Real Time Blue Manta Review: Banda Sea 9 – 19 Sept 2019

[billt4sf]

There are a few SB’ers on this trip.

Those on the trip list some things you like, don’t like, etc., and those not on the trip ask questions.

I’ll start (SUBJECTIVE).

LOVE: Size of the boat, size of the rooms, a proper bathroom, size of the dive deck, wi-fi in a few rooms. Here, I am standing in the shower!

VERY GOOD: Diving. No hammerheads so far!

After that, not so much. Food: meh.

ISSUES: The Saloon is really noisy! It must be 80dB in there when it’s full. Our cabin is just off the Saloon, there is a baffle in the door for airflow I guess (windows do not open in our cabin) and we hear A LOT. Every morning at 5:30 there is conversation, so being a light sleeper – my day has begun.

HATE: Announcements. There is a speaker (low-quality) in every room, so in place of someone walking through and banging doors, we get a few minutes of music followed by the announcement of dive briefing or meals. Up to 7 of these infernal things per day. Feels like High School – and (just like HS) it’s really bad if you are asleep.

DIVE CREW: I like them, but the Cruise Director has a very thick Spanish / Basque accent. A fair amount of the information is not understandable by me.

 

[chillyinCanada]

What's the Cruise Director's name?

 

[scubaNYC16]

I was just on the boat 2 weeks ago loved the music in the room with the announcements. I thought that was a really nice added touch and was never too loud.

I had no problem understanding Egoi the cruise director but I’m from NYC and hear all sorts of different accents. Super nice guy!

I really liked the food and the fact that it wasn’t western. I loved trying different noodles and having an awesome soup for breakfast.

That stinks about the noise in the salon, I had a room on the top deck which was very private and they don’t charge extra for those. Just need to request an advance.

I loved the boat overall and thought the best thing about it was the size of the rooms and having all the extra space on the boat. Crew was top notch as well. Say hi to DM Batman (Danny).

 

[chillyinCanada]

So food is all Indonesian and no Western offerings? Ick. There aren't many Indonesian foods that I care for.

 

[outofofficebrb]

Thanks for starting this thread!

That is the most impressive liveaboard bathroom I have seen and I have seen 9. That is saying something. Heck, it's fancier than my bathroom at home. and bigger. LOL.

@foob reported that some of the DMs didn't seem very experienced for some specific sites. Did you find that to be true? He said one group spent a lot of time over sand on one of their dives or that the drops were not in good locations...Yikes, especially given the premium and amount paid for that boat.

I was close to joining you guys on this trip so I am following this closely. I am not due to do the crossing until Oct 4.

 

[scubaNYC16]

So food is all Indonesian and no Western offerings? Ick. There aren't many Indonesian foods that I care for.

No it’s mixed but not all Western like some boats.

There’s an early continental breakfast with toast, croissants, fruit, coffee/tea juice and a few different granolas/cereals.

After the first dive there’s a full hot breakfast and there was always an egg dish along with rice and noodles and sometimes soup. One day they had hard-boiled eggs and I asked for some scrambled eggs and they made them for me right away.

Lunch was always a soup and a few different noodle, rice or curry dishes. There was always a choice of chicken, pork or beef and tofu as well as salad.

Dinner was also mostly Asian but we did have spaghetti bolognese one night and a big BBQ the last night with all kinds of different options. If you are a dessert fan, they are definitely lacking in that sept but we did have 2 birthdays during the week so got some nice cake.

Overall I thought the food was very good but definitely a lack of dessert and not a large selection of fresh vegetables if that’s important to you.

 

[chillyinCanada]

I expect the lack of fresh veggies and I'm kinda suspicious of uncooked veggies in that part of the world in any event.

Is the meat prepared Indo style?

 

[scubaNYC16]

I only spent a few days in Bali afterwards but I believe so if you mean with noodles or rice. Also, I believe dinner is normally played and served but we had a group of 10 on the boat that requested buffet style for dinner which I liked because it let me try a little bit of everything.

