ski&dive
Registered
For many years, Raja Ampat has been on our Bucket List. We had been watching City Seahorse's trips and saw there was space available for a 2 week trip on SMY Ondina leaving mid October and offered at a significant discount from the full price. And the timing was right to get away from the political ads. This trip offered 14 days of diving, only 12 divers and up to 61 dives with additional divemasters. As our experience has been, the quality of Asian diving depends a lot on the divemasters and we were willing to pay a surcharge to the person organizing the trip for what was supposed to be top notch divemasters and extra dives.
The trip began badly with a delay leaving Denver on United causing concerns about making our connecting flight to Hong Kong. We did make the connection with time to spare but then that flight was also delayed reducing the "rest time" we had planned in Hong Kong. The following day Cathay Pacific got us to Jakarta on time for our long layover. Sriwijaya got us to Sorong on time where we were met by the trip leader and cruise director, one of the special additional divemasters. Instead of going directly to the boat, we went to the hotel where earlier arrivals were staying. Then the caravan went to the dock where we all waited for the tenders to take us to the boat. 72 hours later we were finally on the boat, tired but ready to dive. But then there was the "Boat Briefing" after which we had about an hour and a half to unpack and set up our gear. Then we had the general diving briefing followed by a break before lunch, lunch, moving the boat a short distance to a site just outside the channel and finally the dive briefing at 2PM. 6 hours after arriving in Sorong, we finally got into the water. The site was not that good but we were able to dive. One dive at that site would have been enough but we did a second sunset dive there before a long passage to better diving.
The following day we started diving at 7am. The divemaster either misread the current or dropped us in at the wrong place. Still tired from the trip, we were swimming into the current for 10 minutes before I motioned to the divemaster to turn around. He told (signaled) to me that the divesite was just a short swim further so we continued. There was practically no current on the divesite but on the other side the current was running in the opposite direction.
What was not explained in the dive briefing, and I assume the cruise director forgot since it was his first trip in Raja Ampat since the previous year, is the current flows into the divesite and splits so it is going in opposite directions as you get away from perpendicular. This was explained in the second dive briefing. The plan was to stay in the current pushing us into the seamount and zigzag so we would not get into the current pushing us around the site. We did drop in in the right place but the divemaster did not turn around soon enough and we had to fight the current to get back. An then he again led us too far before we did the second turn. After swimming only a short distance into the current again, we abandoned the DM, watched the fish where we were for a few more minutes and cut the dive short. I "discussed" this with the Cruise Director when we got back onboard. We did the following 2 dives we did without the "assistance" of the divemater.
The second day we had a different divemaster. The general diving procedures were 4 groups of 3 or 4 divers. The 4 divemasters would rotate amongst the groups. A 3-4 to 1 guest to guide ratio sounds great but 2-4 divers per guide is common for land based resorts in the Philippines and Indonesia. And these guides were more knowledgeable about the divesites because they dive them every day, not just once or twice every 2 weeks. The groups were determined by the cruise director and/or the trip leader. She is the one that selected the additional 2 divemasters who had worked on the boat before and, as far as I am concerned were her "personal" divemasters. My dive buddy and I were pared with a photographer for a 3 person group. Later he asked to be put with other photographers so we had a personal watchman who more often was following us than leading.
This trip was advertised as catering to photographers so there were about 9 BIG cameras for the 14 divers, counting the trip leader and "special guest" a sponsored professional writer/photographer. The boat normally carries 16 divers. And with 4 divemasters instead of the normal 2, there were still 18 divers in the water. Most of the time this was not too many but on some sites like piers or when someone finds something interesting like one of the 2 frogfish we saw in 2 weeks, it is a major BF as the photographers fight to fry the poor fish. I felt I had brought a pocket knife (my Canon G9 and spotting light) to a gunfight (SLRs with double strobes) and especially on the night dives. We had to stay far away from the bright lights of the other cameras.
