For our 15 year anniversary, the wife and I wanted to do something special. We had considered Raja Ampat but ruled it out due to cost. We kept coming back to the idea so we decided to just do it. Our 2 requirements were not to break the bank and Nitrox. Also, if we were going to take this trip, we wanted to have enough time to make the trip worthwhile (no 5 night trips). The Pearl of Papua 10 night trip from Sorong to the Misool area to the Wayag area fit the bill.
We booked through Greg Carter at Liquid Dive Adventures. He was able to get a good price. I’d suggest speaking with him before booking a trip to see what he can do. Super responsive on emails with any questions we had.
To frame the context regarding our experience levels, we both have about 250 dives over 7 years. We typically take 2 to 3 trips a year to the Caribbean. We also have been to Hawaii and the coast of Kenya. This would be our first liveaboard experience outside of a weekend Texas Flower Gardens trip. We are PADI Rescue Divers…not that it really makes a difference.
Getting there-Being from Houston, we had a couple of options. We booked United to Tokyo then ANA from Tokyo to Jakarta. (This was booked on a ticket through ANA which was cheaper than booking through United. ANA and United code share.) We overnighted in Jakarta then took Sriwijaya Air on a red-eye from Jakarta to Massakar to Sorong. We had originally booked a non-stop from Jakarta to Sorong. About a week prior to leaving Sriwijaya canceled the flight. I found the Sriwijaya customer service telephone rep to be competent with enough English to rebook us. Sriwijaya is a budget airline. The planes are old 737’s. They were worn, but they got us there and back. We overnighted again in Sorong. On return, we did the same schedule with no overnight in Sorong. (We left the boat to the airport.) The return flights both got behind schedule (no longer than 30 minutes.). We had no problems with United or ANA.
Hotels-In Jakarta, we stayed at the FM7 hotel. It was clean with a good restaurant. We found the hotel shuttles from the airport to the hotel very slow. In Sorong, we stayed at the BellSwiss. It was nice with a decent restaurant. I’m told this is the best you can do in Sorong.
Sorong-It is a poor town. There isn’t much to do. It is worth hiring a car for a couple of hours to drive around for souvenirs. I believe for 2 hours it was 180,000 rupiah or about $15 USD. We went to the pagoda. I believe they charged 10,000 rupiah per person for admission.
Jakarta-This is a large, very populated city. Taxis are cheap. We spent some time at the large mall to kill time.
Boat-The Pearl of Papua (POP) is an older boat. It is tired but functional. It is an Indonesian style wooden boat. We had one of the top deck Trevally rooms. The room was small with an even smaller bathroom. However, we really didn’t spend much time in the room. We hung out on the sun deck or dining room swapping diving stories with our new friends. I also never had a sleepless night.
If you go hungry on this boat, it is your own fault. The meals generally consisted of a veggie dish, fish dish, and chicken and/or beef dish. The meals are Indonesian/Asian flare ALWAYS with rice. There was generally an afternoon snack and hot drinks after the night drive. The dining room always had available fresh fruits, bagged snacks, cereal, bread, peanut butter, and spreads 24/7. The fridge was well stocked with Coca Cola, Sprite, water, and Pocarar Sweat. Beer was available for sale after diving.
What I loved the most was the Papuian staff on the boat. We had 14 guests (a full boat) with 17 crew. It was a mix of young and old. They went out of their way to make you feel welcome. They more than made up for the tired boat. They are a shy group, but I made it a point to sit and chat with them. Good folks who are very interested in you.
The cruise director was a young USA guy from Miami. He has been working in Raja Ampat for a few years. He is a good guy that really seemed to know the area.
Diving-The dive schedule was set the night before. Prior to every dive, the dive staff would go to the dive site to check situations. Currents can be a big issue in this area. If the current wasn’t correct, we would move to a different site. Briefings were thorough. Each divemaster had 4 or 5 guests. The cruise director was in the water for most of the diving.
Compared to the Caribbean, the coral and fish life is awesome. The soft coral is like nothing I have ever seen. There are also fields of plate and staghorn coral. Macro is good and big stuff (mantas and reef sharks) were found.
Current is an issue in this area. On 2 or 3 dives (out of 29), it was really crazy. I’m 39 and 280. I’m not really in shape. I wish I would have been on a few of those dives. Many were fast drifts. Depths got no deeper than 90 feet. The norm was 60 feet or so. My air consumption in Bonaire averages an hour and 15 minutes. Here, I was between 45 minutes to an hour and 10 minutes.
Overall, this was an awesome trip. If you are looking for a budget friendly operation which will get you to some good dive sites and keep your belly full, I suggest the POP. If you are looking for a boat that will give massages and look pristine, this is not the boat for you. If you do a trip on the POP, request diving with Monche. He was our divemaster and a really good one.
If I have the opportunity to do this trip again, I’d probably try to throw in an overnight in Tokyo. That was a long trip from Jakarta to Houston.
