Trip Report: Raja Ampat on the WAOW Liveaboard

[moonypixels]

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

The following post is an operator response to the opening post/trip report and to subsequent comments.

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Dear Diversusan and Cephalopod2,

Firstly, I think you should get the fact about WAOW's CD right. First time he dived in Indo was in 1997 in Komodo, then again an entire season in 2001 and 2002 before venturing on to spend 4 seasons in North Sulawesi in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. All that followed by another Season around Komodo and Raja Ampat in 2009. In 2010 he planned all the itineraries WAOW is offering now (probably because he is inexperienced and doesn't know what he's doing...) and in 2011 he then went on to be actively involved in the final building phase of this "mediocre" several Million uS$ project named WAOW, designed and realized several areas of the ship and is an actual shareholder of it too.
If 15 years of diving in Southeast Asia isn't enough experience to run such a ship, then I wouldn't know what kind of experience level one can expect from a CD?!?

It is also funny to read about the "small chase boats" WAOW is using, which in fact are large Boston Whalers, fitted with 150hp four stroke outboard engines and along with Dewi Nusantara's Chaseboats rank among the biggest and best ones in Indonesia! Others use small RIB's with between 15 and 40hp two strokes and others again use aluminium boats and all except WAOW and Dewi use environmentally unfriendly two stroke engines...

On the subject of currents, there isn't too much to say. Some divers have done 8 liveaboards and still can't dive whereas some regular boat crew on liveaboards get the chance to do a dive every now and again and dive like champions. Some fining techniques are effective and other divers have forgotten that they are not riding a bicycle but are actually wearing a pair of fins and dive and the wonder why they don't move forward whilst getting exhausted!

If one goes to areas such as Aljuy Bay, Kawe, Wofoh, Yeben, Penemu, Balbulol, Farondi, Warakaraket, Wayilbatan, Fiabacet, Airborek and all the great sites of Dampier and the likes and still thinks that the diving isn't diverse and good enough and that an 11 day trip is too long, then there's not much one can do more to help such a diver but to actually feel pity for him or her.
A real diver would think rather the opposite and make it a 3 week trip instead, just to be able to explore all the other great areas this amazing spot on planet earth has to offer!

It always comes a bit as a surprise when I read such comments on forums such as this one. Which boat owner in his right state of mind would hire inexperienced Muppets who don't know an area and don't know what they are doing to run a ship such as WAOW???

In order for one to get the most out of Raja Ampat I would highly suggest to everyone to get their facts right before going there. If you think a dive is only a good dive if there is a 100ft viz, then stay away from Raja Ampat because chances are you'll feel like Diversusan and will completely miss out on all the other great and amazing things Raja has to offer. If you don't like currents, then there's always swimming pools, quarries, lakes as well as aquariums, or the Caribbean.

 

[diversusan]

Of course "saynotomarinecops" is Jay, the WAOW cruise director.

To my mind, by attempting to post anonymously with angry attacks, Jay has unfortunately only strengthened the case against him...his reaction has been very much in keeping with what I saw of his character.

 

[iDreamOfBubbles]

Saynotomarinecops, you wouldn't happen to be the cruise director, would you?

 

[TinPanMan]

I was on the same WAOW trip. In fact, I was one of the "show boaters", probably the worst actually. On a single dive our foursome did find 4 Wobbegongs hanging together under one brain coral and another one just 2 minutes away and also three individuals on later dive. Yes we crowed about these and many other good fortunes. We were having great dives. I think our group found over 2 dozen Wobbegong Sharks on the trip. They had nearly become a banality. I once swam back to bring Diversusan and her husband to a Wobbegong I found. She swam over and fought buoyancy to take a picture. There was another awesome cool thing right there that I tried to show to her but I became bored with her inability to stay calm and see so I left to hunt up other stuff.

