Indonesia Diving

How To Get To Raja Ampat

With direct flights from Jakarta to Sorong, it’s now easier than ever to get to Raja Ampat

If you’re planning a dive trip to Raja Ampat, it’s now much easier to fly to Sorong, the city that acts as the gateway to Raja Ampat. Virtually all liveaboards depart from Sorong and it’s the nearest airport for most of Raja Ampat’s dive resorts too.

Jakarta to Sorong Direct Flights

Sorong completed its new Domine Eduard Osok Airport in 2017 (airport code: SOQ), allowing bigger jets to land. As such, Indonesia’s national carrier Garuda Indonesia now flys direct from Jakarta to Sorong on a daily basis.

As the national carrier, Garuda Indonesia flights all arrive and depart from the new Terminal 3 at Jakarta Airport (formally known as Soekarno-Hatta Airport – airport code: CGK). See my Terminal 3 Jakarta Airport Quick Guide to help make your transit as stress-free as possible.

Other Indonesian domestic carriers also fly direct from Jakarta to Sorong including Nam Air and Batik Air. Check Skyscanner to compare the timings and pricings of all carriers from Jakarta to Sorong.

The other main route to fly to Raja Ampat is Jakarta to Sorong via Ujang Pandang, also known as Makassar. The airport code for Ujang Pandang aka Makassar is UPG. Be aware that both names are used so that you don’t suddenly worry that you’re flying to the wrong place!

Indonesia Entry Requirements

All Covid-19 related restrictions to entry have been dropped by Indonesian immigration as of June 2023. Here’s a quick rundown of Indonesia’s entry requirements – for most travellers, the only requirement is a visa on arrival which you can now apply and pay for online before your trip.

Jakarta Airport Hotels

If you are flying into Jakarta from overseas before getting your flight to Sorong, you may have a long layover before you board your Sorong flight. You can book a hotel room within Jakarta Airport’s Terminal 3 for some rest and a shower.

The main airport hotel is the 4 star Anara Hotel, located directly within Terminal 3. The entrance to the Anara Hotel is located on Level 1 of Terminal 3. (You’ll need to go up a level from International Arrivals).
D’primahotel Wellness Centre is a more modest hotel also located in Terminal 3. The rooms here are windowless but clean and adequate, with decent shower pressure. It’s perfectly comfortable for a few hours rest. There are also massage facilities. The narrow entrance to D’primahotel is located on Level 2 of Terminal 3, which is the Departures level. The entrance to the hotel is by the end of Check-in Row E. It’s a very convenient location.
Digital Airport Hotel is a capsule hotel which is also located in terminal 3. Just as per the original Japanese concept, these are tiny rooms stacked together with shared toilet and shower facilities.
There is also the Jakarta Airport Hotel located in Terminal 2 if you are arriving or exiting from that terminal.If you can, try to enter and exit through Terminal 3. It’s much more convenient.

Indonesia’s Main Diving Locations (and Jakarta)

Flying from Bali to Sorong

If you are flying from Bali’s Denpasar Airport (airport code: DPS) to Sorong, then you will typically fly via Jakarta or Makassar. Search Skyscanner to see different flight timings and layover lengths to find the shortest journey time.

Makassar Airport Hotel

Makassar has a large, newly built airport (officially known as Sultan Hasanuddin Airport) and has a small budget Ibis hotel if you have a long layover and want to get some rest.

Sorong Airport Hotel

Sorong Airport is quite basic, with few facilities for passengers besides a couple of coffee shops and a small, very modest, business class lounge. There’s no airport hotel directly attached to Sorong airport, but there are several hotels located directly outside the airport entrance, of which the Aston Sorong is the pick of the bunch. There are several other good quality hotels in Sorong if you want to stay on land before or after your Raja Ampat dive trip. The Swiss-Belhotel Sorong is the default hotel to which most liveaboards refer guests.

Wikipedia states there is a another airport in the region called Raja Ampat Airport aka Marinda Airport. It’s just worth pointing out that Raja Ampat Airport and Sorong Airport are two different airports! They’re not synonymous.

