Dive Review of Mermaid Liveaboards in
Indonesia/Bali, Komodo

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Mermaid Liveaboards: "Mermaid I-amazing diving, crew, and customer service", Aug, 2017, by Susan M Fuchs, IL, US ( Reviewer 6 reports with 4 Helpful votes). Report 9891 has 2 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 trip takes you from Bali to dive sites around several islands (Moyo, Sangeang, Sumbawa, Komodo, Rinca, Flores). The first night crossing was a bit choppy, but afterwards, the seas were calm. The water in the north was 78 degrees, in the south 68 degrees. In the colder water, I used a 3mm suit with a 2 mm hooded vest and was fine except for my fingers (wear gloves). Others used a 5mm suit. The diving was great. The bottom was sometimes black volcanic sand, and others full of beautiful, healthy coral. There were schools of fish: trevally, anthias, grunts, butterflyfish, several humpback wrasses, and titan triggerfish, loads of pufferfish, a few sharks, nudibranchs galore, and mantas! We did 2 manta dives- one a feeding station, where we sat at 70 feet and watched more than 10 mantas come in to feed. The next was a cleaning station, which had a significant current, so we used metal pointers to dig into the lava bottom and hang on to watch the show. There was a current on several dives, so you would drift but still be able to take photos. On one dive we needed a reef hook. What was amazing is that there was a dive guide behind the group, so when your reef hook loosened and you flew back, he "caught you" and hooked you in again. Our dive guide Nico was amazing! He always took time to point out rays, fish, turtles, eels, and he able to find amazing small crabs, leaf scorpionfish, pipefish, and juvenile barramundi. The trip to Komodo Island was fun. we took a small hike with park rangers and saw a large Komodo dragon at a watering hole, small ones out in the bush, and several just sunning themselves. The food was great. There were a few vegans and several vegetarians in the group and they always had several options. The soups were wonderful: tom kah, pumpkin, broccoli. mushroom- a different one every day. We woke up at 6:30, had a light breakfast with coffee/cappuccino/ latte, dove, then had regular breakfast with made to order eggs, pancakes. We dove again before lunch, had an afternoon dive, then an evening dive-usually at 6:30, so dinner was at 8:00-quite a full day. Regarding customer service: the boat lost an engine with 2 days to go, so rather than risk people missing flights home, they disembarked us at a port, got us to the airport, paid for our flight to Bali, paid the overweight luggage fees, put us up in a hotel, and gave us a stipend for dinner. In addition, they did not charge us for nitrox. The crew was so apologetic for something that was not their fault; but everyone appreciated how the company bent over backwards to make up 1.5 days of missed diving.
Websites	Mermaid Liveaboards
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Caribbean, Indonesia, Thailand, Palau
Closest Airport	Bali	Getting There	Fly into Bali (Denspasar)- will need to connect somewhere, but major carriers fly here
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	68-78°F / 20-26°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	50-100 Ft/ 15-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	We dove in groups of 4-5 with a divemaster. If you needed to come up early, a buddy team could surface, and other divers could stay down longer.
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
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	Several fresh water basins for cameras. 1 Large camera table, and 1 smaller one

Report currently has 2 Helpful votes

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Dive Review of Mermaid Liveaboards in Indonesia/Bali, Komodo

Mermaid Liveaboards: "Mermaid I-amazing diving, crew, and customer service", Aug, 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 Mermaid Liveaboards in
Indonesia/Bali, Komodo