Dive Review of Grand Komodo -- Raja Ampat Explorer in
Indonesia/Misool and Dampier Strait

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Grand Komodo -- Raja Ampat Explorer: "Misool and the Dampier Strait", Oct, 2014, by Dan Purnell, WA, US ( Reviewer 6 reports with 4 Helpful votes). Report 8036.
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	Our adventure began in Sorong, which included diving in Misool and the Dampier Strait. This was my 8th trip with Grand Komodo tours. As always, the crew was helpful, friendly, enthusiastic, and eager to please. If you needed anything, they were right there to help. They run a very safe dive operation. Everybody is on deck to help divers get into and out of the water. The liveaboard is well maintained and clean. The food is ample and delicious. Grand Komodo is not a fancy operation. Grand Komodo is run by caring, friendly, extremely competent people; they cater to folks who just love to dive. Misool diving has a wilderness feel. We saw only one other liveaboard during our six days of diving. Massive schools of shimmering fish, raining fusiliers, astonishing walls of soft corals and gorgonian fans, hunting grouper, jacks and sharks, characterize Misool. Many sites are just smothered with glass fish. We saw squadrons of mobulas and a few mantas on some of the more plankton rich sites. On some sites we literally saw merging "rivers of fish". Significant current and 40 to 60 foot visibility marked most of our dives. I wrote the following dive log entry for one of my Misool dives: We first explored a wall draped with gorgonian fans and brilliant yellow and orange soft corals. Huge schools of glass fish ebbed and flowed. Trevally, barracuda, black snapper, mackerel, tuna, wahoo, nepoleon wrasses, mantas and mobulas patrolled the wall. Near the end of the dive we watched the big guys hunt. Clouds of fish erupted from the reef as they were chased by jacks, snappers and grouper. You could see nothing but solid fish; we were in the middle of a feeding frenzy. After Misool, we traveled up to the Dampier Strait for several more days of diving. The dive sites in the Dampier Strait also have incredible pristine corals and amazing fish life. You can read a more complete description of the area in my Raja Ampat Dive Lodge review. Raja Ampat may be one of the most inconvenient places to visit, but it has some of the finest diving in the world. Grand Komodo continues to provide exceptional service for people who just love to dive.
Websites	Grand Komodo -- Raja Ampat Explorer
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	PNG, Solomon Islands, Raja Ampat, Banda Sea, Bali, Halmahera, Yap, Palau, Bonaire, Honduras, Little Cayman, Red Sea, Oregon, Washington, Flower Gardens - Texas, Fiji, Galapagos
Closest Airport	Sorong	Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	calm, currents
Water Temp	82-84°F / 28-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	30-100 Ft/ 9-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Dives one hour in length. Sometimes enforced.
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	Squadrons
Dolphins	Schools	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	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

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Dive Review of Grand Komodo -- Raja Ampat Explorer in Indonesia/Misool and Dampier Strait

Grand Komodo -- Raja Ampat Explorer: "Misool and the Dampier Strait", Oct, 2014,

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 Grand Komodo -- Raja Ampat Explorer in
Indonesia/Misool and Dampier Strait