Trip Report Velocean 1/8-1/16/2025

[Soloist]

I frequently would run low on air and be the one who forced the group to end their dive.

There are many statements regarding the issues you encountered during your dives I found somewhat perplexing, but this one really struck a nerve. Is it SOP on the Velocean for everyone to go up as a group? So if one person runs low on air, has an equipment problem or "other issue" the dive for the entire group is terminated? If so, this is quite troubling to me and would lead to some long and heated discussions on deck if faced with this prospect, especially considering the time, money and inconvenience associated with traveling to Indonesia from North America.

My wife and I just returned from a Raja Ampat liveaboard trip and we did the max allotted time (and then some) on all of the 29 dives offered. Dives were slated for 70 minutes and night dives were 60 minutes. Some of the dives in Misool were 60 minutes max due to scheduling site access with the other boats in the area. If the two divers (previously unknown to us) in our foursome needed to go up early they did, but we continued with our dive typically without the guide. There were times the guide would purposely direct us to another area to explore away from the other two and himself. This allowed us to take a long shallow swim through the middle of a mangrove, hang out on several super fishy pinnacles or check out a different part of the reef altogether. At the end of the dive we would deploy a DSMB then climb aboard the dinghy with gear on our backs. Did we have ripping currents? Yes, on numerous dives including one of the night dives. The dive guide presenting the briefings would warn us over and over again about the potentially, if not inevitably, strong currents we would encounter. This was our first time diving in Raja Ampat and it can be aggressive and challenging at times, however, if you adapt, improvise and overcome the payoff is the opportunity to experience some of the most beautiful dive sites in the world.

 

[Bookworm11]

Everyone surfaced as a group. So all five of us came up together. The only time that changed was when I hired a private guide. After that, he and I would come up, and the remaining group stayed down. Note I am only speaking for my dive group of 5. It may have been different for the other three dive groups on board. I can't say. I never discussed that aspect of diving with the other groups. I do know that our DM always went down to 90 feet just about every dive, even if there was nothing down there to see, and he never brought the group up to 30 feet near the end of the dive to conserve air. We were always coming up from 40-50 feet to the safety stop. That wasn't the case for the other three groups. As I said, our DM wasn't a fulltime DM for the Velocean. He just filled in when the other FT DMs went on vacation. I strongly believe I would have had a much better experience had I been in a different group with a different DM.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Everyone surfaced as a group. So all five of us came up together. The only time that changed was when I hired a private guide. After that, he and I would come up, and the remaining group stayed down. Note I am only speaking for my dive group of 5. It may have been different for the other three dive groups on board. I can't say. I never discussed that aspect of diving with the other groups. I do know that our DM always went down to 90 feet just about every dive, even if there was nothing down there to see, and he never brought the group up to 30 feet near the end of the dive to conserve air. We were always coming up from 40-50 feet to the safety stop. That wasn't the case for the other three groups. As I said, our DM wasn't a fulltime DM for the Velocean. He just filled in when the other FT DMs went on vacation. I strongly believe I would have had a much better experience had I been in a different group with a different DM.

Or perhaps there'd have been other aspects that you wouldn't have cared for. These things are unknowable.

I've been diving with guides whose style I didn't care for. Suffice to say, I can be a recalcitant diver. It doesn't take long for us to some kind of understanding.