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

[chillyinCanada]

I am afraid you overlooked this message at the openings page of our Weda Resort:

CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE​

Unfortunately we had to decide to close Weda Resort. The nearby expanding industry makes it impossible for us to continue.
We are very happy that all our employees found a new job. We thank them for all their great work. And we thank all our guests and friends for the support the last decade. We hope we may welcome you at our Divers Lodge Lembeh. Or, in 2024, at Magic Bay Rao.
So, for now we fully concentrate on our Divers Lodge Lembeh. The place where my family also live. The service we offer is without doubt unique:
Whether you come alone, with your spouse, buddy or group of friends, you will have your own private boat, you and your companion(s) can make your own schedule, decide when and where to dive and without time limits (as long it is within the safety standards of no decompression diving). If you meet here new friends with whom you want to share the boat and costs, this is of course no problem at all, and we will adjust the schedule accordingly. Price EUR 74 or USD77, – per boat, per day.
Example: if you stay alone in one of our very spacious bungalows with air conditioning, full board, and you make 3 dives (Nitrox up to 35%) daily from own private boat and with your private guide, you will spend much less than when you would be diving from one of the better liveaboards. At Divers Lodge you would only pay IDR 4.485.000 (about EUR 275, – or USD 289, -) per night, all inclusive.

Of course the costs are much lower when you come and/or share with others. Example, for 6 persons sharing 3 bungalows (full board) and one boat, and who make 3 dives with Nitrox, the price will be only IDR 2.710.000 ( EUR 166, – or USD 176, -) per day, per person.


Please have a look at Prices and Booking - Divers Lodge Lembeh - Lembeh Strait for all our rates. Updated 21 Dec. 2022.

So sorry to read of Weda Resort.

I hope that times will change for the better in that regard and more.

 

[cozcharlie]

I don't understand the difference between a debit card and an ATM card.

I hope that you will be able to explain it to me so that I will understand. In the past, I've been told that cards with pins longer than 4 numbers won't work. Also, the machine has to have a certain symbol that I'll know when I see it but can't recall what it is at this moment.

Unfortunately I have a lot of information without a firm answer of what works/doesn’t work and why.

First, for ATM cards I know a six digit PIN will work in Indonesia (have no idea about debit cards )

The difference between debit cards and basic ATM cards may be both simple and confusing at the same time since some cards are both a debit card and an ATM card.

The basic ATM card has been around longer as far I know. This is the card that pretty well only works at ATM machines or inside of a bank. You are withdrawing money straight from your bank account probably using either the Plus (owned by Visa) or Cirrus/maestro (owned by MasterCard) networks. In the US I don’t think the machines ask you which network, but I often have to pick one from foreign machines , my card has a Plus logo on the back ). The money comes straight out of your account bank account plus an ATM service fee that may or may not be waived/reimbursed depending upon on your bank and account type and size

A debit card is basically a visa/Mastercard that pulls immediately from your bank account as opposed to a credit card that runs up a balance that is paid at the end of the month or over time. These cards can generally be used anywhere that accepts VISA or Mastercard as opposed to just ATMs. Even though Visa and Mastercard evidently own the ATM payment networks now I believe (though not certain)—the credit card transactions go through a different payment system for visa/Mastercard transactions (which they also own ).

Historically debit cards didn’t have as much fraud protection for the card holder as credit cards, so for this reason I have never had a debit card. I just stuck with credit cards for visa/Mastercard type transactions and then I have an ATM card for pulling cash from the bank. I kind of think there may have been greater fraud protection for debit cards added in the past decade or so , but I don’t really follow the topic . The other reason is that I like the perks/miles programs for my credit cards and wouldn’t use the debit card feature of my bank anyway.

The confusing thing is that these days banks usually try to give you a combined ATM/debit card when you open account to use both for withdrawing cash from ATMs and for making everyday purchases. These cards would probably have a visa/MasterCard logo on front and a plus or cirrus/Maestro logo on the back. I usually have to be very specific that I only want the ATM card and not a debit card. There is no Visa or Mastercard logo on my ATM card (just the Plus logo on the back ). I usually don’t have much trouble using the card at ATMs in the places I visit , but I don’t go to that many countries (I split time between US and Mexico , card obviously worked in Indonesia at airport , and presumably still works in Canada and UK but I haven’t been to either in a while and may have had 4 digit pin back then btw ). Palau and FSM both use US dollars. Don’t remember if I ever needed an ATM in Palau or Yao (probably brought some in cash and used credit card for most things )

Bottom line is that at least for me it seems like the ATM oriented card networks seem to work (in my case Plus). The comments I saw on internet seem to indicate that most ATMs in Indonesia accept Plus & Cirrrus/Maestro among others. To further confuse things evidently in some countries now the ATMs may just show a visa or MasterCard logo when they mean Plus or Cirrus/Maestro. As to why @drrich2’s card didn’t work It might be the debit cards are trying to access funds via the broader Visa/MasterCard payment networks as opposed for the Plus/ Cirrus (Maestro) networks and getting bogged down somewhere there . It might even be there is some option you can select that says ATM withdrawal via Plus as opposed to debit withdrawal via Visa that will make a difference. Someone who regularly use a debit card in Indonesia can hopefully chime in .