Raja Ampat Diving Guides and Info

For an overview of what to expect when diving Raja Ampat and useful tips on how to get there and what to bring with you, see our Diving Raja Ampat: A Quick Guide and listen to the Divehappy podcast episodes on Raja Ampat. Misool Eco Resort and Triton Bay. For practicalities on getting there, see How To Get To Raja Ampat, Sorong Airport Guide and the Liveaboard Packing List

Raja Ampat Liveaboard Trip Reports

Triton Bay Trip Reports (as part of Raja Ampat liveaboard trips)

Booking Raja Ampat Liveaboards

Browse Raja Ampat liveaboards by price level and month of departure:

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Check Last Minute Raja Ampat Liveaboard Deals for big discounts on Raja Ampat liveaboard trips that are departing in the next couple of months

Scuba Diving In Indonesian Borneo On The Tambora Liveaboard

Indonesian Borneo is now being explored by liveaboards, making the islands of Derawan, Sangalaki, Kakoban and Maratua accessible in one trip

Diving Kalimantan, Indonesia © Chris Mitchell

I recently dived in Kalimantan – the Indonesian part of Borneo – with Tambora, a newish liveaboard that is pursuing an ambitious yearly itinerary across Indonesia. I was writing a story for EZ Dive magazine, which you can read here.

2022 Update:

Tambora has rebranded to the Raja Ampat Aggressor II as it’s become part of the Aggressor Adventures family.

Tambora Liveaboard © Chris Mitchell

The trip was a round trip from Terakan and revolved around four islands which are all dive hotspots in their own right – Sangalaki, Derawan, Kakoban and Nabucco. We also explored a huge submerged atoll which isn’t accessible by daytrips which yielded some of the best dives of the trip (and some of the worst too ;) – I’ll be writing a full report for EZ Dive magazine and publishing a separate liveaboard review of Tambora here on Divehappy soon (as I have done previously with other Indo liveaboards like MSY Damai, Siren and MSY Seahorse). In the meantime, here’s some of the photos I took as a taster of the journey

A huge battery of barracuda hundreds strong at Big Fish Country (Maratua Channel) © Chris Mitchell

Reef at Kakoban © Chris Mitchell

Kakoban Reef Scene © Chris Mitchell

Sunlight on a plate coral bommie © Chris Mitchell

Clownfish and diver © Chris Mitchell

So flat calm the clouds in the sky are visible through the ocean surface © Chris Mitchell

Flat calm seas on an early grey morning © Chris Mitchell

Raindrops falling on the surface above plate corals © Chris Mitchell

The reef reflected in the mirror surface of the sea © Chris Mitchell

Close Manta encounter, Sangalaki © Chris Mitchell

Manta ray feeding at the surface in the sunlight at Sangalaki © Chris Mitchell

Flabellina and egg ribbon, Derawan © Chris Mitchell

Crocodile Fish, Derawan © Chris Mitchell

Jawfish with eggs in its mouth – you can see the eyes of the babies if you look closely © Chris Mitchell

Jawfish releasing the eggs - they're the squiggly bits in top right of photo © Chris Mitchell

Diving Komodo Trip Report – November 2009

Komodo National Park offers some of Indonesia’s best scuba diving, from the temperate waters of the south to the tropical reefs of the north – in November 2009 I took a 10 day trip on MSY Damai to explore this amazing area for a third time.

Rhinopia, Torpedo Alley © Chris Mitchell

I’ve dived Komodo twice before – in December 2006 on the Peter Hughes’ boat Paradise Dancer (about which I wrote this Komodo Diving article for Scuba Diver AustralAsia magazine) and then in September 2008 on S/Y Siren. (I wrote this Diving Komodo story for EZ Dive magazine and also wrote up a S/Y Siren Liveaboard Review). In November 2009, I went back to Komodo for a third time on MSY Damai, Indonesia’s newest liveaboard. I’ve already written up a comprehensive MSY Damai Liveaboard Review, complete with videos and photos of the cabins and critique of how the ship operates – this trip report will focus on Komodo as a diving destination.

Cuttlefish, Wainilu © Chris Mitchell

Even though this was my third trip (or perhaps because it was my third trip) I am not tired of Komodo – indeed, I would go back there in a heartbeat, and will definitely be looking for an opportunity to dive there again in 2010. With each trip I’ve done there I’ve enjoyed Komodo’s sites more and more – a typical liveaboard passes through such a large area that it’s quite overwhelming (in a good way) each time you do it.

Check In And Check Out Dives

Our trip began with early morning pickups from Bali hotels for our domestic flight from Bali to Labauan Bajo. We met up at Starbucks and all our check in formalities and checked baggage was dealt with by MSY Damai representatives, so there was very little for us to organise. Once at Labuan Bajo, we were met by Lorenzo, Damai’s Cruise Director and several of the Damai team to take all the luggage into three aircon taxis before the 20 minute drive to the port.

