OP
BobHaze101
Registered
This was my first LOB experience, and it's hard to imagine how it could have been better. I live in New England and was in Singapore for a week of business in March and wanted to stay an extra weekend for some diving. I was an OWD diver, I had 16 logged dives and wanted to include an AOWD course. I posted queries on this and another online discussion board and was referred by several folks to a LOB operation called White Manta Live Aboards (http://whitemanta.com/). They were right on the mark!
I contacted White Manta thru their website and Vincent, the owner, responded with some helpful suggestions. The website includes complete schedules for both of their boats (White Manta and Black Manta), and it turned out they had a 6-dive trip planned for the only weekend I could do, so right off the bat we were on the same page. I described my limited experience and said I'd be alone and asked about the AOWD course, and Vincent assured me I would fit right in and they could provide the course during the trip. I ended up communicating directly with Michael, who was to be my instructor, and he Fed Ex'd me the course book and said he wanted me to read it before the trip. I told Vincent I had a 6:00 AM flight out of Singapore on Monday so he said I would have to skip the last dive on Sunday, and I appreciated the early focus on safety. It sounded too cool, so I booked the trip.
We met at Keppel Marina in Singapore on Friday afternoon. As it turned out, both of their boats work out of Thailand for most the winter due to the monsoon, and White Manta was just returning to her seasonal base in Singapore that day. The boat was a couple of hours late, which wasn't a problem as everyone got to meet one another while we were waiting. Once the boat got there and the crew refueled & cleaned her up a bit, we boarded and were assigned to our air conditioned cabins (2 person and 4 person). Nothing luxurious (altho Black Manta is more so) but neat, clean and perfectly adequate for my taste. I was on the upper deck in an over/under bunk bed arrangement - the 3 heads (2 with showers) are on the main deck.
After dinner onboard at the marina we left for an overnight trip to Malaysia, and we woke up near the 1st dive site, Jack's Rock. I dove with Vincent and we did some of the AOWD course, then we explored the reefs around the rock. I found the viz at all 5 of the sites we dove to be OK (around 50 ft.), but less than I've seen in the Caribbean. On the other hand, there was 10 times more sea life in Malaysia, including more species of fin fish than I'd ever seen (including Yellow Tailed Grouper, Humphead Parrotfish, Triggerfish, tons of Barracuda, beaucoup varieties of Butterfly Fish and Angel Fish, etc.), hard and soft corals, and (small) giant clams. The water temps ranged from 82 - 86 F at all depths, which was awesome! Every once in a while wed find ourselves in the midst of a huge school of incredibly colorful fish it felt like I was swimming in an aquarium!
We had 3 dives during the day on Saturday, plus a night dive (my 1st!), and there were 2 dives on Sunday AM before we headed back to Singapore (an 8 hour trip). Surface intervals ranged from 1 hr. 40 min. to 3 hrs. 45 min. One of the DMs gave an all-hands brief before each dive, complete with a hand-drawn diagram of the dive site on a white board. Safety was emphasized constantly, even though most of the divers on board were very experienced and had dived with White Manta before. The divers ranged in age from 10 (two 10 yr olds finished their Junior OWD certification on this trip) to a couple in (Im guessing) their mid-70s. The boats crew took care of filling our tanks between dives, and they were everywhere when we were gearing up for each dive, helping wherever needed. They were cheerful and helpful and were a lot of fun themselves.
Surface intervals were very relaxed and pleasant. Some people read or napped, but mostly everyone socialized on the upper deck and swapped stories of previous dives or whatever. Our group had folks from the USA, Austria, the UK, New Zealand, as well as various ethnic groups from Singapore. Being unaccompanied myself, I really appreciated the social atmosphere and camaraderie.
Food was varied and plentiful, and was included in the cost of the trip. The cook (I think she is Thai) kept bringing out platters of fruits, fried meats and other munchies on & off all day. Meals consisted of platter after platter of meats, poultry and shellfish (I had my 1st fried Stingray!) with all manner of veggies, noodles and/or rice. Soft drinks and beer were provided separately by the crew for short money.
