Hello - I want to do a liveaboard in Raja Ampat in March/April 2023. There is space on The Galigo, Blue Manta, Mermaid II and Jaya. Trips are 7-9 days with about 20 dives. I have my AOW certification for 5 yrs but only have 53 dives. After reading some posts about RA, I’m concerned I may not have enough experience yet. People have said the dives can be very challenging. I’ve done some diving in currents in Australia that were 0.5, 1 and 1.5. I’d appreciate any feedback on the available liveaboards and what type experience is needed. I don’t want to spend all that money and not be able to enjoy the diving. Thanks in advance!
Question How much dive experience to do Live aboard in Raja Ampat
- Thread starter SunSeek
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drrich2
Contributor
Haven't been, but I've been checking into it and have links to info. from people who have that might be of use to you.
First Time in Liveaboard (Sept. 2022 discussion involving what diving the currents is like).
Raja Ampat Trip Report – Mermaid I – 2017 by Billt4sf. He mentioned reef hooks, nitrox and safety gear were essential, quite a few negative entries.
Questions about Choosing a Raja Ampat Live-aboard – 2018 thread. Darnold9999 noted Indonesian airlines have a well-deserved rep. for lateness so don’t book close connections between local and international flights going home.
Raja Ampat Liveaboard 2019 Help – 2018 thread. Billt4sf warned a 10-day trip might entail 8-dive days.
Some notes I compiled with summaries from what some other members had to say about Raja Ampat experience - Can involve strong currents – some divers use reef hooks. Remote – takes 3 or more flights to reach from most parts of the world. Regarding a Raja Ampat Aggressor trip, Outofofficebrb (Post #5) said all diving is done off inflatable boats, some entries required negative descent due to strong current and ensuring group cohesion while hitting the split point, quick descents and equalizing while sorting out gear and comfort issues were important, no mooring lines to aid ascent or descent, some drift diving and some swimming against current, and she’d rate it more difficult than Cozumel. Billt4sf (Post #2) said Dampier Strait sites tend to have more current, those in the south much less, but the south has pinnacles with sometimes strong current and reef hooks with negative entry used; moon phase makes a big difference, more current just after a new or full moon.
First Time in Liveaboard (Sept. 2022 discussion involving what diving the currents is like).
Raja Ampat Trip Report – Mermaid I – 2017 by Billt4sf. He mentioned reef hooks, nitrox and safety gear were essential, quite a few negative entries.
Questions about Choosing a Raja Ampat Live-aboard – 2018 thread. Darnold9999 noted Indonesian airlines have a well-deserved rep. for lateness so don’t book close connections between local and international flights going home.
Raja Ampat Liveaboard 2019 Help – 2018 thread. Billt4sf warned a 10-day trip might entail 8-dive days.
Some notes I compiled with summaries from what some other members had to say about Raja Ampat experience - Can involve strong currents – some divers use reef hooks. Remote – takes 3 or more flights to reach from most parts of the world. Regarding a Raja Ampat Aggressor trip, Outofofficebrb (Post #5) said all diving is done off inflatable boats, some entries required negative descent due to strong current and ensuring group cohesion while hitting the split point, quick descents and equalizing while sorting out gear and comfort issues were important, no mooring lines to aid ascent or descent, some drift diving and some swimming against current, and she’d rate it more difficult than Cozumel. Billt4sf (Post #2) said Dampier Strait sites tend to have more current, those in the south much less, but the south has pinnacles with sometimes strong current and reef hooks with negative entry used; moon phase makes a big difference, more current just after a new or full moon.
I will be on the Aqua Cat Bahamas soon... November 19 -26. Will be my first time on a live-aboard. Not expecting any real current except the washing machine dive.
Will post something when I'm back in Canada.
Will post something when I'm back in Canada.
Matt Stallman
Registered
I’m going to Raja In early March for my first Liveaboard. But I did dive the area at Wakatobi with only like 20/30 dives under my belt. I even got my Nitrox certification while I was there. Worst thing that happened was while swimming and got attacked by a trigger fish who bit the top of my foot hard. Next time I’ll be sure to wear fins. The dives are gentle most of the time in there but you are well watched by the DM’s and they take great care for you before and after. You’ll be fine. Get in the best shape you can which will help if you struggle with current or profile. I’m a rescue diver now so I’ve had some great dives. You will love the region for sure.
