Dive Review of Archipelago Adventurer II in
Indonesia/Komodo Island

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Archipelago Adventurer II, May, 2009, by Jeremy Cohen, Catherine Jordan, PA, USA ( Sr. Reviewer 8 reports with 7 Helpful votes). Report 4857.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations	N/A	Food
Service and Attitude	N/A	Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	In four decades of diving we have never met a crew as gracious, helpful, personable, and just plain good to share a boat with as the Archipelago Adventurer II crew. Terima kasih. The diving ranged from discovery of rare nudabrinchs to high voltage, high current encounters with white tip sharks, tuna, and jacks that were courting. We never encountered another dive boat. Our dive masters checked the currents and conditions of each dive site minutes before each dive and were ready to re-arrange schedules to enable our 12 guests to experience not-to-be-missed reefs. Repeatedly, the dives, meals and shore excursions reflected the the whim and wonder of the guests rather than a pre-set schedule. The currents, buoyancy control demands, open ocean diving, peligics and remoteness make this advanced diving to be sure. Yet cruise director James immediately adopted some of the newest divers to assure not only their safety and the development of new water skills, but that they would not miss out on even the most challenging sites. Dive guide Beeja made it his personal responsibility to line me and my camera up with mantas, sharks, sea snakes, scores of nudibranchs, turtles, and eels adn to keep stray divers focused on critters and fins away from my lens. We visited a remote village (bring paper and pencils, small tools, or clothes as gifts - they are appreciated an needed), saw Komodo dragons up close and personal (we appreciate how close we were), marveled at the pods of dolphins following our boat, dove hard and soft coral walls and reefs day and night, spent hours muck diving, and found the ocean here healthy and so rich with aquatic diversity that a dive never occured without a new sighting for Catherine and me. Plenty of room on the boat, the food a cut or two above. The VIP service (well worth the $25) meeting us at the airport in Bali and getting out to Labuan Bajo took all the worry and hassel out of travel. It is a looong set of flights from Pennsylvania (Singapore Air was terrific) and worth every moment. The boat can roll in a good sea. The showers can suddenly go dry. Chairs and a wine bottle (save the wine bottle!) flew across the deck during a rough crossing. It's not the Caribbean - and that's the point. From the volcanic peeks to bait balls that envelloped us, the Archipelago Adventurer II sojourn wrapped us up in an oceanic pallet more varried than any trip we have taken before and the crew did so with style. This is a very class operation and if this were my classroom back at school, I'd assign each and every crew member an A+.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Papua New Guiunea, Galapagos, Hawaii, Belize, Caymans, California, Florida, Bahamas, Honduras Bay Islands, Puget Sound
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm, currents, no currents
Water Temp	79-86°F / 26-30°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	60-90 Ft/ 18-27 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	3 minute safety stop, carry surface signaling devices, 500 PSI upon surfacing
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	N/A
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		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	Plenty of table space and sufficient 110 and 210 outlets (bring plug adapters) in the lounge. When seas rose one night, crew checked on cameras and secured loose gear while we slept. Dedicated rinse buckets. Crew very careful with cameras loading them onto pangas, heading to dive sites, and returning cameras to dive stations after rinsing them for us. Helpful suggestions from dive pro,Francesca.

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Dive Review of Archipelago Adventurer II in Indonesia/Komodo Island

Archipelago Adventurer II, May, 2009,

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 Archipelago Adventurer II in
Indonesia/Komodo Island