Question Land based before liveaboard - any final thoughts before we book?

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Will Rogers

Contributor
Messages
128
Reaction score
19
Location
Boulder, CO
# of dives
1000 - 2499
Greetings all,

Heading back to Indonesia after far too long. First visit was in 1995. Last visit in 2012 had us in Komodo and Wakatobi, with kids in tow. This visit is just us.

We have booked an 11 night liveaboard (Pindito) and are looking for a land-based operation for five nights to relax, recover from the travel and get a few dives in to warm up for the boat. I would love to do an early morning bird of paradise adventure as well.

I keep going back and forth on AC. We don't have it here in CO (we have what is called an evaporative cooler - I don't really like AC), but I have spent enough time in SE Asia that I know how important it CAN be.

Anyway, zeroing in on the following three resorts that work with a five night stay and transfer day (a number of otherwise great sounding places have 7 night minimums or don't offer transfers on the days that work with our other travel plans:

Agusta Eco Resort

Papua Paradise Eco Resort

Raja Ampat Dive Lodge

Papua Paradise would appear to be nicer/more luxurious, but it is pretty significantly more expensive. Which is OK if it is that much nicer, but the transfer there on arrival is not until 2:00 p.m., and most flights get into Sorong very early. So, a wasted day in Sorong waiting for the transfer.

Anyway, any thoughts on the above or other suggestions we should look at?

Many thanks!

Will
 
First - the Pindito is a great boat, not so much for the boat itself (although it is comfortable), but because the crew is easily one of the best and most experienced in all of Indonesia. Bluntly, they've been doing this basically longer than anyone else, so they know all the best sites, the weather patterns, etc.

You picked th boat, so you likely already know this.

As for resorts for a few days ahead of the trip:
Papua Paradise Eco Resort is the nicest of the three you mentioned, but the boat departure time would be annoying (not interested in waiting for hours in Sorong). Have you looked at Sorido Bay? The boat transfer is about the same length, the dive resort is a little nicer (with AC), and the diving is excellent (Cape Kri is 5 min away from the resort).
 
I can speak first hand experience about Agusta Resort where I stayed twice these 2 past years, I think it is probably the one of the nicest resorts in the region although quite under the radar as they are usually targeting italian and european customers, and don't overmarket their product, they only participe to European and Singapore shows.
The resort is set on a sandy beach on a private island just in front of Mansuar, their deluxe bungalows facing the sea are spacious and have AC. They are located 15 minutes boatride from Kri/Mansuar area spots.
You can hardly beat them on the food in the region, it's an italian owned resort (Marco and Mara the owners are real foodies), expect homemade pasta dishes (!), also sometimes experimentations on italian /indonesian fusion, healthy lunch and up to 5 dishes served at your table for dinner. (although breakfast is not their forte).
It's one of the few resorts that will accept any duration starting from 4 nights arriving on any day without any restriction.

Marco and Riccardo manage the dive center, they are quite passionate and knowledgeable about the diving in the area : the owner has been around since the beginning and Riccardo who's very much focused on marine biology was working for a coral survey NGO in Dampier. One good thing is that since they have a number of boats they can be very flexible on wherever you'd like to dive, while being close to the central Dampier sites they dive the Passage, Penemu, Gam, Mioskon & Batanta area on daytrips (3 dives/full day trips). They can organize early morning birds of paradise tours as well.
They often host italian groups, however they have enough boats/guides to accomodate groups and small parties on different boats/sites.

For some people the downside would be that their scheduling is based on a relaxed italian clock, 8:30AM dive departure might be more or less effective from 9AM depending on the customers punctuality (honestly on holidays, who cares if the diving's been good?). Expect first italian language briefings then english translation (even though I learnt understanding italian after a few briefings).

RADL is a step or 2 below when it comes to comfort and food. Diving with them can be a hit or miss, you can have the resort for yourself (I was happy I could have a boat and 2 guides for myself) or populated with mostly Asian groups or a boatload of divers extending their stay after one of their liveaboard trips).

Papua Paradise is located too much south close to Batanta which is mainly macro diving, the access to the Dampier central sites takes then a longer time.
 
Thanks so much for the responses!

Sorido (and its sister facilities) all look nice but can't accommodate a five night stay or our dates.

I'll check the locations of the above resorts vis-a-vis one another.

But, Agusta sounds pretty nice. I certainly don't mind hanging with a bunch of Italian divers!

Are there any other resorts that you would recommend we investigate or are the above three a reasonable selection.

Thanks!

(Luko, your photos are extraordinary!)

Will
 

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