Baruna Adventurer, June 1996, Emmett Guise, Tacoma, WA. "Desal plant broken when we boarded for 5 night trip; lost 4 dives because of three runs to get water. Itinerary changed to a headlong charge out of Bali to Sumbawa for first dive, nearly 20 hours after boarding. No fun. Salt water pump went out and no toilets for awhile. No water for bathing or rinsing; little for camera equipment. Equipment deck was crowded and required a climb down an unsafe ladder to the dive platform. Rubber boats sometimes not ready even though we had suited up. Divemasters competent and friendly; one had only a few dives in the area and the other was new to boat. Currents often dangerous; couple of incidents of divers drifting and not able to get someone's attention right away. . . . Food OK; one healthy dish plus vegetables and fruit. Breakfasts were cholesterol death. Request from crew for something different caused great stress. Cabins fine but AC miserable. Long sailing times between dive sites. The sites were sometimes great but shaky or unreliable safety."

Island Explorer, September 1995, J.M. & Peggy Duran, Corpus Christi, TX. "148' catamaran, luxury accommodations, 3 large meals/day served by white-jacketed waiters. Two week trip, (normally boat caters to "ecotourists" with limited diving). Dived ten islands with very different scenery, corals and fish life, but long sails between islands. Tiny Gunung Api island is a world-class dive site with hundreds of sea snakes of three species swimming around, under and through the divers. Coral was unspoiled, varied. Huge fans, sponges. Uninhabited atolls; sharks, tuna, unicorn fish. Inhabited islands had many fish traps made form palm leaves & bamboo. Octopi, cuttlefish, even a mola-mola, many lionfish, anemone fish. 35 divers; staff organized and hard-working; were in and out of the four Zodiacs w/equipment & cameras well-handled. . . . Took 25 hours of planes and airports to reach Kupang, Timor from L.A. and then we sailed 600+ miles to the Banda Islands."

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