Curt Barnes
New
I've been dying to do this but I just learned how to start a 'Thread'. I'll freely admit that I'm totally devoid of non-chemistry technology. If you want to know what that gray substance on the sidewalk is, I'm your man. You wanna know how to post ANYTHING, ANYWHERE and I'm lost. Fortunately, people associated with this forum helped me out.
I wanted to comment about the live aboard trip I took to Indonesia. The trip was from October 28th to November 5th, 2017. I sailed with the crew and passengers on the Mermaid II from Denpasar, Bali to Komodo Island and back. This was by far the best scuba experience of my life to date (more on that 'to date' part later). Before I get to the diving part, I'll cover the sailing part. Now, I don't need to toot Mermaid's horn for them. Their reputation speaks well enough for itself without any help from me. But I gotta tell ya, I loved it.
It all started as soon as I got there. I was quickly informed that three passengers had canceled and I had a room to myself. I thought that was really great. It only got better from that point. Here's my list of good things:
The food was awesome. I'm a single guy who can't cook. So my standards aren't that high. But, I found myself getting excited, serious, honestly EXCITED about the suppers. I felt the cooks should be enshrined in some sailing hall-of-fame somewhere.
The rest of the crew were absolutely fantastic people. The trip was right before the big volcanic eruption on Bali. I KNOW some of the people had family that had to move out of the danger zone and they were worried. However, there seemed to be 'this to shall pass' attitude about it. Anyway, the crew never let on that they were concerned.
Before and after dives, I always had someone around me to help me in and out of gear. I'm not used to being helped that much so it was a little unnerving at first. But by the end of the trip, I really enjoyed it.
My dive master was the absolute best. She had crazy good buoyancy, she could see EVERYTHING and she was the most patient human being I've ever met (sorry Mom). I've been diving since 1979. I LOVE to dive. But, truth be known, I suck at it. She never got on my case (except when I made an unsafe exit from the dingy) but, instead, helped me to be better, at least for these dives.
The room was small but, like most ships, it used every square inch of space really well. The shower and toilet worked just fine. To be honest, the only time I spent in that room was when I was sleeping. All waking time was spent diving, eating, or lounging on the deck. VERY relaxing.
This may seem like an odd item but it was a big deal with me: I'm a planner so I like to know what I'm getting into. We had dive meetings that were very detailed before each dive. They were surprisingly accurate.
Here are a few other notes I took about the ship: It's clean and well maintained; the schedule wasn't too hectic but there wasn't a lot of sitting around time - a good balance; plenty of diving advice and knowledge from crew; the crew kept people engaged and informed - we always knew where we were and where we were headed.
Next to the diving, my favorite parts were the other passengers. I was only 1 of 2 Americans on board. The rest were from Europe, Canada and Australia. I was surprised to learn that not everyone hates Americans. I was also VERY embarrassed to learn that I was the only one who could not speak a second language. Anyway, the other passengers were absolutely FANTASTIC people who I really enjoyed being around.
Now to the diving. I'm lost. Where do I start? Much of the time I was in the water I felt like I was in one of those IMAX theaters and I was watching a reef video in 3D. I was absolutely intimidated by the beauty. I felt like I was interrupting a moment of great importance and I should just back away. But I didn't. So, I'll start with be basics: It wasn't cold. During one of the final briefings the dive master stopped and asked if there were any questions. I asked, "What's the water temperature." She responded, "Curt, it's warm. Don't ask that again." I did wear a 5mm suit and a hood (I get cold easily) and I was very, very comfortable the whole time. I wore gloves the first dive and ditched them after that.
What did we see. I'm going to list some of my favorite things but it by far not an exhaustive list: LOTS of turtles, crocodile fish (which are WAY cool), nudibranchs, scorpionfish (leaf and many others), frogfish, sharks (blacktip, whitetip, nurse), octopuses (octopi?), lionfishes (those little buggers can be darned aggressive), moray eels (the biggest I've ever seen), these southern rays with blue rings on them as well as eagle rays, more fish than you can shake a stick at (sometimes I'd lose sight of my dive buddies because the fish were so thick), more things than I can possible list AND MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITES: MANTA RAYS. This is my first time seeing mantas. I. WAS. MESMERIZED. They were about 10 - 12 feet across. I was told these weren't the 'BIG' ones. Ya coulda fooled me. We spent two dives watching them. I could have easily done that 5 more times. There was this one dive sight called "Big Smile". It was a drift dive. At the end of that dive, I popped to the surface, inflated my BC and just let out a rebel yell. I have never been so exhilarated by a dive. I've written a whole paragraph and didn't even touch the small animals that we saw so much of in every little nook and cranny. There is NEVER a dull moment under water. We even did a dive at the base of Sangeang Volcano. The volcano was slightly active (a gash had formed in the side of one of the two volcanoes and smoke was coming out of it). When we got to the bottom, we could see the sand was black and bubbles of superheated gases were coming out of it. It felt warm to the touch. How cool is THAT?
As part of the trip, we stopped on the island of Komodo. Yeah, THAT Komodo; where the dragons live. If you've never seen a Komodo dragon, this trip would be a real treat for you. Those things are huge, they move slow and they look intimidating as heck. It was a blast being on that island.
So, here's my list of bad things: The ship had engine issues on the last evening so we missed out on two night dives. HOWEVER, since we missed those dives we got our nitrox for FREE. I was content with that trade.
