Dive Review of Dewi Nusantara in
Indonesia/Raja Ampat to Triton Bay

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Dewi Nusantara: "Raja Ampat to Triton Bay on the Dewi Nusantara", Feb, 2017, by David E Reubush, VA, US ( Top Contributor 66 reports with 33 Helpful votes). Report 9519 has 3 Helpful votes.
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 second trip to Raja Ampat on the Dewi Nusantara. This trip was led by Burt Jones of Secret Sea Visions and Hergen Spalink of Got Muck. The boat is still the large, comfortable home away from home that I remembered. The cabins are large, with plenty of drawers etc. to store your stuff. The head is large with a shower that has enough room that you're not constantly bumping into the walls. Even with a majority of underwater photographers onboard there was plenty of room in the camera room for everyone. The 2 tenders are also large and, with help from the crew, make it easy for you to gear up and back-roll into the water. The tender crew learns whose camera is whose very quickly and carefully hands it too you as soon as you surface from the back-roll. You dive on the same tender with the same buddies and guide the whole trip so that the boat crew and guide can get to know the way you want to do things and customize the experience. There were 19 divers on the trip and there were enough guides such that it was just me and 2 buddies with our guide. The food was a step up from the last time I was on the boat. There was always something available that I enjoyed. The routine was the same as most live-aboards; first breakfast of cereal etc. before the first dive; the first dive; hot breakfast with various eggs, pancakes, French toast, etc. available after the dive; the second dive; a buffet lunch with, typically, chicken, fish, and beef dishes and at least 2 kinds of rice; the third dive; sweet snacks; either a late afternoon or night dive before dinner; and a sit-down dinner with a glass of wine. Soft drinks and Bintang beer were free while any wine beyond the glass with dinner or hard liquor were extra cost. (The taxes on alcohol in Indonesia make it uneconomic to offer free booze other than the local Bintang.) Meals were generally eaten at tables under a canvas awning on the deck unless rain had arrived, which happened a number of times on this trip. Henrik, the dining room impresario, made sure that all meals went smoothly. He also learned what drinks you liked and, after the first day, you never had to order again; your choice just showed up. There were 2 warm water showers on the dive deck and there were 2 crew members waiting after every dive to give neck and shoulder massages - both were most appreciated. As far as the diving goes, this was the year of pygmy seahorses. Eddie, our guide, found them on most every dive site. They are still not easy to photograph, but at least there were plenty of chances. While there were plenty of pygmies the number of nudibranchs were down from other trips to Raja. The fish life seemed to be as plentiful as ever, but I must admit that I am most interested in the small and weird. That said, as we got closer to Triton Bay I started seeing a few fish that I had not seen before which definitely made things more interesting; plus, once we got to Triton Bay we were able to snorkel (diving not allowed by the local village) at one of the fishing platforms with 3 whale sharks. While not exactly the same experience as I had in Cenderawasih Bay it was fun being in the water with these gentle giants. Visibility was adversely affected by the tremendous amount of rain which had been falling and continued to fall during the trip. The typical site had 50 to 60 ft. while a couple of sites had a surface layer of 20 to 30 ft. visibility which opened up after you got down below 25 to 30 ft. All in all, it was a good trip and I will keep the Dewi in my list of live-aboards for future trips.
Websites	Dewi Nusantara
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Australia, Belize, Bimini, Bonaire, Caymans, Curacao, Fiji, Galapagos, Indonesia (Wakatobi, Raja Ampat, Komodo, Lembeh, Bali, Banda Sea), Philippines, Red Sea, Solomon Islands, Southern Bahamas, St. Thomas, Turks & Caicos
Closest Airport	Sorong - SOQ	Getting There	Fly to Jakarta, then to Manado, spend the night, fly to Sorong, shuttle to the harbor, tender ride to the boat
Dive Conditions
Weather	rainy, cloudy	Seas	choppy
Water Temp	82-83°F / 28-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	20-60 Ft/ 6-18 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Be a responsible diver.
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	> 2
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	Large camera room with plenty of space to spread out. Rinse tank on dive deck dedicated to cameras, but small enough that cameras got dunked after the dive and placed on the deck for you to pick up.

Report currently has 3 Helpful votes

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Dive Review of Dewi Nusantara in Indonesia/Raja Ampat to Triton Bay

Dewi Nusantara: "Raja Ampat to Triton Bay on the Dewi Nusantara", Feb, 2017,

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 Dewi Nusantara in
Indonesia/Raja Ampat to Triton Bay