Dive Review of Mermaid/Mermaid I in
Indonesia

Other Indonesia reports
Subscriber Content Preview
Active subscribers go here

Mermaid/Mermaid I: "Raja Ampet on Mermaid I", Feb, 2016, by Laurie Pemberton, CA, US ( Contributor 15 reports with 13 Helpful votes). Report 8840 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	We just returned from the Feb 20-Mar 1, 2016 charter on Mermaid I diving the Raja Ampet area. Great boat, good crew, fun diving. This was the second trip we've made on Mermaid I (did Bali-Komodo in Oct 2014), and we are already looking at maybe another trip in 2018. Mermaid I accommodates a max of 15 divers, and has a crew of 16 people. They put the divers into groups of no more than 4 divers with a dive guide. All dives are backrolls off dingys. The crew is friendly and helpful. Dive guides are good at finding various critters. There were all types of fish life on our dives: from pygmy seahorses to manta rays. Every dive had both macro and wide-angle opportunities. We had some current at a few dive sites - a disadvantage to going at full moon. Other dive sites were calm. We had good visibility at all but maybe 2 dive sites (out of 32-33 dives). Water was 82-87F. I wore a full 1mm wetsuit (I'm a woman) with a beanie. We saw healthy reefs. Some had so much growth and colors, it was almost overwhelming. We took lots of photos (now the challenge to identify the best). A fun part of the trip was meeting new people from all over: England, Europe, US, etc. Dive briefings are in English, but the dive guides speak several languages. We flew international to Jakarta, and spent a couple of days to adjust to the new time zone. We did not do any sightseeing in Jakarta, and enjoyed our say at the FM7 Hotel near the airport (but very quiet, clean, and has a good restaurant in the hotel - also nice pool). We got to Sorong the night before getting on the boat, and stayed at the Swiss Belhotel (also quiet, clean, has a restaurant). Flying between Jakarta and Sorong is the only part that was so-so. We flew Lion Air, and did not realize when I made the reservation that Wing Air (leg to/from Sorong) had a 10kg weight limit. If you are taking your own dive gear, you know that is almost impossible. We had to pay extra since our checked bags were 20kg. So, my advice would be to check baggage weight allowances in deciding which airline to take to get to Sorong.
Websites	Mermaid
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Caymans, Turks, Cozumel, Curacao, StKitts-Saba, Florida, California, Sea of Cortez, Socorro, Palau, Yap, Fiji, Bali-Komodo
Closest Airport	Sorong	Getting There	If flying international to Jakarta, then will need to take domestic flights to Sorong: watch baggage weight!
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	82-87°F / 28-31°C	Wetsuit Thickness	1
Water Visibility	20-100 Ft/ 6-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Nitrox and computer restrictions. Suggested dive length is 70min for days and 60min for nights, but dive guides were flexible and let us dive longer on most dives if we still had plenty of air.
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	1 or 2
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
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	There were at least 5 rinse buckets just for cameras. Camera table had plenty of space. We used the cubbies on one wall of the dive deck to plug in our battery chargers.

Report currently has 2 Helpful votes

Subscriber's Comments

By Lenny Zwik in TX, US at Aug 02, 2016 13:31 EST

We did the same itinerary in Mar 2015 but flew Air Garuda. We had no baggage or weight issues with them.

Leave a comment (Subscribers only -- 200 words max)
Subscribers can comment here

Subscribers can post comments, ask the reviewer questions, as well as getting immediate and complete access to ALL 1435 dive reviews of Indonesia and all other dive destinations. Complete access to all issues and Chapbooks is also included.

All Indonesia Dive Reviews and Reports
Diving Guide to Indonesia
Diving Reviews for All Dive Destinations

Featured Links from Our Sponsors
Interested in becoming a sponsor?

Reef & Rainforest, Let our experience be your guide -- Reef and Rainforest

Reef & Rainforest is an agency for travelers that scuba dive. Looking for Biodiversity, critters, Komodo, Raja Ampat, temples? We specialize in adventures to Indonesia.

Want to assemble your own collection of Indonesia reports in one place?
Use the Mini Chapbook Facility to create your personalized collection.

Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

Undercurrent Home

Page computed and displayed in 0.63 seconds

Get more dive info like these and other important scuba updates sent monthly to your email. And a FREE Recent Issue of Undercurrent
Get a free monthly email and a sample issue!

Dive Review of Mermaid/Mermaid I in Indonesia

Mermaid/Mermaid I: "Raja Ampet on Mermaid I", Feb, 2016,

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):

Subscriber's Comments

Dive Review of Mermaid/Mermaid I in
Indonesia