Dive Review of Blue Manta in
Indonesia/Raja Ampat, Banda Sea

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Blue Manta: "Fabulous Indonesia liveaboard experience with Blue Manta", Nov, 2017, by Melissa Berkoff, MD, US ( 1 report with 1 Helpful vote). Report 9988 has 1 Helpful vote.
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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	I can't imagine a nicer liveaboard diving experience than that supplied by the Blue Manta. This is the third liveaboard I have been on (others include Mike Ball's Spoilsport in GBR and the Humboldt Explorer in Galapagos) and, while all were very nice, the Blue Manta is just that little bit nicer in just about every way. The entire boat is huge. Each cabin is spacious, with large windows, private bathrooms, and plenty of room to spread out. The dive deck easily accommodates all divers simultaneously so there's no uncomfortable jockeying for space when getting ready for a dive or taking off equipment after one. The top sun deck has plenty of room for laying out on one of the numerous double bed-sized lounges under the shade or in the sun on the reclining deck chairs. The saloon/dining area and lounge are huge. The lounge has a small library with fish and creature ID books and reading materials, and a large TV screen for watching whatever anyone is playing. The menu was varied and excellent, and the crew was very accommodating to those in our party with special dietary needs. In addition to three meals a day we got an early light breakfast before the first morning dive, plus snacks after each dive. Sodas were included, beer was extra. Coffee and tea were always available. The crew was friendly, hardworking, fabulous, and numerous! They were full-service, helping divers into and out of their gear before and after each dive and carrying dive gear down onto the platform and into the zodiacs that are used to drop divers off at each dive site. Upon returning from a dive there was always someone on the platform to help you out of your wetsuit so you could take immediate advantage of one of the 5 hot fresh water showers on the deck. The dive briefings were informative and creative. Cedric, the cruise director, created a 3D diorama of each dive with the materials at hand as part of each briefing to demonstrate the topography of each site, which was very helpful (and also fun!). The diving itself was incredible - colorful, varied, rich, saturated with life. Indonesia lives up to its reputation for unique world-class diving. While we did see a few sites that had suffered some catastrophic human intervention (dynamite fishing still happens there, and a couple areas close to some villages had trash scattered around the site), the majority of the sites were pristine and breathtaking. Most days we did 3 dives per day; I think we only did 4 dives on 2 of the days we were on board. We did 2 shore expeditions: one to a remote, isolated village that Blue Manta is helping out with donations (and also transportation - we picked up some passengers who had been stranded there and gave them a ride to Ambon); and another to a former Dutch fort in a small town where we dove to see mandarin fish. There was a videographer aboard who participated in all the daily dives and put together a very nice video at the end of the trip. The boat also offers massages and a laundry service. What else can I say? We are already talking about returning to Indonesia for more diving with Blue Manta.
Websites	Blue Manta
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Grand Cayman Puerto Rico Cozumel, Mexico Positano, Italy Galapagos Islands Great Barrier Reef, Australia
Closest Airport	Sorong (SOQ)	Getting There	From DC, we flew to Narita (Tokyo), then Jakarta, then Makassar, then Sorong. Total travel time was about 40 hours or so with a 24-hour layover in Jakarta.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	79-84°F / 26-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	7
Water Visibility	25-50 Ft/ 8-15 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Nothing was enforced, just suggested. They asked that we avoid deco obligations.
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	None	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	The boat has a dedicated camera room for camera maintenance, battery charging, and photo downloading.

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

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Dive Review of Blue Manta in Indonesia/Raja Ampat, Banda Sea

Blue Manta: "Fabulous Indonesia liveaboard experience with Blue Manta", Nov, 2017,

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 Blue Manta in
Indonesia/Raja Ampat, Banda Sea