledge of the Raja Ampat area. So would be a good option if you did not want to pay the additional 2K for more luxury.
Just back from a 13 day 12 night trip over Easter on the SYM Ondina Raja Ampat to Lembeh. There has been a lot of discussion on the Ondina on the forum and actually was quite concerned after booking this last minute trip.
Below are my reflections of the trip
Route into Sorong : into Singapore Manado Sorong
Took a stopover in Manado just to be on the safer side w.r.t connections into Sorong. Overnight at the Novotel next to the airport.
Novotel : is great if you just want to catch the early morning flight to Sorong. Room including breakfast was about USD 50. Taxi from the airport to the hotel is about USD 5. Transfer shuttle from the hotel costs a bit more. Note there is nothing nearby so if have more time and want to explore the town you should probably choose a hotel in the city.
Manado to Sorong : Flight options Lion Air / Merapati / Express Wings
If you take Silk air into Manado from Singapore the connection on Lion air is about 1.5hrs later ( so no need to stop over in Manado) Chose the safer option but could have got this connection.
Express Air: Baggage Allowance 10kg, excess baggage 50,000 Rp / kg
So paid about USD 55 for 10kg excess weight.
Tip: Take more hand luggage than what is permitted. Does not seem to be controlled in Indonesia. Passengers seem to carry 3 pieces each.
The Merapati flight at the same time has 20kg allowance and excess baggage was 15,000 Rp / kg. On that day everything on Merapati went well and some other divers on it had no issues. But there are bad several stories about Merapati.
Anyways reached Sorong on time and was picked up by the cruise director.
First few hours on this Boat:
Checking of C cards / insurance / signing of waiver / safety briefing / ship orientation / dive tags for Raja Ampat etc
The boat was a private charter and 2 of us were last minute additions. In all 16 divers plus 1 snorkeler. Of the 16 divers 12 were serious underwater photographers, 2 of us including me with a point and shoot and 2 diving without a camera. All divers excepting me ( 50 dives) had more than 400 dives, and the other diver not part of the group was certified solo diver. So my buddy would be the dive guide.
The Boat: The Ondina is a 10yr old boat, well maintained however you can see the wear.
Cabins: Basic but clean and comfortable beds and air conditioned. Not much space for anything else.
There is a double bed in each cabin and a single bunk bed. Since I was the last one on the boat got the bunk bed.
Bathroom : Marine Toilet and sink. A cold water hose ( sprinkler) in case you want to have a shower.
Clean sheets and towels were provided every 3 days.
Salon cum Dining : Two tables mainly used for all the meals. There is a TV / Media system a small collection of booked and some board games
Outside area seating area with a table and two hammocks and a sun bed lounging area on top.
Diving Prep Area: Place for 15 tanks with a box below for fins etc, 16th tank on the floor with the box under to photo table area.
Photo Table: Place for 5 big cameras , dont know how we fit 12.
Overall: The Ondina is a functional dive boat, it is clean. But space is limited with a full charter. We were 17 guests + 16 crew and this is definitely not ideal. One of the DMs had to sleep in the Salon after all the guests went to bed. The Damai is bigger and takes on 8 guests. But you pay about 2K more per person potentially.
Food:
The food throughout the trip was good. The chefs tried to make some vegetarian options for some of the guests but that was limited to tofu or corn. All meal buffet style rice / noodles, Chicken / meat, Fish / Shrimp, Salad and a vegetable. For dinner there was an additional desert. Soft drink offered with lunch and dinner.
Snack were plenty. They were restocked when we reach Lembeh.
Overall : Good
Diving:
Preparation : Dive guides before every dive went and checked the current. This was followed by a briefing. Groups split into 4 with one dive guide. Crew loaded and offloaded the tanks from the tender so guests did not need to carry heavy tanks up and down the steps.
Space for preparation as mentioned earlier ideal for 14 divers max.
Diving Etiquette: Atrocious
The group we had was serious amateur cum profession underwater photographers. I have limited diving experience but have not seen such lack of respect towards each other / the reef just to get that perfect photograph. Fins everywhere . Coral damage..On more than one occasion the dive was ruined by overzealous photographers.
Manta Sandy just one example were divers sat right on the cleaning station till the Manta disappeared and never came back.
Because of this some people from the group got special treatment from the cruise director. Dives starting before the rest of the group. Guess if you organize the trip you get special treatment.
Dive sites :
Raja Ampat definitely lives upto its reputation. Lots of effort is being taken to preserve the area. Eco resorts playing their part and thanks to them they have some spectacular house reefs.
Cape Kri and Misool Shadow reef highly recommended.
However we also dived Pisang / Halmahera's Gorachi islands and Tifore on the way to much diving in Lembeh. The sites we dived in Pisang and Gorachi were completely dynamited. Tifore however was spectacular . 500 barracudas + manta on the same dive. Beats the barracudas tornado in Sipadan.
Lembeh is critter paradise if you are into them..
Macro and Super Macro in the photog sense.Safety:
On one of the earlier dives in the trip I lost my group, did a safety stop and surface. Ofcourse no one else had surfaced. The dive tender came around to pick me up. I had over 100 bar left so went back down and stayed close to the tender.
Further through the trip everyone was basically diving solo. In the same neighbourhood but rarely as a buddy pair.
If you accept this style of diving and you are responsible for your safety then diving was safe. In case you had to surface there was always a dive tender above and everyone had an SMB.
Crew:
The crew was hard working and helpful. Only question was could the cruise director have enforced a better diving etiquette and been a bit more equal in treatment of all guests.
Conclusion:
Ondina is a basic but functional dive boat. Crew is hard working and has good knowledge of the Raja Ampat area. So would be a good option if you did not want to pay the additional 2K for more luxury.
