Triton Bay for late Dec on LOB Dancing Wind?

[DivingChipmunk]

Hello, we are two intermediate level divers that love beautiful coral and marine life. We do a "big trip" (about 2 weeks+, usually including an LOB) from US East Coast around Christmas/New Year to dive at more exotic destinations. We've received lots of help from SB, and enjoyed diving at Raja Ampat, Komodo, Maldives, Fiji, Palau, for the last few near years.

Time to plan for Dec 2025.

Just came across this boat, Dancing Wind, and its Triton Bay -Misool itinerary for Dec 23, 2025:

Dancing Wind Scuba Liveaboard | Scuba Diving Indonesia

Dancing Wind Liveaboard offers the best of Indonesia scuba diving following the highest standards of safety and quality of service in the diving industry with a mid priced liveaboard. Tambora Liveaboard diving destinations includes RAJA AMPAT, CENDRAWASIH BAY, MALUKU, FLORES & BANDA SEA and...

www.dancingwind-liveaboard.com

How to explore dive site around Misool Kaimana with Dancing Wind

MISOOL - KAIMANA The Dancing Wind liveaboard offers a 12-day, 11-night diving trip itinerary exploring the stunning Misool and Kaimana regions. However, it is important to note that dive sites may be subject to change due to weather and other factors beyond our control. Our experienced crew will...

www.dancingwind-liveaboard.com

Here are our questions:
1) We've always been very interested in diving Triton Bay, but is late Dec a good time to dive there? I remember reading about some visibility issue that around that time of the year.
2) The boat, the Dancing Wind. No review anywhere online that I can find. Anyone with any experience? I understand that some of the more well known LOBs, Blue Manta, White manta, etc, also go there, but their trip dates do not line up with our planned vacation time.

Thanks in advance for your input. Any thoughts/ideas are appreciated. esp from those who have or plan to go to Triton Bay.

 

[BritishBubblemaker]

Hi!

I cannot give you a firsthand answer to this, I'm afraid, but I have long shared your wish to visit Triton Bay.

Dancing Wind is the "successor" to Tambora, which appears to have reached the end of its life as a liveaboard (after the sudden passing of its previous owner, a few years ago). Dancing Wind has taken over the schedule of Tambora.

The Misool-Triton Bay-Kaimana (How to explore dive site around Misool Kaimana with Dancing Wind) trip was one of Tambora's itineraries, and in fact I asked them to reinstate it for December 2025 so that I could book it! As you've said, there are very few operators who appear to offer something like this itinerary.

The team at Dancing Wind (Tissa) have been really responsive to my many messages (especially when I was concerned about my booking being transferred from Tambora to Dancing Wind) and I am happy with what I have been told. As of fairly recently, the boat has also been available for bookings on the main sites.

It would be great to be able to support them as they become established, and I can appreciate that a lack of "brand awareness" (combined with a limited online presence and zero Tripadvisor reviews) is a challenge for them. This is probably why they've decided to price their trips very keenly, in order to develop their reputation.

A friend and I have booked the early December 2025 itinerary (Sorong-Kaimana), so we may see you there!

Safe travels!

 

[DivingChipmunk]

Hi!

I cannot give you a firsthand answer to this, I'm afraid, but I have long shared your wish to visit Triton Bay.

Dancing Wind is the "successor" to Tambora, which appears to have reached the end of its life as a liveaboard (after the sudden passing of its previous owner, a few years ago). Dancing Wind has taken over the schedule of Tambora.

The Misool-Triton Bay-Kaimana (How to explore dive site around Misool Kaimana with Dancing Wind) trip was one of Tambora's itineraries, and in fact I asked them to reinstate it for December 2025 so that I could book it! As you've said, there are very few operators who appear to offer something like this itinerary.

The team at Dancing Wind (Tissa) have been really responsive to my many messages (especially when I was concerned about my booking being transferred from Tambora to Dancing Wind) and I am happy with what I have been told. As of fairly recently, the boat has also been available for bookings on the main sites.

