Liveaboard just in full Raja Ampat vs Maumere - Alor - Banda Sea - Raja Ampat (via Dampier) in Oct -Nov?

[also_anon_dc]

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.

Wow- what a waste of money. Mermaid is an expensive liveaboard. I have no idea why someone would think it's an appropriate boat/location for a beginner.

 

[argross91]

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.

I am supposed to do this trip in April. I only have ~35 dives and very little with current, but I booked a private dive guide. Do you think I should be okay?

The main reason that I am doing this trip now (and not waiting) is
1. I can take the time off from work (and i plan to quit)
2. I am young enough to deal with the miserable travel from the states.

I am really torn because I want to do this trip, but I don't want to be so out of my element that I get freaked out.

 

[Harshit Bajpai]

Wow- what a waste of money. Mermaid is an expensive liveaboard. I have no idea why someone would think it's an appropriate boat/location for a beginner.

I don't think they ever realised they were beginner as they never experienced such condition or intense diving. They were under the impression that they are certified 'Advanced diver' and can tackle anything. They weren't young, either. Not that age had anything to do with this. We had someone who has around 80 years old and did her 1400th dive but clearly knew what she was signing up for. I almost had sympathy with them as they were on a boat in the middle of nowhere with no internet or nothing to do or no one to talk to as everyone else was busy diving or sharing the cool stuff they saw during diving throughout the day.

 

[Harshit Bajpai]

I am supposed to do this trip in April. I only have ~35 dives and very little with current, but I booked a private dive guide. Do you think I should be okay?

The main reason that I am doing this trip now (and not waiting) is
1. I can take the time off from work (and i plan to quit)
2. I am young enough to deal with the miserable travel from the states.

I am really torn because I want to do this trip, but I don't want to be so out of my element that I get freaked out.

My advice would be reach Bali few days before and do some diving in Nusa penida - There are day trips from Bali every day. You will get to see some good stuff - Mantas etc and some current as well. Definitely reach your point of embarkation a day before. This will get you out of jet lag pretty quickly. I don't think refund is now an option for you.

April still has some time. I am sure US has some place where you can experience currents. Get used to it. Practise using reef hooks. It is a must. Practise negative entry. For some dives, you have to get down very quickly, or you get blown away from the dive site, so you need to be able to equalise quickly and get down fast.

You might get lucky and experience little to mild currents and not the strong currents like we did. Check for full moon dates. If it coincides with your travel or is a day or two before your trip, you will have currents, especially in the Banda sea. Also, some dive sites always have current. That is where you get to see big stuff - Mantas circling around, schools of Barracudas, sharks etc. But be mentally prepared on what needs to be done if you do experience downward current.

You have booked a private guide, which is helpful. But they usually judge and gauge everyone's skill in the first day and divide in groups accordingly. Some people already arrive in groups and tend to go diving together. Couples go together. If you are going on your own - dive guide should be able to help you, but it is a possibility you can get lost. It happened to me 3–4 times, I got separated. But most of the time I was able to spot them or found another group and continued with them.

Remember, you don't have to do all the dives. If you don't feel like it, don't jump. There is always a better dive site or better time to do it. You might hear during dive briefing of seeing many things, but not see any.

 

[also_anon_dc]

I am supposed to do this trip in April. I only have ~35 dives and very little with current, but I booked a private dive guide. Do you think I should be okay?

Even if you don't have much experience in current I think you should be fine if you have the basics down. By basics I mean you're generally a comfortable diver and won't panic if something unplanned happens, you have good buoyancy and can do a negative entry. Mermaid also does 70 minute dives so if your air consumption is good enough that you can last at least an hour long dive that would be better but with a private guide maybe it's not that big of a deal.

 

[argross91]

Even if you don't have much experience in current I think you should be fine if you have the basics down. By basics I mean you're generally a comfortable diver and won't panic if something unplanned happens, you have good buoyancy and can do a negative entry. Mermaid also does 70 minute dives so if your air consumption is good enough that you can last at least an hour long dive that would be better but with a private guide maybe it's not that big of a deal.

What am I getting myself into? I will def be using a 15L tank, but still don't know about if I can make that dive consumption. I also have not done a negative entry, but they don't seem difficult.

I can still get a refund for the next 10 days. I am for sure going to Indo, just whether or not I scrap this plan and figure something else out is to be decided. I was kind of looking at changing because of my lack of experience, and could go to a dive resort or something like that as plan B.

 

[Harshit Bajpai]

What am I getting myself into? I will def be using a 15L tank, but still don't know about if I can make that dive consumption. I also have not done a negative entry, but they don't seem difficult.

I can still get a refund for the next 10 days. I am for sure going to Indo, just whether or not I scrap this plan and figure something else out is to be decided. I was kind of looking at changing because of my lack of experience, and could go to a dive resort or something like that as plan B.

Have you ever dived where you had no reference line to go down or come up in some current? Land based intro to raja ampat is not a bad option to gain experience and then do this trip later.

Even an easy negative entry can put you into all sorts of different problem. The easiest of thing - finding the reef hook which is attached to your gear, finding an appropriate spot to hook it and then maintain your buoyancy, not get blown away when that hook comes off unexpectedly can be very unsettling and dangerous. Remember, there is always a next time as long as you are alive. If you don't feel like it, don't do it.

 

[also_anon_dc]

I can still get a refund for the next 10 days. I am for sure going to Indo, just whether or not I scrap this plan and figure something else out is to be decided. I was kind of looking at changing because of my lack of experience, and could go to a dive resort or something like that as plan B.

Yeah honestly if you can get a refund I would say do that and do land-based diving to get more experience. A liveaboard is a waste of money if you aren't capable/comfortable of doing the dives and have to sit them out. If you do the dives but are lasting 30-40 minutes that's just a lot of time sitting around on the boat if everyone else is doing 70 minute dives.

Alternatively, switch to a cheaper liveaboard where you'll be "wasting" less money if you want the LOB experience.

 

[argross91]

Yeah honestly if you can get a refund I would say do that and do land-based diving to get more experience. A liveaboard is a waste of money if you aren't capable/comfortable of doing the dives and have to sit them out. If you do the dives but are lasting 30-40 minutes that's just a lot of time sitting around on the boat if everyone else is doing 70 minute dives.

Alternatively, switch to a cheaper liveaboard where you'll be "wasting" less money if you want the LOB experience.

Thanks for all of your help! I got my deposit back from the liveaboard. I am way pivoting and am at least part of the time doing land based in Komodo. Perfect place to learn how to dive in current. I'll do RA eventually

 

[Harshit Bajpai]

Thanks for all of your help! I got my deposit back from the liveaboard. I am way pivoting and am at least part of the time doing land based in Komodo. Perfect place to learn how to dive in current. I'll do RA eventually

I would say you most likely made the right call. I haven't been to Komodo but I have heard you get to experience strong currents and good marine life. You may just find out you can handle currents with no real difficulty. There are many liveaboard in that area too.

Apologies for being a buzz kill and my response which led you to cancel. I hope you get to do this soon.