Review: La Galigo Liveaboard

[Dan]

I've been in La Galigo & had a great experience with their ultimate Raja Ampat trip. Fendy is one of the best dive guide I have seen in 12 years and over 500 dives with majority of the dives were in Indonesia. In fact I like that trip so much & charter the boat for November 12-day crossing trip from Ambon to Sorong.

It is surprising to hear such negative comments about them. As usual, there are 2 sides of the story. Let's reserve judgment until hearing their response.

 

[maxdiving]

DandyDon:

Yeah you're right, in hindsight my bunkmate and I were quite happy we woke up because of the rain. Also I'm gonna have a look at that sensor. Never thought i would net to carry my own analysers with me, but that actually seems rather prudent now. CO poisoning is scary.

Thrawn7, Darnold9999

I share your sentiment regarding the local dive guides. The guys on the boat were actually rather proficient while underwater. Good awareness of all the critters under water and they did a good job in generally guiding the groups. Several times, they made prudent decisions while under water to abandon a route because the current had changed for some weird reason. If the environment is unpredictable that is completely fine by me. Maybe I am a bit too inexperienced to see the ins and outs of these decisions.
The discrepancy between local salaries and the cost of certifications is really quite steep. But surely it would be prudent to have at least someone on the boat, who also knows the theoretical and safety aspects of diving. Especially when your selling trips to the tune of 3200 Euros for 9 nights. Not exactly a bargain.

The issue with nitrox diving i have is the unpredictability of it. I don't want to be surprised by the contents of my tank. I also didn't refuse these tanks, because as you said the difference is negligible. My Paranoia however lead me to analyse every tank i got, because the nitrox tanks weren't clearly marked with a nice big sticker - they just had a different cap that might come off.

You're right about Raja Ampat, it is a really special place.

 

[Wookie]

Running a liveaboard is all about managing expectations. Sadly, yours were poorly managed. It's always better to under-promise and over-deliver than the other way around. I did not run the most luxurious or friendliest liveaboard in the world, but we delivered exactly or more than promised and had 80% of our clients as returning customers. As DanT said above, he loved the level and quality of service on his trip, enough to book it again. Obviously the OP expected far more than was being offered (and by the OPs description of the brochure, should have) and was unhappy. I had a trip leader who sold his last spot to someone completely unprepared to dive from the Spree (it was a Cuba trip, the diver had a bad back and a large camera rig, and all diving was advertised as "Live Boat"). She found me at a trade show and asked what were the procedures for handing up her camera and dive gear when she got back on, as it would take her a while to get her gear off. Melanie and I looked at each other in horror and couldn't give her a refund fast enough. While we were very clear on our website that we did not ever under any excuses handle customer gear, somehow reading the website wasn't important to her.

I don't blame the OP here, in many cases the literature for a destination is "misleading" at best, but I do wish people would take the time to read what the company puts out for information, and ask questions. The operator knows their boat better than anyone and if it routinely rains in cabin 3, well, that should be public knowledge.

 

[Pillpusher]

I have no problem with the guides changing plans on the fly dependent on the conditions. I'm sure we all actually prefer them to when it comes down to it. Nor do I take issue with their formal qualifications, or lack thereof. In fact, like many boats in the area, I don't see anywhere on their website that refers to their staff as "divemasters", "DM's", or "instructors"... It simply refers to them as "staff" or "guides". It does say they are all trained in primary first aid and secondary care. Luckily, nobody had to test that statement.

That being said, where I would take issue is the apparently lack of maintenance and the way the situation was handled. As previously stated, the exhaust issue could have been VERY serious. Yes, stuff breaks on a boat, I get that. But, if things went down like the OP said, the staff clearly didn't handle things right. And considering how shotty the air fills and room roof maintenance clearly was, there is a good chance this could have been avoided with proper maintenance.

If the roof leaks that bad, I'm sure it's not the first time it happened, and I would think that is something that could/should have been taken care of between trips... Especially on a boat that prides themself on luxury.

My main issue is with the tank fills. In your opinion, the difference between 21-24 is negligible, but what about the people using those tanks to calibrate their Nitrox from? That is a huge problem, IMO. Every place I have ever dove Nitrox REQUIRES you to check your Nitrox mix before every dive as a safety precaution (as well as to cover their asses from a liability standpoint by having you initial it). This is the polar opposite end of the spectrum.

 

[Joneill]

My main issue is with the tank fills. In your opinion, the difference between 21-24 is negligible, but what about the people using those tanks to calibrate their Nitrox from?

That is exactly why I calibrate my Cootwo with ambient air and not with an "air" tank - I have no idea what is actually in the tank?

 

[Pillpusher]

That is exactly why I calibrate my Cootwo with ambient air and not with an "air" tank - I have no idea what is actually in the tank?

I'm not sure what kind of analyzers they provided, or how good they are with ambient air readings. I honestly don't know for sure, but I don't think most work well in that manner.

 

[DandyDon]

Yeah you're right, in hindsight my bunkmate and I were quite happy we woke up because of the rain. Also I'm gonna have a look at that sensor. Never thought i would net to carry my own analysers with me, but that actually seems rather prudent now. CO poisoning is scary.

The Cootwo model that analyzes Oxygen and checks for CO both is just great if you don't mind spending the money. The Sensorcon CO model costs less, and altho not adapted to tanks - I drop the unit in a one gallon ziplock, carefully fill from the tank, close, and see what happens. Warning: crack tank valve first, then stick bag over. I once cracked a valve with the bag already in place and sent it and the unit overboard!

 

[maxdiving]

To be frank, I was quite happy with everything on the boat, until things started breaking down and the staff acted as if I was completely out of my mind to react in this fashion (e.g. sleep in the mess hall). Fendy was actually a rather nice bloke as well, until things came up that were unpleasant to handle.

Wookie, Pillpusher:

I understand that satisfaction with a service directly relates to the expectation you have toward it. The statements of La Galigos website do in fact only speak of fully trained staff, without mentioning particulars. However, their entry on liveaboard.com states that "Dive Master services" are included in the package. If that is not directly deceitful, than it is at least highly misleading. If they are not certified, then that they could have just stated that outright to me when i asked. Instead, they responded that they simply forgot their certification number.

Also, I'm somewhat confident that wasn't the first time it rained in that cabin - at least that is how i explain the plastic foil that was already attached to the roof of our cabin when we checked into it.

 

[Indah]

I hope that there once will be a time when the certification is not done by the training agency ($$$ company), but by an independent body. Comparable to driver licenses, pilot licenses and probably everything except from scuba-diving. And second, that there will be training programs which fits the culture and background of our, in general, excellent Indonesian guides. Finally, any diver with a certification should be able to take care of him/herself. Scary to hear certified guests saying: "o dear, when my mask would come off unexpected, I totally would panic".

 

[ronscuba]

Not sure if nitrox certification is different for other agencies, but part of my PADI nitrox certification class was I had to accept responsibility to analyze my tank and sign off on it before every dive. This was not just during certification, but acceptance of responsibility to do it for every nitrox tank from that point forward.

I have been on boats that had tanks labeled, but I still analyzed them myself. Other boats had the crew analyze in front of me so I could witness.

Biggest thing bothers me about your story is the carbon monoxide. That is a serious problem.