I was not impressed with the divemasters or their site selections. We did the same site as many as 6 times during the trip. We spent all day, 5 dives on an open deck day at a muck site called "Black Beauty." Having just been in Lembeh 18 months ago, I was unimpressed and only one day dive and one night dive would have been enough. We did Manta Mantra twice on the third day and then again twice on the last day. The first time was good. The second time, there were 3 other boats there and it was a real BF with many divers ignoring the "rules" to stay out of the designated cleaning station area. Another day, we waited 4 hours for the current to calm down enough to dive another site. The current was still very strong and the divemaster had us drop in too close to the reef and on the wrong side of the current split. That was another dive that was aborted. We did only 26 different dive sites in 56 dives offered (including both the either/or sunset or night dive). But with no time limit on dives (70-80 minute dives were common) everyone got plenty of bottom time.
We did do a unique dive. (I describe a unique dive as something you can do in only one place in the world like Stingray City in Grand Cayman.) This was called "The Passage". It is a narrow channel with really ripping current. We drop in at a small bay in an eddy. There is a cave that our divemaster never showed us, probably because he didn't know where it was. There are Archer fish and halfbeaks. At first you must swim against the current to get out of the eddy. Then you are in moderate current, trying not to hit the coral and boulders. Then you get into strong current. Instinct is to try to slow down. Don't, just go with the flow. Then you get into another bay and the current all but stops so you can see stuff. Then you fly through the channel where we was Napoleon Wrasses, Humphead Parrots, a black tip shark and a turtle and schools of other fish. There was another slow moving bay and then beautiful coral that you fly over before entering more open water. The current is so strong that the tender had to tack to get us back up the channel. Not all the divers did this dive. 2 did not even attempt it because of either concerns about the current or medical problem and another group of 4 photographers aborted almost immediately. This is one dive we wanted to do again because now we knew that we could just go with the current and I wanted to do some video going over the coral. We did and still didn't see the cave and the current was changing and our divemaster didn't have a clue where he was. Instead of flying through the channel, our divemaster lead us swimming over algae from one side to another for 25 minutes before we aborted. Another disappointment.
There were some great dives. One of the 3 we did on Mioskon had several Wobbegon Sharks, schools of fish and for a minute, we saw winged oysters spawning. The second Manta dive was excellent because there were lots of Mantas, mild current and we were the only boat there. The night Dives at Pearl Pier and Saonek and one day dive Black Beauty had lots to see. And we really liked the first dive at The Passage. Overall, most of the dives were good to average with as many bad dives as great ones
There were lots of fish, but unlike other places we have been, instead of seeking protection from the current, the schools of fish congregate in the current. The best way to watch them is use a reef hook and hold your position. We did not have reef hooks. The reefs were generally pristine and there were large schools of Bat Fish, Spanish Mackerel, snappers, and Fusiliers. There were many different kinds of pipefish and small crabs. There were lots of pygmy seahorses and one of the divemasters had great eyes and the ability to find them. My eyes are older and only after I blew up the pictures I took where he pointed was I able to see what they look like. Unfortunately he either looked for tiny things we could not see or big things like Bumphead Parrots or the occasional shark that swam by in the distance.
Aside from the diving the boat was quite nice. It is a Phinisi, wooden ship built to be a liveaboard. It has 8 guest rooms with a double and bunk bed and head. It has a marine toilet and shower with room temperature water. Hot showers are available just forward of the dive deck. The ship style isn't the most convenient for diving but it is good for the long passages. It is similar to most other boats diving in that area. Access to the tenders are via ladders/steps on each side. The crew will take your equipment to and from the tenders but you still must be careful getting on and off. There was a spacious sundeck and an outdoor table forward of the salon. Meals were mostly traditional Indonesian. Dinner usually included beef or chicken and fish, shrimp or squid with rice and vegetable, soup and salad and dessert. Breakfast was usually fried rice or noodles and eggs. And there was always a great selection of snacks. We liked the food very much.