Anyway, I don't know about you, but I'm going back. Many of the other passengers had been to Raja Ampat. They said Raja was much better than this Komodo trip. I'm having a REALLY hard time believing that. I guess I'll have to see for myself. And it's nearly a slam dunk that I'll go with Mermaid when I go.
I wanted to comment about the live aboard trip I took to Indonesia. The trip was from October 28th to November 5th, 2017. I sailed with the crew and passengers on the Mermaid II from Denpasar, Bali to Komodo Island and back. This was by far the best scuba experience of my life to date (more on that 'to date' part later). Before I get to the diving part, I'll cover the sailing part. Now, I don't need to toot Mermaid's horn for them. Their reputation speaks well enough for itself without any help from me. But I gotta tell ya, I loved it.
It all started as soon as I got there. I was quickly informed that three passengers had canceled and I had a room to myself. I thought that was really great. It only got better from that point. Here's my list of good things:
The food was awesome. I'm a single guy who can't cook. So my standards aren't that high. But, I found myself getting excited, serious, honestly EXCITED about the suppers. I felt the cooks should be enshrined in some sailing hall-of-fame somewhere.
The rest of the crew were absolutely fantastic people. The trip was right before the big volcanic eruption on Bali. I KNOW some of the people had family that had to move out of the danger zone and they were worried. However, there seemed to be 'this to shall pass' attitude about it. Anyway, the crew never let on that they were concerned.
Before and after dives, I always had someone around me to help me in and out of gear. I'm not used to being helped that much so it was a little unnerving at first. But by the end of the trip, I really enjoyed it.
My dive master was the absolute best. She had crazy good buoyancy, she could see EVERYTHING and she was the most patient human being I've ever met (sorry Mom). I've been diving since 1979. I LOVE to dive. But, truth be known, I suck at it. She never got on my case (except when I made an unsafe exit from the dingy) but, instead, helped me to be better, at least for these dives.
The room was small but, like most ships, it used every square inch of space really well. The shower and toilet worked just fine. To be honest, the only time I spent in that room was when I was sleeping. All waking time was spent diving, eating, or lounging on the deck. VERY relaxing.
This may seem like an odd item but it was a big deal with me: I'm a planner so I like to know what I'm getting into. We had dive meetings that were very detailed before each dive. They were surprisingly accurate.
Here are a few other notes I took about the ship: It's clean and well maintained; the schedule wasn't too hectic but there wasn't a lot of sitting around time - a good balance; plenty of diving advice and knowledge from crew; the crew kept people engaged and informed - we always knew where we were and where we were headed.
Next to the diving, my favorite parts were the other passengers. I was only 1 of 2 Americans on board. The rest were from Europe, Canada and Australia. I was surprised to learn that not everyone hates Americans. I was also VERY embarrassed to learn that I was the only one who could not speak a second language. Anyway, the other passengers were absolutely FANTASTIC people who I really enjoyed being around.
Now to the diving. I'm lost. Where do I start? Much of the time I was in the water I felt like I was in one of those IMAX theaters and I was watching a reef video in 3D. I was absolutely intimidated by the beauty. I felt like I was interrupting a moment of great importance and I should just back away. But I didn't. So, I'll start with be basics: It wasn't cold. During one of the final briefings the dive master stopped and asked if there were any questions. I asked, "What's the water temperature." She responded, "Curt, it's warm. Don't ask that again." I did wear a 5mm suit and a hood (I get cold easily) and I was very, very comfortable the whole time. I wore gloves the first dive and ditched them after that.
What did we see. I'm going to list some of my favorite things but it by far not an exhaustive list: LOTS of turtles, crocodile fish (which are WAY cool), nudibranchs, scorpionfish (leaf and many others), frogfish, sharks (blacktip, whitetip, nurse), octopuses (octopi?), lionfishes (those little buggers can be darned aggressive), moray eels (the biggest I've ever seen), these southern rays with blue rings on them as well as eagle rays, more fish than you can shake a stick at (sometimes I'd lose sight of my dive buddies because the fish were so thick), more things than I can possible list AND MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITES: MANTA RAYS. This is my first time seeing mantas. I. WAS. MESMERIZED. They were about 10 - 12 feet across. I was told these weren't the 'BIG' ones. Ya coulda fooled me. We spent two dives watching them. I could have easily done that 5 more times. There was this one dive sight called "Big Smile". It was a drift dive. At the end of that dive, I popped to the surface, inflated my BC and just let out a rebel yell. I have never been so exhilarated by a dive. I've written a whole paragraph and didn't even touch the small animals that we saw so much of in every little nook and cranny. There is NEVER a dull moment under water. We even did a dive at the base of Sangeang Volcano. The volcano was slightly active (a gash had formed in the side of one of the two volcanoes and smoke was coming out of it). When we got to the bottom, we could see the sand was black and bubbles of superheated gases were coming out of it. It felt warm to the touch. How cool is THAT?
As part of the trip, we stopped on the island of Komodo. Yeah, THAT Komodo; where the dragons live. If you've never seen a Komodo dragon, this trip would be a real treat for you. Those things are huge, they move slow and they look intimidating as heck. It was a blast being on that island.
So, here's my list of bad things: The ship had engine issues on the last evening so we missed out on two night dives. HOWEVER, since we missed those dives we got our nitrox for FREE. I was content with that trade.
Anyway, I don't know about you, but I'm going back. Many of the other passengers had been to Raja Ampat. They said Raja was much better than this Komodo trip. I'm having a REALLY hard time believing that. I guess I'll have to see for myself. And it's nearly a slam dunk that I'll go with Mermaid when I go.
Was this also your first liveaboard trip?
