Dive Review of Pindito/N/A in
Indonesia/Raja Ampat

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Pindito/N/A: "Raja Ampat Never Disappoints!", Apr, 2024, by Gary & Robin Schiendelman, PA, US ( Top Contributor 42 reports with 56 Helpful votes). Report 12968.
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Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	We have been to Raja Ampat a number of times so we knew the diving would be superb, and it was! This was our first trip on the Pindito. It’s a traditional Phinisi style and was one of the first liveaboards in Indonesia. She’s been updated a number of times and, although not as luxurious as many, she is comfortable. The itinerary was Southern Raja Ampat, starting and ending in Sorong. We stayed the previous week at Papua Paradise Eco Resort and the Pindito arranged to have us picked up at the resort and brought directly to the boat. They transferred all of our dive gear from the resort’s crates into the Pindito crates so we never had to pack up. It made the transfer very easy! We had a safety briefing once we arrived which outlined charging protocols, emergency exits from the cabins (all on the lower deck), muster stations and life jackets. The cabins are somewhat small but there was enough room. Our cabin had one full size bed with a twin bunk, which we used for additional storage. The bed and pillows were pretty comfy and AC is individually controlled. There is also a fan in the room. The sink is in the main cabin while the toilet and shower are in a separate room. The shower is quite large by liveaboard standards. The doors into the toilet/shower room were wooden, double swinging doors. The wood is beautiful but we found them slightly annoying. However, given the space limitations in the room, they seem the best option. There is an outlet in the room that can be used for charging but, for safety reasons, only when you are present in the room. Towels were changed twice during our 12 day trip. The eating area/lounge was very large, with tables set up around the perimeter for 5 or 6 people each. There are plugs that can be used to charge cell phones or tablets. There is also a TV for video presentations and the nightly briefing. A 24 hour coffee station, water cooler and fridge are here also. Pretty much everything is included except wine and premium liquors. Food schedule was standard. First, cold breakfast of toast, cereal and fruit followed by cooked breakfast (order before your first dive), lunch and dinner were served family style at each table and usually consisted of chicken or beef with a vegetable and rice. No fish other than fried calamari rings once. Dessert was mostly fruit. The food was OK but became repetitive by the end of the trip. There were a couple of guests with special diet requirements and they seemed happy with their choices. We always appreciate the efforts of the cook and what it takes to make so much food in a tiny space! There was a really nice Indonesian buffet on the last night, followed by a music performance by the crew on the top deck. There is a nice camera room just off the lounge area. There are separate stations with storage underneath and lots of outlets with adapters. There are no USB ports. We were informed that all power to the camera room would be turned off at night (around 11pm) and turned back on in the morning around 6am. Upper deck had a nice sun area with lounge chairs. Just in front of the bridge was a shaded deck with comfortable seating. The dive deck is spacious. There are no tanks kept on the dive deck. You have a gear box under a bench and all of your gear, including bc and reg’s are stored there. Half hour or so prior to the dive, the crew bring tanks up and set up your gear. Once you are on deck, they analyze the tank, check the fill and put them on the tender. Unfortunately, there were times when they analyzed before you were there so you had to rely on them to tell you the nitrox %. They would re-analyze if asked, but it seemed an inconvenience. Fins and cameras were also loaded on to the tenders so you only needed to put on your wetsuit and carry your mask. After the dive, they carry everything back to the main boat, break down your gear and stow it in your bin. There is a camera rinse tank, one for masks and one for wetsuits. They would generally rinse and hang your wetsuit for you. They take your camera from the rinse tank, dry it and place it back at your station in the camera room. The hanging rope lines for wetsuits, swim suits, skins, etc are really high. We could barely reach the lines and there were some guests who could not reach them. They were also in a really small area so you had to fight your way through everyone’s wetsuits and clothes if yours were hanging in the middle. They could use additional places to hang wet stuff! The one plus is that there is some cover over this area in case of rain. Deck towels were also hung in this area so they took up a lot of room and if it was