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Dive Review of Mermaid Liveaboards in
Indonesia/Bali, Komodo

Mermaid Liveaboards: "Mermaid I-amazing diving, crew, and customer service", Aug, 2017,

by Susan M Fuchs, IL, US (Reviewer Reviewer 5 reports with 4 Helpful votes). Report 9891 has 2 Helpful votes.

No photos available at this time

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Accommodations 5 stars Food 5 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity 5 stars
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 5 stars
Beginners 4 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments This trip takes you from Bali to dive sites around several islands (Moyo, Sangeang, Sumbawa, Komodo, Rinca, Flores). The first night crossing was a bit choppy, but afterwards, the seas were calm.
The water in the north was 78 degrees, in the south 68 degrees. In the colder water, I used a 3mm suit with a 2 mm hooded vest and was fine except for my fingers (wear gloves). Others used a 5mm suit.
The diving was great. The bottom was sometimes black volcanic sand, and others full of beautiful, healthy coral. There were schools of fish: trevally, anthias, grunts, butterflyfish, several humpback wrasses, and titan triggerfish, loads of pufferfish, a few sharks, nudibranchs galore, and mantas! We did 2 manta dives- one a feeding station, where we sat at 70 feet and watched more than 10 mantas come in to feed. The next was a cleaning station, which had a significant current, so we used metal pointers to dig into the lava bottom and hang on to watch the show.
There was a current on several dives, so you would drift but still be able to take photos. On one dive we needed a reef hook. What was amazing is that there was a dive guide behind the group, so when your reef hook loosened and you flew back, he "caught you" and hooked you in again.
Our dive guide Nico was amazing! He always took time to point out rays, fish, turtles, eels, and he able to find amazing small crabs, leaf scorpionfish, pipefish, and juvenile barramundi.

The trip to Komodo Island was fun. we took a small hike with park rangers and saw a large Komodo dragon at a watering hole, small ones out in the bush, and several just sunning themselves.

The food was great. There were a few vegans and several vegetarians in the group and they always had several options. The soups were wonderful: tom kah, pumpkin, broccoli. mushroom- a different one every day. We woke up at 6:30, had a light breakfast with coffee/cappuccino/ latte, dove, then had regular breakfast with made to order eggs, pancakes. We dove again before lunch, had an afternoon dive, then an evening dive-usually at 6:30, so dinner was at 8:00-quite a full day.

Regarding customer service: the boat lost an engine with 2 days to go, so rather than risk people missing flights home, they disembarked us at a port, got us to the airport, paid for our flight to Bali, paid the overweight luggage fees, put us up in a hotel, and gave us a stipend for dinner. In addition, they did not charge us for nitrox. The crew was so apologetic for something that was not their fault; but everyone appreciated how the company bent over backwards to make up 1.5 days of missed diving.



Websites Mermaid Liveaboards   

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 251-500 dives
Where else diving Caribbean, Indonesia, Thailand, Palau
Closest Airport Bali Getting There Fly into Bali (Denspasar)- will need to connect somewhere, but major carriers fly here

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny Seas calm
Water Temp 68-78°F / 20-26°C Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility 50-100 Ft/ 15-30 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile no
Enforced diving restrictions We dove in groups of 4-5 with a divemaster. If you needed to come up early, a buddy team could surface, and other divers could stay down longer.
Liveaboard? yes Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks Lots Mantas Squadrons
Dolphins 1 or 2 Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 5 stars Tropical Fish 5 stars
Small Critters 5 stars Large Fish 4 stars
Large Pelagics 4 stars

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subject Matter 5 stars Boat Facilities 5 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 5 stars Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments Several fresh water basins for cameras. 1 Large camera table, and 1 smaller one
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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