How to plan for Komodo or Raja

[bvbellomo]

1. A good land based resort can be difficult to book. Location and Location.
2 Quarantine(10 days) is required in Indonesia at the moment. Would it be cancelled/decreased/increased in the future?
3. Land based option in both Komodo and R4 is available. It is a lot more flexible and less stressful particularly to those with time. US$1000.00 won't be enough to pay for any LoB to either destinations but suffice for few days on land based operators.
4. Islands hopping based in Homestay in R4 will actually offer more choices in diving than LoB if you can stretch your stay.

Old post:

4 days in Raja Ampat, which homestay?

Hi! I will fly to Raja Ampat on the morning of February 29. I will do a 2 weeks diving volunteering project starting from March 4 but since I have a couple of days before I wanted to make sure to see the diving highlights (ideally also Wayag or Piaynemo). Since I have to be in either Sorong or...

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Daroyen Village - Raja Ampat Adventure On Budget

The best season for diving in Raja Ampat is just around the corner. We here to offer you pure diving experience with local Raja Ampat. Around three years ago we decided to move our operation from Kri island to a piece of forgotten land on Gam that nobody want. Fast forward today, we survive...

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NO deposit required.

10 day quarantine is not forever, and I won't take this trip unless it ends.

I am not looking for a < $1000 liveaboard or resort. I am over $1500 airfare no matter what, and probably planning around $5000 (with a lot of flexibility in either direction) for the whole trip. My question is if I should even go at if all that is available is the very cheap end. The most expensive liveaboard is well over four times the cheapest - if they reliably go to the same sites, this mark up is not worth it but I might book anyway if that's all that's available. On the cheap end, regardless of how cheap a miserable failed trip costs, I am much better off not taking it.

As I said, stretching my stay is not an option for me. I am a PhD candidate and with a full time job on the side. This lets me afford trips to Indonesia while the full time students can't afford ramen noodles. But changing jobs before I graduate would be really stressful and HR makes more than 2 business weeks off extremely difficult and disallows working outside the USA.

 

[Darnold9999]

Rich people problem! You're not shortchanged IMO...

totally agree - sadly I doubt this is happening in 2022

 

[Dan]

More dives probably won't help.

More dives does help. I started diving with SAC of 0.8 CFM. Now I’m down to 0.3 CFM.

 

[Centrals]

For me, my biggest issue is my SAC. I've posted this on other posts, but am not really sure what I can do to improve. More dives probably won't help.

If you do not dive more you will never improve. Practice makes perfect.
And if you dive all those benign sites then you will never ever improve.
With about 80 dives and still having problem to fine tune with weight and get used to the new mask!!
It does not take long, minute or second, to find out if the new mask fit.

 

[bvbellomo]

My 12th dive was 0.628. Everything before that was significantly worse or I don't have data to calculate.

My best dive on my recent trip was #72 with 0.538 - so I am improving, although not quickly and I still run out of air with a 100 before less experienced divers with 80s.

The easiest part to improve - finning and more active motion, I am already good at. What I suck at (literally) is just drifting or hovering with almost no motion, and on deeper dives I am the first to run low. I don't know how to practice to improve - I might get physiologically better just by diving more, but I don't think there are any specific skills I can practice or being in better shape or losing weight will make a significant difference.

I can get my mask, weights and camera ready in 1 or 2 more quarry trips around here. My point was that even past 80 dives, I have more to do before I am ready, so I don't understand people taking this sort of trip with less than half as many dives.

 

[Centrals]

I can get my mask, weights and camera ready in 1 or 2 more quarry trips around here. My point was that even past 80 dives, I have more to do before I am ready, so I don't understand people taking this sort of trip with less than half as many dives.

Never ever compare yourself with others!
We are all individual.
You need couple more trips to get your mask ready!!! For most divers it only takes few seconds under water to find if the mask is suitable or not. Incredible.

 

[bvbellomo]

Never ever compare yourself with others!
We are all individual.
You need couple more trips to get your mask ready!!! For most divers it only takes few seconds under water to find if the mask is suitable or not. Incredible.

Always compare yourself to others - when your air consumption ends their dives early!

 

[Centrals]

Always compare yourself to others - when your air consumption ends their dives early!

Really?
Could you please explain why it will need couple diving trips to get your mask ready? Full face mask?

 

[Dan]

My 12th dive was 0.628. Everything before that was significantly worse or I don't have data to calculate.

My best dive on my recent trip was #72 with 0.538 - so I am improving, although not quickly and I still run out of air with a 100 before less experienced divers with 80s.

The easiest part to improve - finning and more active motion, I am already good at. What I suck at (literally) is just drifting or hovering with almost no motion, and on deeper dives I am the first to run low. I don't know how to practice to improve - I might get physiologically better just by diving more, but I don't think there are any specific skills I can practice or being in better shape or losing weight will make a significant difference.

I can get my mask, weights and camera ready in 1 or 2 more quarry trips around here. My point was that even past 80 dives, I have more to do before I am ready, so I don't understand people taking this sort of trip with less than half as many dives.

One thing that helps me reduce my SAC is to get the buoyancy set when I reach the bottom. Once you are in neutral position, you’ll be finning less effort and more gliding. Try not to use your hands to paddle unless you need too, like a draft pushes you towards a wall and you don’t want to kick fragile coral off the wall. I don’t paddle with my hands as I carry a pointer on my left hand and uses it to push me away from the wall when a draft pushes me towards the wall. I hold a camera on my right hand.

Plan on doing a V profile diving, avoid a yo-yo diving as it’s not only bad for your air consumption, but also bad for your ears.

 

[bvbellomo]

Regular mask, and not absolutely necessary to get ready ahead of time, especially if I pack the old one too just in case. I've done 81 dives, the 77 most recent using the same mask. Besides a good seal and comfortable fit, I should practice clearing my ears, flooding my mask, removing it and putting it on again and get comfortable doing this. Some of these are just skills I need work on even if I kept the old mask.

I am taking a scuba trip by myself half way around the world. Knowing that whatever goes wrong, I have a comfortable mask with a nice clear view that I am used to doing what I need is very reassuring.

My point is, it is very hard to dial in the equipment you are comfortable with on 50 dives - especially if you are diving mostly to enjoy diving and not to test equipment or learn skills. 5 dives before I even started buying my own gear - 20 more to get used to what I started with, 20 more to learn why I don't like it, then swapping stuff out and getting familiar with the new. I can't imagine having 20 dives and buying a ticket to Indonesia with the gear I just purchased or planning on renting there.