Dive Review of Gaia Love in
Indonesia/Banda Sea, Triton Bay

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Gaia Love: "Mixed Bag In Banda", Oct, 2023, by Tim Williams, CA, US ( Reviewer 6 reports with 7 Helpful votes). Report 12747.
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	First of all the Gaia Love is a great boat; the "value" would have been a higher rating if we had seen whale sharks, hammerheads and mantas. The added travel days to meet the boat and costs of 3-domestic flights each way with tax and charges for all baggage and 2 additional hotel rooms each way to and from this trip drove up the price. So, the expense and difficulty to get there and then not experience "the big stuff" reduced the value for me ( but not everyone) on this trip. We were very fortunate to sail with the Gaia Love 5-years ago when it was still a new boat. We were anxious to see if we would have an equally great experience on this trip. We chose the 10-night Banda Sea to Triton Bay trip as it was billed as the hot spot for remote Indonesian diving with wide angle action. As stated, it required patience to get to the embarkation port in Saumlaki. Once there we were very pleased to see that the company has kept the boat in excellent shape and they’ve retained the outstanding dive leadership partners Giel and Gerry. The staff all have a great attitude, very friendly and professional. Safety is paramount. Complete orientation on fire procedures and no charging in the cabins. The staterooms are spacious with large showers and storage. The well appointed dive deck looks new, quite a feat in this climate. Plenty of personal space for your dive station with storage and a rinse bin for each person's camera. The Gaia Love takes pride in their food offerings. Several meal choices are available and served at your table - no buffets. We boarded early Friday but there was a delay in getting approval to leave the port and so no diving on the 1st day, only travel. This gave us plenty of time to set-up. Throughout most of the trip we had good macro encounters including a large variety of nudibranchs, blue ring octopus, pygmy seahorses, boxer crabs and various pipefish. In some areas the coral was stunning. At Manuk Island sites we had a unique encounters with lots of sea snakes. We also saw a few wobbegong sharks. We encountered a couple of Bumphaed Parrotfish and Napoleon Wrasse, but only at a distance. There were a few small white tips on one dive. On the surface we saw several Blue Whales during an interval. The weather was great, no rain and calm seas. Unfortunately it was one of those "you should have been here last week" trips. We did not see hammerheads, giant mantas or whale sharks. The visibility was good in a few places, moderate at most sites and downright ugly in a couple. We had been expecting wide angle opportunities and that didn’t pan-out for us. But its a big ocean and we’ve all experienced these situations at some point as divers…….
Websites	Gaia Love
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	California, Hawaii, Florida, Cuba, USVI, BVI's, Belize, Honduras, Grand Cayman, Cozumel, La Paz, Indonesia, Chuuk, Palau, Fiji, Egypt, Saba, Dominica, St. Maarten, Bahamas, New Zealand, Socorro, French Polynesia, Australia
Closest Airport	Saumlaki	Getting There	LAX - Singapore - Jakarta - Ambon - Saumlaki
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	80-82°F / 27-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	3-60 Ft/ 1-18 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Check-out dive. Complete dive briefings, minimum 2-hour surface intervals Recreational dive limits. No deco diving.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	The best camera room of any live aboard. Personal station with storage and charging. Personal rinse tank for each diver. Crew is trained how to handle cameras to and from skiffs.

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Dive Review of Gaia Love in Indonesia/Banda Sea, Triton Bay

Gaia Love: "Mixed Bag In Banda", Oct, 2023,

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 Gaia Love in
Indonesia/Banda Sea, Triton Bay