Trip Report from Raja Ampat aboard the Calico Jack Liveaboard

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Is the cruise director an Italian lady?
Julie, the cruise director we had during our trip is actually French. She’s been the cruise director since the boat first launched. When she’s on vacation, one of the owners takes her place.
 
We're actually looking into Calico Jack for 2021 for our first liveaboard.

How varied was the food? We've never done a liveaboard before, so I'm concerned there won't be food I'll like. You said meat or fish dishes, can you give examples please?
 
sorry but if out of 10 days there were only 5 with 4 dives and actually 3 days with just two dives I don't consider it to be a "very good number of dives" ...
Especially given the fact that you didn't visit any remote areas like Wayag for example ...
 
We're actually looking into Calico Jack for 2021 for our first liveaboard.

How varied was the food? We've never done a liveaboard before, so I'm concerned there won't be food I'll like. You said meat or fish dishes, can you give examples please?
The cook who they sent to cooking school according to Julie varied the lunch and dinner dishes daily. Before the first dive, cereal was left out if you wanted it. After the first dive breakfast was served. Breakfast was usually crepes or pancakes and fresh baked bread, some type of eggs, and fruit. Guava and mango juice and coffee. Then after the second dive, lunch was served and it was sometimes a pasta dish and salad on the side. I rarely ate lunch because I was always full after breakfast. Then after the third dive there was a snack like fresh fruit or fried bananas or some type of baked sweet. Hardly ate the snacks as I knew dinner was still to come. Dinner always started with a different soup and they were all delicious! Main courses for dinner always had a fish dish (I remember seeing tuna a few times) prepared in various ways- sometimes with a sesame based sauce or other spices. A chicken dish was also prepared in various ways. I don’t remember ever having the same thing twice. We had pizza on the last night which was very good. The beach BBQ they set up for us was wonderful! We had steak and grilled squid that night. I was not disappointed one bit with the food and they made sure to let my husband know which dishes he couldn’t eat because of his food allergy.
 
sorry but if out of 10 days there were only 5 with 4 dives and actually 3 days with just two dives I don't consider it to be a "very good number of dives" ...
Especially given the fact that you didn't visit any remote areas like Wayag for example ...
If you look at the itineraries for other liveaboards that dive Raja, it’s average. And many of the liveaboards that have an equal number of dives may not cover as much of Raja as Calico Jack. They may either do just North, Central or South or two out of the three areas. The farthest North we went was Wofoh I believe and the first day on board we sailed South for 12+ hours to Misool. So the days you see only two dives, those were the days we had to do big ocean crossings.
 
sorry but if out of 10 days there were only 5 with 4 dives and actually 3 days with just two dives I don't consider it to be a "very good number of dives" ...
Especially given the fact that you didn't visit any remote areas like Wayag for example ...

Some of the days you end up doing treks or a lagoon trip or a BBQ instead of a night dive. It’s not unique to Raja as I have seen this in Komodo, too. The 10-12 day itineraries I am doing or have done are north central and south. Longer distances.

I was on another boat (Pearl of Papua) doing a 10 night/11 day itinerary with 31 dives. We had 5 days with 4 dives a day, 2 days with 3 dives, 2 days with 2 dives, and 1 day with 1 dive (boarding day) for a check dive.

I’ll have to look back on my logs for the first time I was in Raja with the Raja Ampat Aggressor but that was 7 days.

My next trip back out there is an 11 night/12 day which is 33-36 dives on yet another boat. (Ambai) It’s still proportional to the Calico and my last 11 day trip there. I’m a Raja junkie and can tell you this is pretty normal. You will also find on trips like Banda Sea crossings, they cover 80-100 nautical miles on some days and fitting 4-5 a day is not possible given the distance.
 
Some of the days you end up doing treks or a lagoon trip or a BBQ instead of a night dive. It’s not unique to Raja as I have seen this in Komodo, too. The 10-12 day itineraries I am doing or have done are north central and south. Longer distances.

I was on another boat (Pearl of Papua) doing a 10 night/11 day itinerary with 31 dives. We had 5 days with 4 dives a day, 2 days with 3 dives, 2 days with 2 dives, and 1 day with 1 dive (boarding day) for a check dive.

I’ll have to look back on my logs for the first time I was in Raja with the Raja Ampat Aggressor but that was 7 days.

My next trip back out there is an 11 night/12 day which is 33-36 dives on yet another boat. (Ambai) It’s still proportional to the Calico and my last 11 day trip there. I’m a Raja junkie and can tell you this is pretty normal. You will also find on trips like Banda Sea crossings, they cover 80-100 nautical miles on some days and fitting 4-5 a day is not possible given the distance.

Have you been o the Ambai before?
 
I like the Seahorse having been aboard her twice but have often wondered if I would like the Ambai more.

Who recommended? Was it me? Heehee
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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