raining, you had a damp towel after your dive. There are 4 tenders so we were never more than 4 or 5 people each plus one dive guide. The guide and tender driver would help you on with your gear and everyone backrolls in together. At the end of the dive, hand up weights, then bc, then fins and climb up the ladder. It was very easy. Of course, you could choose to just hand up your fins and climb up with your gear on. Then they help you remove it. The one issue that occurred was weight pockets. They put your weight pockets back in your bc after the gear has been loaded into the tender. Unfortunately, they are not always put in correctly and two guests had weight pockets fall out. One guest had hers retrieved as someone saw them fall and it was a shallow area. Unfortunately, we weren't so lucky and no one saw the pocket as it fell over a very deep area. It resulted in an aborted dive and the necessity to use a weight belt the rest of the trip. Not a tragedy for sure but the situation could have been handled a little better. Upon learning of the incident, the manager said, yeah, that happens all the time. When he was on deck before the next dive, he never even followed up or asked if we got a weight belt and had all we needed. At one point, he even vented about how much he hates integrated weights and wished they never existed. The diving schedule was typical. First dive at 8am, second at 11am, third at 3pm and a night dive after dinner, which meant not until 7:30 or so. We love night dives but don’t like after dinner dives so that was a disappointment for us. One of the guests asked if his dinner could be held until after the dive but that was met with zero enthusiasm and it was quite clear they didn’t want to do that. A white board in the lounge was updated each day with the daily schedule. Dive briefings done on the dive deck were ok but often a little confusing as each dive guide would decide where to jump on the site. They did try to keep some of the smaller dive sites from getting too crowded by allowing 5 minutes or so between tenders. Dive guides rotated between tenders each day. A white board on the dive deck listed which tender you were on and the name of the dive guide for the day. Most of the time, you were assigned the same tender but occasionally there were changes if some people were sitting out a dive or opting to snorkel instead of dive. They made quite an effort to take us to places where there were fewer other dive boats. It was the end of the Raja Ampat season so that did help. If we did see other boats at the dive sites, there were only one or 2 so, by today’s standards, that’s pretty good. Not like the “old days” when we spent two weeks in Raja and never saw another boat! We did a couple of topside adventures including two walks up to lookout sites and a tender ride through some rock islands to view the local plants and birds. These were always done after the third dive so you could participate without giving up a dive. Diving was as good as you would expect. We didn’t hit much current at all. We did see mantas, sharks, turtles, barracuda, jacks and many of the critters you normally associate with Raja. There was one site, Mayhem, that was absolutely magical with more kinds and quantities of fish than you could believe. Definitely in our top 10 all time dives. The boat now has satellite wifi so you can be connected almost all the time. It is shared data so they ask everyone to be kind and not stream or upload really big files. It was pretty reliable and there were only a few times when it was down for a short period. That said, I’m not sure we liked it! The crew were always on their phones and guests too. With no wifi, you really have to have conversations while in the lounge before and after meals or during happy hour. Now everyone spends most of the time just looking at their phones. So..will we go back to Raja Ampat? Definitely!! Will we go back on the Pindito? Well, we’ll be back on board in August going to Komodo. Despite some things that are a bit quirky, we had a really good trip and we don’t think you would be disappointed.
Websites	Pindito
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	Sorong	Getting There	Via Qatar Air - Philadelphia to Doha to Jakarta and Garuda from Jakarta to Sorong
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, rainy, cloudy	Seas	calm, choppy, surge
Water Temp	84-86°F / 29-30°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	50-100 Ft/ 15-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	Loosely reinforced time (60 min), stay in rec limits, no deco
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	Nice camera room. Crew did a good job of being careful when transferring cameras to and from the tenders.

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Dive Review of Pindito/N/A in Indonesia/Raja Ampat

Pindito/N/A: "Raja Ampat Never Disappoints!", Apr, 2024,

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 Pindito/N/A in
Indonesia/Raja Ampat