Dive Review of Aggressor Fleet in
Indonesia/East Borneo to Lembeh

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Aggressor Fleet: "Berau to Lembeh Repositioning Trip", Sep, 2023, by Brian Morrow, GA, US ( Sr. Contributor 23 reports with 9 Helpful votes). Report 12640.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	This 12 night cruise is one of two annual re-positioning cruises the Raja Ampat Aggressor makes between the Raja Ampat and Derawan Islands itineraries. We boarded the ship after a two hour drive from Berau, where we overnighted. This was an unexpected long drive in contradiction to what is posted on the Aggressor website. This itinerary covered all but one of the Derawan Island week long trip sites before headed towards Lembeh (500 miles as the crow flies to the east). Due to the long crossing there are a couple of days where only two morning dives are offered prior to steaming on. These two days are considered “exploratory” diving because the crew is not accustomed to diving the areas. The remainder of the itinerary includes Bunaken Marine Park, Bangka Island and Lembeh Strait. We enjoyed good weather for most of the trip with only a couple of windy days and one day with morning rain. Highlights of the trip include the turtle hatching sanctuary and release of the previous days hatchlings, the whale shark encounter where they feed under fishing platforms, the jelly fish lake with the sting-less jellies like in Palau, the turtles of Bunaken, the corals in the Bangka area and the critters of Lembeh. The turtle hatching, whale sharks and jelly fish lake are all part of the standard Derawan Island itinerary and other than these I found the diving to be average at best. The visibility in the entire area was the poorest of the trip. Once you get past the two long travel days and arrive in Bunaken the diving improves markedly. The Raja Ampat Aggressor has been nicely updated since the last time we were aboard in 2017. The only issue we had was that the air conditioning controls in our cabin did not work too well. The food served was very good and the chef was able to meet the dietary restrictions of my wife with varied alternatives. Continental breakfast starts at 6 am although it was ready by 5 am when I normally got up. Cooked to order hot breakfast is served after the first dive and lunch (buffet) is served after the second dive. A plated dinner is served after the night divers returned, usually between 7:30 and 8 pm. Diving is done off skiffs with divers assigned to one of three groups. During our trip there were 11 divers split into groups of 4,4,3. Each day the group would dive with a different guide on a rotational basis. The skiffs were hard hulled zodiacs, back flip entries and climbing a short ladder to re-enter the skiff. The skiff drivers were very attentive and waits for pick-up were usually short. The crew was outstanding, to a person. The Activity Director is Pep, a Cantalonian who has been in Indonesia for a number of years. He also has enough card tricks to last the entire 12 day cruise without repeat but totally guarded on how he does it. The rest of the crew is friendly and attentive. There is someone to pull off and rinse your wet suit, hand you a towel, zip up your wet suit, etc, etc. We were spoiled. In summary, the ship and the crew were great but aside from the Derawan highlights and Bunaken, Bangka and Lembeh the rest of the itinerary was not up to those standards. You can dive Bunaken, Bangka and Lembeh with good land-based operations as you’ll read in the reviews of the other places we went on this month long trip to Indonesia.
Websites	Aggressor Fleet
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	All over Caribbean, Sea of Cortez, PNG, Solomons, Palau, Yap, Raja Ampat, Ambon, N.Sulawesi, Alor, Bali, Moorea, Bora Bora, Hawaii, Philippines
Closest Airport	Berau	Getting There	We went Atlanta to Jakarta via Seoul, overnight in Jakarta and onto Berau via Balikpapan.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm, choppy, currents
Water Temp	78-82°F / 26-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	30-60 Ft/ 9-18 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Usually 60 minute dives. Most stayed with their guides.
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	> 2
Turtles	> 2	Whales	1 or 2
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	Cameras were handled with care on the skiffs and placed in rinse tank upon return. Two dedicated camera tables located on the dive deck, one with compressed air. Inside the salon were ample 110 and 220 charging stations.

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Dive Review of Aggressor Fleet in Indonesia/East Borneo to Lembeh

Aggressor Fleet: "Berau to Lembeh Repositioning Trip", Sep, 2023,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Aggressor Fleet in
Indonesia/East Borneo to Lembeh