rsfinn57
Contributor
for such a long trip with many. dives what do you think of using a dry suit
Liveaboard just in full Raja Ampat vs Maumere - Alor - Banda Sea - Raja Ampat (via Dampier) in Oct -Nov?
- Thread starter Harshit Bajpai
- Start date
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Dan
Contributor
Overkilled, but I have seen 2 out of 24 guests wore drysuits on my 2019 trip & none in 2022 & 2023 trips
Thank you it's good to know! It's one of the only two repositioning trips I consider (the other being Blue Bay Divers' Sunshine LOB going around North-Central Sulawesi). Most others (like Ambon-Raja or Ambon-Komodo or Gili-Komodo) are not as good as those covering a single area. But the Banda Sea looks enchanting, and when I was in Alor I kept wanting to go further out...
argross91
Registered
also_anon_dc
Contributor
I did the Banda Sea crossing trip in October and most people were in a 5mm. I wore a 3mm which I found too cold, adding a fleece vest from Fourth Element helped but if I go back I'd wear a 5mm. My computer said water temps were around 81 but it felt colder than that.
outofofficebrb
HARRO HUNNAYYY
I have done the Banda crossing (12 day with Mermaid 1) and have spent a total of 26 days diving Alor. The Banda trip I took only spent 1 full day in Alor for a total of 3, maybe 4 dives. If it is more Alor-centric, it likely does more. However, I will say that Alor deserves it's own land based trip. When I went the first time, I was only there for 9-10 days and subsequently went back for more because I wanted more. There are muck sites in Kalabahi Bay as well as wide angle sites outside the bay.
I wonder how the water temps in April/May differ from October for Banda and Alor? It wasn't needed in the Oct time frame with the exception of Clownfish City/Anemone City/Clown Valley in Alor (it's the same site but called different things depending on who is referring to it). If you are in Alor, you may need a 5mm (or, even a 7mm, haha) if diving the southern sites such as Elalara. We saw temperatures as low as 67F/19C but in October.
OP
Harshit Bajpai
Registered
TRIP REPORT:
Apologies for the delay. But here is my experience.
TLDR: - It was amazing.
Food - Top class. I am vegetarian, and they cooked separate things for me. There was someone vegan as well, and they were cooking different stuff for that person, which also looked very nice. There were 4 meals - a light breakfast before dive 1, a big breakfast after dive 1, lunch after dive 2, snacks after dive 3, dinner after dive 4.
Rooms - Top class and were cleaned regularly. Had separate 3 towels in rooms which were regularly changed as well. You get different fresh towels after every dive. I was in the lower cabin rooms of bunk bed. You might just hear faint engine noise, but nothing too serious. After 4 dives and awesome food, I slept like a baby.
Staff assistance during/after the dives - There was a very detailed and good dive briefing before each dive. There was some who assist us putting on our dive gear. The dingy driver assisted us putting on fins. There was a fresh water shower on the dive deck with shampoo and body soap. After dive, there was a drink provided on the dive deck. The crew helped with washing and drying of the wetsuit. There was a couple who reported back problems and the staff carried all their gears to the dingy and helped them suit up as well. There is always someone there keeping an eye helping you with small things such as hooks, wetsuit chains or anything that you ask for. In one dive, I forgot my weights and I realised after I had gone down and could not descent. As I came up and asked for the dingy driver for some more backup weight, I saw another dingy of our boat quickly bringing my forgotten weights. So they are quite vigilant and helpful. After the dive, someone would carry the gear back to your spot as well from the dingy, which was very helpful and avoided any injuries.
Dive masters - Dive masters were very good and knew the sites very well and planned the dives accordingly. Please note - You are expected to be an independent diver here. They will help you to a certain degree, which is minimal, but after that you either handle yourself or abort the dive and go up. It's everyone for themselves down there. But if you are an alright diver, you are going to have fun. They are quite accommodating. I told my dive master that the last time I used a DSMB was during my OW. He helped me do it during safety stop after first and second dive. I then unknowingly became the DSMB guy for our group for the rest of the trip and got to practise it quite a lot, which came in very handy as there were some dives where we got separated our some people went up first and some of us came later.