 

[Dan]

I was just on the boat 2 weeks ago loved the music in the room with the announcements. I thought that was a really nice added touch and was never too loud.

I had no problem understanding Egoi the cruise director but I’m from NYC and hear all sorts of different accents. Super nice guy!

I really liked the food and the fact that it wasn’t western. I loved trying different noodles and having an awesome soup for breakfast.

That stinks about the noise in the salon, I had a room on the top deck which was very private and they don’t charge extra for those. Just need to request an advance.

I loved the boat overall and thought the best thing about it was the size of the rooms and having all the extra space on the boat. Crew was top notch as well. Say hi to DM Batman (Danny).

My DM is Batman and I’m disappointed. I’ve seen better. He’s a nice guy, but as a DM, he’s just a rookie. He missed spotting pretty obvious leaf scorpionfish. I had to bang my tank to get his attention. Other DMs found Pygmy seahorse, but not him, yet.

The check out dive was a bust. We were dropped on top of a wall with fast current and got blown away to the shallow and had to fin & crawl like hell to get back to the wall. I got some scratches on my “no glove” rule fingers. By the time I got to the wall, 1000 psi was consumed. I looked back & found one of my less experienced & younger buddy, was just gave up & hooked in to a rock alone. I had to go back to him & accompanied him. His tank was about half consumed with bleeding fingers. So, I signaled him to thumb the dive. I launched my DSMB from 40’ depth to make sure the zodiac driver spotted our location, while doing 3-min safety stop. What Batman should have done, as a good DM is to first check the current direction & to drop us in the blue so we could drift towards the wall.

After the busted check dive, I talked to Egoi & moved my less experience buddy to his group.

I didn’t equalized my ear well (often & early) during that 1st busted dive due to the commotion. I’m still suffering from my right ear problem for equalizing. I have to descend very slowly & skipped last night dive # 11.

So far I’m not impressed with the diving. Visibility sucks ~ 50’ at best. It ain’t like Raja Ampat for sure.

The boat is great. Quiet engine, much quieter than Mermaids. Huge room. Very stable during stormy sailing. However the bathroom sometimes smell like missing pee trap. I guess during the storm some of the pee traps got emptied and vented out the stench to the bathroom.

It was quite a stormy night 2 nights ago. We lost a couple sturdy wooden chairs from the main deck. I bet a smaller Phinisi boat might have bellied up with that kind of storm. Banda Sea is an open sea. This boat with twin 825 HP engines is certainly made for handling such situation.

 

[outofofficebrb]

My DM is Batman and I’m disappointed. I’ve seen better. He’s a nice guy, but as a DM, he’s just a rookie. He missed spotting pretty obvious leaf scorpionfish. I had to bang my tank to get his attention. Other DMs found Pygmy seahorse, but not him, yet.

The check out dive was a bust. We were dropped on top of a wall with fast current and got blown away to the shallow and had to fin & crawl like hell to get back to the wall. I got some scratches on my “no glove” rule fingers. By the time I got to the wall, 1000 psi was consumed. I looked back & found one of my less experienced & younger buddy, was just gave up & hooked in to a rock alone. I had to go back to him & accompanied him. His tank was about half consumed with bleeding fingers. So, I signaled him to thumb the dive. I launched my DSMB from 40’ depth to make sure the zodiac driver spotted our location, while doing 3-min safety stop. What Batman should have done, as a good DM is to first check the current direction & to drop us in the blue so we could drift towards the wall.

After the busted check dive, I talked to Egoi & movedmy less experience buddy to his group.

That is frustrating. I do not expect or find it acceptable to have inexperienced or a guide like that especially given how much they are charging for a spot on that liveaboard. Sorry to hear. Thank you for being aware of your buddy and doing the right thing as his buddy and staying with him. I hope that he does not take it personal but also understands it is best that he be moved for everyone. He will probably enjoy diving with less stress and pressure put on him and you can also enjoy your dives more by not feeling like he is holding you back. Please keep us posted on how the trip goes!