seaseadee
Contributor
I'm aboard the Gaia Love for my first ever Liveaboard. I thought it might be fun to post a diary of sorts with daily entries of the goings on, dive sites etc. If I can ever figure out how to get pics from my iphone and camera on to this PC I will post photos as well. We have satellite WiFi on board which can be hit or miss depending on the weather, so I'll post when I have coverage.
Day 1 (Half way through):
Arrived into Sorong at 06:30 on the red eye this morning from Jakarta. Spent the last week hanging out with friends and family in Jakarta, so jet lag is less of an issue. Jakarta airport was really empty. Not sure if that was due to the lateness of the flight or Coronavirus fears. The flight from Jakarta to Sorong was 4hrs 5 minutes with a two hour time difference, so I was pretty knackered when I arrived at the airport. Gerry (one of our two Cruse Directors) met myself and six other divers at the airport exit with cars to take our luggage to the port for our Panga ride to the boat. The trip from the airport the port took less than 10 minutes and was uneventful. We hopped on our skiffs shortly after arriving and headed to the Boat. We were greeted by the Crew with warm smiles and a cold glass of Dragon Fruit juice.
The boat is spacious, clean and seems well maintained. The crew seems genuinely caring and helpful. Gerry and Geil (our other cruise director) seem like a fun pair. She's gregarious and quick with a smile and he's got a very dry sense of humor. There is a full scale coffee station in the lounge with snacks, coffee and tea all day long.
We had a cooked breakfast this morning on arrival. I had an omelette which I paired with yummy Indonesian Sambal. After breakfast we were shown to our rooms and I decided to get my dive gear sorted out early as I only packed a single suitcase with my gear and clothes for the trip. The camera room is in the lounge and is well equipped with outlets for each station fitted with international sockets. I went out of my way to bring Indo style plugs and they don't seem to fit well in the international sockets (Doh!).
Geil gave us our boat briefing around 10:30 and we found out that there is no diving today as we have to go to Waisai for the official park checks. Lunch was Ayam Bakar (Indonesian barbecue chicken) which was yummy. No diving today as we have to go through the official checks for the Marine Park at Waigeo.
We've just now pulled into port and I imagine we'll be here for a bit while we await the paperwork to be completed.
Day 1 (Half way through):
Arrived into Sorong at 06:30 on the red eye this morning from Jakarta. Spent the last week hanging out with friends and family in Jakarta, so jet lag is less of an issue. Jakarta airport was really empty. Not sure if that was due to the lateness of the flight or Coronavirus fears. The flight from Jakarta to Sorong was 4hrs 5 minutes with a two hour time difference, so I was pretty knackered when I arrived at the airport. Gerry (one of our two Cruse Directors) met myself and six other divers at the airport exit with cars to take our luggage to the port for our Panga ride to the boat. The trip from the airport the port took less than 10 minutes and was uneventful. We hopped on our skiffs shortly after arriving and headed to the Boat. We were greeted by the Crew with warm smiles and a cold glass of Dragon Fruit juice.
The boat is spacious, clean and seems well maintained. The crew seems genuinely caring and helpful. Gerry and Geil (our other cruise director) seem like a fun pair. She's gregarious and quick with a smile and he's got a very dry sense of humor. There is a full scale coffee station in the lounge with snacks, coffee and tea all day long.
We had a cooked breakfast this morning on arrival. I had an omelette which I paired with yummy Indonesian Sambal. After breakfast we were shown to our rooms and I decided to get my dive gear sorted out early as I only packed a single suitcase with my gear and clothes for the trip. The camera room is in the lounge and is well equipped with outlets for each station fitted with international sockets. I went out of my way to bring Indo style plugs and they don't seem to fit well in the international sockets (Doh!).
Geil gave us our boat briefing around 10:30 and we found out that there is no diving today as we have to go to Waisai for the official park checks. Lunch was Ayam Bakar (Indonesian barbecue chicken) which was yummy. No diving today as we have to go through the official checks for the Marine Park at Waigeo.
We've just now pulled into port and I imagine we'll be here for a bit while we await the paperwork to be completed.