Many of the dive centers in Indonesia are not Indonesian owned ( except under-the-table ownership for permit reason ) or Indonesian operated/managed. Many of the 5 stars ones are almost guaranteed not managed by Indonesian, even though a few are Indonesian owned.
There are lousy ones to great ones. It all depends. Price DO play a great deal in overall professionalism of the dive operation, not always but often it is a benchmark. Just like any long surviving 5 stars hotels, when you are good you are not cheap and if the hotel can survive 15+ years at such high price, there is a good reason why customer paid for that level of price. Simple, pay peanuts, you get a monkey.
It is easy to spot lousy dive operators. Look at their compressor room , dive gears and the boat. This is asset wise, operation wise, more or less can be judged on how those assets are maintained.
For compressor, talk to the compressor operator. Most likely you will find only two brands of compressors.
Bauer Mariner 200 and Coltri MCH13 or MCH16
If it is a Bauer, 99% of the time you will find the P21 sized filtration. Ask them if they buy new filter cartridges or they do their own re-fill.
If they buy new cartridges, how many hours do they use it ? If it is 6+ hours or more they are cheapo. 6 hours is approx 45 tanks fill of 80CF size with 40 BAR reserve.
If they do refill on a P21, well that is a some sort of cheapo trick because it is not designed for refill.
They won't usually get the new felt cloth that trapped the oil mist. Good fresh stock of the filter media Molecular Sieve and the Activated Carbon is also not always EASILY available. I mean fresh as in PROPER FRESH, which is 6 months from date of factory packaging in Europe to date of use at dive center. The activated carbon, some cheapo sometime got it wrong, they sometime use the pore size for water treatment not for air purification and the VOCs risk is to you ....the guests..........assuming they DO use a proper quality activated carbon and not just charcoal.
I seen too often a Bauer P21 filter size pushed to 10 hours or at least 80 tanks of 40 BAR reserve at 28-30C ambient temperature.
If it is a Coltri brand of compressor model MCH16 of 275 liters per minute, most likely it is a re-fill type. 8-9 hours maximum at 28-30C ambient temperature or 88 tanks of 40BAR reserve at best. Coltri MCH13, same number of tanks, just more hours due to slower pumping, hence longer hours needed to achieve the same filter life.
Compressor filter cartridge is one of the many things dive centers love to save money on. The motto is like :
if it ain't smelly it is good for use
If one can't even manage their compressor purification duty by the book ( meaning the book is not properly read ) and adjusting to Indonesian hot climate ( also stated in the book ), then one should not be running a dive operation. Why should they run a dive operation when they don't even understand how to read a simple Compressor User Manual ?
Part of the money a customer pay for dive trip is for air-fill and at worst case you can die from bad air.
The more remote the dive location is, the higher the risk of poor filter cartridge change practice because supply comes from Jakarta if not Bali or Makasar and those are very far cities from dive locations. Jakarta and Bali is the biggest and most complete supply hub.
DIVE GEAR
01. Regulator mini leak at 2nd stage or slow free flow ? Bad maintenance.
02. BCD inflator connector leaking ? Quite bad maintenance which if the inflator push button assy is not maintained well, it may lead to either non inflation or the worst case sticky inflation...wow this one is scarry.
03. Worn out color of BCD is not a pretty thing but it does not mean it is bad. Too much tropical sun washes color fast.
Item 01 and 02 when properly maintained at every 150-200 dives or within 6 months for a dive center and a decently good product like MK2-R295 Scubapro, it will not see problems at all. The mouth piece being torn from bites.........well that can happen fast.
DIVE BOAT
If they use outboard engine, look for a fuel pre-filter into the engine. Usually they use Racor brand.
It can be a metal canister or see thru bowl version. Pre-filter or primary fuel filter is a MUST have for Indonesian bad fuel. The more remote the area, the dirtier the fuel because handling is done many many times from drums to drums. Outboard built in fuel filter is so small, it is not meant to be without a pre-filter.
99.99% of the time, you will see Yamaha 2 stroke outboards.
In area like Manado or Bali or Lombok, you may see Suzuki or Yamaha 4 strokes outboard.
Whatever the engines are, if they stall more than once per dive session ( not dive trip ), those engines are not properly maintained.
If a 4 strokes outboard takes more than 5 seconds cranking to turn itself ON, maintenance not good.
If a 2 strokes outboard takes more than 3 of 5 seconds cranking to turn itself ON, maintenance not good.
Any ding or bent propellers and they keep using it, cheapo practice because if the vibration persist, the shaft seal will allow water and the lower gearcase will jammed up.......if you are still drifting...how do they pick you up ?
Twin engine dive boat is safer than single engine, if outboards.
If boat is diesel powered, usually it is single engine.
A pre-filter is a MUST MUST for diesel engine.
If you are not into engines, you may not identify it as a proper marine engine or an ex truck engine being marinized ( usually poor marinization ). Any inboard boat with vibrations that makes your ear itchy, is a $hitty boat........period.
I decide which dive center to use based on some of the above criteria, except for dive gear, I bring my own.
For me a single diesel engine dive boat with no outboard powered rubber boat as back up = NO WAY I will use it.
I am not talking of Live On Board vessel, just a day trip dive boat.
Safety gears I got my own and I have extensive collection which will put 99.99% of dive centers in any countries to shame. So I am covering myself on that department as I do not want to rely on others.
