Trip Report Trip Video - Raja Ampat, March 2023

[CWK]

Sharing two videos from my recent trip to Raja Ampat. One video for the resort, and one for the LOB.

Raja Ampat, March 2023, Week 1

Raja Ampat, March 2023, Week 2

 

[AlMitch]

WK...wow!! Great videos!
You had some incredible encounters out there...but the diving conditions looked pretty poor...

In terms of the dive resort...So how?
How did you enjoy it?

And the Blue Manta, did it live up to it's reputation?

 

[CWK]

...but the diving conditions looked pretty poor...

In terms of the dive resort...So how?
How did you enjoy it?

And the Blue Manta, did it live up to it's reputation?

Viz was generally not good and there was rain in the Dampier Straits. The recent La Nina event may not have been good for diving in Indonesia.

The resort
- Nitrox mix had some variability. I had between 31% and 35%. No big deal to me as I can adjust my computers, but I am aware that there were other divers who were rejecting bottles of nitrox.
- I had booked and prepaid for nitrox. On the first day, the resort paired me with a guide on air. Suffice to say that the guide went into deco on dives two and three on that first day. The guide was on nitrox for the next three days of diving with me.
- There were four dive guides, of which two were junior trainee guides. I only dived with the most senior of the guides and I would not place him in the top drawer of Indonesian dive guides. I was informed by a member of staff that the owner would not pay up for top guides.
- The resort has no camera room so it may not be a good choice for anyone with a serious camera. My cabin had only one socket in the bedroom and one in the bathroom that could be used for charging batteries.

Overall, I cannot recommend the resort for discerning divers.

Blue Manta
- The owner of the boat appears to have taken a decision to increase the number of divers on each trip. They have also increased the number of dive guides to seven, from the five previously. The other change is that they are now running four tenders, up from the previous three.
- On smaller dive sites, I did feel that there were too many divers in the water. I believer that there were twenty-three diving guests on my last trip. The BM has fourteen cabins, which would mean twenty-eight guests based on twin share occupancy.
- Those who know Egoi will be saddened to learn that my March 2023 trip on Blue Manta was also Egoi's last trip as CD. I believe that he does not agree with quantity over quality.

I suspect that the Blue Manta experience going forward will not be comparable to that of the past.

 

[Joneill]

Viz was generally not good and there was rain in the Dampier Straits. The recent La Nina event may not have been good for diving in Indonesia.

The resort
- Nitrox mix had some variability. I had between 31% and 35%. No big deal to me as I can adjust my computers, but I am aware that there were other divers who were rejecting bottles of nitrox.
- I had booked and prepaid for nitrox. On the first day, the resort paired me with a guide on air. Suffice to say that the guide went into deco on dives two and three on that first day. The guide was on nitrox for the next three days of diving with me.
- There were four dive guides, of which two were junior trainee guides. I only dived with the most senior of the guides and I would not place him in the top drawer of Indonesian dive guides. I was informed by a member of staff that the owner would not pay up for top guides.
- The resort has no camera room so it may not be a good choice for anyone with a serious camera. My cabin had only one socket in the bedroom and one in the bathroom that could be used for charging batteries.

Overall, I cannot recommend the resort for discerning divers.

Blue Manta
- The owner of the boat appears to have taken a decision to increase the number of divers on each trip. They have also increased the number of dive guides to seven, from the five previously. The other change is that they are now running four tenders, up from the previous three.
- On smaller dive sites, I did feel that there were too many divers in the water. I believer that there were twenty-three diving guests on my last trip. The BM has fourteen cabins, which would mean twenty-eight guests based on twin share occupancy.
- Those who know Egoi will be saddened to learn that my March 2023 trip on Blue Manta was also Egoi's last trip as CD. I believe that he does not agree with quantity over quality.

I suspect that the Blue Manta experience going forward will not be comparable to that of the past.

Blue Manta offers some single supplements as well so I would not expect there to ever be 28 divers on board. I was on Blue Manta this past December (Dec 23-Jan 2) and we had 21 divers aboard. It was a wonderful experience in all aspects including our CD Cedric - he was fantastic.

