You can now scuba with Explorer Ventures in Indonesia!

[EVMia]

That's what isn't clear to me. They are (or at least have been) White Manta Diving's boats, and they have been offering these destinations for some time. What's Explorer Ventures' role in this "partnership" with White Manta Diving? Why would I not just book a trip via White Manta's website as before?

Hi Lorenzoid!
With regards to our new partnership with White Manta, M/V Blue Manta Explorer and M/V Raja Manta Explorer joining the fleet allows Explorer Ventures to offer even more destinations to our divers. We welcome everyone to book with us OR with them as you always have– we will be happy to have you join one of the trips either way!! By booking with Explorer, you will be able to take advantage of our repeat guest programs and a small added feature is the convenience of operating within North American time zones.
Hope this clarifies the new relationship and why we're excited to be able to offer it to you

 

[EVMia]

Good to hear. One thing I noticed that bears singling out (no pun intended):
A quick scan over your site and this thread left me with an observation, and a couple of questions.

Observation: Your boat's schedules vary a lot in trip duration - like 6 to 10 days, and it seems kind of random. Is this because of groups booking the boat, changes in itinerary or what?

Looking and trip durations that seem common in trip reports, let's take 2 trip durations, a 7-day and a 10-day Raja Ampat trip, for examples. If the weather's pretty good, about how many dives would be offered on each of those?

Looks like both vessels offer nitrox. Any word on whether they'll offer tank sizes over 80 cf?

Thanks.

Richard.

Hi Richard!
With regard to your question about the 6 - 10 day itineraries that may appear random, they actually reflect the seasons and locations for diving in Indonesia. As well, the different trip durations allow the vessels to accommodate the requests of divers looking for different vacation lengths and help us find you the most perfect scuba liveaboard vacation for your needs and interests!

If you go to our website and click on Indonesia>Itineraries, you are able to choose which vessel and which region. Within those, you will find a tab that says, “Sample Itinerary” and the approximate number of dives are listed. Generally speaking, the vessels offer up to 4 dives/day depending on weather, location, itinerary etc.

Tanks larger than 80cf are available with a rental fee and subject to availability. Make sure to request it on your application form!

Lots of useful information is listed within each of the vessel itineraries under Frequently Asked Questions on each of the vessel/itinerary pages.

Now the big questions is - when will you come join us!!???

 

[charlier]

I see. I have never found booking air and hotel to be difficult--again, these days it's as easy as a click of the mouse--but I suppose I can see the allure of a "package" if they offer that. If airfare, transfer hotels, etc., could be lumped together into a package that costs less than I could book it separately, I would be interested. Someday I will take a group trip and sit back and let someone else deal with the logistics.

What happened to @Zippsy ? He hasn't been seen on SB in a few months. Is he still with White Manta?

Many divers have never heard of the Blue and Raja Manta boats, so dive focused travel agents provide lots of exposure. @zippy is still working with the White Manta, although I have seen him online in the last few months.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Many divers have never heard of the Blue and Raja Manta boats, so dive focused travel agents provide lots of exposure. @zippy is still working with the White Manta, although I have seen him online in the last few months.

Crikey. There's a tool called Google. That's how I found the Black Manta Komodo trip I took. Or maybe I found them with a search on SB or Undercurrent. One can compile a list of all the liveaboards in a region pretty easily, then look for reviews, ask on SB, etc., to help winnow the list of candidates down. I suppose it sounds like I have some sort of axe to grind, or that I hate travel agents (not that Explorer is a travel agent--at least I think they are not), but I don't. I have never used a travel agent for diving or done anything other than book directly with a dive operator--nowadays all easily done through a web site--but I am certainly open to new ways of doing things. I just don't yet see the value added. Obviously, White Manta and Explorer formed a partnership because they each feel it benefits them, so it's none of my business to question it. I would like to know what their respective roles are. I find it a bit confusing that there are now apparently two web sites for booking the same boat, and it's no longer clear to me whose boat it is or who is running the operation. That kind of uncertainty is the kind of thing that would deter me from booking with either of them. I like to know who I am dealing with. Anyway, all I can contribute that is concrete is my one experience with White Manta, and that was phenomenal. I have heard of Explorer Ventures--my perception is that they are a Caribbean-based outfit--but I don't know anything about their expertise in the Indo-Pacific region. Generally speaking, I prefer to deal with local operators whom I have to believe are the experts, and I'd rather go straight to the source when I book something, not go through a far-away middleman. If I'm missing something, I'm still listening with open ears and open mind. I suspect I still have something to learn about the art of dive travel. I'm interested in anything that can make dive travel less expensive. However, hand-holding and marketing fluff, when I detect it, is not useful to me and generally is more of a turn-off than anything else.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Hi Lorenzoid!
With regards to our new partnership with White Manta, M/V Blue Manta Explorer and M/V Raja Manta Explorer joining the fleet allows Explorer Ventures to offer even more destinations to our divers. We welcome everyone to book with us OR with them as you always have– we will be happy to have you join one of the trips either way!! By booking with Explorer, you will be able to take advantage of our repeat guest programs and a small added feature is the convenience of operating within North American time zones.
Hope this clarifies the new relationship and why we're excited to be able to offer it to you

So it's sort of like one of the airline partnerships/alliances, where I can accumulate and use my frequent flyer points on any of several airlines? That sounds appealing to me.

