After our LOB (RA Explorer) we stayed 7 nights at Tabari Dive Lodge.
Traditional Bungalows on stilts on the beach – by high tide water was under the Bungalows at low tide there was a small beach in front of the veranda.
Food was amazing!
Originally, I wanted to stay at Cove Eco resort or Agusta, but we’re on a budget and Tabari is quite a bit cheaper while still having good reviews, this was also my way of testing, if we could use more home stays on future trips to bring down costs.
Booking went smoothly Brigitte answered my many emails – usually quite fast, we paid a 5 mill idr. Deposit, rest was done via transfer on our departure day.
Before arrival, while still on the LOB, I contacted Brigitte again, to let her know
When we reached the resort, it was low tide …. Very low tide. Even the dinghy could not reach the pier. So, we had to wade through the water (luckily, we had dive boots ready) to shore. The boat crew made sure our suitcases were moved safely to the pier – and left our dive gear at the resort boat anchored up a bit further out.
We arrived around full moon and the very low tide persisted, making afternoon/night dive nearly impossible – but towards the end of the week it got better.
The villas were beautiful – open style, big and airy, clean, big bed with mosquito net, double sliding door we just left open to let air and the sound of the waves in (just kidding, the doors did not need to be open to hear the waves), a long, sturdy shelf/bench for clothes, and a rod to hang clothes as well. In the corner were all the outlets: 4-5 if I recall correctly and plugged in was the rechargeable fan to use at night. We also brought our own fans and very happy we did, as there’s no ac.
Big bathroom with running (cold and sometimes smelly/always brackish) water, shelfing and the famous plastic box for everything “edible” – from toothpaste to shampoo.
Cleaning was done every day and change of towels 2-3 days, sheet change every 5 days (could ask to have them changed before).
On the veranda was a sturdy sun lounger, 2 uncomfortable chairs and a small table (inside the villa were 2 beanbags you could use inside or outside). I spent my non diving days lazing on the lounger, watching the small black tip reef sharks patrolling at high tide – if you’re stuck on land this is definitely a good place. Along the side of the veranda – under the roof were 2 clothes lines with pegs (nice touch!), for swimsuits etc. – not sturdy enough for our 3 mm dive suits though, so we put them on hangers just in front of the doors – there were 2 “straps” hanging down for the roof and I assume they were for this.
Funnily enough they asked us to keep booties, suits, hoods, mask, fins and dive computer in the villa – only BCD and regulators in dive center.
Electricity was 24h – new solar power panels - and there was strong internet with starlink – it even reached our villa (great for my non diving days).
The restaurant was on the pier and under it was a nursery for black tip reef sharks. I also saw a few nurse sharks and of course lots of other fish. I heard you could also see the walking shark, but we were not that lucky.
The food … ohhhhh the food. THE BEST we ever had on a dive trip. Breakfast was the “weak point” with pancakes every day, only a few days did they offer us eggs – found out they ran out of eggs as we arrived.
Lunch and dinner were always 3 courses, plated and served at the table. I don’t have words for the quality, just amazing. The bread for the soup in the evening was some of the best we ever had. Food was a mix of Indoinspired, Thai, Italian, tex mex and French – during our week we did not have one dish we did not love, but the molten chocolate was my favorite, my husband says the spaghetti Bolognese was the best.
There was a water dispenser with “normal” water and thermos with hot water for coffee/tea. Could buy cold beer and soft drinks (cola, Fanta and tonic – no gin). Could ask for ice cubes, but anyway the water would always be “normal” – I like cold water for drinking.
The dive op was professional, and guides were good spotters.
Every evening the plan for the next day was discussed with us, and we could make suggestions on dive sites or things we wanted to see/do – the 2 major thing on my wish list was the Pontohi pygmy seahorse (saw it on the last dive) and the walking shark (sadly no luck – in 8 night dives).
No nitrox, did affect dive time/depth, but we still did close to 60 min. Dive group was just the 2 of us with a dive guide – not sure if this is normal or just because there were not that many divers due to low season.
Mostly they proposed 2 dives in the morning – it was not until I asked about a night dive they offered it straight away. (But they do have a weird rule of max 10 m for night dives? Never heard of this before and was kind of annoying).
One of the days I asked if we could do 3 dives and they arranged an afternoon dive.
During the week we stayed they arranged trips to Piaynemo/Melissa’s Garden, Manta sandy (they saw 2 mantas) and “The Passage” – we did not join as we had already done it with the LOB and most were done, while I was still having ear problems.