 

[FishWatcher747]

Did Batik allow 2 checked bags of 20kg (in your case more) and then additional weight was more? Or were they allowing 1 checked bag at 20kg and the second checked bag was extra? Was anyone weighing the roll aboards (mine often weighs 30 lbs)?

Asking for a friend who might be planning an @Centrals type of land based trip.

 

[Parlem]

A superb report, perhaps the best dive report I've ever read. Thank you very much!

 

[DougA]

View attachment 759615
For complex trips I tend to make 2 threads; one a trip report (this one) focused on my trip and one a ‘research notes’ thread compiling heavily hyper-linked and credited content from ScubaBoard and elsewhere, very dense but to provide resources for people researching a destination new to them. Even with the former, I aim to cover what the destination is known for, alternatives I chose it over and why, my experience with the destination, accommodation and dive services provider and related content. This requires a trade-off between a report comprehensive enough to tell others considering the trip what they need to know and concise enough they might read it. I use sections for organization so people can jump to what interests them.

The messenger is part of the message. If you want people who’ve been to Raja Ampat and other Indonesian destinations multiple times and can compare and contrast from extensive 1st hand experience, that is not me. See reports by @Dan , @Luko and others. My goal is to help intermediate divers like myself with U.S./Caribbean region dive experience better understand options when they are captivated by ScubaBoard discussions on how Indonesian diving is so awesome you’ll fly home and slap the Caribbean. For a 1st (and perhaps only, ‘bucket list’) trip, where should you go? What’s involved in getting there, what’s it like, and what does it cost?

I.) Pre-planning.​

View attachment 759616
Spend too much time on ScubaBoard getting jealous of trip reports on flung destinations with much better diving than the Caribbean. Review options – Raja Ampat, Komodo, Papua New Guinea, Red Sea, Maldives, Philippines, Palau and Fiji. Rule out Bali and Thailand which seem targeted for the topside + diving set; I just want to dive. Maldives diving has a reputation for sharks but reef quality gets varied reviews and diving tends to be deep and ‘only’ 3/day on a liveaboard. Nah. Palau – sharky, outside the coral triangle so a bit less diversity, current and reef hooks (not all dives), doesn’t seem to have quite the rep. as Raja Ampat. Philippines (I’d have picked Puerto Galera with El Galleon and Asia Divers) has a rep. for ‘almost as good, quicker to get to, cheaper’ vs. Raja Ampat, but for a one-time bucket list trip I’m not after ‘almost.’ Komodo – net impression of reviews suggests vs. Raja Ampat diving very good but not quite on par, and the currents might be more than my chubby old sedentary self is ready for. Would’ve liked to see wild Komodo dragons and hit a place everyone’s heard of, but pass. Red Sea – said to be better than the Caribbean but not on par with Indonesia, good prices, some dive sites get crowded, oceanic white-tips would be cool but…pass. Fiji – soft coral capitol of the world; some tiger sharks but I saw those in Jupiter, FL. Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands sound as good (or maybe a tad better? (e.g.: WW 2 wrecks)) vs. Raja Ampat, but more off-the-beaten-path, trip might not reliably adhere to the plan and have a rep. as quite expensive. I wouldn’t take advantage of the topside exploration options that’d make PNG a winner.

Just read most of your multiple post posting. Just a thank you for the trip, and for the info. When I research destinations, I am nowhere near as comprehensive as you have been - but I do cruise for lots of helpful info, and you provided muuuuuuch. The South Pacific is on my bucket list one way or another ...

 

[drrich2]

Did Batik allow 2 checked bags of 20kg (in your case more) and then additional weight was more? Or were they allowing 1 checked bag at 20kg and the second checked bag was extra? Was anyone weighing the roll aboards (mine often weighs 30 lbs)?

In my case, it was 25 kg instead of 20 though I don’t know why. That was the total for my 2 checked bags combined. I knew it was coming so I packed conservatively. Nobody weighed my carryon or personal item.

 

[LDBuckley]

Great report Rich, glad you took and enjoyed the trip!

 

[Jaan]

Wow wow and wow @drrich2
Great report of amazing caliber as we have come to expect from you .

I’m ready, packing bags, …

 

[mattfish]

This was an amazing trip report. I feel like I went there with you. Your details about actually getting there and back are invaluable. My wife is going on a Philippines LOB trip (via girls that scuba) and we still need to plan her actual trip over there. The tips you shared will be really helpful for us in arranging her flights and land-based stays. Thank you so much!

 

[Centrals]

This was an amazing trip report. I feel like I went there with you. Your details about actually getting there and back are invaluable. My wife is going on a Philippines LOB trip (via girls that scuba) and we still need to plan her actual trip over there. The tips you shared will be really helpful for us in arranging her flights and land-based stays. Thank you so much!

Only PAL has non stop flight from JFK, LAX and SFO to MNL.
2 X 50lbs included and extra can be purchased on line.
Is it Tubattaha? Very good indeed.

I wonder if this thread will be moderated because it has nothing to do with Indonesia!!