It would be great to be able to support them as they become established, and I can appreciate that a lack of "brand awareness" (combined with a limited online presence and zero Tripadvisor reviews) is a challenge for them. This is probably why they've decided to price their trips very keenly, in order to develop their reputation.

A friend and I have booked the early December 2025 itinerary (Sorong-Kaimana), so we may see you there!

Safe travels!

Thank you @BritishBubblemaker for the info on the history of "Dancing Wind". This helps us to gain some confidence on the boat.
We are still considering options for our Dec trip, including this one and a land based diving trip in French Polynesia.

Enjoy your trip on Dancing Wind. Would love to hear your experience afterwards. If we don't get to go there this time, we may consider it for Dec 2026.

 

[cozcharlie]

One question that would be useful to know would be how much experience the divemasters have in Triton Bay. Like many places in Indo, the diving was almost all tide dependent . Which sites you dove and how you dove them depended upon the currents at the exact moment . Would be tricky for a crew with limited experience in that location.

If they have some of DMs from the Tambora (which evidently used to dive there according to @BritishBubblemaker , that would be a positive ). You might try to ask indirectly about Tambora crew as opposed to “Do you have much experience in Triton Bay”, because I can pretty much guarantee any new business will answer yes to the second question regardless of the true answer (you have to fake it until you make it ).

 

[BritishBubblemaker]

One question that would be useful to know would be how much experience the divemasters have in Triton Bay. Like many places in Indo, the diving was almost all tide dependent . Which sites you dove and how you dove them depended upon the currents at the exact moment . Would be tricky for a crew with limited experience in that location.

If they have some of DMs from the Tambora (which evidently used to dive there according to @BritishBubblemaker , that would be a positive ). You might try to ask indirectly about Tambora crew as opposed to “Do you have much experience in Triton Bay”, because I can pretty much guarantee any new business will answer yes to the second question regardless of the true answer (you have to fake it until you make it ).

Thanks, CozCharlie, for this really helpful question. I went straight to the Dancing Wind team and asked them. The reply I received was as follows (edited, but only for spelling, grammar and idiom):

"This isn't the first visit to Triton Bay and Kaimana for Dancing Wind, and we do have our own local guide. ​

I understand the concerns [about needing familiarity with the area, and so we] also know about which dive guides have the experience in particular areas. We have relationships with many other boat owner, it is easy for us to do a background check of a dive guide's experience."​

I'm glad that I asked - and thank you again for prompting it - and I'm reassured by the response. Fingers crossed for a good trip (and kindly tides and currents!).

 

[Joel_M]

I've just come back from a 2 week liveaboard covering South Raja and Triton Bay.

Raja was amazing - I was equally as impressed (albeit for different reasons) with Triton Bay. A real standout. Of the 40 or so dives on the entire trip, several of my favorites were in Triton Bay.

Pro's:

Incredible coral - breathtaking colors and really healthy marine life. Check if they're going past the whale shark areas near Kaimana as that was pretty special too.

Little Komodo was an especially impressive set of dives.

All the night dives were excellent - loads and loads of interesting things to spot.

If it helps, some of the specific sites we dove were: several around Aiduma (including night dives), several around Little Komodo, Three Brothers, Bo's Rainbow and several outside Kaimana as mentioned at the Kaimana Bagans (fishing platforms).

Con's:

Visibility was apparently good during my trip, but it was still not amazing. You won't get 20+ meters - so less wide angle if that's your thing.

I can't speak to the knowledge of the crew on your boat, but the dive guides on my trip were not locals (it seems very few are) and were from Sulawesi. They had excellent macro subject hunting skills though.

 

[DivingChipmunk]

I've just come back from a 2 week liveaboard covering South Raja and Triton Bay.

Raja was amazing - I was equally as impressed (albeit for different reasons) with Triton Bay. A real standout. Of the 40 or so dives on the entire trip, several of my favorites were in Triton Bay.