 

[CWK]

Blue Manta offers some single supplements as well so I would not expect there to ever be 28 divers on board. I was on Blue Manta this past December (Dec 23-Jan 2) and we had 21 divers aboard. It was a wonderful experience in all aspects including our CD Cedric - he was fantastic.

There is a reason that they increased the number of dive guides. No business increases their cost base without a strategy for recovering their increased cost.

The availability of single supplement cabins is at the discretion of the boat. My expectation is that they will decrease the availability of single supplement cabins.

I believe Cedric was Egoi’s predecessor as full time CD on BM. Cedric left BM to work as a freelance CD several years ago but returned to BM whenever Egoi went on leave. With Egoi’s departure, I was told that Cedric will return to BM as CD for the time being. I recall that when the current White Manta was commissioned 3 or 4 years ago, Vincent (the owner of the Mantas) introduced Cedric to me as the CD of White Manta. But Cedric did not stay for long and Anto became CD in the WM. I am expecting history to repeat as Cedric has associations outside the Manta group that will pull him away.

 

[CWK]

FWIW, I did back to back trips on BM in September/October 2022, Egoi was the CD on the first trip but Cedric was CD on the second trip because Egoi went on leave. Prior to September 2022, Egoi was always CD on the 5 or 6 cruises I did on BM stretching back to about 2018.

 

[stepfen]

Very nice @CWK . One question if you don't mind.
How do you manage to get so stable macro videos?? I am trying these days to shoot macro with a GoPro 11 (with an inon +5 diopter) and although GoPro 11 has very good stabilization my videos look crap due to shake, unless I place my rig on a rock or something. Your shots are so stable, but not touching anything as background moves slowly. How do you do this?
Thanks

 

[CWK]

Very nice @CWK . One question if you don't mind.
How do you manage to get so stable macro videos?? I am trying these days to shoot macro with a GoPro 11 (with an inon +5 diopter) and although GoPro 11 has very good stabilization my videos look crap due to shake, unless I place my rig on a rock or something. Your shots are so stable, but not touching anything as background moves slowly. How do you do this?
Thanks

I use Final Cut which has a stabilisation feature.

 

[Catito]

Sharing two videos from my recent trip to Raja Ampat. One video for the resort, and one for the LOB.

Raja Ampat, March 2023, Week 1

Raja Ampat, March 2023, Week 2

Fantastic. Thanks

 

[living4experiences]

Viz was generally not good and there was rain in the Dampier Straits. The recent La Nina event may not have been good for diving in Indonesia.

The resort
- Nitrox mix had some variability. I had between 31% and 35%. No big deal to me as I can adjust my computers, but I am aware that there were other divers who were rejecting bottles of nitrox.
- I had booked and prepaid for nitrox. On the first day, the resort paired me with a guide on air. Suffice to say that the guide went into deco on dives two and three on that first day. The guide was on nitrox for the next three days of diving with me.
- There were four dive guides, of which two were junior trainee guides. I only dived with the most senior of the guides and I would not place him in the top drawer of Indonesian dive guides. I was informed by a member of staff that the owner would not pay up for top guides.
- The resort has no camera room so it may not be a good choice for anyone with a serious camera. My cabin had only one socket in the bedroom and one in the bathroom that could be used for charging batteries.

Overall, I cannot recommend the resort for discerning divers.

Blue Manta
- The owner of the boat appears to have taken a decision to increase the number of divers on each trip. They have also increased the number of dive guides to seven, from the five previously. The other change is that they are now running four tenders, up from the previous three.
- On smaller dive sites, I did feel that there were too many divers in the water. I believer that there were twenty-three diving guests on my last trip. The BM has fourteen cabins, which would mean twenty-eight guests based on twin share occupancy.
- Those who know Egoi will be saddened to learn that my March 2023 trip on Blue Manta was also Egoi's last trip as CD. I believe that he does not agree with quantity over quality.

I suspect that the Blue Manta experience going forward will not be comparable to that of the past.

Thank you for sharing. I had been looking at the Manta boats before COVID when the single penalty supplement was 10%. Post-COVID, they have raised it to 20%. While still below the industry pricing to have your own room, I will also consider the increased number of divers they're putting on the boat before I make future decisions.