In one of the dive spots, on our request, me, my dive buddy and the cruise director went separate from the rest of the divers chasing for some hammerheads in some strong currents, but we couldn't really find any, unfortunately. But this is to say that they do accommodate your requests as long as it is reasonable, and you are able.
Dives - From incredibly amazing to downright unexpected washing machines where dive had to be aborted. I did all the 47 dives. We could have had more dives, but we had a full moon on the first day and hence some crossing were slow for the boat. Some folks onboard who have taken this trip in the reverse direction in the past have reported the number of dives up to 51 dives. Everyone said that it was one of the strongest current they have experienced in quite some time.
Visibility - Some dives had absolute crystal clear water. Some were very good. Some were OK. I didn't really have any dive with bad visibility. I have attached the log book as well, which has mentioned visibility for all the dives.
Marine life - Very good. In words of some divers who have 500+ dives and have done liveaboards here - It used to better pre-COVID. Lots of nudis, sea snakes, mandarin fish (did a dedicated dive just for them), crocodile fish, whale sharks, many wobbegong sharks, mantas, occasional sighting of hammerheads, huge schools of different kind of fishes and 100s of other types of fishes. I saw a video mermaid's insta page where they did the same trip other way around recently and saw schools of hammerheads too, which we didn't get to see. I have attached the log book as well, which has mentioned marine life for all the dives.
Land based excursion - We did three land based excursions, which were quite fun and had a guide where it was needed. Saw the Banda castle, raja ampat view point.
Dive gear - I had my own gear, so didn't have any first-hand experience for this. But I saw some people renting gear, and they all looked in quite good conditions. Some of us had small malfunctioning of gear, and they had to rent it from the liveaboard for a price which I personally felt it was slightly expensive. In one dive during transfer to the dive site, I had an issue with my regulator where it got loose and started leaking air. The dive master and my buddy both heard the air leaking, and the staff quickly replaced it for that dive and helped me in fixing it once I was back.
Who should go - I would not recommend this trip to someone who has less than 50 dives and has not experienced currents. These are not those land based diving where your dive master is helping you with every little problem that you have underwater and going up and down each time you get uncomfortable with something. You need to fairly independent diver, can handle yourself if you get separated, don't panic in currents and has decent air consumption (as larger tanks were available free of cost). I saw a couple who were very beginner. They had to be separated from everyone, didn't do half the dives and for the dives that they did go, the cruise director went with them holding one of them from their tank like they do during DSD, and they didn't really go to some spots where the rest of the group was taken.
Check in/out experience was smooth. I was picked up from my place in Maumere and was shown my room. I was then assisted to set up my gear in dive deck. Your bags were stored in separate storage room and the rooms had wardrobe where you can keep your clothes. During the check-out time, my flight was quite late in the day and hence I checked out last, I was asked to clear the room by 9 AM and can stay in the relaxing area in top deck. Everyone was provided a drop-off to the airport/hotel as well.
I am attaching the log book which was given by the liveaboard and some photos as well.
Apologies for the delay. But here is my experience.
TLDR: - It was amazing.
Food - Top class. I am vegetarian, and they cooked separate things for me. There was someone vegan as well, and they were cooking different stuff for that person, which also looked very nice. There were 4 meals - a light breakfast before dive 1, a big breakfast after dive 1, lunch after dive 2, snacks after dive 3, dinner after dive 4.
Rooms - Top class and were cleaned regularly. Had separate 3 towels in rooms which were regularly changed as well. You get different fresh towels after every dive. I was in the lower cabin rooms of bunk bed. You might just hear faint engine noise, but nothing too serious. After 4 dives and awesome food, I slept like a baby.
Staff assistance during/after the dives - There was a very detailed and good dive briefing before each dive. There was some who assist us putting on our dive gear. The dingy driver assisted us putting on fins. There was a fresh water shower on the dive deck with shampoo and body soap. After dive, there was a drink provided on the dive deck. The crew helped with washing and drying of the wetsuit. There was a couple who reported back problems and the staff carried all their gears to the dingy and helped them suit up as well. There is always someone there keeping an eye helping you with small things such as hooks, wetsuit chains or anything that you ask for. In one dive, I forgot my weights and I realised after I had gone down and could not descent. As I came up and asked for the dingy driver for some more backup weight, I saw another dingy of our boat quickly bringing my forgotten weights. So they are quite vigilant and helpful. After the dive, someone would carry the gear back to your spot as well from the dingy, which was very helpful and avoided any injuries.