Pro's:

Incredible coral - breathtaking colors and really healthy marine life. Check if they're going past the whale shark areas near Kaimana as that was pretty special too.

Little Komodo was an especially impressive set of dives.

All the night dives were excellent - loads and loads of interesting things to spot.

If it helps, some of the specific sites we dove were: several around Aiduma (including night dives), several around Little Komodo, Three Brothers, Bo's Rainbow and several outside Kaimana as mentioned at the Kaimana Bagans (fishing platforms).

Con's:

Visibility was apparently good during my trip, but it was still not amazing. You won't get 20+ meters - so less wide angle if that's your thing.

I can't speak to the knowledge of the crew on your boat, but the dive guides on my trip were not locals (it seems very few are) and were from Sulawesi. They had excellent macro subject hunting skills though.

Thanks @Joel_M for the info and details on Triton Bay. Glad to hear you had a great trip. Do you mind sharing which boat you were on? Thanks!

 

[donhealy]

I've just come back from a 2 week liveaboard covering South Raja and Triton Bay.

Raja was amazing - I was equally as impressed (albeit for different reasons) with Triton Bay. A real standout. Of the 40 or so dives on the entire trip, several of my favorites were in Triton Bay.

Pro's:

Incredible coral - breathtaking colors and really healthy marine life. Check if they're going past the whale shark areas near Kaimana as that was pretty special too.

Little Komodo was an especially impressive set of dives.

All the night dives were excellent - loads and loads of interesting things to spot.

If it helps, some of the specific sites we dove were: several around Aiduma (including night dives), several around Little Komodo, Three Brothers, Bo's Rainbow and several outside Kaimana as mentioned at the Kaimana Bagans (fishing platforms).

Con's:

Visibility was apparently good during my trip, but it was still not amazing. You won't get 20+ meters - so less wide angle if that's your thing.

I can't speak to the knowledge of the crew on your boat, but the dive guides on my trip were not locals (it seems very few are) and were from Sulawesi. They had excellent macro subject hunting skills though.

I was aboard the White Manta for 2 weeks the beginning of Feb. Triton Bay soft coral was truly awesome! I dived the same spots mentioned above including Kaimana fishing boats. Whale sharks and dolphin was a dive to remember. Little Komodo should be dived at least twice to get the proper experience. Likewise, don't expect more than 20' to 30' vis. Lots of nutrients in the water column, but that is what gives you all the soft coral. Just amazing formations!

 

[amazingpla.net]

Hi,

I just came back from a 14-days trip (Best of Raja Ampat, Sorong - Central Raja Ampat - Wayag - Misool - Sorong) on Dancing Wind LOB and it was a really great trip. I can definitely recommend this boat. It was really spaceous, the crew was super friendly and helpful, we had amazing dives and service on the boat was also great! We were 17 divers, so the boat was fully booked, but there were always enough space for some privacy, too.

Last year we did a 14-day trip on Tambora LOB (Sorong - Kaimana - Banda - Ambon) in April, where we did a few dives in Triton Bay. That time visibility was rather average (approx. 15-20 m), which was not a problem since Triton Bay is a fantastic macro region. Whale Shark diving at the Bagans (floating platforms) nearby was also one of the highlights. I definitely want to go to Triton Bay again, since diving is great and it's much less busy than Misool.

The crew on Dancing Wind was very flexbile, so we could adapt the schedule to our wishes and needs. All the dive guides are really experienced and some of them were even the same like on our last year's trip, where we dived in Triton Bay. They all have many years of experience on liveaboards, so they know all the divesites even along oneway trips.

I can definitely recomment Dancing Wind LOB and Triton Bay, too. If you have further questions, just let me know ;-)

Best regards
Matthias

 

[DivingChipmunk]

Thanks Matthias @amazingpla.net ! This is the first review I've found on Dancing Wind and I am glad you've had a great experience.