I could go on and on, but suffice it to say I was completely satisfied with my dive experience on White Manta. Vincent runs a top-notch operation with a clean, modern vessel, wonderful food, cheerful and helpful crew, DMs and Instructors, and a constant focus on safety. I was so pleased that Im actually going to schedule my next-years business trip to Singapore after White Mantas return from the monsoon, and Im already looking forward to another awesome weekend. Highly recommended, obviously!
I contacted White Manta thru their website and Vincent, the owner, responded with some helpful suggestions. The website includes complete schedules for both of their boats (White Manta and Black Manta), and it turned out they had a 6-dive trip planned for the only weekend I could do, so right off the bat we were on the same page. I described my limited experience and said I'd be alone and asked about the AOWD course, and Vincent assured me I would fit right in and they could provide the course during the trip. I ended up communicating directly with Michael, who was to be my instructor, and he Fed Ex'd me the course book and said he wanted me to read it before the trip. I told Vincent I had a 6:00 AM flight out of Singapore on Monday so he said I would have to skip the last dive on Sunday, and I appreciated the early focus on safety. It sounded too cool, so I booked the trip.
We met at Keppel Marina in Singapore on Friday afternoon. As it turned out, both of their boats work out of Thailand for most the winter due to the monsoon, and White Manta was just returning to her seasonal base in Singapore that day. The boat was a couple of hours late, which wasn't a problem as everyone got to meet one another while we were waiting. Once the boat got there and the crew refueled & cleaned her up a bit, we boarded and were assigned to our air conditioned cabins (2 person and 4 person). Nothing luxurious (altho Black Manta is more so) but neat, clean and perfectly adequate for my taste. I was on the upper deck in an over/under bunk bed arrangement - the 3 heads (2 with showers) are on the main deck.
After dinner onboard at the marina we left for an overnight trip to Malaysia, and we woke up near the 1st dive site, Jack's Rock. I dove with Vincent and we did some of the AOWD course, then we explored the reefs around the rock. I found the viz at all 5 of the sites we dove to be OK (around 50 ft.), but less than I've seen in the Caribbean. On the other hand, there was 10 times more sea life in Malaysia, including more species of fin fish than I'd ever seen (including Yellow Tailed Grouper, Humphead Parrotfish, Triggerfish, tons of Barracuda, beaucoup varieties of Butterfly Fish and Angel Fish, etc.), hard and soft corals, and (small) giant clams. The water temps ranged from 82 - 86 F at all depths, which was awesome! Every once in a while wed find ourselves in the midst of a huge school of incredibly colorful fish it felt like I was swimming in an aquarium!
We had 3 dives during the day on Saturday, plus a night dive (my 1st!), and there were 2 dives on Sunday AM before we headed back to Singapore (an 8 hour trip). Surface intervals ranged from 1 hr. 40 min. to 3 hrs. 45 min. One of the DMs gave an all-hands brief before each dive, complete with a hand-drawn diagram of the dive site on a white board. Safety was emphasized constantly, even though most of the divers on board were very experienced and had dived with White Manta before. The divers ranged in age from 10 (two 10 yr olds finished their Junior OWD certification on this trip) to a couple in (Im guessing) their mid-70s. The boats crew took care of filling our tanks between dives, and they were everywhere when we were gearing up for each dive, helping wherever needed. They were cheerful and helpful and were a lot of fun themselves.
Surface intervals were very relaxed and pleasant. Some people read or napped, but mostly everyone socialized on the upper deck and swapped stories of previous dives or whatever. Our group had folks from the USA, Austria, the UK, New Zealand, as well as various ethnic groups from Singapore. Being unaccompanied myself, I really appreciated the social atmosphere and camaraderie.
Food was varied and plentiful, and was included in the cost of the trip. The cook (I think she is Thai) kept bringing out platters of fruits, fried meats and other munchies on & off all day. Meals consisted of platter after platter of meats, poultry and shellfish (I had my 1st fried Stingray!) with all manner of veggies, noodles and/or rice. Soft drinks and beer were provided separately by the crew for short money.
I could go on and on, but suffice it to say I was completely satisfied with my dive experience on White Manta. Vincent runs a top-notch operation with a clean, modern vessel, wonderful food, cheerful and helpful crew, DMs and Instructors, and a constant focus on safety. I was so pleased that Im actually going to schedule my next-years business trip to Singapore after White Mantas return from the monsoon, and Im already looking forward to another awesome weekend. Highly recommended, obviously!
