Trip Report Raja Ampat 10-Night Indo-Siren Liveaboard Dec. 2 – 12, 2022 Trip Report

[Rick Brant]

Great trip report, thank you!

 

[SaltyWombat]

The Anara Hotel in terminal 3 at the Jakarta airport is another choice. It might be more convenient than FM7 since no taxi or shuttle is required. It's very nice, but bring earplugs because the walls are a little thin.

 

[Illini_Fan]

@drrich2 - did you have any trouble uploading your vaccine cards to PeduliLindungi app? I tried this morning and received an error that the dates don't match. But they do match, but my CDC cards are in US mm/dd/yyyy - which might the the issue (just guessing).

 

[drrich2]

@drrich2 - did you have any trouble uploading your vaccine cards to PeduliLindungi app? I tried this morning and received an error that the dates don't match. But they do match, but my CDC cards are in US mm/dd/yyyy - which might the the issue (just guessing).

I had a vague recollection that dealing with PeduliLindungi and the system was unpleasant and difficult; did a little digging and from the thread on Bali Opening? here are a couple of bits from my old posts:

Thank you for posting this. I'm 4 days out from submitting my vaccination card scans; wondered how long to wait before trying to get answers from a human.

It took some digging, but I finally found an e-mail (I think for our embassy in Jakarta) to ask about the approval process taking awhile - jakartaacs@state.gov is the e-mail I used. So 2 days later in the evening, I got a response:

"Greetings,

The Ministry of Health ask the Embassy to approve all inquiries from US Citizen in the Peduli Lindungi app but only give us limited access. The list keep on going and limited access make us difficult to approve the inquiries in time. We understand the difficulty of this program and hopefully everyone can be approved soon. Our suggestion is to bring your vaccine certificate and tell them that you are on the list of approval and that it will take time to be approved. Unfortunately, the application doesn’t allow us to prioritize names on the list.

Thank you."

I got my approval e-mail late this evening, so it took 6 days for me. You weren't kidding that this thing is not user-friendly. The way the system reads on the Internet, they wanted people to submit for vaccination record approval, then download the Peduli Lindungi app and put in info., etc... I didn't know that, so I downloaded the app and registered an account in it first. I don't know whether that has any importance.

So I got my e-mail approval, opened the app and tried to claim my certification. App said I didn't have one. The instructions said for date put that of my first shot, but that doesn't work. Tried again with the date of my booster. No idea whether that helped, or it was there all along and I just stumbled across it in the app, but bottom line, it's in there, it's working, it shows the dates on my shots and I can generate the QR code.

P.S.: The approval letter had a link to 'Set Up Your Data At Peduli Lindungi.' I clicked it and...I'm guessing it's Indonesian language up top. After a bit of confusion, I learned just scroll down and there are instructions in English for what to do.

Those posts are from like pages 15 and 16 or so of that thread. I'm not the only one who had trouble dealing with this.

Which is a worthwhile warning to anyone considering a trip to Indonesia while this is required; do the Peduli Lindungi thing way in advance, because it's apt to be a hassle to figure out, may not work right, and you just don't know how long your vaccination record approval will take to come through.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

As usual, a medal-worthy trip report!! No one can hold a candle to you @drrich2. Makes my weekend dive trips to southeast FL seem like a literal walk in the park, which comparatively they are. I am so used to drive-to-dive trips (which are the vast majority of my logged dives) that the thought of the immense travel logistics trips like this require almost have me in a cold sweat. Well done!

 

[drrich2]

Makes my weekend dive trips to southeast FL seem like a literal walk in the park, which comparatively they are.

I'm envious of your access to the drive-and-dive spots. Places like Raja Ampat inspire a kind of wonder, but there's a lot to be said for options closer to home. In southeastern Florida, you've got nice spur and groove reef diving with a nice mix of small to fairly large animals and deep offshore wreck diving (e.g.: Spiegel Grove) out of Key Largo, the goliath grouper and lemon sharks out of Jupiter (if you're willing to do shark feed diving throw in tiger, bull and hammerhead options) and spearfishing, head inland and you've got diving in the springs (I've only been to Alexander Spring, small but fun) and Rainbow River (which sounds cool), and that's not even getting into the cave diving (northern Florida IIRC? I don't do any tech. diving) or west coast spear fishing. Florida is like a scuba diver's variety playground. I was in Key Largo one time back in 2013, and I'd like to hit it again one of these days. Historically round trip airfare to Fort Lauderdale was pretty cheap, so even for us out-of-staters, not a bad deal.

 

[FishWatcher747]

drrich2 I am curious if you had a discussion about whether the liveaboard could get you a pony bottle if you wanted? What sizes? Did you consider bringing your own?

The baggage weight issue on the Indonesian airline sounds like it could add significant cost to a diver's trip.

Thanks for a good read.

 

[Cali_diver]

If you can always prepay your excess baggage fees... it will save you a bunch! You can even over estimate and it will still be quite a bit less.

 

[drrich2]

drrich2 I am curious if you had a discussion about whether the liveaboard could get you a pony bottle if you wanted? What sizes? Did you consider bringing your own?

I didn't. I could've brought my Spare Air 3, but didn't see much point. It's my understanding Indonesian law requires an Indonesian dive guide, and even if solo diving were allowed, I wouldn't have dreamed of trying it there. From my research notes:

"-----Wisnu (Post #10) said recreational solo diving is not allowed; Indah (Post #22) noted per Law Number 7, Minister of Tourism, of 2016 a diver has to be accompanied by an Indonesian dive guide, and Wisnu (Post #23) said further detailed on attachment SOP, chapter 2.C.3.a, it’s explicitly stipulated solo diving is prohibited for recreational/tourist divers. There was follow up discussion; Darnold9999 and Searcaigh noted solo diving has happened."

If I were staying at a land-based resort with a nice house reef and thought they might look the other way and let me solo shore dive in benign conditions, then I'd have wanted my Spare Air 3 along.

The baggage weight issue on the Indonesian airline sounds like it could add significant cost to a diver's trip.

Yes, it does. And remember I had a 25-kg allowance on my Traveloka voucher, but what you'll see on Batik Air's website makes 20-kg out to be the standard. At nearly $10/kg both ways, that alone is a jump. I went with Tim Yeo's suggested itinerary, which he made based on my goals communicated to him. I don't know what a Garuda-based route (with higher base price but a much more generous sporting goods weight allowance) would've done to my trip.

On the other hand, nobody sought to weigh my personal item (a pretty large Lowe Pro Mini-Trekker backpack with camera-related gear) or carry-on (an Eagle Creek duffle bag, fairly small (bought for my Galapagos trip in 2020) but packed. Batik Air's carry-on size restrictions look restrictive on the website, but a casual glance at other people's carry-ons suggests they weren't enforcing that...they looked standard carry-on sized to me.

Oh, on the subject of flyings, be aware a number of other people had some issues with flight schedule disruptions, etc... My roommate did. I suggest spending a day in Jakarta (to recover from your international ordeal) and a day in Sorong (to make sure you and your bags are there on time for the boat) is the minimal buffer you should build into your plan.

 

[drrich2]

If you can always prepay your excess baggage fees... it will save you a bunch! You can even over estimate and it will still be quite a bit less.

I'd read someone else mention pre-paying (but being unable to actually do it); I looked for the option online at Batik Air and couldn't find it. In today's world where many of us carry little portable electronic luggage scales, I'd have taken advantage of that if I could.

Richard.