Dive masters - Dive masters were very good and knew the sites very well and planned the dives accordingly. Please note - You are expected to be an independent diver here. They will help you to a certain degree, which is minimal, but after that you either handle yourself or abort the dive and go up. It's everyone for themselves down there. But if you are an alright diver, you are going to have fun. They are quite accommodating. I told my dive master that the last time I used a DSMB was during my OW. He helped me do it during safety stop after first and second dive. I then unknowingly became the DSMB guy for our group for the rest of the trip and got to practise it quite a lot, which came in very handy as there were some dives where we got separated our some people went up first and some of us came later.
In one of the dive spots, on our request, me, my dive buddy and the cruise director went separate from the rest of the divers chasing for some hammerheads in some strong currents, but we couldn't really find any, unfortunately. But this is to say that they do accommodate your requests as long as it is reasonable, and you are able.
Dives - From incredibly amazing to downright unexpected washing machines where dive had to be aborted. I did all the 47 dives. We could have had more dives, but we had a full moon on the first day and hence some crossing were slow for the boat. Some folks onboard who have taken this trip in the reverse direction in the past have reported the number of dives up to 51 dives. Everyone said that it was one of the strongest current they have experienced in quite some time.
Visibility - Some dives had absolute crystal clear water. Some were very good. Some were OK. I didn't really have any dive with bad visibility. I have attached the log book as well, which has mentioned visibility for all the dives.
Marine life - Very good. In words of some divers who have 500+ dives and have done liveaboards here - It used to better pre-COVID. Lots of nudis, sea snakes, mandarin fish (did a dedicated dive just for them), crocodile fish, whale sharks, many wobbegong sharks, mantas, occasional sighting of hammerheads, huge schools of different kind of fishes and 100s of other types of fishes. I saw a video mermaid's insta page where they did the same trip other way around recently and saw schools of hammerheads too, which we didn't get to see. I have attached the log book as well, which has mentioned marine life for all the dives.
Land based excursion - We did three land based excursions, which were quite fun and had a guide where it was needed. Saw the Banda castle, raja ampat view point.
Dive gear - I had my own gear, so didn't have any first-hand experience for this. But I saw some people renting gear, and they all looked in quite good conditions. Some of us had small malfunctioning of gear, and they had to rent it from the liveaboard for a price which I personally felt it was slightly expensive. In one dive during transfer to the dive site, I had an issue with my regulator where it got loose and started leaking air. The dive master and my buddy both heard the air leaking, and the staff quickly replaced it for that dive and helped me in fixing it once I was back.
Who should go - I would not recommend this trip to someone who has less than 50 dives and has not experienced currents. These are not those land based diving where your dive master is helping you with every little problem that you have underwater and going up and down each time you get uncomfortable with something. You need to fairly independent diver, can handle yourself if you get separated, don't panic in currents and has decent air consumption (as larger tanks were available free of cost). I saw a couple who were very beginner. They had to be separated from everyone, didn't do half the dives and for the dives that they did go, the cruise director went with them holding one of them from their tank like they do during DSD, and they didn't really go to some spots where the rest of the group was taken.
Check in/out experience was smooth. I was picked up from my place in Maumere and was shown my room. I was then assisted to set up my gear in dive deck. Your bags were stored in separate storage room and the rooms had wardrobe where you can keep your clothes. During the check-out time, my flight was quite late in the day and hence I checked out last, I was asked to clear the room by 9 AM and can stay in the relaxing area in top deck. Everyone was provided a drop-off to the airport/hotel as well.
I am attaching the log book which was given by the liveaboard and some photos as well.
Attachments
OP
Harshit Bajpai
Registered
I posted it. Apologies for the delay.
Thanks for posting the log book entries.
I did note there were no times in the log, I expect you have those as well?
OP
Harshit Bajpai
Registered
Those logs were provided by the cruise director for everyone's reference, which is why it doesn't have time, as it won't make much sense. But most dives were 70–75 mins for me.
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