We enjoyed Indonesia. Compared to the Caribbean, the diving was awesome.
I’d like to give a special thanks to Greg at Liquid Diving Adventures and Scubaboard member @Dan_T . They were both awesome at answering any questions we had about the trip.
Billy
We booked through Greg Carter at Liquid Dive Adventures. He was able to get a good price. I’d suggest speaking with him before booking a trip to see what he can do. Super responsive on emails with any questions we had.
To frame the context regarding our experience levels, we both have about 250 dives over 7 years. We typically take 2 to 3 trips a year to the Caribbean. We also have been to Hawaii and the coast of Kenya. This would be our first liveaboard experience outside of a weekend Texas Flower Gardens trip. We are PADI Rescue Divers…not that it really makes a difference.
Getting there-Being from Houston, we had a couple of options. We booked United to Tokyo then ANA from Tokyo to Jakarta. (This was booked on a ticket through ANA which was cheaper than booking through United. ANA and United code share.) We overnighted in Jakarta then took Sriwijaya Air on a red-eye from Jakarta to Massakar to Sorong. We had originally booked a non-stop from Jakarta to Sorong. About a week prior to leaving Sriwijaya canceled the flight. I found the Sriwijaya customer service telephone rep to be competent with enough English to rebook us. Sriwijaya is a budget airline. The planes are old 737’s. They were worn, but they got us there and back. We overnighted again in Sorong. On return, we did the same schedule with no overnight in Sorong. (We left the boat to the airport.) The return flights both got behind schedule (no longer than 30 minutes.). We had no problems with United or ANA.
Hotels-In Jakarta, we stayed at the FM7 hotel. It was clean with a good restaurant. We found the hotel shuttles from the airport to the hotel very slow. In Sorong, we stayed at the BellSwiss. It was nice with a decent restaurant. I’m told this is the best you can do in Sorong.
Sorong-It is a poor town. There isn’t much to do. It is worth hiring a car for a couple of hours to drive around for souvenirs. I believe for 2 hours it was 180,000 rupiah or about $15 USD. We went to the pagoda. I believe they charged 10,000 rupiah per person for admission.
Jakarta-This is a large, very populated city. Taxis are cheap. We spent some time at the large mall to kill time.
Boat-The Pearl of Papua (POP) is an older boat. It is tired but functional. It is an Indonesian style wooden boat. We had one of the top deck Trevally rooms. The room was small with an even smaller bathroom. However, we really didn’t spend much time in the room. We hung out on the sun deck or dining room swapping diving stories with our new friends. I also never had a sleepless night.
If you go hungry on this boat, it is your own fault. The meals generally consisted of a veggie dish, fish dish, and chicken and/or beef dish. The meals are Indonesian/Asian flare ALWAYS with rice. There was generally an afternoon snack and hot drinks after the night drive. The dining room always had available fresh fruits, bagged snacks, cereal, bread, peanut butter, and spreads 24/7. The fridge was well stocked with Coca Cola, Sprite, water, and Pocarar Sweat. Beer was available for sale after diving.
What I loved the most was the Papuian staff on the boat. We had 14 guests (a full boat) with 17 crew. It was a mix of young and old. They went out of their way to make you feel welcome. They more than made up for the tired boat. They are a shy group, but I made it a point to sit and chat with them. Good folks who are very interested in you.
The cruise director was a young USA guy from Miami. He has been working in Raja Ampat for a few years. He is a good guy that really seemed to know the area.
Diving-The dive schedule was set the night before. Prior to every dive, the dive staff would go to the dive site to check situations. Currents can be a big issue in this area. If the current wasn’t correct, we would move to a different site. Briefings were thorough. Each divemaster had 4 or 5 guests. The cruise director was in the water for most of the diving.
Compared to the Caribbean, the coral and fish life is awesome. The soft coral is like nothing I have ever seen. There are also fields of plate and staghorn coral. Macro is good and big stuff (mantas and reef sharks) were found.
Current is an issue in this area. On 2 or 3 dives (out of 29), it was really crazy. I’m 39 and 280. I’m not really in shape. I wish I would have been on a few of those dives. Many were fast drifts. Depths got no deeper than 90 feet. The norm was 60 feet or so. My air consumption in Bonaire averages an hour and 15 minutes. Here, I was between 45 minutes to an hour and 10 minutes.
Overall, this was an awesome trip. If you are looking for a budget friendly operation which will get you to some good dive sites and keep your belly full, I suggest the POP. If you are looking for a boat that will give massages and look pristine, this is not the boat for you. If you do a trip on the POP, request diving with Monche. He was our divemaster and a really good one.
If I have the opportunity to do this trip again, I’d probably try to throw in an overnight in Tokyo. That was a long trip from Jakarta to Houston.
We enjoyed Indonesia. Compared to the Caribbean, the diving was awesome.
I’d like to give a special thanks to Greg at Liquid Diving Adventures and Scubaboard member @Dan_T . They were both awesome at answering any questions we had about the trip.
Billy
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