jasonreid50
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Just finished a 8d/7n Bali-to-Komodo journey on the Mermaid 2 liveaboard.
Summary:
This was time very well spent. Komodo is an absolutely superb diving destination. The Mermaid 2 is a very comfortable, well organized and highly professional boat from which to dive. Its crew is truly fantastic in every way.
Getting there:
Singapore Air. Newark to Singapore (at ~19 hours, the longest nonstop airline route on earth, and you feel every bit of it!) then Singapore to Bali (2.5 hours). Fantastic service on Singapore Air!
Where to overnight prior to boarding the Mermaid 2:
The Hyatt Regency Bali. 5 star hotel on the beach in Sanur. Lovely rooms, supremely beautiful grounds overflowing with manicured flora. Great location for a walk along the beach or in the town.
The Mermaid staff picked us up at the hotel and took us to the boat dock in Benoa. The drive to the boat was less than 30 minutes from the hotel.
About the Mermaid 2:
The boat is very, very well run. The crew is AWESOME AWESOME! They are highly professional, very friendly and thoroughly informative.
Montse is the long-time, currently outgoing crew director, and is being replaced by Jordi. Both Montse and Jordi run a very tight and efficient operation. Yeray, Rama, Angela and Ketut are incredible dive guides. They are so skilled in finding everything underwater that you would think they placed the critters in specific locations themselves! Marcello is an outstanding videographer - a true artist.
The Mermaid has a lot of crew for a dive boat - there were 17 crew members on our boat. This results in an incredible level of service by the crew. You don't touch your tanks or gear or wetsuit at all - you just dive, eat and sleep. The crew clearly loves diving and views their vocation as more than just a job. They go out of their way to ensure that you are happy, comfortable, safe and satisfied with your dives. I will dive with them at any time.
The sleeping quarters on the Mermaid 2 are very comfortable. They are kept very clean by the crew during the dives.
The food is copious, varied and very tasty. There is a mixture of local and western dishes. You WILL eat too much. Beware.
About diving in Komodo:
Mermaid 2 departs Bali, sets course for Komodo and spends most of the week there. After concluding 20 dives over 8 days, I can conclude that the Komodo National Park clearly ranks among top 2 or 3 in the world.
Komodo offers a spectacular, best-in-class, coral-reef focused dive environment. You should think of it as a big hodgepodge of high quality everything.
Komodo offers a deep and varied mixture of big animals (mantas, sharks, rays, bumphead parrots, napoleons, barracudas) and small animals (just about any type of small critter imaginable) in very large quantities. The Park has a mixture of high intensity, rip-roaring currents, no current, "swim-in-a-fish-tank" dives, sheer walls, vast coral gardens and highly inhabited muck. Komodo offers the works.
The checkout dives were good dives. The night dive at Satonda Bay was among the best night dives I have seen. We saw hunting lionfish, hunting stingrays, crabs, shrimp, eels, cuttlefish, octopus. The checkout dives were an accurate precursor to the marine environment awaiting the divers.
Above water, we visited Rinca Island and saw the dragons eating a dear they had killed! It was like being in a National Geographic documentary!
Batu Monco
Great introduction to Komodo National Park. Very calm dive, like diving in an aquarium.
Shotgun
A fantastic dive during which you ride the strong current between two islands. Amazing marine environment. We saw manta rays while doing our safety stop.
Crystal Rock
A truly, truly, truly amazing dive.
We entered the Crystal Rock dive site at the small pinnacle and immediately hooked in at a depth of ~50ft. The current was strong, and threatened to dislodge my mask if I turned my head sideways. We stayed hooked for about 25 minutes.
The marine environment was the healthiest I have seen in 28 years of diving around the world. There was an abundance of hard and soft corals. There were literally thousands of schooling fish of all sizes. We saw several large white-tip sharks floating in the current.
After we unhooked, we explored the area between the small and large pinnacle. We saw huge schools of jacks, fusiliers, and parrots. As we were doing our safety stop, a large eagle ray swooped in on one side, while on the other side, a turtle munched on coral next to a sleeping sting ray. This dive site alone made the Komodo trip worthwhile.