Overall it was a good trip. My problem was with the Cruise Director who was responsible for the selection of divesites and the divemasters. But for the cost and difficulty getting there, we are unlikely to go back.
The trip began badly with a delay leaving Denver on United causing concerns about making our connecting flight to Hong Kong. We did make the connection with time to spare but then that flight was also delayed reducing the "rest time" we had planned in Hong Kong. The following day Cathay Pacific got us to Jakarta on time for our long layover. Sriwijaya got us to Sorong on time where we were met by the trip leader and cruise director, one of the special additional divemasters. Instead of going directly to the boat, we went to the hotel where earlier arrivals were staying. Then the caravan went to the dock where we all waited for the tenders to take us to the boat. 72 hours later we were finally on the boat, tired but ready to dive. But then there was the "Boat Briefing" after which we had about an hour and a half to unpack and set up our gear. Then we had the general diving briefing followed by a break before lunch, lunch, moving the boat a short distance to a site just outside the channel and finally the dive briefing at 2PM. 6 hours after arriving in Sorong, we finally got into the water. The site was not that good but we were able to dive. One dive at that site would have been enough but we did a second sunset dive there before a long passage to better diving.
The following day we started diving at 7am. The divemaster either misread the current or dropped us in at the wrong place. Still tired from the trip, we were swimming into the current for 10 minutes before I motioned to the divemaster to turn around. He told (signaled) to me that the divesite was just a short swim further so we continued. There was practically no current on the divesite but on the other side the current was running in the opposite direction.
What was not explained in the dive briefing, and I assume the cruise director forgot since it was his first trip in Raja Ampat since the previous year, is the current flows into the divesite and splits so it is going in opposite directions as you get away from perpendicular. This was explained in the second dive briefing. The plan was to stay in the current pushing us into the seamount and zigzag so we would not get into the current pushing us around the site. We did drop in in the right place but the divemaster did not turn around soon enough and we had to fight the current to get back. An then he again led us too far before we did the second turn. After swimming only a short distance into the current again, we abandoned the DM, watched the fish where we were for a few more minutes and cut the dive short. I "discussed" this with the Cruise Director when we got back onboard. We did the following 2 dives we did without the "assistance" of the divemater.
The second day we had a different divemaster. The general diving procedures were 4 groups of 3 or 4 divers. The 4 divemasters would rotate amongst the groups. A 3-4 to 1 guest to guide ratio sounds great but 2-4 divers per guide is common for land based resorts in the Philippines and Indonesia. And these guides were more knowledgeable about the divesites because they dive them every day, not just once or twice every 2 weeks. The groups were determined by the cruise director and/or the trip leader. She is the one that selected the additional 2 divemasters who had worked on the boat before and, as far as I am concerned were her "personal" divemasters. My dive buddy and I were pared with a photographer for a 3 person group. Later he asked to be put with other photographers so we had a personal watchman who more often was following us than leading.
This trip was advertised as catering to photographers so there were about 9 BIG cameras for the 14 divers, counting the trip leader and "special guest" a sponsored professional writer/photographer. The boat normally carries 16 divers. And with 4 divemasters instead of the normal 2, there were still 18 divers in the water. Most of the time this was not too many but on some sites like piers or when someone finds something interesting like one of the 2 frogfish we saw in 2 weeks, it is a major BF as the photographers fight to fry the poor fish. I felt I had brought a pocket knife (my Canon G9 and spotting light) to a gunfight (SLRs with double strobes) and especially on the night dives. We had to stay far away from the bright lights of the other cameras.
