Dive Review of Aggressor Fleet in
Indonesia/Lembeh to Raja Ampat

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Aggressor Fleet: "What could have been a disaster", Aug, 2022, by Craig Howe, FL, US ( Sr. Contributor 26 reports with 19 Helpful votes). Report 12085.
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	The Raja Ampat Aggressor has 2, 12-day cruises when they move from Northern Sulawesi to Raja Ampat, and then again when they move the boat back. In 2019 we had Aggressor Travel book us a dream vacation with a week stay in Lembeh, and another week in Ambon, with the Boat in the middle. We were all set to go in August of 2020 when the whole trip was cancelled because of Covid. We tried to get the whole trip postponed until 2021, but the boat was already booked for that trip so we had to push it out to 2022. I was disappointed that we would have to wait 2 years instead of just 1, but it turned out to be fortuitous, because of course the 2021 trip was cancelled as well. Aggressor Travel got both resorts to hold our reservations, and we allowed them to keep out deposits. When The Aggressor contacted us and let us know the trip was on for Sept 6-18, we were ecstatic. Dive Ambon didn’t make it through Covid, so we made a reservation with a resort in Raja Ampat. We would be in Indonesia for 30 days. We spent a week in Lembeh and on the 6th were taken the 20 minutes by boat to the Aggressor. We spent the rest of that 1st day setting up gear, filling out forms, and listening to orientations. We were shown the route we would take and a little about what to expect along the way. We would spend the 1st day diving Lembeh, and while we were sleeping the boat would move to our next location. But, when we woke, we were still in Lembeh. My wife went for coffee and said the cruise director told her I needed to come upstairs, she said he looked pretty glum. When everyone was present, he told us that last night the captain had had a disagreement with him and took 6 crew members and left the boat. We were dead in the water. They didn’t know what they were going to do, but they would have a plan by that evening. While he was telling us all this his voice was breaking up, and he almost went into tears. He said in the meantime, feel free to eat all their food and drink all their alcohol. At dinner (luckily the chef hadn’t mutinied) he told us that they had booked a resort for us in Raja Ampat that they would pay for except for alcohol. We would stay there for the duration of our trip unless the ship was able to recrew. If they could they would pick us up in Raja and we would finish our trip on the boat. We were given two options. The Assistant Cruise Director would go with us to make sure everything went smoothly. Go with their plan, or accept a complete refund and go do what ever you liked. Their plan came with a free trip on their boat that had to be taken in the next 2 years. All 14 of us accepted their plan. I don’t think any of us thought we would see the boat again during this trip. The next morning our dive tenders took us to the docks where 5 taxis were waiting, they took us on the hour ride to the airport in Manado. When we landed in Sorong, there were 5 more taxis waiting to take us to the docks where 2 speedboats from Meridian Adventure Dive were waiting to take us the 1 hour to Waigai Island where their resort was. Later in our trip we would make the same trip twice in the ferry. It took 2 hours and 15 minutes. After 3 days of diving with Meridian, we were told the boat would pick us up the next day. We took the speedboats quite a ways away and did 2 dives along the way. We met up with the boat in middle of nowhere where one of our divers got ill. Since they thought in could be DCI, our poor assistant cruise director got to go to the hospital back in Sorong instead of getting back on the boat. We spent the next 4 days diving southern Raja without a hitch. We are now booked to do the same trip in reverse next Sept. We picked the same trip for our free trip because we really want to do it. Hopefully 3rd time is the charm. I can’t congratulate everyone involved with this enough for the way they handled things. This could have turned into a disaster for everyone. I don’t always go on Aggressor boats, but if there is one that does the area I always consider them. I have almost always had a good experience. This was my 3rd trip on the Raja Ampat Aggressor, and they have all been memorable. Craig Howe
Websites	Aggressor Fleet
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	All over the place
Closest Airport	Manado, Sorong	Getting There	San Francisco to Tokyo to Jakarta to Manado
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, rainy, cloudy, dry	Seas	calm, choppy, currents, no currents
Water Temp	80-83°F / 27-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	40-80 Ft/ 12-24 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	[Unspecified]
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	1 or 2	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
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	[None]

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Dive Review of Aggressor Fleet in Indonesia/Lembeh to Raja Ampat

Aggressor Fleet: "What could have been a disaster", Aug, 2022,

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/Lembeh to Raja Ampat