Raja Ampat is awesome that way: there is always lots of something. Yes, we did see six Mantas on one dive, a flight of Mobulas on another, big stuff everywhere including, schools of huge striped Barracudas we swam in, huge schools of Batfish, a big school of giant Bump head Parrot fish she somehow missed and a whole lot of other super duper cool little stuff when that was the hunt. The soft and hard corals are amazing by themselves. The bottom line is that if you cannot dive current you'll miss a lot of the big stuff. If you cannot control your buoyancy you will miss out on a lot of the small stuff. That's Raja Ampat and that is why her experience sucked: it isn’t the dive pool at Uncle Ernie’s open water academy.

We show boaters had 25 days of diving in Raja Ampat before this trip. We had a bit of an advantage in that we had dived some of the sites on two previous trips (while staying at the uber excellent Misool Eco Resort). So we had a bit of an eye for the area and already knew better than to waste 10 minutes in a queue to see the pygmy sea horse when others where a fan away.

What irritates me the most about the rant are the misguided recriminations of our Cruise Directors, Jay directly and Kay by implication. First, Kay is beyond reproach excepting her association with Jay. Second, by focusing on things that are not Jays failings you direct attention away from those that are.

Jay has been around and can read divers. No Mother Hen BS at all. No over reacting for show. The style suited me fine. When he dives, he likes to pioneer and do his thing but he is in control of his environment, his charges and himself. Faulting his skills there is a show of ignorance.

Every dive site selection will not be to every divers liking. All in all we show boaters were happy with the choices, even the one where I didn't see the Kraken I wanted to showboat about. And, for the permanent record the one I thought would suck most was one where we found the 5 Wobbegongs and a gob of cool little things. I need to be more careful, I suppose.

One big note: the dive site selection is one thing but the dive plan is another. This is where Jay shined bright. Several sites we had previously dived were made even more awesome by a better plan. Shadow Ridge/Magic Mountain is an example. Lots of current, deep where the action usually is
and so on. Previously, we had dived the site starting at the top and working down to the Manta cleaning stations. Jay’s plan was to drop in up current, descend to the action and then work up the ridge. Brilliant. Until he scared away the Manta, that is, but no ones perfect.

The WAOW is a great new boat but a work in progress nonetheless. We had a lower deck cabin that was just excellent; very well appointed and comfortable. And while the diapers taped to the salon ceiling all day everyday were tacky they were also a source of amusement and preferable to being dripped on when it rained. I blame the Jay for that, just because he's available. It definitely should not have rained during our trip. He should know that. Otherwise, the boat crew, both diving and cabin, are awesome each and every one. The chef is great.

In my opinion it was not a top dollar boat on that cruise but we were paying a last minute deeply discounted rate and thrilled to get the availability. It is a new construction boat built to very high quality standards. They are called shake-out cruises for a reason and I would not be surprised to learn that all of the glitches have already been un-glitched because they definitely want to be the top boat. In addition to Wi-Fi they also provide individual safety beacons with 2-way radio. Those are first class items.

Also, in my opinion, the WAOW does have one design flaw: the Superior cabins and the Master cabins own the fantail where it is posted no smoking. Smokers often default to the upwind areas. Yes people smoke but this is 2013 when we all know it sucks and everyone should know that it is rude to affect others with the habit. This is especially so at meal times. Obviously, if you smoke or are not bothered by it this is a silly non-issue.

That's my response and review. Flame on. But if you do, at least be brave and use your real name. Of course, all agreeing opinions may use any name or avatar necessary.

TinPanMan

 

[moonypixels]

Hi Joe,
Firstly, I highly appreciate you putting up this post and put down your side of the story. I guess you were as surprised (or should I say "shocked") about the initial report at the start of this thread as I was. Your trip report makes us look a bit different than what was described by the OP and I'd like to thank you for having taken your time to put it all down in writing and to have enlightened the readers of this thread about what really went on on that trip. The only thing I'll have to check with Kay is the remark you made about the only reproach, which is "her association with Jay", which cracked me up completely
Lastly, I'd like to add that I sure do hope to dive with such a bunch of "show boaters" again, because it was simply great fun to have you guys on board with us!