Once on board MSY Damai, there were welcome drinks and snacks and a tour of the boat. (See my in depth liveaboard review of MSY Damai for more info about cabins, food, diving setup etc).

We did a check out dive that afternoon at Wainilu, a shallow muck dive that turned up quite a few critters and gave everyone’s cameras a workout. Besides juvenile batfish,juvenile sweetlips, barramundi and mantis shrimp, the most fascinating discovery on the dive was a giant Melibe nudibranch, which used the most bizarre hoover action on the sand to find its dinner. (See my post Attack Of The Giant Hoover Walrus Nudibranch for pictures and more info).

The evening dive at the same location served up not only mating mandarin fish but also mating dragonets, a first for many people on the boat. Unfortunately I didn’t get any decent shots of either, but it was great to see them.

Komodo Dragon, Horseshoe Bay, Komodo © Chris Mitchell

Close Encounters With Komodo Dragons

The day began early, setting out at 6am to head onto the island of Rinca and see the famous, fearsome Komodo Dragons. The dragons are only found in the wild on three islands in the world – Komodo itself, Rinca, Flores and Gili Motang. Having been to both Komodo and Rinca to see the Dragons, I think Rinca is actually the better experience – you have a much better chance of seeing Dragons out in the wild, rather than just the ones that hang around the ranger huts waiting for scraps of food. (You can read my report of spending time with the Dragons on Komodo on my other site Travelhappy). Of course, the fact they’re at the ranger huts means that you get to see a Komodo Dragon within about 5 minutes of stepping onto the island, so there is a certain instant gratification. On Rinca, there is a long and short walk – we did the long walk (around 6km and 2 to 3 hours) which took a couple of hours as the morning sun got higher and higher and hotter and hotter. We were rewarded though with numerous wildlife sightings – water buffalo, monkeys, birds etc – and several close encounters with Komodo Dragons. Our group actually wound up being pursued by a Dragon down a driedup river bed, so there were a couple of moments where we had to move fast and the guide had to employ his hefty stick to fend off the overly curious Dragon.

Reef Scene, Tatawa Besar © Chris Mitchell

After lunch, we did two dives at Tatawa Besar, on the island on Pandar – while this morning had been adrenaline and exertion, this was the complete opposite – a stunning reef, with its clumps of soft coral lit up in saturated colours due to the bright early afternoon sun overhead. With the deep, vibrant blue of the water, and clouds and clouds of fish everywhere throughout our time underwater despite the lack of current, there were no complaints about doing a second dive on the same site.

Soft Coral, Tatawa Besar © Chris Mitchell

The night dive was at on the sandy slope of Bus Stop, where the highlights included encounters with starry night octopus and tiny bobtail squid.

Giant Frogfish, Cannibal Rock © Chris Mitchell

Critter Hunting On Cannibal Rock, Yellow Wall and Crinoid Canyon

Overnight we had sailed from Pandar down to what I think is one of Indonesia’s most desolate and beautiful locations, Horseshoe Bay. The Bay lies at the very bottom of Rinca and is home to several of Komodo’s iconic dive sites, along with a local population of Komodo Dragons that wander along the otherwise appealing sandy beach. There’s no rangers here to keep you out of trouble.

We were to be at anchor in Horseshoe Bay for two days and so could basically dive as we wished around the standard 4 dive schedule. First up was the legendary Cannibal Rock, a big seamount just under the water that was so named due to two Dragons being spotted on the beach attacking each other. The water in Horseshoe Bay is much colder than it is in the north of Komodo. The water tends to be 24 degrees Celsius and can drop even lower. As such, Cannibal Rock is usually green water, and quite murky, but the site itself is more than enough to make the discomfort worth it. The rock is a smorgasbord of soft corals, plate corals and crinoids, with vivid yellows and greens predominating, along with scores of stunning and usually rare creatures, from giant frogfish and oversize nudibranches to a golden yellow rhinopia, along with turtles, lionfish and mantis shrimp. It’s one of those sites that, especially for photographers, you just don’t know where to look first. We did a total of three dives on Cannibal Rock, including one night dive.

Yellow Wall, Horseshoe Bay, Komodo © Chris Mitchell

Yellow Wall and Crinoid Canyon are located on opposite sides of Horseshoe Bay and similar topographically, near vertical drop offs that are covered in a spectacular carpet of soft corals and crinoids that tumble over one another. Up in the shallows particularly both of these sites shine, particularly as we had absolutely flat calm, sunny conditions on both days so the sunlight not only lit up the shallows but the wall above the waterline was also visible. (It worth noting that it’s not always sunny around Horseshoe Bay – the two previous times I’ve visited it’s been cloudy and rainy).

