Experience with Solitude Adventurer (Raja Ampat)?

[outofofficebrb]

Blue Manta was a great trip. We went from Ambon to Raja Ampat. Exceptional crew.

Do the 9 days. You will regret not doing the longer itinerary if you do the 6 day. How does the price compare? Both are great boats and you can't go wrong picking either. I would base it on the itinerary and that would be the Blue Manta.

 

[Dan]

Blue Manta was a great trip. We went from Ambon to Raja Ampat. Exceptional crew.

Glad to hear that. I'll be with them next month.

Ring of Fire September 9-19, 2019

 

[Cali_diver]

Thanks all! Resurrecting so I can ask one more related question: I have the option to dive on Blue Manta for 9 days or Damai 1 for 6 days, in the timeframe I'm looking at. Which of these is going to be the best for a solo diver (one thing I noticed with Damai is it seems to cater for a lot of non-divers and possibly young children as much as it caters for divers and, while it otherwise looks amazing, I wonder if it's going to be too much like a family resort than the Blue Manta). I also don't see them offering many courses onboard like the Blue Manta does (I'd like to do Nitrox). Thoughts welcome!

I have been on the Damai boats more times than I can count (huge fan) and I have never had a non-diver or young kid on board.... that being said if I had a choice I would do 9 days over 6 for RA. I didn't even think Damai had 6 day trips. FYI Blue Manta has 14 cabins for up to 22 pax. Damai has 7 cabins for 12-13 pax.

 

[fluff_astrid]

Thanks! Did the Blue Manta feel ultimately crowded due to the extra pax? Or livelier than Damai?

 

[Dan]

From what I know about Blue Manta, they usually don’t pack it up to 22 passengers. On my upcoming trip, next month, my group has 13 and another group has 4. The boat will bring a photographer to share room with one of us. So there will be 18 passengers.

It’s a huge boat, great for crossing. If you go to their website, it states “Measuring 45m (148 ft) by 9m (29ft), this steel hull vessel will only take 18-22 guests. The 14 beautifully furnished en-suite cabins, each average 20sqm (200sf) in size”. The huge room is like you are in a floating dive resort.

After experiencing a storm in Banda Sea with Phinisi boat, I welcome this huge Blue Manta with cruising speed 8-10 knots on twin 2 x 825 horsepower engines.

You may want to compare those Damai boat’s statistics with that of Blue Manta’s.

White Manta Diving - KM Blue Manta

 

[Darnold9999]

Damai I is a great boat. Can’t imagine it catering to small children. More the luxury travel market - small number of divers allows them to cater to individual wants and desires. Probably my best trip to RA was on this boat. However given the choice of 6 days vs 9 days I would do the 9 days on pretty much any other boat and from all reports Blue Manta would be an excellent choice anyway.

 

[Shasta_man]

@Dan and any others interested in a large boat: Dewi Nusantara is 40 ft longer than the Blue Manta. i had a fantastic trip on them previously and would recommend it in a heartbeat. Positively or negatively, there were times you couldn't tell you were on a boat.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Dewi is the most lovely comfortable lob that I've been on so far. I'm very fortunate to have been on her when I was because she's way out of my price range now. I really disliked the food at the time. One would assume that is a problem that's been rectified on a boat of that caliber.

 

[Shasta_man]

@chillyinCanada I couldn't think of anything I did not like about the food. I'm really interested to know what you didn't like.

 

[borisphotosafari]

Amira is another huge phinisi style boat. Lot's of room to relax between dives, get away from other divers. Not as pricey as Dewi.

I've been on it a bunch of times, 3 times to RA. I highly recommend it.