Pelagian Alert

Once a very popular boat with exotic destinations, the M.V. Pelagian was recently sold to the folks who own Wakatobi resort in Indonesia and is now sailing in those waters. But, many divers who paid months in advance for itineraries such as Raja Ampat now find themselves relegated to destinations at Wakatobi, hundreds of miles away, and with new departure dates. If you are one of those divers, get in touch with your booking agent immediately.

Undercurrent contacted Wakatobi owner Henrik Rosen, who said, "we will offer refunds for those clients that we cannot find a good replacement cruise for. All we are asking is to first be given the chance to find a replacement cruise or resort stay substitution for our recently inherited guests." The Pelagian was reportedly having financial difficulties for some time before the sale to Wakatobi, and Rosen added, "If we had not stepped in to refinance and manage the boat this year it's very likely that the scheduled cruises [might not have] happened at all."

Jacobsen was able to convince his 15-person group to switch to the Wakatobi itinerary, where Rosen promises a wide range of exciting sites: "Everything from remote pinnacles and wonderful walls to new sites with Lembeh-style muck diving and even some wrecks," said Rosen. But live-aboard diving at Wakatobi is such a new idea that much of the early trips will be exploratory, according to experts such as Cindi LaRaia of Dive Discovery Travel (San Rafael, CA) and Jenny Collister of Reef & Rainforest Travel in Sausalito, CA. Exploratory dives can be exciting, but they're a gamble.

The website at http://pelagian.wakatobi.com/pel_homepage.htm describes the boat and posts 2005 and 2006 cruise schedules.