Rhinopia, Torpedo Alley © Chris Mitchell

Torpedo Alley was a dive that I was going to skip to catch up on some sleep… until I heard that the dive guides Gusti and Wayan had discovered not one but two rhinopias together. Rhinopias are extremely rare and also very difficult to find, so for two to be spotted together was a real coup. Both Gusti and Wayan are very experienced and I’ve dived with them on previous trips, and they were on great form throughout this trip too. This was also a good example of MSY Damai’s dive policy while at anchor – even though I had technically missed the dive and divers had already started coming back, Gusti encouraged me to gear up and for us to quickly head back out so I could see the rhinopias for myself. While I was taking pictures of them, Gusti somehow managed to find a tiny juvenile rhinopia, of which I only got a mediocre photo. Even so, it was great to see it and to have not missed out on seeing the adult rhinopias too.

Juvenile Rhinopia, Torpedo Alley, Komodo © Chris Mitchell

Bobbitt Worm, Torpedo Alley Night Dive © Chris Mitchell

Torpedo Alley continued to turn up amazing surprises on the night dive, the highlight of which for me was seeing a Bobbitt Worm for the first time. These super scary-looking creatures are thankfully only a couple of inches long (at least, the part that appears above the sand) but their nightmarish appearance certainly makes you keep any appendages safely tucked away. And yes, it’s called the Bobbitt Worm after John Wayne Bobbitt. Ouch.

Manta Ray Squadron, Manta Alley © Chris Mitchell

Manta Alley

From Horseshoe Bay we headed to Manta Alley, located at Tora Langkoi Bay. This is another must-see Komodo site where manta rays, probably the most graceful creature in the ocean, gather en masse in the current to feed on plankton. We did three stand out dives here and, while we thought it might be a case of diminishing returns, the third dive turned out to be the best. In the morning we’d encountered super strong currents that had pushed some of us back away from the channel where the mantas are usually seen – I was concerned I was going to miss out, until four manta rays passed straight over my head on the outcrop where we’d come to rest. It was the beginning of a magical dive where we saw mantas swoop and twist around us in all directions for the entire duration of our hour on the bottom. Every time we thought the show was over, the mantas would glide in from another, unexpected direction, sometimes three or four of them in a train, moving with perfect synchronicity behind one another until they spun back out into the blue.

Manta Rays, Manta Alley © Chris Mitchell

On our subsequent dives we made our way back up the channel where the current had reversed direction and was now pushing us in front of it, until we rounded the corner and nearly collided with no less than nine manta rays effortlessly hanging 3 deep in the underwater breeze. As we skidded off to the sides and underneath the mantas barely acknowledged our arrival and continued to remain perfectly still until they’d had their fill of plankton. On our third dive, the current had disappeared and we thought, with it, the mantas would be gone too. Yet they remained, with what seemed a great playfulness as they skimmed over the reef and over each of us as well, unperturbed by our bubbles or camera flashes. I spent the last half hour in less than five metres watching the mantas disappear and reappear within the now greying, turbid water as the day’s light began to fade. After 85 minutes, I reluctantly had to draw my dive to an end and exit while the mantas still spun around just below me. If there’s one dive site I already want to go back to in Komodo, it’s Manta Alley.

Cuttlefish And Diver, Castle Rock © Chris Mitchell

Rocking Out At Castle Rock and Crystal Rock
Our arrival next day at Gili Lawa Laut and the dive sites of Castle Rock, Crystal Rock and Lighthouse was the most anticipated part of the trip for me. At Castle Rock last year, while on board S/Y Siren, I’d had two magical dives at Castle Rock that immediately went into My Top 10 Dives. (You can see a video shot at Castle Rock by my talented friend Ai Futaki too, along with her beautiful Freediving In Komodo video). I’d been wondering if my return visit could possibly be as good. We stayed two days at Gili Lawa Laut which gave us time to dive Castle Rock and Crystal Rock twice, both sites that need the tide tables consulted thoroughly as the current can be ripping. Our first dive was in almost slack water and so there was not quite as much fish action as I remembered from previous trips – however, the corals were resplendent and we spent a lot of time with two cuttlefish that were laying eggs in a large staghorn coral patch.

At Crystal Rock we had giant napoleon wrasse action, the biggest I’ve ever seen, a good metre in length – and there was the beginning of a definite electricity across the reef with jacks and fusiliers stampeding around us, barely heeding the presence of divers.