Cheers for now,
Jay

 

[Zippsy]

Dang, you weren't supposed to let people know it was really you Jay, were you?

 

[TinPanMan]

Zippsy, you are right. Now I feel bad for him. Really, were I on a boat and heard that Moonypixel was boarding on the starboard side I would race to swan dive off the port side. I mean I get the combo, his name and passion, but unlike chocolate and peanut butter which pair perfectly some combinations sound a little too, well, cutesy?

In his defense, I did call him out on it so he had little choice. Just as I am now calling you out.......

 

[Shasta_man]

I guess I'd rather dive with the "showboaters". (What's a showboater on a liveaboard?). Having been to RA on the aforementioned Dewi, it was a fantastic time IMHO, however, we dealt with the same issues differently.
Divemasters laughing at you isn't cool or professional. That wasn't right, but I also don't know what led up to that.
Viz: the viz is always relatively low. This is a good thing because it means food in the water, which is eaten by small critters, which are eaten by larger critters, etc. That's why we go there.
Current: Many places there have current. We want it because again, this is where the life is because of lots of food in the area. You aren't supposed to swim into it for long. You also learn how to use terrain to hide from it and limit your exposure. Kicking too long into the current is likely dive guides fault. Expecting no current is unrealistic.
Pelagics, barracuda: We strangely didn't see many barracudas in RA, though we did in Komodo but not as much as say Solomons. Otherwise, we saw a lot of wobbegone (which are very cool), mantas mostly at Boo Windows, some mobulars and a scattering of black and white tip sharks, but they've eaten them all in Asia so not a surprise they aren't there.
Bumphead parrot fish: Saw quite a few schools of 10 or more individuals, and quite a few around and they would get quite close because you just don't move and they come.
TV: who watches TV on a liveaboard other than today's video you shot?! The idea is getting away from that garbage.
Wifi: double the previous comment - who wants Wifi?! The phone gloriously stopped working the day we left Sorong and started the day we came into harbor. It was fantastic. IT'S ABOUT THE PLACE YOU PAID GRANDS TO GO TO!
To sum it up, I think you are right, long trips in RA are not for you.

 

[Sideways]

I appreciate anyone who comes here, or TA, or anywhere online and shares their TR's, I think we all utilize them as research tools to some degree or the other. So thank you for the TR. One of the interesting dynamics I've seen on this board and others, is when someone makes any kind of negative statement in a TR and what kind of response comes back from the Operator. Unfortunatly in this case the Operator comes out on the losing side for me because of the way they've handled themselves here. If I'm reading this correctly, Jay (Moonypixels) was the CD on this trip? Also in some of the quotes here it refers to a "saynotomarinecops", who is this and where are their posts? (I feel like I'm missing part of the equation) If I'm reading this wrong and Moonypixels is not a rep of the LOB, then I sincerely apologize to you Sir. While the reviewer may not be the perfect swimmer, like many of us, or have what some might consider unrealistic expectations, the way she is being treated as a customer here really turns me off to this particular DiveOp/LOB. Almost 2 years ago I read a thread in this forum about a negative experience a person had at Wakatobi Dive Resort. As with any disagreement, there are usually 2 sides or perspectives. In that particular TR, what impressed me was the way The Wakatobi rep handled themselves. While stating their perspective, they did it in a proffesional, customer service oriented manner.

We all spend a LOT of money traveling in this sport/recreation. I think it's pretty normal that things won't always meet up too our expectations, and those things may even be beyond the control of a dive op or LOB. I think the expectation of being treated well as customers is not unreasonable, even if we have a grievance. The OP shared her experience in a respectful way, comparatively to the LOB representative, and for me that's the bottom line. On a side note... we actually are making our first trip to Wakatobi Dive Resort at the end of this month, and have been planning it for almost 2 years. That TR I mentioned did have some bearing on our decision to go there, even though the TR was not a glowing endorsement.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

It appears that "saynotomarinecops" has somehow changed his name to "moonypixels."