billt4sf
Contributor
Trip Report – Ambon to Raja Ampat, Feb 24 – Mar 9, 2018 - Mermaid II
We went on a 10-diving day crossing trip from Ambon, across to the Banda Islands, then to Raja Ampat, ending in Sorong. It was our first time on Mermaid II, having been on Mermaid I a few times. Mermaid does it again!
The Summary – Everything well-organized. Great crew -- they carried our gear and help you in and out of the boats every time. Showers on the back deck. Multiple sharks every dive. Marlin sighting! What else do you want to know?
Please read the comment at the end.
There were 11 divers on board, (the boat capacity is 18), and it was nice to have the extra room. I can truthfully say we liked all the other guests and of course the crew was wonderful. They call it a “12 day” cruise but there were 10 diving days, a total of 32 dives if you did them all. Since it’s a crossing trip there were only a few night dives and I think there were four nights where we steamed basically all night. It was pretty rough one night crossing the Banda Sea. Don’t take a trip like this if you want the maximum number of comfortable nights.
The Flying – What can I say? It’s a PITA. From Bali, we flew to Ambon via Makassar with a 9 hour layover in the lovely ibis transit hotel. We stayed one night in the ____ Resort and Spa, co-located with Dive Into Ambon and you are welcome to have at it. I would suggest the bungalows might be less noisy than the rooms (there was a party behind the room building).
The Boat – Mermaid I is configured for 16 guests, and Mermaid II for 18 or 20. The restaurant room is rather small for the number of people (though comfortable for the 11 of us) but there is a nice aircon social room upstairs. Also upstairs is a large outdoor deck which wasn’t used much. There is a nice lounge area on the bow offering GREAT sunsets during good weather. This big guy really appreciated the showers on the back deck, thankfully I never had to get in the en-suite shower.
The cabins are space-limited, the two of us did fine but there is no counter space in the en-suite. Beds are bunks, one above the other, the lower one larger (wider) so someone (not me J) has to climb. Two people could lie side-side on the lower bunk but not all night! Unlike Mermaid I, there is no good place to sit in the cabin. Unfortunately for me, the bunk situation set off my vertigo so about half of the trip I was discomfited.
Ins and outs were easy. Access to the dive sites is via dingys, the trip was a fraction of a minute in every case. I love the way Mermaid has trained its staff to help guests in and out of the boat every time without asking – very important for this old man with bad balance! I no longer carry my gear, which is backplate / wing with long hose, and the crew were fantastic in setting the gear on the gunwale of the dingy and helping me into it every time with no problems. I gratefully tip for this service.
At one point we hit an unexpected wave and a number of fins that were being staged for the next dive washed overboard. The boat had enough fins for everyone and Mermaid bought new ones for us on arrival in Sorong.
The Diving – One diving day in Ambon (muck, so what?), two in Banda (walls, great viz), one in Manuk (snakes), one in Koon, then five in Raja – two in Misool area, one north of Dampier Strait, two in Dampier Strait. Viz was most often at least 25m, a few times it was in the 10 - 15m region. We saw all the critters you would expect to see (except mantas L ) and also we saw a marlin! Great sighting, that. It was a rare dive when we did not see at least one reef shark, often two or three and in RA we saw wobbegongs every dive, often more than one. Depth was up to 25m, water temps were the usual 28 – 29 deg C.
Comment – I saw quite a number of corals that were diseased, others did as well. It seemed to affect table corals more than anything else. Don’t get me wrong – we were always in beautiful areas, and there were many healthy corals. But to my untrained eye it was quite noticeable. Is this a normal process, or is something untoward happening?
