Dive Review of Arenui in
Indonesia/Raja Ampat

Can you tell me what the diver to guide ratio was? Thanks

There are four guides for maximum 16 divers. Hope this helps!

Have a question for you about payment - We were told by the owner they cannot accept credit cards, so we would have to wire him the money. This just seems a little shady and scary, and I was hoping you could tell me if this was how your payment was handled? Thanks so much for any info!

Arenui takes credit cards onboard (ie; at the end of the cruise for any onboard bill - maybe extra massages, alcohol, souvenirs or possibly additional extras not finalized before balance paid; hotels, flights etc booked by our Bali office). We can take CC onboard as we have the machine on the boat - where the card can be swiped and signed for in person - which is acceptable to Indonesian banks. But for deposits etc we ask for a wire transfer; usually internet banking nowadays. This is because Indo banks are very inflexible on CC payments without the card in person (machine payment) as they have had too any cases of fraud, so we also don’t feel it would be practical at this time. FYI; we are still looking into other options, but haven't found anything we feel 100% comfortable with yet as secure payment for our guests ... but overall it's really not been an issue for the majority of our guests (especially given that internet banking makes it so simple) ... in fact we find ourselves 75% fully booked until 2016 with many of those 2+ time repeat guests :-)

This is my dream trip--including the Banda Islands! I wonder if you could give me a more detailed idea of what the currents are like? I mean, are we talking fast drift diving or washing machine up-and-down?

This is my dream trip--including the Banda Islands! Can you tell me more about what the currents were like? I mean, were they like fast drift dives or more like the rip-roaring, washing machine up-and-down variety?

Mostly calm dives and then some fast drift dives; nothing like the washing-machine stuff you get in other locations! Really great reefs and lots of fish life as pretty untouched still. Hope this helps :-)

Thanks and sorry for the double posting! I'm also very interested in the shore excursion to Banda Neira and the plantation. This was all in one day, yes? Were there any other opportunites for shore visits--I don't mean going to the beach (although that would be lovely) but things of an historical or cultural nature?

There's a visit to the plantation which also includes a walk through the village, visit to the fort and stop off at a museum etc, but the Maluku-Raja itinerary also includes other shore visits like the beach village in south Raja and if the longer itinerary then also a trip up to the pearl farm of Raja. More on all the dive sites but also shore visits at the itinerary page; thearenui.com/Maluku-Banda-RajaAmpat-SA.html (if easier, email me for more info; laura @ thearenui .com)

There's a visit to the plantation which also includes a walk through the village, visit to the fort and stop off at a museum etc, but the Maluku-Raja itinerary also includes other shore visits like the beach village in south Raja and if the longer itinerary then also a trip up to the pearl farm of Raja. More on all the dive sites but also shore visits at the itinerary page; thearenui.com/Maluku-Banda-RajaAmpat-SA.html (if easier, email me for more info; laura @ thearenui .com)