Mari Liveaboard Raja Ampat

I LOVE LIVEABOARDS!! I spent 12 days on this gorgeous boat, saw some of the most incredible marine life, and enjoyed some of the best food ever - seriously! 

Inside the ship

I had the basic entry level room. It would usually be shared with someone I didn't know but if you're traveling in a pair, you can stay together. Our room was a bunk style with a shelving unit for clothes and its own bathroom. The shower and toilet are in one confined space so you have to make sure the toilet paper doesn't get wet. THE SHOWER HAD HOT WATER THOUGH!!! And it was hot... trust me... Indonesia is short on hot water and this was SUCH a luxury. There is plenty of space to store bags under the bed as well. Our room had its own AC control (a luxury in Indonesia) and a fan. Honestly, after being used to no AC I was cold all the time. AC is really good for cameras though, especially ones with an alarm because it keeps the humidity out of the housing. 

There was a common area in the front of the ship where the dive gear is kept and clothes lines all around the outside as well as the very top roof. There is another common area upstairs. It is not air conditioned but is partially enclosed with isoglass that can be rolled up or down. There are long benches with cushions ad pillows. The bar is also here and the table for eating meals. By the bar, there is a library of books you can read. I left one here, if anyone sees the book uncaged, that was me! 

The Rooftop

My favorite place! They had beanbags we could sit on up in the sun. I took many amazing naps up here and got my tan on in between dives! 

Food and Drink

The food was DELICIOUS! The chef was Indonesian too usually not cooking local food so he always loved compliments. Some of the most memorable dishes was chicken wings, chicken pho, some brown sauce beef dish that I could have eaten all of by myself, butter chicken, and other Indonesian foods. The meals always had a vegetable and a salad and soup. 
Meal schedule: 
first breakfast if you want it: 0700 
* consists of coffee, tea, fruit, toast, butter, jam 
main breakfast: after the first dive
* consists of bacon, sometimes eggs, fruit, pancakes, amazing fruit juice, and more!
lunch: after second dive 
* you never know what this will be, but its always delicious 
Dinner: after afternoon and possibly night dive 
* again, you don't know, but it's amazing 
** The biggest flaw with the food is I did not like dinner after the night dive... I always went into the night dive hungry and came back cold and wanted a shower before eating. By then it was so late (9pm lol my bed time on dive trips) and I was just sitting for dinner. That's just a personal preference though. I was always so excited to eat still, so delicious! 

They do offer dietary restricted dishes too upon request! I believe you will need to request this in advance so they can stock the boat accordingly. We had a couple of vegetarians on board who get the same food as the main course just in vegetables or tofu. For example, if we had butter chicken, they get butter tofu. Also delicious! 

Sodas and beer is kept in a fridge next to the bar. The staff keeps it stocked and you tally next to your name when you take a drink. 

Diving

Let's get to the good stuff! Diving was phenomenal! We did have a few engine problems delaying our journey to misool so we had one less day of diving there. Our itinerary was north and south Raja Ampat which was awesome because I got to see it all. If you're interested in diving north and south Raja Ampat, I highly recommend a liveaboard because transferring homestays or resorts in Indonesia can take literally all day - and its so exhausting - and hot. Like I just want to go swimming. So this was great! 
We dive off of small boats. There are two total. We were divided into three groups of 4-5 people. Two boats left first and one came back for the rest. While I'm usually a "get in the water first" person, being on the third boat was the way to go. For one, it gave me more time to set up my camera before the dive. Second, by the time we got in the water all the other divers were gone down the reef and we couldn't see them. We had the site to ourselves. 

Diving North Raja Ampat

The north Raja Ampat has more hard corals. I really liked these dive sites. This will be diving around Kri, Gam, Wayag, and other islands. Gam is where I saw 2 blue ring octopi. I would have totally missed these beauties if I didn't do the liveaboard. Mike's point and Sawandarek are my two favorite spots in this area. Mikes point typically has insane current. Sawandarek is absolute bliss. Read my post on my favorite dive sits in Indonesia if you want to know more!

coming soon: my favorite dive sites in Raja Ampat

Diving South Raja Ampat

South Raja Ampat is areas around Misool. All your dives have to be cleared by Misool Eco Resort for marine conservation purposes so you may have to dive earlier or later than expected. You also cannot visit the resort or the jellyfish lake. If these are two things you must do, I recommend staying at Misool Eco Resort. 
​Southern dive sites are absolutely beautiful and are well known for soft corals especially sea fans the size of you! This is where macro life is abundant and pygmy sea horses rule! Keep your eye out for the pink ones, yellow ones, Santa Claus ones (they're red and white), and Denise's pygmy seahorses. 

Dive Safety 

I like to keep it positive here but I unfortunately do not have nice things to say about the dive safety happening in this operation. Divers were diving on Nitrox who were not certified. Certification cards were never checked. Also, many divers on board were complaining about their dive guide not showing them cool animals but the reality was they really weren't good divers. Raja Ampat has a lot of strong currents and you need to know how to handle yourself. This place is not for the inexperienced novice diver! When you're uncomfortable in the conditions, dive guides have to watch you (for your safety) instead of looking for cool animals. Other groups complained about their guides and that we were having better dives, but the reality was they were just a bunch of complainers who were uncomfortable in the strong currents. This boat does not require your advanced certification so do what you will with that information. Personally, I won't be doing another live aboard that doesn't require your advanced, we'll say that.  
Also, always check your own Nitrox... PLEASE! It's not worth it. Do not count on the staff to analyze your tank. Do not count on their reading to be accurate. It's really really easy to trust them that you have 31% or whatever, but it's not worth the risk. Don't trust them. I had to be mean to get a nitrox reading before every dive. I was really upset that they had a lack of concern for safety on Nitrox. I once did a dive on "Nitrox" that was actually on regular air... they screwed up and I wasn't firm about checking... oh and did I mention the air was bad? Tasted like gasoline fumes. I was absolutely furious. Words cannot describe how mad I was at both myself and them. You trust your guides to take care of you as their guest, and they didn't. Huge issues. For that, I'm not sure I would go back on this boat, even though the diving was great, other boats have great diving. The staff may change, new procedures may arise, but I won't be there to tell you about it. 

Geosites

We were lucky enough to hike two geosites! I didn't know we would be doing this but it was really fun. Definitely a highlight for me! I wish I had droned the spots and filmed more of the hike. To read about the geosites, click the buttons below!

Geosite piaynemo

Geosite Karawapop