I had read some good reviews though quite old... ...
I had read some good reviews though quite old... here a new one from 2014.
First, some good points:
- The food was very good
- The number of divers on the boat was perfect for a comfortable and familiar stay
- The pickup at the airport and the service offered to arrange the trip was very good
- Though the boat is very “basic” (not hot water in the bathroom, only one tap, sometimes cold water), it was pretty good serviced and cozy.
The very bad points which cause the price/quality ratio to be absolutely unsatisfactory, would never justify the time needed to get to Raja Ampat:
- The guides didn’t have knowledge of the area and couldn’t appropriately execute and guide the dive underwater. Most of the time was spent looking in dead / fan-corals for micro-stuff, which might be correct in Lembeh (where the guides were coming from) but not in the area we dived.
- Bad planning of the dives causing poor to no fish spotting, although Raja Ampat is well known for its amazing marine life. This has been confirmed by some other crew member which have dived the very same places the week after based on a resort (see attached email): either wrong time, wrong side, wrong depth or altogether
- Bad planning of the trip as such:
o we travelled long time during the day
o some early morning navigation were cancelled apparently due to “bad weather” … which couldn’t be confirmed in ANY way
o poor knowledge and calculation of the routes, causing unpredictable “planning”
o On the wednesday, to refill some water (the desalination had some troubles?) we had to skip one dive which was “recovered” the day before … in my already no-dive time (24hrs before flight)
o all above caused often plan change and missed dives in (according to the cruise director briefing the day before or in the morning plan discussion) wonderful dive areas
- Poor security procedures with high risk for the guests
o Poor briefing
o Guides didn’t follow the plan established during the briefing
o Wrong point of entrance
o Groups of 3(!) guest per guide making it very difficult to follow the buddy system, specifically since the guides were doing a diving on their own without really caring about the guests
o In one case we didn’t do a briefing at all, since it was already late, we were in a hurry due to bad planning of the navigation and the diving place was already “known” (1! Dive on site). Consequence: some guests and the guides! were confused and it was even unclear from which side of the boat we were going to jump!
o During a very good dive (there happened to be nonetheless) I needed to ask the dive guide for the octopus during the safety stop and I discovered it didn’t have a mouthpiece!!!
- Poor dive preparation and communication between the cruise director and the guides: spot verification and current check.
o In one case (Edi’s cave), although the guides were supposed to have checked the diving spot snorkeling, they couldn’t find the entrance at all during diving. It turned out, by asking the guide afterwards, that the snorkeler DIDN’T see the entrance and was misunderstood by the cruise director??
o In a very late NIGHT dive, no current check was done and as soon as we jumped in the water we were pulled along by a VERY strong current. Two of the least experienced divers (still >50 dives!) had to interrupt the dive after few minutes
First, some good points:
- The food was very good
- The number of divers on the boat was perfect for a comfortable and familiar stay
- The pickup at the airport and the service offered to arrange the trip was very good
- Though the boat is very “basic” (not hot water in the bathroom, only one tap, sometimes cold water), it was pretty good serviced and cozy.
The very bad points which cause the price/quality ratio to be absolutely unsatisfactory, would never justify the time needed to get to Raja Ampat:
- The guides didn’t have knowledge of the area and couldn’t appropriately execute and guide the dive underwater. Most of the time was spent looking in dead / fan-corals for micro-stuff, which might be correct in Lembeh (where the guides were coming from) but not in the area we dived.
- Bad planning of the dives causing poor to no fish spotting, although Raja Ampat is well known for its amazing marine life. This has been confirmed by some other crew member which have dived the very same places the week after based on a resort (see attached email): either wrong time, wrong side, wrong depth or altogether
- Bad planning of the trip as such:
o we travelled long time during the day
o some early morning navigation were cancelled apparently due to “bad weather” … which couldn’t be confirmed in ANY way
o poor knowledge and calculation of the routes, causing unpredictable “planning”
o On the wednesday, to refill some water (the desalination had some troubles?) we had to skip one dive which was “recovered” the day before … in my already no-dive time (24hrs before flight)
o all above caused often plan change and missed dives in (according to the cruise director briefing the day before or in the morning plan discussion) wonderful dive areas
- Poor security procedures with high risk for the guests
o Poor briefing
o Guides didn’t follow the plan established during the briefing
o Wrong point of entrance
o Groups of 3(!) guest per guide making it very difficult to follow the buddy system, specifically since the guides were doing a diving on their own without really caring about the guests
o In one case we didn’t do a briefing at all, since it was already late, we were in a hurry due to bad planning of the navigation and the diving place was already “known” (1! Dive on site). Consequence: some guests and the guides! were confused and it was even unclear from which side of the boat we were going to jump!
o During a very good dive (there happened to be nonetheless) I needed to ask the dive guide for the octopus during the safety stop and I discovered it didn’t have a mouthpiece!!!
- Poor dive preparation and communication between the cruise director and the guides: spot verification and current check.
o In one case (Edi’s cave), although the guides were supposed to have checked the diving spot snorkeling, they couldn’t find the entrance at all during diving. It turned out, by asking the guide afterwards, that the snorkeler DIDN’T see the entrance and was misunderstood by the cruise director??
o In a very late NIGHT dive, no current check was done and as soon as we jumped in the water we were pulled along by a VERY strong current. Two of the least experienced divers (still >50 dives!) had to interrupt the dive after few minutes