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Dive Review of Pindito in
Indonesia/Komodo

Pindito: "Not the best dive sites for Indonesia - Komodo", Sep, 2016,

by Terramoto, BC, CA (Reviewer Reviewer 4 reports with 4 Helpful votes). Report 9122 has 2 Helpful votes.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 5 stars Food N/A
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity 5 stars
Dive Operation 2 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 1 stars
Beginners 3 stars
Advanced 2 stars
Comments I wish I had known that this live aboard would not visit the eastern side of Komodo island. They only offered 3 dives on the northern tip of Komodo.

They also advertised 38 dives (dependent on weather, current, etc.), but only offered 30 dives.

The dive guides (2 of the 3) chose the dive sites in email collaboration with the Owner of the Pindito. Unfortunately, many of the dive sites chosen were inferior sites that offered little macro life or larger pelagic sitings. The head dive guide had 2 years on the Pindito and the next senior dive guide had just over 1 year experience on the Pindito. The third dive guide didn't have any input into the choosing of the dive sites. Although the dive guides may have had other Indonesia dive site knowledge before being employed on the Pindito, it became apparent that they really weren't familiar with the dive sites. In fact many of the divers skipped diving some sites because of the poor dive locations.

The last two dives of our live aboard trip were near the Gilli islands off Lombok. I'm sure there are a few nice dive sites in this area, but our dive guides chose sites that were poor (the first site) or terrible (the second dive site). During our first dive (muck dive?) there was little to see and the dive guides could find only the occasional lobster or shrimp, and sometimes a colourful Nude. During the surface interval the head dive guide offered to dive the same general location, or if we preferred we could pull up anchor and find a different dive site, but still in the Gille islands. The divers said a different location would be better based on the first dive. However, only three divers of the 16 opted for the second dive. The other 13 had no enthusiasm for the same BS dive sites. The last dive was in front of a busy island (I can't recall the name right now, but it was the most commercialized of the 3 Gille islands). We were supposedly heading to the point away from the main beach area, but the head dive guide said that he spotted current and aborted that dive plan, and instead had us dive 50 meters in front of the sandy beach. We dove in the garbage filled muck with swimmers and snorkelers nearby. I don't mind muck diving, but there was absolutely nothing of interest too find here. In fact, because a rubbish boat had lost part of its load in front of the beach a few days earlier, there was garbage and plastic bags strewn over the bottom. Even without the rubbish this dive site was terrible. Basically devoid of any significant sea life. I could classify this dive as the worst of my life. Surely, Indonesia-Komodo diving offers many better dive sites than what the MV Pindito offered us.

I wasn't the only complaining diver. I believe the majority of the divers were unsatisfied with this live aboard trip.

Thankfully, I spent another 2 weeks on the island of Bali diving with Bali Scuba who had arranged a land trip of Bali where we dove many of the dive sites of Bali; Padang Bai, Nusa Penida, Menjangan, Pemuteran, Tulamben, east coast islands. I saw more Mantas on my first dive with Bali Scuba than I did on at least 2 or 3 discovery dives on board the Pindito. Also, saw ghost pipefish, scorpion fish, razor fish, schools of catfish and trevalees, cow fish, frog fish, etc. etc. that I never saw on the Pindito dives. Not all of the Pindito dives were poor, but I expected much more. Too many of the 30 dives offered were in what I consider inferior sites. Either that or the dive guides were not very good at finding sea creatures for us to view. Viz for most of the dives were poor as well.

All-in-all I was quite disappointed with the Liveaboard trip, but I was very happy with the land trip and dive sites chosen by Bali Scuba.

The boat crew ie. kitchen chef, kitchen staff, boat attendants etc. were excellent. The food was good and plentiful. The staff were attentive and very friendly The speedboat drivers were excellent. My complaint is with the dive guides and the dive sites.

Websites Pindito   

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 251-500 dives
Where else diving Routan; Key Largo, FL; Japan - Okinawa; Hawaii; BC - Canada;
Closest Airport Denpasaw Getting There Vancouver (YVR), Taipei, Denpasar Bali

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny Seas calm
Water Temp 75-85°F / 24-29°C Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility 25-40 Ft/ 8-12 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile no
Enforced diving restrictions 60 minutes and usually less than 100 feet.
Liveaboard? yes Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks 1 or 2 Mantas 1 or 2
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles 1 or 2 Whales None
Corals 2 stars Tropical Fish 3 stars
Small Critters 2 stars Large Fish N/A
Large Pelagics N/A

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

Subject Matter 1 stars Boat Facilities 5 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 1 stars Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments The dive groups were too large. 5 or 6 divers per guide with a mix of Videographers, serious photographers, and Gopro users. There didn't seem to be much reasoning as to the grouping of divers. For example, in our group we had a serious videographer with lights and a tripod setup, a serious photographer with her camera and strobe setup, Gopro users, and point and shoot camera users. It wasn't a good mix, and the dive guide didn't find enough critters to keep us busy. The videographer and photographer were logically last to approach any small critters that were found, but the dive guides didn't come back to show them the next find. Nor did they offer any assistance in helping to setup the video or photo shot, which is needed with macro lenses.

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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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