Dive Review of Arenui in
Indonesia/Komodo

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Arenui: "Half acceptable, half disappointing", Oct, 2018, by Laura Wais, CA, US ( 2 reports with 3 Helpful votes). Report 10518 has 3 Helpful votes.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	I heard for years about Arenui and what a wonderful boat it was. I spoke extensively with the owners and office prior to my trip, as I took an entire cabin for myself at great expense. Result- rather disappointed in my charter !! This was my second trip to Komodo, and the first trip aboard Mermaid I in 2009 far surpassed the one last month. The boat itself is a work of art with lovely wood and artistic details. Arenui has a good cabin and kitchen crew, and decent cuisine , hospitality on aboard. There were some passengers who did not dive and just stayed onboard so that may have been a good option for this boat. The diving was disappointing. Booking this trip was a confused ordeal. I arranged transfers to and from the airport on arrival and no one showed up. I had to wrestle 150lbs of gear into a van to get to my hotel after 18 hrs of flying. I was told the water was 80-88F, it was a chilly 72-78* on most dives. My cabin was NOISY, quite small,and the A/C did not work well so it was damp all the time. The safes were broken, and there was leak in the wall that dripped brown ooze onto my sheets and clothing hanging by my bed. The bathroom was a wet shower arrangement, not really great. It was tastefully decorated and pretty to look at but I would have traded that for quiet at night. The diving was disappointing- lots of current, poor viz on many dives and fewer fish than I recalled. On the manta encounters, everyone was dropped onto one site , and it was not possible to get a decent image.One or two photographers inserted themselves into the action and ruined the opportunity to get a clean shot. One of the cruise directors was a doll, very professional, and helpful.The other was rude. Someone entered my cabin late one night and woke me from the little bit of sleep I got each evening. It scared me.I reported this to the cruise director and he said "that is NOT possible"as if I made it up. I did not . It turned out to be another passenger who allegedly was confused and thought my Cabin Garuda was the public shower bathroom ( I have no idea how this happened.The name GARUDA was on the door) My dive guide was fun but did not understand I did NOT want to shoot super macro all the time. I did not have the lens to do so, and prefer W/A shots. The dragon visits were very disappointing. We went to an out of the way area that had a few smaller animals lying under trees. No visit to Rinca Island was allowed and we had to take images from the tenders of the dragons swimming, hard to get a clean shot with 8 to 10 people clambering in the boat to see. A truly warm water, calm good visibility area would fun on Arenui, not so in Komodo.
Websites	Arenui
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	All over the world where the water is warm
Closest Airport	Labuanbajo	Getting There	I flew to Bali and then wasted 2 dive days taking the EARLY AM flight from DPS to LBJ.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm, choppy, currents
Water Temp	72-79°F / 22-26°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	- Ft/ - M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	4 dives a day scheduled, I did 3 .
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	None	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	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	There is NO camera room. I was told there was .There are "camera tables" in the salon where meals are served. It was really crowded. People leaned all over my table area and put drink glasses on the table next to my camera. Crew took equipment off my table to use without asking permission. The dive deck crew WAS helpful carrying things in and out from dive deck, to tender, rinse tanks, etc. Underwater photos on dives , not so great.

Report currently has 3 Helpful votes

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Dive Review of Arenui in Indonesia/Komodo

Arenui: "Half acceptable, half disappointing", Oct, 2018,

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 Arenui in
Indonesia/Komodo