The question might better be: which skills and knowledge do you need for the worse circumstances you reasonably can expect during such a trip? And never depend on dive guides to compensate for your lack of skills.
Here are a few skills I think you should be comfortable with as you can have many different conditions in Raja Ampat. On my recent trip the guides seem to cater to more experienced divers as you have freedom to dive your dive and they are not babysitters.
Deploying a DSMB/SMB from safety stop depth
Negative entries
Blue water descents and accents without reference
use of an reef hook
Deploying a DSMB/SMB from safety stop depth
Negative entries
Blue water descents and accents without reference
use of an reef hook
kimster812
Registered
Kendall Raine
Contributor
Thanks for your question. It's a good one. Your concerns are valid.
To me Raja is simply the best open water diving there is. All the accolades regarding vertebrate and invertebrate life are true. I have dived all over the world over fifty years and to me nothing compares with RA. Regardless of your level of experience RA will spoil you for everything else.
In terms of difficulty, what you read is true. Recognize also that "challenging" is relative. Sites vary from super mellow muck and reef dives to high speed (+5 kts) current (up, down, sideways-sometimes all on the same dive) dives which demand real comfort in the water and good skills. The RA liveaboards skew to more experienced divers who have the resources, time and experience to appreciate what they're seeing/paying for. Typically dives are guided. Guides are guides, not baby sitters. If you're on a boat with a lot of experienced divers who want big animal encounters the boat will try to accommodate them with some big current/bluewater dives. If you require a lot of hand holding from a guide, that's time the guide does not have for everyone else. If you burn your gas in 30 minutes, the guide has to come to the surface with you (and bring everyone else in his group up, too).
Many boats deal with this by pairing divers of like skills in order to keep everyone happy-different teams, profiles and sites. This can work very well if the pairings work out and they're adequately staffed. It can create real irritation otherwise. What they (including many travel agents) won't do is discourage you from going, regardless of the wisdom of it. They're in the business of selling spots and potentially won't tell you beforehand to put the trip off in favor of accruing bottom time. If you want to go now ask them hard questions, and demand clear answers, about how they deal with inexperienced divers. Things like diver to guide ratio, skills pairings, alternative dive site options during the trip are worth discussing in advance. Read liveaboard reviews with close attention to comments about the cruise directors/guides. Undercurrent is a good source for those reviews-lot's of stuff on RA liveaboards.
Liveaboards aren't the only way to dive RA. Many land based options exist and these might suit you better, depending on how you do on boats
Certifications and number of dives are statistics. What matters is how comfortable you are in the kinds of conditions mentioned. AOW is anything but "advanced." 53 dives, particularly over five years, suggests a very low level of experience/commitment to diving. Only you really know.
I'm a big believer in living for today because tomorrow is uncertain. That said, I think you would get a lot more out of an expensive liveaboard trip to RA if you have more experience.
drrich2
Contributor
Did you book a trip? I made it down in Dec. 2022 - Raja Ampat 10-Night Indo-Siren Liveaboard Dec. 2 – 12, 2022 Trip Report - Trip Report - Raja Ampat 10-Night Indo-Siren Liveaboard Dec. 2 – 12, 2022 Trip Report
While I have considerably more dives than you, I'm big, chubby and not recognized at the gym, and diving against current isn't my strong point. 2 Things helped me avoid cramping other people's diving.
1.) 100-cf tanks.
2.) The guides were okay with me heading up alone when my gas got low.
I'm not awful on air consumption (maybe trending toward RMV 0.65 cf/minute in benign conditions?), but Raja Ampat does draw seasoned divers, and I suspect on the whole they tend to have good air consumption, so I tended to be the first of our group to run low. A dinghy then got me, and sometimes took me back to the main boat then went back for others.
I'm not pushing for you to go or wait, just putting my limited experience out there.
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