My favorite dives were Sauwandarek jetty (including the night dive we did there) and Wai – plane wreck. Can’t believe how intact the plane is and the colors of the corals were stunning. I would have loved to do it again, but instead the second dive was my least favorite: Wai Manta (yeah you guessed it: no mantas and nothing much to see).
Did I mention the fantastic food?
All in all we had a fantastic stay – BUT: the no ac was tough. The bungalows were same style (more or less) as the ones at Alor Eco Divers and there we never had any issues, maybe it was the time of year? – the humidity was killing us at night. Even with 2/3 fans inside the bed, the quality of sleep was bad, we constantly woke up sweating. One evening it was very windy and we thought that finally we would have a good nights sleep – only to wake up at around 3 am, when the wind winded down. Moreover, the smell of the water for shower/sink made it feel like we were never really clean. Again: at Alor we never had that feeling. In 2022 we did a LOB in Komodo, sleeping on deck and had no problems with no ac. On Malapascua the water was also brackish, but still quite ok. Not sure, why it was different at Tabari?
We had plenty of rain, so ought to be enough fresh water.
And everything was always damp. Best thing to wear was swimsuit with a sarong – anything else and it was unbearable.
We had to take out all clothes, shoes etc. once we reached Sorong and again in Jakarta to dry and prevent mold/rot.
If it had not been for the tasty food and great dive center we would not return, but uhmmm the food.
Our flights back home went without problems. I’d booked 1 night at Swiss-Bellhotel – was fine. Then flew Batik to Jakarta – was great not having to get up for a 8 am Garuda flight.
I booked 2 nights at FM7 hotel, in a “Deluxe plus with bathtub” – to be able to rinse and dry our dive gear before heading home (booties were not 100% dry, but everything else was fine).
On our spare day we visited Miniature Indonesia – very interesting.
Flew Emirates to Europe– again: they really emphasize the “only 1 bag – 7 kg” annoying, when you’re travelling with reg set and camera/strobes etc. Will avoid in the future, but see a lot of other companies have now adapted the same rule:-/.
Traditional Bungalows on stilts on the beach – by high tide water was under the Bungalows at low tide there was a small beach in front of the veranda.
Food was amazing!
Originally, I wanted to stay at Cove Eco resort or Agusta, but we’re on a budget and Tabari is quite a bit cheaper while still having good reviews, this was also my way of testing, if we could use more home stays on future trips to bring down costs.
Booking went smoothly Brigitte answered my many emails – usually quite fast, we paid a 5 mill idr. Deposit, rest was done via transfer on our departure day.
Before arrival, while still on the LOB, I contacted Brigitte again, to let her know
- That the LOB would do the transfer
- that I had an ear infection, and to ask if there was a doctor nearby (the CD on the boat did try to help, but the doctor near RA Dive Lodge, was not home)
When we reached the resort, it was low tide …. Very low tide. Even the dinghy could not reach the pier. So, we had to wade through the water (luckily, we had dive boots ready) to shore. The boat crew made sure our suitcases were moved safely to the pier – and left our dive gear at the resort boat anchored up a bit further out.
We arrived around full moon and the very low tide persisted, making afternoon/night dive nearly impossible – but towards the end of the week it got better.
The villas were beautiful – open style, big and airy, clean, big bed with mosquito net, double sliding door we just left open to let air and the sound of the waves in (just kidding, the doors did not need to be open to hear the waves), a long, sturdy shelf/bench for clothes, and a rod to hang clothes as well. In the corner were all the outlets: 4-5 if I recall correctly and plugged in was the rechargeable fan to use at night. We also brought our own fans and very happy we did, as there’s no ac.
Big bathroom with running (cold and sometimes smelly/always brackish) water, shelfing and the famous plastic box for everything “edible” – from toothpaste to shampoo.
Cleaning was done every day and change of towels 2-3 days, sheet change every 5 days (could ask to have them changed before).
On the veranda was a sturdy sun lounger, 2 uncomfortable chairs and a small table (inside the villa were 2 beanbags you could use inside or outside). I spent my non diving days lazing on the lounger, watching the small black tip reef sharks patrolling at high tide – if you’re stuck on land this is definitely a good place. Along the side of the veranda – under the roof were 2 clothes lines with pegs (nice touch!), for swimsuits etc. – not sturdy enough for our 3 mm dive suits though, so we put them on hangers just in front of the doors – there were 2 “straps” hanging down for the roof and I assume they were for this.