Reef Scene, Castle Rock © Chris Mitchell

When we dropped back in at Castle Rock, it was stunning – sitting at 15 metres on the plateau of rock as it drops away into the blue is like being in the front seat of an aquatic IMAX screen. What had been quite quiet on the previous dive soon became a blue canvas filled with, no exaggeration, thousands upon thousands of fish – dogtooth tuna and whitetip sharks weaved in and out of fusiliers, jacks, snapper and a baitball of glassfish tens of metres deep and hundreds of thousands strong, moving as one across the backdrop of the sun illuminating the ocean.

Cuttlefish with Eggs, Castle Rock © Chris Mitchell

Indeed, perhaps the most amazing thing about Castle Rock is the way the whole dive site feels like it’s flooded with sunlight – the viz has been spectacular every time I’ve dived there. Wayan and I were the only divers out front and had the IMAX fishbowl to ourselves – incredible! And as quickly as it began, it was over – one minute the sea was full of fish, the next empty.

Sangeang – Under The Volcano

Further north of Gili Lawa Laut is the still active volcano of Sangeang. There are several sites here, all of which are similar in topography – colourful reefs juxtaposed against the black volcanic sand slopes which still give off sulphuric bubbles from the magma churning deep below the earth’s crust. Diving on Bubble Reef, Black Magic and Tikno Reef sites proved to be a riot of colour and different critters, especially this vivid orange frogfish that lurked within the soft coral fronds of Tikno Reef.

Stargazer Half Buried In The Sand, Small World Night Dive © Chris Mitchell

Gili Banta

Bad weather stopped us diving more of sangeang the following day – we had a near zero visibility dive at Bontoh, so were glad to head for Gili Banta and the dive sites of Highway to Heaven and K2. It was the It’s A Small World night dive at Gili Banta, the last night dive of the trip, which was particularly great, especially as we managed to find the Stargazers that wait almost wholly buried in the sand waiting for their prey.

Crocodile Fish, Sabolan © Chris Mitchell

Heading Towards Home – Palau Sabolan and Palau Raja

The final two days of our trip involved only two dives each day as we needed to do some hefty cruising to make it back to Maumere on schedule. It was a shame we coudn’t squeeze in a third dive on our penultimate day. The two dives we did at Sabolan in the morning were good fun and had great viz, with some good coral growth too, although not a huge amount of fish life, except for the crocodile fish we discovered towards the end of one of the dives.

Fire Gobies © Chris Mitchell

Our final dives at Palau Raja, by contrast, were an unexpected treat – this is a site rarely dived and is named “School House” as you can see the kids heading to their wooden school building on the shore directly in front of the dive site. Despite the presence of fish traps and the evidence of old dynamite bombing, what I thought at first would be a mediocre site turned out to be beautiful. Once we’d headed through the slightly bashed up shallows, there was a steep drop off at around 8 metres that revealed a vertical wall encrusted with massive fan, barrel and plate corals, one of which could have easily swallowed a diver.

In conclusion, seeing Komodo for a third time has only made me want to go back and dive it again. The sheer variety of sites that you see within a 10 day trip – from the temperate waters of Cannibal Rock to the warm tropical waters of Sangeang – makes it a truly unique area for diving. You get the best of both worlds here, with big stuff – manta rays and en masse fish action – as well as a plethora of amazing small stuff too.

There is also the sense of being on an epic voyage thanks to seeing the Komodo Dragons themselves but also the desolate and beautiful topside scenery too. And despite Komodo being a popular destination, you rarely see any other boats – we saw one Japanese boat of divers at Cannibal Rock and that was the only time divers were in the water at the same time as us. The huge diversity of the area means that as an introduction to Indonesia diving, Komodo is hard to beat.

Attack Of The Giant Hoover Walrus Nudibranch

While diving in Komodo, I encountered this giant Melibe nudibranch for the first time, which has a bizarre circular mouth that acts like a hoover as it crosses the sea floor

I’m a big fan of nudibranches, but I’m used to the colourful sea slugs being just a few centimetres long. Hence when I encountered this whopping great Melibe nudibranch at Wainilu in Komodo, I was somewhat taken aback (I didn’t even know it was a nudi until told later). The nudibranch was at least six inches long, huge by nudi standards. The sequence of photos below shows the downright strange mouth it has – as you can see, the mouth (technically, the oral hood) is circular but also contorts into a shape something like a walrus, before it swoops in over the seabed and sucks up small molluscs for food. Truly bizarre and somewhat mesmerising to watch.

