Dive Review of S/Y Indo Siren in
Indonesia/Komodo

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S/Y Indo Siren, Jul, 2012, by Paul , AP, US ( Sr. Reviewer 9 reports with 4 Helpful votes). Report 6620.
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 is the best live-aboard dive operation and boat we have ever dealt with! Worldwide Dive and Sail (WWDS) is in contact with you prior to the trip, sending information and taking special requests. WWDS also does it's best to help you with the not so helpful Indonesian government and airlines in your transit from other places to Bima. If you have special request in terms of food or accommodations, WWDS goes out of its way to assist. On arrival in Bima from Bali, we were greeted by WWDS personnel who gathered luggage and helped get our group together. Our group of 15 was all friends or acquaintances. Unfortunately, Merpati Airlines left 4 pieces of luggage in Bali, but WWDS did its best to solve this problem. (Merpati only has one flight a day, so we had to wait until the next day for the luggage to arrive.) WWDS provided equipment to those with missing bags, as well as organizing a shopping trip in Bima for any other necessary items. WWDS also found good diving close to Bima while we waited for the luggage to arrive. We were booked on the Indo Siren, but were upgraded to the brand new PA Siren (soon to become Palau Siren) during her Indonesia sea trials. Everything was brand-new on the PA Siren and WWDS was also testing out several new services on the boat as well. We were definitely pampered during our 10-day cruise. WIth the exception of liquor and wine, all food, soft drinks and beer are included in your package. Made to order meals were being tried on the PA Siren as well. The service and food rivals 5 star hotels. Special dietary restriction were honored without fuss, even if it meant preparing a separate, individual meal. Every nights' dinner was introduced by the Chef Ivan and the variety and selection of food was unbelievable for a live-aboard operation. Massages are available too! The accommodations were spacious with plenty of storage space in each room, the saloon and dive deck. You never had to worry about space. Each room had a private bathroom and shower, as well as fans and A/C. This is the first boat we've ever been on where the website photos actually look like the room! All electric was 220v European 2 prong, but adapters were available for free. (See above for UWP) The dive operation was phenomenal. cruise director Thomas, DMs Tim and Francesco and the rest of the dive crew (Delphi, Fendi, Jimmy, Sam, and Rachman) all went out of the way to ensure ease of diving. Each diver was assigned their own numbered diving station and you set up your gear only once. Nitrox was freely available to all certified divers (and certification was available if you weren't). All fills were to 200 Bar or over 3000 PSI, so you never had to worry about a poor fill. Each diver had an equipment drawer next to their dive station for extra equipment. Wetsuits were put out for you before every dive and washed and hung up after each dive. You got a dry towel with your diver number on it after every dive, so you never had to worry about someone taking your towel. After night dives, your towel was even heated! You could do as little or as much dive gear set up as you wanted. The crew will even carry your gear to the dive zodiacs. All diving is done from two zodiacs. Normal groupings of divers were set up and each group never had more than a 1 DM to 6 diver ratio. As everyone in our group was very experienced, we were allowed to plan and dive our own profiles. WWDS has rebreathers available and offers paid instruction to those that were interested. Dive briefings were given for all sites, but divers were allowed to use their own computer/time limits, with most dives in the 60+ minute range. The max time was 90 minutes or the no-deco limits of your computer (or your air!) The diving for our 10 day cruise occurred in the Bima, Sangeang, Komodo and Rinca areas. This diving presents some of the best that Indonesia has to offer with all types of large and small aquatic life. During the 10 day trip we saw Manta Rays, Whitetip Reef Sharks, Gray Reef Sharks, Nurse Sharks, Bottlenose Dolphins, Titan Triggers, Napoleon Wrasse, Turtles and schools of Jacks. We also saw lots of tiny stuff like orangutan crabs, porcelain crabs, and on one dive over 40 different nudibranch. We also saw exotics like octopus, cuttle fish, stonefish, scorpion fish, lion fish, frog fish and leaf fish. The variety and quantity of marine life is astounding. (As this was our second trip to Komodo, we also saw the damage being inflicted by local Indonesian fishermen's dynamite fishing as they encroach into the unprotected marine reserves.) Our group thoroughly enjoyed our 10 day cruise! If all of WWDS ships are like the PA Siren (and I have heard that they are) I would not hesitate to recommend WWDS to anyone. My wife and I, along with some of the group, are planning to dive with the PA Siren again after it is christened the Palau Siren and moves to Palau.
Websites	S/Y Indo Siren
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Australia, California, Cayman Islands, Florida, Guam, Hawaii, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Mexico, Netherland Antilles, Palau, Pennsylvania, Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	73-80°F / 23-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	30-100 Ft/ 9-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	90 Minutes max time or no-deco limits of your dive computer, whichever came first.
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	1 or 2
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	UWP will love this boat and diving set up. Plenty of set-up space, with each diver also being given an adjacent, milk-crate sized drawer for storage of extra camera gear. Boat crew would transport your camera gear to/from zodiacs. Crew also ready to receive gear post dive on the tender boats. Ample camera-only rinse tanks on boat.

Subscriber's Comments

By irene dabanian in WA, US at Jul 24, 2012 23:47 EST

what did you pay for your 10 days onboard?

By Martin Roberts in Fordingbridge, GB at Jul 27, 2012 03:44 EST

This is not a review of Indo Siren you were on another vessel! Location is given seperately.

By Mark Shandur in Phuket, TH at Aug 30, 2012 03:13 EST

We are pleased to read you had a great trip on the Palau Siren whilst she is in Indonesia this season. Congratulations on passing your rebreather training course and we look forward to welcoming you and Brian back anytime. best wishes from the Siren Fleet

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Dive Review of S/Y Indo Siren in Indonesia/Komodo

S/Y Indo Siren, Jul, 2012,

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 S/Y Indo Siren in
Indonesia/Komodo