I was not impressed with the divemasters or their site selections. We did the same site as many as 6 times during the trip. We spent all day, 5 dives on an open deck day at a muck site called "Black Beauty." Having just been in Lembeh 18 months ago, I was unimpressed and only one day dive and one night dive would have been enough. We did Manta Mantra twice on the third day and then again twice on the last day. The first time was good. The second time, there were 3 other boats there and it was a real BF with many divers ignoring the "rules" to stay out of the designated cleaning station area. Another day, we waited 4 hours for the current to calm down enough to dive another site. The current was still very strong and the divemaster had us drop in too close to the reef and on the wrong side of the current split. That was another dive that was aborted. We did only 26 different dive sites in 56 dives offered (including both the either/or sunset or night dive). But with no time limit on dives (70-80 minute dives were common) everyone got plenty of bottom time.
We did do a unique dive. (I describe a unique dive as something you can do in only one place in the world like Stingray City in Grand Cayman.) This was called "The Passage". It is a narrow channel with really ripping current. We drop in at a small bay in an eddy. There is a cave that our divemaster never showed us, probably because he didn't know where it was. There are Archer fish and halfbeaks. At first you must swim against the current to get out of the eddy. Then you are in moderate current, trying not to hit the coral and boulders. Then you get into strong current. Instinct is to try to slow down. Don't, just go with the flow. Then you get into another bay and the current all but stops so you can see stuff. Then you fly through the channel where we was Napoleon Wrasses, Humphead Parrots, a black tip shark and a turtle and schools of other fish. There was another slow moving bay and then beautiful coral that you fly over before entering more open water. The current is so strong that the tender had to tack to get us back up the channel. Not all the divers did this dive. 2 did not even attempt it because of either concerns about the current or medical problem and another group of 4 photographers aborted almost immediately. This is one dive we wanted to do again because now we knew that we could just go with the current and I wanted to do some video going over the coral. We did and still didn't see the cave and the current was changing and our divemaster didn't have a clue where he was. Instead of flying through the channel, our divemaster lead us swimming over algae from one side to another for 25 minutes before we aborted. Another disappointment.
There were some great dives. One of the 3 we did on Mioskon had several Wobbegon Sharks, schools of fish and for a minute, we saw winged oysters spawning. The second Manta dive was excellent because there were lots of Mantas, mild current and we were the only boat there. The night Dives at Pearl Pier and Saonek and one day dive Black Beauty had lots to see. And we really liked the first dive at The Passage. Overall, most of the dives were good to average with as many bad dives as great ones
There were lots of fish, but unlike other places we have been, instead of seeking protection from the current, the schools of fish congregate in the current. The best way to watch them is use a reef hook and hold your position. We did not have reef hooks. The reefs were generally pristine and there were large schools of Bat Fish, Spanish Mackerel, snappers, and Fusiliers. There were many different kinds of pipefish and small crabs. There were lots of pygmy seahorses and one of the divemasters had great eyes and the ability to find them. My eyes are older and only after I blew up the pictures I took where he pointed was I able to see what they look like. Unfortunately he either looked for tiny things we could not see or big things like Bumphead Parrots or the occasional shark that swam by in the distance.
Aside from the diving the boat was quite nice. It is a Phinisi, wooden ship built to be a liveaboard. It has 8 guest rooms with a double and bunk bed and head. It has a marine toilet and shower with room temperature water. Hot showers are available just forward of the dive deck. The ship style isn't the most convenient for diving but it is good for the long passages. It is similar to most other boats diving in that area. Access to the tenders are via ladders/steps on each side. The crew will take your equipment to and from the tenders but you still must be careful getting on and off. There was a spacious sundeck and an outdoor table forward of the salon. Meals were mostly traditional Indonesian. Dinner usually included beef or chicken and fish, shrimp or squid with rice and vegetable, soup and salad and dessert. Breakfast was usually fried rice or noodles and eggs. And there was always a great selection of snacks. We liked the food very much.
Overall it was a good trip. My problem was with the Cruise Director who was responsible for the selection of divesites and the divemasters. But for the cost and difficulty getting there, we are unlikely to go back.
// ww