I’m indebted to Nudipixel for their amazing database of nudi pictures, which is how I worked out the species. However, I’m not sure what type of Melibe nudibranch this one would be classified as.

MSY Damai Liveaboard Report

Possibly the most luxurious liveaboard boat currently in Indonesia, MSY Damai is trying a new approach in providing top notch diving and underwater photography

MSY Damai is a new luxury Indonesian liveaboard launched in October 2009 by Alberto Reija, who previously worked on MSY Seahorse and Kararu liveaboards. Damai (the word is Indonesian for “peaceful”) is trying to do something pretty ambitious with the liveaboard concept, by targetting small groups of underwater photographers who want a top-level luxury boat that is super focussed on their requirements. I joined the boat on its 5th and 6th trips during November 2009 as it sailed through Komodo, the Banda Sea and Raja Ampat – after four weeks on board, here’s my rundown of what the MSY Damai is like as a diving liveaboard.

Small Number Of Guests
Perhaps the most radical move is the limit on the number of guests: MSY Damai carries a maximum of eight guests on each trip, split between 4 huge stateroom style bedrooms. (There’s also a more modest cabin for an extra 2 people, usually tour leaders who have chartered the boat for a group). These cabins are the biggest I’ve seen on any boat – they are each 300 square feet. There’s more info and videos below.

UPDATE 2013: I’ve been back on Damai in August 2012 and January 2013. The configuration has changed slightly – there’s now a maximum of 10 guests on board, and the two downstairs cabins have been made smaller to accommodate two single person cabins (ie single divers can have their own cabin without having to share or pay a supplement). The two downstairs cabins are still very big by normal liveaboard standards, with a king size bed, desk and ensuite bathroom. Basically the cabins have been divided in half from their original incarnation

Max 3 to 1 Guest To Dive Guides
There are three dive guides on board, so there’s at most three divers to one dive guide. The whole boat’s setup revolves around looking after the needs of underwater photographers, from a custom built spacious camera room and individual rinse tanks at each dive gearup station to extremely proactive boat staff who handle camera gear with skill and sensitivity.

There is also a Cruise Director on board – this is either the boat owner Alberto or Lorenzo, an Italian guy who is endlessly cheerful – even at 5.30 in the morning – and also hyper-organised at keeping the boat running smoothly with the 15 crew on board. He also has some fantastic stories to tell at the dinner table (be sure to ask him about the Teletubbies). Lorenzo and Alberto frequently dive with the guests as well, so providing another pair of eyes in the water to assist the dive guides.

Individual Workstations For Photo Editing
Each cabin has two desks for photo editing, complete with power outlets and overhead light. These means that each guest can review and edit in the privacy of their cabin if they prefer and have plenty of space. This is a very nice touch for photographers, as they can leave their laptop set up and ready to download each dive as they wish.

Cameras And Scuba Gear For Guest Use
Included in Damai’s price is usage of 5mm wetsuits for colder water dives, like at Cannibal Rock in Komodo, and there is a spare camera and video camera on board in case of problems with your own. More info on the spare camera below.

The Difference To Other Liveaboards
Some of these things may seem too subtle to be particularly noteworthy – but if you’ve ever been on a liveaboard where there’s too many guests, too few staff, too little effort made to look after your camera gear and too few opportunities to find stuff underwater because you’re constantly stuck in a swarm of six divers, then you’ll appreciate MSY Damai’s setup.

Luxury Service
Besides the photography angle, MSY Damai provides truly impressive bedrooms (more info on the rooms below) along with very attentive waiting staff , great quality food and an all-inclusive policy of unlimited beer and wine are included in the trip price. The wait staff were very accommodating to all requests – it’s a similar concept to Peter Hughes boats that I’ve been on previously. (More info on Dining and Drinking below).

Premium Pricing
Inevitably, Damai charges a premium over other liveaboards in Indonesia for its services, so it’s important to weigh up if the extra benefits of the boat – less guests, much more space, maximum 3 to 1 dive guides, dedicated camera gear set up, luxury service – is worth it to you.

If you check Damai’s schedule for the next couple of years on their website, you’ll see that they have numerous charters from some of the biggest names in underwater photography. Clearly this is Damai’s target audience which needs to be sufficiently impressed not only with their first trip but to return to Damai and be happy to pay the extra trip cost for the difference it makes.