 

[drrich2]

One question is whether Explorer Ventures will in time be more familiar with common travel problems facing customers traveling from the U.S. & Canada than a distant foreign operation. In the Caribbean, we're used to live-aboard boats mainly patronized by English-speaking North Americans; the farther off you travel, the less reliably true that is. Also odds of the U.S. dollar being accepted at vendors, and in some cases whipping out a credit card may not solve your problems.

Here's an example of why I'd consider a travel agent of similar to plan an Indonesian trip but not a Caribbean one.

1.) Bonaire. It used to have a departure tax, until that started getting included in airline tickets. No big deal; pocket cash in U.S. dollars and credit cards can solve problems like that, even if you didn't hear about it in advance. They wanted the $25 (last I checked) marine park fee paid in cash at your dive op.; that was a surprise and annoyance, but odds of having the cash in U.S. dollars to cover it was decent, and nowadays the U.S. dollar is the official currently. My credit card declined a charge at the grocery store (until I called & explained things to them later), but I paid cash and called the CC people later. Practically everybody speaks English.

2.) Now, let's say I'm someday blessed to go on a Raja Ampat or Komodo live-aboard trip. Uh-oh.

Which multi-flight option is the best trade-off between cost, comfort, reliability of flight schedule and baggage allowance?

Which hotel might I want to stay at a day so I can rest on arrival, and still make the boat if I'm a day late? Is one day a sufficient 'hedge' against flight delays/cancellations? I take my own gear; what are the odds it'll make it on time?

From Diversion Dive Travel Australia - Dive travel and diving vacations look at this:

"Departure taxes
Airport taxes on departure are levied at every Indonesian airport. These taxes need to be paid cash in Indonesian Rupiah (IDR). The fees for domestic departures vary between IDR 11.000-40.000 per person. At international airports the departure tax is IDR 200.000 per person.

NOTE: There have been some changes in regards to departure taxes in Indonesia recently. For flight tickets issued after March 2015, all departure taxes are included in the ticket price. However, this information could not be officially confirmed yet for all carriers, so please continue to carry some Rupiah cash just in case."

I don't normally carry Rupiah in my wallet. I have no idea what the exchange rate is with the U.S. dollar. If it turns out I need to pay up, will they take a credit card? What are the odds I knew all the places to warn my card company I might make charges from? If I get home with a wad of unused Rupiah, how do I get that converted to U.S. dollars? How much walk-around Rupiah on the trip is enough? What does stuff cost topside over there? If I spend the night at a hotel and walk out to a local restaurant, what are the odds English is widely understood? Can I drink the water? Any major local taboos or odd laws I might inadvertently run afoul of?

These kinds of questions may seem trivial to the seasoned exotic traveler, but to those of us who've never been anywhere that wasn't pretty thoroughly Americanized, they're serious questions. And if we travel without good answers, they can have serious consequences.

Richard.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Richard, there are ATMs and moneychangers in Indonesia--at the airport, and scattered around cities--just like everywhere else. If you don't have enough money, you can withdraw more unless you're already out at sea on a liveaboard or at some remote resort, in which case credit cards are accepted at most resorts and liveaboards. I wouldn't call myself the "seasoned exotic traveler," but Indonesia isn't the moon--there's nothing particularly difficult about travel in Indonesia, unless you're talking about taking an inter-island death-trap ferry or something (which can be an experience). Plenty of people speak English, and anywhere you are likely to find yourself you are surely not the first English speaker to have passed through. There are Aussies and Brits all over the place, not to mention plenty of Americans. On my Manta liveaboard, there were Americans, Canadians, a British expat couple who lived in Singapore--everyone was from an English-speaking country or was accustomed to speaking English. Manta is headquartered in Singapore, and they corresponded by email with me--answering just the kinds of questions you asked about transfers, hotels, etc.--in perfect English. Why would I need to correspond with someone in the Caribbean to answer questions about Indonesia?

 

[drrich2]

Thanks, good to know! Before I did some cruising & dive trips in the Caribbean, I would've had similar concerns about it. I do on occasion read a report of some place off the beaten path where things aren't quite so homey; good to know Indonesia's more 'culturally accessible' than I thought.

Richard.

 

[Lorenzoid]

No doubt there are some off-the-beaten path places that require real assistance from people (travel agents?) with the skinny. But specifically on the topic of this thread (or at least sorta on-topic), most resorts and liveaboards, and certainly the Manta fleet, can tell you essentially everything you need to get there and back. Just because they're headquartered in Singapore or wherever else in Asia doesn't mean they don't speak English and aren't accustomed to answering questions from people all over the world. We all have the same questions, more or less.

Nothing personal, either--your travel posts are always insightful.

 

[Newdiv]

Why would I need to correspond with someone in the Caribbean to answer questions about Indonesia?

I could be mistaken, but I believe explorer ventures is out of Casper, Wyoming. Not that this changes some very good points. They also might have more than one location. I'm going with them at the end of the month to the Maldives and the contact number is in Wyoming.