Manta Alley
The southern tip of Komodo Island. Very dramatic landscapes above ground - stark mountains plunging into the sea. The water temperatures were a notably colder than the north. A 3mm wetsuit worked in the north, but most divers used 5mm wetsuits in the south.
During the Manta Alley dive, we saw 12-15 reef mantas, the largest of which largest was about 15 feet in wingspan. The mantas were being serviced in the cleaning station, playing in current and gliding over the reef. The mantas came very close - within a few feet of each diver.
There was also a very lovely reef in about 40 feet of water. Manta Alley had very little current.
Cannibal Rock
This is one of the best sites in the world, period. There is a profusion of hard and soft corals in 30-60 feet of water. The colors were so vivid that they seemed to have been painted that morning. The reef colors are what makes this site world-class. The colors were so bright that they seemed artificial. Again, there were loads of fish. Little to no current.
Tatawa Besar
Beautiful coral garden. We saw eels, spotted eagle rays and turtles. Very little current - just enough to drift.
Siaba Besar
Vast coral gardens as far as the eye could see in all directions. The coral gardens were rolling like lush meadows in the countryside. The coral was so crisp and healthy it appeared to have been in the manufacturer’s showroom.
There were turtles galore at Siaba Besar - I stopped counting at 20. The dive site is populated by schools of reef fish. Siaba Besar was not as colorful as Cannibal Rock, but still unimaginably beautiful. No current.
K2
Another beautiful, vast coral garden in shallow water. Lots of light and great visibility. No current. Very healthy coral.
Sangeang Volcano
Spectacular! We did 3 dives in that area. The volcano erupts every 30 minutes or so. There was no lava flow that we could see, but big puffs of smoke. Very dramatic events on a beautiful, densely vegetated, isolated island.
Lighthouse
Wall dive, black sand. Very healthy coral. Enough currents to make it a drift dive. Lots of macro. Great dive.
Bantam
Night dive in front of Sangeang island. Shallow, black sand environment. Max depth is 15 feet. One big safety stop. The most amazing muck dive ever. Dozens of unique critters in every square meter.
In Closing:
Just go. Do not hesitate. It is definitely worth it!
Summary:
This was time very well spent. Komodo is an absolutely superb diving destination. The Mermaid 2 is a very comfortable, well organized and highly professional boat from which to dive. Its crew is truly fantastic in every way.
Getting there:
Singapore Air. Newark to Singapore (at ~19 hours, the longest nonstop airline route on earth, and you feel every bit of it!) then Singapore to Bali (2.5 hours). Fantastic service on Singapore Air!
Where to overnight prior to boarding the Mermaid 2:
The Hyatt Regency Bali. 5 star hotel on the beach in Sanur. Lovely rooms, supremely beautiful grounds overflowing with manicured flora. Great location for a walk along the beach or in the town.
The Mermaid staff picked us up at the hotel and took us to the boat dock in Benoa. The drive to the boat was less than 30 minutes from the hotel.
About the Mermaid 2:
The boat is very, very well run. The crew is AWESOME AWESOME! They are highly professional, very friendly and thoroughly informative.
Montse is the long-time, currently outgoing crew director, and is being replaced by Jordi. Both Montse and Jordi run a very tight and efficient operation. Yeray, Rama, Angela and Ketut are incredible dive guides. They are so skilled in finding everything underwater that you would think they placed the critters in specific locations themselves! Marcello is an outstanding videographer - a true artist.
The Mermaid has a lot of crew for a dive boat - there were 17 crew members on our boat. This results in an incredible level of service by the crew. You don't touch your tanks or gear or wetsuit at all - you just dive, eat and sleep. The crew clearly loves diving and views their vocation as more than just a job. They go out of their way to ensure that you are happy, comfortable, safe and satisfied with your dives. I will dive with them at any time.
The sleeping quarters on the Mermaid 2 are very comfortable. They are kept very clean by the crew during the dives.
The food is copious, varied and very tasty. There is a mixture of local and western dishes. You WILL eat too much. Beware.
About diving in Komodo:
Mermaid 2 departs Bali, sets course for Komodo and spends most of the week there. After concluding 20 dives over 8 days, I can conclude that the Komodo National Park clearly ranks among top 2 or 3 in the world.