Accommodation
MSY Damai has the look of a traditional Indonesian wooden pinisi schooner, but it’s much bigger due to an extra deck and wider beam. The four bedrooms are divided between Rooms 1 and 2 in the lower deck, which each have two king size double beds in them, and Room 3, which occupies the full back of the boat and looks like something out of Pirates of the Caribbean with its four windows in the stern, and Room 4 above which is a little smaller than Room 3 but has its own private stern balcony. Room 3 also gets the most light due to its position and windows on three walls of the cabin. Rooms 3 and 4 have one king size bed in them. Rooms 1 and 2 are designed to accommodate either one couple or two singles, but if shared by singles they both get a king sized bed to themselves. All of the rooms are a minimum of 28 square metres (300 square feet) – they are all, in short, bigger than my apartment at home.

In Rooms 1 and 2 there is a toilet and shower in separate rooms, and indeed, a full sized bathtub in the shower room too. There’s one sink in the bedroom itself and two writing desks. Hairdryer and dressing gowns are provided in all rooms. One annoyance is that there is no hand sink in the toilet itself.

Rooms 3 and 4 don’t have a bathtub, but have the same amenities as Rooms 1 and 2. Rooms 3 and 4 have their own unique characteristics, as mentioned above.

One downside of Room 3, the biggest cabin of all, is that it is directly above the engine room, so when the boat moves early in the morning there is some rattle and hum. Similarly the raising of the anchor can be heard in Room 1.

How Does MSY Damai Handle In Rough Seas?
One important thing to note is that MSY Damai handles well when doing big ocean crossings, like in the Banda Sea. We had a couple of rough nights out there where the boat was pitching around a fair bit, but it didn’t the boat into a vomit comet. The creaks and groans of the ship’s timbers might be a little more disturbing, but that is standard on wooden boats anywhere. It also helps that Damai’s captain is very experienced and knows how to take on big waves while minimising boat movement.

Video Tours of Each Cabin on MSY Damai
Here are individual video tours of each cabin – nothing fancy, it’s just me walking around with my camera, but it gives you an idea of their size and amenities.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnNiVwVEYwA

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZHahuMLaJQ

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6AO2rUOJHw

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=os0132jl2zk

Dining and Drinking
All food is served in the mess deck, which is airconditioned and has two fans too. Ironically, the single large dining table is slightly cramped for a full complement of guests plus 2 tour leaders and the cruise director – 11 in all – but it’s not a big deal. The dining table is a natural place for conversations to begin and lets everyone take part.

Dining follows the usual liveaboard format – light breakfast before first dive, breakfast after first dive, lunch after second dive, snack after third dive in late afternoon, dinner around 7pm for those not night diving or 8pm for those night diving (or whenever they get back). It’s possible to order food at any other time but in practice is not really that practical to do so if you are keeping to the dive schedule.

Guests are asked before each mealtime to confirm if they are happy with the meal menu and substitutions are suggested if not. This all worked fairly seamlessly with the crew able to quickly adapt to requests. Food is served at the table rather than buffet style.

There is a heavy duty espresso machine on board for those who want cappuccino. There is unlimited beer, wine and soft drinks included in the price. Currently there are no spirits available on Damai, which might change, but would probably require a separate charge. (Bringing your own is the obvious solution – basic mixers like tonic water can be requested ahead of time, so gin drinkers, take note. Don’t expect any cranberry juice however).

Lunch and dinner and three course meals – salad as starter for lunch and soup for dinner. Food is very well presented and in general excellent – I took a couple of photos as random examples of dishes we had. I wish I’d done this on previous liveaboards I’ve been on as I think it helps give an idea of what to expect.

And here’s a random sample from the menu:
Lunch: Starter: Mix salad (carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, eggs, boiled potatoes, raisin) with Thousand Island dressing.
Main course: Spaghetti Carbonara (cream, bacon, parmesan cheese, onion, garlic,egg, salt, pepper). Dessert: Fresh fruit (mango).

Dinner: Starter: Cauliflower soup. Main course: Roast sweet potatoes with grilled wahoo in leak compote sauce and balsamic vinegar reduction, with green beans and sweet corn.
Dessert: Chocolate Brownie.

Sundeck and other amenities
There is a large sundeck with two double bed loungers, four single loungers and two reclining seats located just up from the dive deck in front of the captain’s bridge. The sundeck is usually covered with a canvas sail to provide some shade, as the Indonesian sun is pretty savage. There is a balcony with armchairs at the stern of the top deck too.

Massage on the sundeck is available free of charge from Comoran, a qualified male masseuse who also works as one of the wait staff. Several guests (male and female) tried the massage and all said it was very therapeutic for aching shoulders etc.

