Dive Review of Dive Damai in
Indonesia/Forgotten Islands - Raja Ampat

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Dive Damai: "Still exemplary service and a boat that is aging well", Nov, 2022, by Gary & Robin Schiendelman, PA, US ( Sr. Contributor 29 reports with 44 Helpful votes). Report 12300 has 4 Helpful votes.
Photos Submitted with this Report Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions
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	Dive Damai 9 Years Later..Still exemplary service and a boat that is aging well We were on the Damai I for a 2 week trip to Raja Ampat 9 years ago and had a stellar experience so when we had the opportunity to join a charter on the Damai II for two weeks cruising from the Forgotten Islands to Raja Ampat, we jumped on it. The charter was through Tanya Burnett and Island Exposure. Tanya is an excellent trip leader. She constantly communicated with the boat manager and made sure everyone was taken care of. We will be traveling with her again in the future. Despite the pain of getting to Saumlaki where the boat departed, it was an awesome trip! The boat was comfortable for 11 guests. Our room (#4) was spacious with a double and single bed, small closet, plenty of hooks for hanging clothes and 2 sets of shelves for storing clothing and other items. The bathroom is really big with plenty of hot water and excellent water pressure. They provide body wash, shampoo and conditioner. The restaurant and lounge are comfortable and the outdoor lounge areas provide comfortable seating and shade. Note that this is a wooden boat and it has a lot of creaks! It can be charming or annoying depending upon your perspective. We covered a lot of ground (970 nautical miles) and often motored in the night or early morning so it could be a bit noisy when the engine started and the anchor was raised/lowered. Overall, the boat is well maintained and we never had any issues with mold or that awful mildew smell you find on some boats. There were minor leaks in a couple of the rooms that were quickly dealt with. The crew will identify where the leak is, then seal it with absorbent and tape. When the boat goes in for service, they make a permanent fix. Food was excellent with every meal plated and made to order. First breakfast was croissants, toast, cereal, fruit and second breakfast was made to your order. In addition to a selection of Indonesian foods, you could order french toast, pancakes, oatmeal or eggs made any way you like. Side meats of sausage and bacon, fruit and toast completed the meal. You were presented with the lunch and dinner menu after breakfast and you could go with that or order something else. We had chicken wraps for lunch one day that were really good so a few people had them again later in the week in lieu of the menu choice. Same for dinner, if you didn’t like the offering, just ask for a substitute. We had one guest who was gluten free and they accommodated her with no problem. The dive deck offers individual rinse tanks as well as a personal storage area for miscellaneous “stuff”. The crew will help you on and off with your wetsuit and will rinse and hang all of your wetsuits, skins, etc to dry after each dive. Once you change into dry clothes, take your swim suit to the dive deck and they hang that up too! Before the dive briefing, your suits are folded and placed at your station. Gear is set up once and then carried on and off the tender for you. You descend a nice set of steps into the tender and there are always helping hands. Once at the dive site, crew will help you into gear and you back roll into the water. At the end of the dive, hand up cameras, weights and bc, then swim to the ladder, remove fins and climb up. A good ladder makes it so easy! The ratio of guides to guests is 4 so the tender was never crowded. With 11 guests, the 2 tenders made 3 trips to get everyone to the dive site. Dive briefings were always thorough and the crew checked for current and visibility prior to the briefing so you were aware of conditions. There are 3 dive guides and their styles and abilities varied. Ryan was the best at spotting all kinds of small critters. Rian was pretty good at spotting but the 3rd guide, Kris would rarely point out anything small. Despite that, the diving was excellent and varied. We saw many sharks including hammerhead, silver tip, black tip, white tip, wobbegong and walking sharks. Schools of barracuda, batfish, surgeonfish and so many others! The coral is still in great shape and we enjoyed every one of the 43 dives. Dive Damai is not inexpensive but we feel it’s a great value. They do not nickel and dime you which we really appreciate. Everything is included with the exception of a recently instituted fuel surcharge and tips. So there is no additional charge for laundry, nitrox, massage, beer or soft drinks. One glass of wine with dinner was also included. Overall we would highly recommend Dive Damai and already have reservations for a trip in 2024! COVID: Rapid test of all guests upon arrival at request of trip leader Fire Safety: All guests were requested to use the camera room for all charging needs. Cell phones could be charged in room. Life jackets in every room.
Websites	Dive Damai
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Indonesia, PNG, Solomon Isl, Red Sea, Maldives, South Africa, Mozambique, Cocos Isl, Galapagos, Socorro, Palau, Var Caribbean locations, New Jersey, Florida, No Carolina, Philippines, Fiji
Closest Airport	Saumlaki / Sorong	Getting There	PHL-DOH-CGK-AMQ-SXK Return SOQ-CGK-DOH-PHL Dive Damai assisted with all internal flights
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, rainy, cloudy	Seas	calm, choppy
Water Temp	83-84°F / 28-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	25-100 Ft/ 8-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	Prefer that you stay with DM. No Deco. 60+ minute dive time
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	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	Awesome camera room with individual stations, plenty of storage and outlets (including USB). Crew was very careful at handling cameras and would load and unload them from the tenders. After the dive, they were placed in your individual rinse tank, then dried and taken to the camera room.

Report currently has 4 Helpful votes

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Dive Review of Dive Damai in Indonesia/Forgotten Islands - Raja Ampat

Dive Damai: "Still exemplary service and a boat that is aging well", Nov, 2022,

Photos Submitted with this Report

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 Dive Damai in
Indonesia/Forgotten Islands - Raja Ampat