I once hired a Live on Board in Manado for my gang. I paid Euro 3000 per day after discount for full charter.
The boat sucks, its a slow 6 knots and poor navigation equipment. Compressor is good.
Food........cheapo !!!
This is the LOB I find as quality and the food is really GREAT !!!
HOME: Tiger Blue exclusive liveaboard luxury cruise with diving holidays in Indonesia
Reverse Osmosis water maker in capacity where there is no such thing as water rationing.
Fresh towel everyday and lots of them. There is no shortage of finger food, coffe and the like between dives.
There is no limitation of distance travelled due to fuel use concern. I set the LOB to move only at night , so we do full dives every morning to dawn. At nearly the same price for the one I paid in Manado............dang, its like Holiday Inn compared to Waldof Astoria. Its really worth the money this MY Tiger Blue.
The twin 250 Liter/minute compressors are OK. The main 140HP outboard powered rigid inflatable bottom is great. The smaller 3 meter soft bottom rubber boat as back up is OK. Yet I still send 1 of a 5 meter fiberglass dinghy with 40HP outboard as back up. Yes, I am Indonesian and I have friends all over Indonesia where I can borrow or rent a 5 meter dinghy.
My standard is , 3 dive dinghy minimal to service up to 11 divers in my gang. The 3 meter small soft bottom dinghy I use as a 50 meter perimeter guardian. The 5 meter fiberglass dinghy as 100-200 meter perimeter guardian and diver's mover. The 6+ meter high speed RIB as 200-500+ meter perimeter guardian, diver mover and as chase boat for drifting divers, it can do 30 knots easy.
The drill is, there will be always at least 1 dinghy standing by at dive spot as long as there is still a diver underwater while the other two dinghy move divers to LOB. LOB is always anchored 500-1000 meters down current of dive spot and I place a spotter there. If sea bottom where LOB is supposed to be down current of dive spot is too deep, LOB goes into live mode. Yes, engine running all day and LOB drift away dive spot with current and move back into position again and I don't allow LOB to be closer than 500 meters to dive spot........propeller noise, I hate it. This is the beauty of an LOB dive operation not into chasing divers by the numbers like most other LOB in the market, paying guest is the King.
I don't like sharing dive trips with people I don't know and I avoid popular LOB like MY Seven Seas and the like.
I plan my own dive destinations based on available time slot of October to November usually and always in Ambon where MY Tiger Blue is serving the Banda Sea region. MY Tiger Blue is a full charter basis only. This coming October 2011 dive trip is my gang 4th charter. Three times in 2009. No action in 2010 and once this coming October 2011.
I don't really like land based dive operations. Money for money, LOB is the best because I can explore places very remote and don't waste time commuting from dive spot to resort every day. At approx US$3,850 per day for 11 people ( after discount ), it is decent. 11 divers is about as crowded as you want to be. 16 divers per LOB vessel like most other LOB arrangement is simply too crowded. No matter how big that LOB maybe, the underwater dive spot crowding is what needed to be avoided.
I find some of my own dive spots from marine charts and satellite photos. Some I learn from local dive guide.
I always take 1 senior LOCAL dive guide to point me the dangers of dive spots of his particular area. Local guide is a great asset. I hire the dive guide on my own expense and he is not part of the LOB package. LOB moves around. My guide for Ambon area is nearly 56 years old and exceeding 7,000 dives. He is well connected to the Police, Military and whatever. I need this local guide on board as sort of a "Liason Officer" too. Where I dive, it is so remote and villages do have village chief where he acts like a small time king
, sometime they claim the reef as theirs !!. I do need to get dive permission from local village chief sometimes. Its a cultural thingy, so better respect it. This is when my local guide shows his worth and a few cans of Coca Cola and packs of cigarettes smooth the path
So it ain't all bad diving in Indonesia when you know how to choose and willing to pay for better services.
Yes, there are always lousy dive centers even when their prices are rather high.
Comments from other divers on a particular dive outfit may and may not be accurate if its more than say a year ago. Dive Gear or boats do fall apart fast in commercial operations when neglected or when parts are hard to come by in remote locations. Also to note the person making the comments or reccomendations, what are their travelling experience and benchmark ?
Great diving service is not about dive gear NOT mailfunctioning, diving air NOT smelly, boat NOT breaking down and etc etc etc.
It is also about preparation for the dive and the dive center assets both in hardware and manpower to be make the dive as safe and as enjoyable as possible . Comfortable and luxury are two different things. Decently comfortable is a must.
As far to how much you want to be pampered ( luxurious ) on a dive resort or LOB, that is all together another story.
And for SimilanDiver, I am sorry to say, the title of this post is misleading :
"Bad service and safety in Indonesia"
One will think this is the general condition of diving in Indonesia.
Why don't you put the title as
Bad Service DANNYSSS DIVER in Labuan Bajo, KOMODO
This will be more appropriate and it is already in the Indonesian section of the forum anyhow.
I am certain you have a good intention, but the title needs a little work.
You don't need to worry as being offensive to DAYY'SSS even though you are based in Komodo and worked for a competitor.
Any practice by any dive operator which may bring danger to a paying customer.....we all need to hear about it because it is a "tourism crime" in my book. Being a dive operator yourself, you need to protect the reputation of Komodo dive centers in general. So I do not see anything wrong with this post............except the title. Anyhow, thanks for the info
Safe diving guys............
IYA