Funnily enough they asked us to keep booties, suits, hoods, mask, fins and dive computer in the villa – only BCD and regulators in dive center.
Electricity was 24h – new solar power panels - and there was strong internet with starlink – it even reached our villa (great for my non diving days).
The restaurant was on the pier and under it was a nursery for black tip reef sharks. I also saw a few nurse sharks and of course lots of other fish. I heard you could also see the walking shark, but we were not that lucky.
The food … ohhhhh the food. THE BEST we ever had on a dive trip. Breakfast was the “weak point” with pancakes every day, only a few days did they offer us eggs – found out they ran out of eggs as we arrived.
Lunch and dinner were always 3 courses, plated and served at the table. I don’t have words for the quality, just amazing. The bread for the soup in the evening was some of the best we ever had. Food was a mix of Indoinspired, Thai, Italian, tex mex and French – during our week we did not have one dish we did not love, but the molten chocolate was my favorite, my husband says the spaghetti Bolognese was the best.
There was a water dispenser with “normal” water and thermos with hot water for coffee/tea. Could buy cold beer and soft drinks (cola, Fanta and tonic – no gin). Could ask for ice cubes, but anyway the water would always be “normal” – I like cold water for drinking.
The dive op was professional, and guides were good spotters.
Every evening the plan for the next day was discussed with us, and we could make suggestions on dive sites or things we wanted to see/do – the 2 major thing on my wish list was the Pontohi pygmy seahorse (saw it on the last dive) and the walking shark (sadly no luck – in 8 night dives).
No nitrox, did affect dive time/depth, but we still did close to 60 min. Dive group was just the 2 of us with a dive guide – not sure if this is normal or just because there were not that many divers due to low season.
Mostly they proposed 2 dives in the morning – it was not until I asked about a night dive they offered it straight away. (But they do have a weird rule of max 10 m for night dives? Never heard of this before and was kind of annoying).
One of the days I asked if we could do 3 dives and they arranged an afternoon dive.
During the week we stayed they arranged trips to Piaynemo/Melissa’s Garden, Manta sandy (they saw 2 mantas) and “The Passage” – we did not join as we had already done it with the LOB and most were done, while I was still having ear problems.
My favorite dives were Sauwandarek jetty (including the night dive we did there) and Wai – plane wreck. Can’t believe how intact the plane is and the colors of the corals were stunning. I would have loved to do it again, but instead the second dive was my least favorite: Wai Manta (yeah you guessed it: no mantas and nothing much to see).
Did I mention the fantastic food?
All in all we had a fantastic stay – BUT: the no ac was tough. The bungalows were same style (more or less) as the ones at Alor Eco Divers and there we never had any issues, maybe it was the time of year? – the humidity was killing us at night. Even with 2/3 fans inside the bed, the quality of sleep was bad, we constantly woke up sweating. One evening it was very windy and we thought that finally we would have a good nights sleep – only to wake up at around 3 am, when the wind winded down. Moreover, the smell of the water for shower/sink made it feel like we were never really clean. Again: at Alor we never had that feeling. In 2022 we did a LOB in Komodo, sleeping on deck and had no problems with no ac. On Malapascua the water was also brackish, but still quite ok. Not sure, why it was different at Tabari?
We had plenty of rain, so ought to be enough fresh water.
And everything was always damp. Best thing to wear was swimsuit with a sarong – anything else and it was unbearable.
We had to take out all clothes, shoes etc. once we reached Sorong and again in Jakarta to dry and prevent mold/rot.
If it had not been for the tasty food and great dive center we would not return, but uhmmm the food.
Our flights back home went without problems. I’d booked 1 night at Swiss-Bellhotel – was fine. Then flew Batik to Jakarta – was great not having to get up for a 8 am Garuda flight.
I booked 2 nights at FM7 hotel, in a “Deluxe plus with bathtub” – to be able to rinse and dry our dive gear before heading home (booties were not 100% dry, but everything else was fine).
On our spare day we visited Miniature Indonesia – very interesting.
Flew Emirates to Europe– again: they really emphasize the “only 1 bag – 7 kg” annoying, when you’re travelling with reg set and camera/strobes etc. Will avoid in the future, but see a lot of other companies have now adapted the same rule:-/.
