La Galigo Liveaboard, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia

4explrdvr37 5:00 PM Jan 7, 2023

A pretty good 9-day trip in Raja Ampat
We’ve dived Raja Ampat on 2 previous occasions, once on a liveaboard and another from a land-based resort, and our experience on La Galigo was the best in terms of comfort and enjoyment. While it’s classed as a mid-range vessel, our trip was positive overall and we felt well looked-after - the crew are hard-working, conscientious and professional. Veteran dive guides Fendy and Aghi were delightful, as were the stewarding team of Raja and Decky … a shout out to them all. Cruise director, Fareez was very impressive, running a proverbial “tight ship” and giving each guest equal attention, so no one felt left out. La Galigo, didn’t start out as a liveaboard vessel, so some aspects of its design isn’t ideal for a dive boat. While we had arguably the best room on board - the “Sweet Suite”, we loved the extra space that allowed us to spread out our photographic and computer equipment - there was a bit of a plumbing issue in the (equally generous) bathroom, so water would often back flow out the shower drain, which meant our shower floor was a pond during much of our trip. A squeegee was left in the bathroom, so this is not an unknown issue to the boat management. Overnight, this water would get a stale, which would then fill the suite with an unpleasant odour. We did have an issue with a 3rd dive guide (a new hire) who unfortunately was assigned to us - but we’ve made our observations and concerns known to the management, so hopefully, their safety lapses would now be addressed and corrected. The common spaces around the vessel were comfortable and welcoming, and all our meals were varied and tasty. We’d spent a few days before the trip at a land-based resort in Waisai prior to the liveaboard trip, and their food had been pretty diabolical, so the meals on board La Galigo was welcome relief! Aside from the great diving (and this is totally up to the weather gods), the day excursions we had - climbing up a karst peak in the Wayag island region and a short hike to see the extraordinary blue-coloured river of Kalibiru were also really cool experiences. Very good indeed.