Dive Review of Mermaid Liveaboards in
Indonesia/Raja Ampat

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Mermaid Liveaboards: "First class operation - great dive sites", Mar, 2023, by Michael Kay, CA, US ( Contributor 15 reports with 5 Helpful votes). Report 12375.
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
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	We went with Mermaid after reading other reviews in Undercurrent. We initially made the reservation in 2019 for a 2020 trip. They stayed in touch with us all the way until the beginning of the trip in 2023, and honored the price that they had originally given us (though they added a fuel surcharge which we had no problem paying). Their customer service is superb, very honest and professional, and they even helped with reservations for an unexpected flight we needed to take at the end of the trip. The Raja Ampat dive sites are incredible, and well-documented elsewhere (and worth the hassle of getting there). The 12-day trip was on the Mermaid I, and went to 33 sites from Waiego on the Dampier Strait, to Misool, to Halamera, to Molucca Sea to Lembeh. With the exception of one site, they were generally pristine with amazing coral and sea life, and we rarely encountered any other dive boats. The ship easily accommodated the 16 passengers. Dining and briefings were in the main salon, and there were other areas to hang out as well. We had a “deluxe cabin” which was pretty spacious for a liveaboard, including a decent-sized en-suite. A feature I liked was that the cabin had operable windows on two sides. Our cabin was above the engine which was pretty noisy but we got used to it and didn’t impact our sleep. The food was good (and plentiful), served buffet style, with snacks always available. The crew requested that no charging take place in our rooms when we were not present. However, there was power and AC 24x7, so it was easy to forget if you left something plugged in. The crew could not have been better. From the dive director to the deckhands, everyone was focused on making sure the guests had a good time. The briefings included photos and detailed maps of the dive sites, better than I’ve seen anywhere else. After our briefings, we split into 4 groups. After gearing up, we made our way to the dinghies with crew assisting those who needed help. There was usually a short ride to the dive site. We all went down together. The dive masters were very knowledgeable about the sites, and finding critters, even though they hadn’t been to some of them in a couple years. The weather varied quite a bit over the course of 12 days, raining about half the days, but the water was consistently warm. Unfortunately viz was not that great. There was a videographer who accompanied most dives and produced a neat video and lots of stills from the trip, which we purchased at the end of the trip. My partner, who does not dive, was brought to great snorkeling sites. A crew member accompanied him and was great at pointing out the critters. I do not hesitate recommending Mermaid. In fact there were several guests on our trip that had either continued traveling with them from the prior trip, or stayed on for the following trip.
Websites	Mermaid Liveaboards
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Hawaii Australia Thailand Indonesia USVI Florida Puerto Rico
Closest Airport	Sorong	Getting There	Midnight flight from Jakarta. We advise getting to Sorong the day before trip starts. There's no other reason to be in Sorong, but we were able to find a decent restaurant.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, rainy, cloudy, dry	Seas	calm, choppy, currents, no currents
Water Temp	26-28°C / 79-82°F	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	15-30 Ft/ 5-9 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Bottom time
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	N/A	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 Mermaid Liveaboards in Indonesia/Raja Ampat

Mermaid Liveaboards: "First class operation - great dive sites", Mar, 2023,

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 Mermaid Liveaboards in
Indonesia/Raja Ampat