Dive Review of Blue Manta in
Indonesia/Komodo

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Blue Manta: "First Liveaboard Trip For Me; I'm Most Likely Spoiled: Excellent", Jun, 2022, by Rik Pavlescak, FL, US ( Sr. Contributor 23 reports with 19 Helpful votes). Report 11965 has 1 Helpful vote.
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 was my first liveaboard and I wasn’t sure about what to expect. From the moment I was picked up at the hotel in Labuan Bajo I was impressed. Each person was asked to take a rapid COVID test upon boarding the boat. The Blue Manta is a large, comfortable boat. My cabin was nicer than the two different cruise ships I’ve been on, with a full bathroom, plenty of space for clothing and lots of outlets—even USB ports. Didn’t need to use the outlets, though, as a spacious, fully equipped camera room had plenty of outlets for battery recharging.The dive deck is exceptional—each diver has their own station for the week and gear is returned there after each dive. Nitrox fills were great and divers analyzed each tank before diving. The diving was wonderful: four dives spaced throughout the day. Sites included a mix of corals, a few shark sitings, nudibranchs, lots of fast drift diving. Diving with mantas was magical. Excellent detailed dive briefings were given prior to each dive, showing exact spot on map where dive site was located and detailing features of the site and outlining the dive plan. The boat traveled to North, mid, and south Komodo areas; temperatures varied by about 5 degrees, requiring a 3 mm wet suit for the cooler temps. Each speed boat had up to 4 divers and one dive guide. The end of each dive was also a treat—step off the speedboat onto the dive platform to one of six hot showers (only 4 divers coming in at a time, so no waiting for a shower!) Crew members help divers take off their wet suits (even pulling off booties and socks) and while divers shower, crew rinse and hang wetsuits and gear for drying. Magically, everything appears back at your assigned diving station for your next dive. Fresh towel is ready at the end of every dive as well as hot tea or hot chocolate. Nitrox fills were typically 32%-33% and tanks were filled consistently to 2950-3000 PSI. There was a quick visit one morning to Komodo National Park to see the dragons, and an afternoon excursion to a nearby island (not in the park) one day to see a dragon that was hanging out on shore. Also an evening sighting of thousands of bats on a nearby island, and a small hike offered on the afternoon of the final diving day. The service and food was exceptional —special requests (like vegan) were easily catered to with tasty options. Most lunch and dinners started with a soup and then excellent appetizers before the main course. Plentiful sodas, water, iced tea available at no additional cost; beer/wine available for slight charge on the honor system: just mark on the clipboard when you take it. The boat does travel to some remote areas so Internet access via onboard Wi-Fi and cellular service were not always fast or reliable—that was the only challenge: having to wait to upload pictures and videos for friends at home to see. I was able to always make contact via text or email though, to stay in touch with home. There were 13 divers on board for my trip--about 1/2 of capacity for the boat. All got along very well and I was told by a number of experienced liveaboard divers that this particular boat was exceptional compared to others they have been on. Top sun deck had full size lounges (like twin size beds) in abundance; mid-deck lounge had plentiful seating, bar, and snacks available all day. Air conditioned salon and dining room were on the main deck with several cabins, camera room, and diving stations. Diving platform was just below that--though divers never had to carry any gear from their diving station to dive platform: crew handled all gear. After analyzing nitrox tanks and verifying gear was as they wanted it set up, crew members carried gear down and placed on proper speed boast. We had 3 boats go out for each dive, staggered departure times so that we rarely saw other divers on the sites (many were drift dives). Overall a great experience. I would definitely recommend Blue Manta to others considering a trip to one of the areas they serve. I fear I may have been spoiled on this first liveaboard experience, but I'm looking forward to others.
Websites	Blue Manta
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Costa Brava, Roatan, Key West, Cozumel, Key Largo, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, Cayman Brac, Bonaire, Philippines, Bali, North Sulawesi, St. John, St. Croix, Curacao, St. Eustatius, Fiji, Komodo, Lembeh
Closest Airport	Labuan Bajo	Getting There	From Fort Lauderdale, I flew to Toronto to Vancouver to Tokyo to Jakarta. Overnighted in Jakarta and then on to Labuan Bajo.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm, currents
Water Temp	75-81°F / 24-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	40-100 Ft/ 12-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	No Deco Diving; keep group (1 dive guide, 4 divers) in view as most were drift dives
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	Squadrons
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish	N/A
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	Excellent camera room available with multiple outlets at each station for charging batteries. Camera room is right next to diving stations, so no need to carry camera throughout the boat. Right outside camera room is a tank with compressed air gun for drying photography gear.

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

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Dive Review of Blue Manta in Indonesia/Komodo

Blue Manta: "First Liveaboard Trip For Me; I'm Most Likely Spoiled: Excellent", Jun, 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 Blue Manta in
Indonesia/Komodo