Dive Review of Dive Damai in
Indonesia/Komodo

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Dive Damai, Aug, 2009, by Dave Van Rooy, Bali, Indonesia ( Reviewer 4 reports with 3 Helpful votes). Report 5011 has 1 Helpful vote.
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	This was a shakedown cruise on the new boat. The owner, Alberto Reija, formerly cruise director with his wife Olga on Kararu's Voyager, invited friends to try out his brand new 33m (110 ft) phinisi and help work the kinks out with his crew. So we and 6 others did a 7 day cruise to Komodo from Bali. He pushed us all for detailed feedback on all aspects of the boat, operation, and crew. There are many new boats trying to come online in Indonesia, and many of them are having troubles getting started, often due to bureaucratic difficulties here as well as just how things operate in Indonesia. He managed to get this done and working on schedule, which is no mean feat these days. The boat has only 4 cabins (8 guests max), so it's extremely spacious and luxurious for a liveaboard -- the cabins are huge (close to 1000 sq. ft) and have separate ensuite toilets and bath rooms, complete with tub(!) and separate shower. Most have two king size beds and more storage space than my attic. 2 cabins have attached verandas complete with lounge chairs. Most other liveaboards of this size have 7 or 8 cabins (14-16 guests max), so the feeling of spaciousness on this boat is especially noticeable. The chef backed out at the last moment, so Alberto had his chef friend Andreas take over for the first two weeks. Our meals were generally excellent, esp. the presentation, but unclear who will take over this duty in the future. Many of the crew (at least 6) I knew from various Sea Safaris boats and all except for some galley and masseuse hands, have had ample liveaboard experience. But there were some problems initially in getting them all working together and doing the right things, e.g. a few times tank valves were not open when we donned tanks in the tenders, glasses were not properly stowed for rough weather, ... But not as much as I would've expected for a first cruise. Gusti is his lead dive guide and very well known here -- he has worked with liveaboards for 25 years in the area, including Grand Komodo and Kararu. He is very knowledgable and helpful in critter finding, as is Aris, the other dive guide. Alberto is very service oriented, perhaps too much so. He's aiming to personalize everything from meals to dive times, but unclear to many of us that this is really do-able, or even desirable. A few more cruises should settle such issues. As this was my sixth trip to Komodo, I knew what to expect dive wise, tho this time the water was warmer than expected, there were many more big fish and mantas than previously, and we had some good vis and some of the more usual 10m kind. We did get down south (not usual at this time of year) and dive Cannibal Rock (one of the world's best dive sites in my book) where we found a super-ornate bright yellow rhinopias, monster grey frog fish, "lady bugs", sea apples, nudis galore, ... -- a truly remarkable reef. We started out at Gili Lawar in east Lombok with some nice nudis, ... followed by Sangeang (dropped in on a very cooperative wonderpuss) with some nice black sand diving and a prolific reef (nudis, leaf fish, blue ribbon eel, pygmy frog fish, ornate ghost pipe fish, inimicus, several varieties of cuttlefish, ...) Manta Alley off Langkoi Island gave us a large number (10-20) of 4-5m mantas feeding and cruising all around us, as well as a very large Napoleon wrasse, schools of bumphead parrots. Other standout dives included those at Crystal Rock and Hard to Find Reef off Gili Lawa Laut, with so many large schools of fish (surgeonfish, snapper, fusiliers, rainbow runners, pyramid butterfly, damsel, horse-eye jacks, trevallys -- both bluefin and giant) as well as grey reef and white-tip sharks, some large groupers, barramundi cod, ...) it was hard to focus on just one thing. Some mating cuttlefish added to the show. It's hard to go wrong when diving in Komodo. Dive Damai still has a few kinks to work out, but it is an interesting addition to the liveaboards operating in the area (he'll do Komodo, Raja Ampat, Kalimantan, and ...). The spaciousness of the cabins and boat with all its amenities along with the more intimate atmosphere of fewer divers is definitely appealing. It's more expensive than many others, but less than some, so the market will determine how successful the boat is.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Hundreds of dives in Indonesia, most places in the Pacific (Palau, Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomons, Malaysia, ...) and Caribbean, some eastern Pacific
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, cloudy, dry	Seas	calm, choppy, surge, currents, no currents
Water Temp	79-81°F / 26-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	10-80 Ft/ 3-24 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Dive reasonably
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	Squadrons
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	Plenty of camera workroom and storage. Individual rinse tanks for camera gear.

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

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Dive Review of Dive Damai in Indonesia/Komodo

Dive Damai, Aug, 2009,

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/Komodo