Dive Guides
As mentioned above, there are three dive guides between eight guests. The guide leader is Gusti, widely regarded as one of the best dive guides in Indonesia who helped discover many of Komodo’s key dive sites in the early 1990s. Wayan, formerly from Peter Hughes’ Komodo Dancer, and Ketut, formerly from one of Bali’s major dive operators, are also excellent, experienced guides.

Diving And Camera Gear Setup

The dive station is located at the bow of the boat. Each guest has a tank setup station with their own personal camera rinse tank and locker to store smaller items. (The locker is located under the seat of the setup station). Wetsuits are hung up on a rack at the front of the boat. Nitrox is free and guests are requested to analyse their tanks when gearing up.

Camera Room
The camera room is located by the dining area. Guests can set up their cameras and then bring them from the camera room to the dive area where there is room for them to be put down before being taken to the tenders. The camera room has eight power stations, one for each guest, with a rack of 110 and 220 volt plugs. There is also a storage cupboard directly underneath each station and also two shelves above for placing lenses, chargers etc. The camera room is great, but it could probably do with being a bit bigger – if you had eight people in there simultaneously it would be pretty cramped. As it was, it worked out Ok with five or six of us in there.

There is a continuous supply of camera towels available before and after dives to wipe down gear, keep the sun off and protect ports as necessary.

Spare Cameras For Guest Use
There is also a spare Nikon D200 DSLR camera and video camera on board in case guests have problems with their own equipment. Over our two trips we unfortunately had a couple of breakages and floods and for guests to be able to use the Nikon D200 was a real godsend.

Diving Boat Tenders
There are two boat tenders for three dive groups. Entry into the water is by backroll entry. Starting in 2010 there should be three tenders – for now, two groups go out and drop in and one tender returns for the third group. This is a bit tedious as it means group 3 has to wait around for 10 minutes or so for the tender to come back. The three groups rotate every couple of days. The journey time to dive sites is usually very short – 5 minutes or so. Occasionally it can be around 10 mins.

Each guest’s tank, fins and camera are carried by the boat boys from the station to the tender. Guests just need to remember to bring their own mask and computer.Getting onto the tenders uses the standard wooden staircase down to water level – this works well, except for in choppy water. On our last day of diving we had a lot of surge and the tender went straight under the ladder – not fun. This should be rectified in future.

The boat boys on each tender are excellent – they are quick to help you gear up, and adept at passing camera gear in and out of the boat quickly without bashing it around. There are boxes on each tender to store dome covers, sunglasses, hats etc. They are also generally very good at keeping clear with the engine propeller switched off when divers are submerging, although there were a couple of occasions where I thought they could have left starting the engine for a little while longer.

One major criticism I’d make is that the wooden decks of Damai are very slippy, and there are currently not any handrails along the walkway from the dive setup area to the tender. There are rubber mats on the floor around the dive deck area which help, but guests need to take real care walking to the boat. All your scuba gear is taken for you by the boat boys to the boat before you get on, but care still needs to be taken.

In Summary
It’s hard not to be impressed with MSY Damai – it’s a great boat that has been built to a specific concept, and it’s obviously a gamble for Damai’s owners about whether enough divers will agree with that concept and be prepared to pay the extra money. The response of guests on the two trips I was on was generally very positive. The big challenge for Damai is not only maintaining the high standards it’s set for itself, but also continually improving the boat in the future. Personally, I loved it – the small number of guests, direct help from dive guides finding stuff, and ease of dealing with all your camera gear along with the top notch food and sleeping arrangements meant that 4 weeks on the boat passed very quickly.

Practicalities: Getting There And Away
Bali is the departure point for all Damai trips – not in terms of the boat departure but where a Dive Damai representative will pick up guests from their hotels on the morning of departure and organise their domestic flight to the boat’s departure point within Indonesia. There are numerous international flights to Bali. See Skyscanner and Kayak to compare airline flight prices. (Bali is an excellent dive destination in its own right and deserves a few days at the beginning or end of your trip).

Dive Damai reps handle the purchase of all domestic flights and excess baggage charges, but note these are NOT included in the price – flights and excess baggage are billed to each guest at the end of the trip. Domestic Indonesian flights are relatively cheap, around $US 100 to $200 depending on your destination. Purchasing Indonesian domestic flights when not already in Indonesia is an exercise in futility – better to let Dive Damai handle it for you. This goes for any liveaboard in Indonesia.