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Dive Review of Mona Lisa in
Indonesia/Komodo Island

Mona Lisa, May, 2014,

by Carol Sommers, IL, US (Sr. Reviewer Sr. Reviewer 8 reports with 6 Helpful votes). Report 7619.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 4 stars Food 5 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity 3 stars
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 5 stars
Beginners 3 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments My trip with another company had been cancelled, but the Mona Lisa lets you start and finish diving whenever you want so my vacation was saved and over 10 days, I dived 38 times. There were four dives daily, including a night dive. The pre-dive briefing was the most complete I had ever experienced, including advice about possible currents. There were never more than 4 divers with a divemaster and for two days I was the only one on the boat since divers arrived and left according to their own schedules. The food was tasty and nutritious. Cereal and toast were available if you wanted to eat before the 7:30 dive, then a hot breakfast with eggs was served, then after the second dive, a hot lunch, and after the third dive, a snack which was freshly baked cake 3 times while I was there and a full meal which always included a beef stew was served at 8:30 after the 6:30 night dive. The speedboat taking us to dive sights had a sturdy, safe ladder. Being a senior diver (66), I passed up my weights and they took my bc and tank. There were always several helping hands stretched out as I reboarded the Mona Lisa. My room was quiet and comfortable with a roomy shower and toilet. If anything needed repair (a toilet switch), it was done immediately. The diving was spectacular. The only site with a considerable current was Manta Point, but that's the way mantas like it, so we found a rock to hang onto and enjoyed the show. I saw them on every dive there since it's a cleaning station. A small school of butterflyfish was cleaning one of them. I videoed cuttlefish courting and mating for ten minutes, had a turtle almost land on me, saw sea snakes, many pygmy seahorses, stingrays and octopus hunting, nudibranchs I hadn't seen in the Philippines. many schools of fish at Batu Balong and of course, took off one early morning dive to see the Komodo Dragons. To top it all off, it cost $1,000 less than the cancelled boat!
Websites Mona Lisa   

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 251-500 dives
Where else diving Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Grenada, Cozumel, Belize, Florida, North Carolina, Curacao, Lake Michigan, Philippines, Sea of Cortez, Palau, Yap
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny Seas calm
Water Temp 79-83°F / 26-28°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 50-80 Ft/ 15-24 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions One needed to stay with the divemaster since he knew how to avoid current areas. Dives were 60 minutes long unless you wanted to come up earlier.
Liveaboard? yes Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks Lots Mantas Squadrons
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 4 stars Tropical Fish 5 stars
Small Critters 3 stars Large Fish 4 stars
Large Pelagics 2 stars

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

Subject Matter 4 stars Boat Facilities 4 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 4 stars Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments A rinse tank was conveniently available, cameras were handed to you and there was plenty of room for drying and assembling cameras.
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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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