Komodo offers a spectacular, best-in-class, coral-reef focused dive environment. You should think of it as a big hodgepodge of high quality everything.
Komodo offers a deep and varied mixture of big animals (mantas, sharks, rays, bumphead parrots, napoleons, barracudas) and small animals (just about any type of small critter imaginable) in very large quantities. The Park has a mixture of high intensity, rip-roaring currents, no current, "swim-in-a-fish-tank" dives, sheer walls, vast coral gardens and highly inhabited muck. Komodo offers the works.
The checkout dives were good dives. The night dive at Satonda Bay was among the best night dives I have seen. We saw hunting lionfish, hunting stingrays, crabs, shrimp, eels, cuttlefish, octopus. The checkout dives were an accurate precursor to the marine environment awaiting the divers.
Above water, we visited Rinca Island and saw the dragons eating a dear they had killed! It was like being in a National Geographic documentary!
Batu Monco
Great introduction to Komodo National Park. Very calm dive, like diving in an aquarium.
Shotgun
A fantastic dive during which you ride the strong current between two islands. Amazing marine environment. We saw manta rays while doing our safety stop.
Crystal Rock
A truly, truly, truly amazing dive.
We entered the Crystal Rock dive site at the small pinnacle and immediately hooked in at a depth of ~50ft. The current was strong, and threatened to dislodge my mask if I turned my head sideways. We stayed hooked for about 25 minutes.
The marine environment was the healthiest I have seen in 28 years of diving around the world. There was an abundance of hard and soft corals. There were literally thousands of schooling fish of all sizes. We saw several large white-tip sharks floating in the current.
After we unhooked, we explored the area between the small and large pinnacle. We saw huge schools of jacks, fusiliers, and parrots. As we were doing our safety stop, a large eagle ray swooped in on one side, while on the other side, a turtle munched on coral next to a sleeping sting ray. This dive site alone made the Komodo trip worthwhile.
Manta Alley
The southern tip of Komodo Island. Very dramatic landscapes above ground - stark mountains plunging into the sea. The water temperatures were a notably colder than the north. A 3mm wetsuit worked in the north, but most divers used 5mm wetsuits in the south.
During the Manta Alley dive, we saw 12-15 reef mantas, the largest of which largest was about 15 feet in wingspan. The mantas were being serviced in the cleaning station, playing in current and gliding over the reef. The mantas came very close - within a few feet of each diver.
There was also a very lovely reef in about 40 feet of water. Manta Alley had very little current.
Cannibal Rock
This is one of the best sites in the world, period. There is a profusion of hard and soft corals in 30-60 feet of water. The colors were so vivid that they seemed to have been painted that morning. The reef colors are what makes this site world-class. The colors were so bright that they seemed artificial. Again, there were loads of fish. Little to no current.
Tatawa Besar
Beautiful coral garden. We saw eels, spotted eagle rays and turtles. Very little current - just enough to drift.
Siaba Besar
Vast coral gardens as far as the eye could see in all directions. The coral gardens were rolling like lush meadows in the countryside. The coral was so crisp and healthy it appeared to have been in the manufacturer’s showroom.
There were turtles galore at Siaba Besar - I stopped counting at 20. The dive site is populated by schools of reef fish. Siaba Besar was not as colorful as Cannibal Rock, but still unimaginably beautiful. No current.
K2
Another beautiful, vast coral garden in shallow water. Lots of light and great visibility. No current. Very healthy coral.
Sangeang Volcano
Spectacular! We did 3 dives in that area. The volcano erupts every 30 minutes or so. There was no lava flow that we could see, but big puffs of smoke. Very dramatic events on a beautiful, densely vegetated, isolated island.
Lighthouse
Wall dive, black sand. Very healthy coral. Enough currents to make it a drift dive. Lots of macro. Great dive.
Bantam
Night dive in front of Sangeang island. Shallow, black sand environment. Max depth is 15 feet. One big safety stop. The most amazing muck dive ever. Dozens of unique critters in every square meter.
In Closing:
Just go. Do not hesitate. It is definitely worth it!
