Dive Review of Mermaid I in
Indonesia/Ambon-Banda Sea-Maumere

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Mermaid I: "Great long trip among lesser seen islands", Oct, 2019, by Joel Hirsh, CT, US ( Reviewer 4 reports with 2 Helpful votes). Report 11249 has 2 Helpful votes.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	This was an 11 day “Ring of Fire” trip from Ambon across the Banda Sea to Maumere covering over 1,000 nm. We dove on 10 islands or groups for a total of 36 dives. Conditions varied from clear, flat, calm waters; to strong current, very choppy waters and not so great vis. Truly something for everyone. The Mermaid I has 7 double and 1 single cabin for a max of 15 divers. We had 14 on this trip due to a last minute cancellation. Most cabins were on the main dive deck with easy access. They were a nice size with either 2 single or a double bed. Two less expensive cabins on the lower deck had ‘L’ configuration single bunks. While smaller than the main deck, these were not as cramped as some other boats I had been on, and there was adequate storage and a power strip for recharging cameras and lights. Very comfortable beds. Food was a buffet with many choices. I think everyone was happy with selection and quality. Orders for eggs at the ‘second breakfast’ were taken before the first dive so that they were ready to start cooking when you walked into the salon. Beer and wine (bottles) was on the honor system. There was a maximum of 4 divers per guide so we had groups of 3 or 4 divers. All diving was done from rubber dinghies since many sites did not have moorings; were too deep to anchor; and currents turned many dives into drift dives. While it was better to follow the guides, some went off on their own. Those of us with less than optimum air consumption could send up an SMB and the dinghies would pick us up. The max dive time was 70 minutes and quite few groups were able to fully take advantage of this when the currents allowed. The 18 person crew outnumbered the divers. There usually were 8 crew on the dive deck to help us on and off the dinghies, take our wetsuits to rinse and hang them, and bring all of our gear back to the benches. By the next dive they had analyzed the tanks and put our wetsuits at our spots. Everyone on this trip was using Nitrox. After the first dive where we analyzed the tanks with the crew, they did the analyses and we signed off. They offered to let individuals do their own analysis but no one did. The mixes were very consistent. The dive schedule was typical of most live-aboards with two dives before lunch and two after noon. The briefings were good with nice site drawings on a big screen in the salon. All of these drawings and a dive log kept by one of the guides was available at the end on a memory stick or e-mailed. There were only 3 night dives since most days we had to depart for the next island right after the 4th dive. The first couple of nights were pretty rough and we didn’t get to our destination until almost lunch so we lost 2 dives on the first full day. But after that conditions were better. I’m not going to try and list all the fish and critters we saw at each site. But one objective was to see hammerheads. The previous trip had much clearer waters and photos of hammerhead schools were impressive. Unfortunately, the vis at the same islands for us was much less. One hammerhead would emerge from the gloom and swim close by then disappear. Very cool, but if you were at the wrong spot on the reef, you would miss it. But we had many opportunities and everyone saw a few. Sea snakes (Chinese and Banded) were all over two of the islands. They had no fear of divers and tended to get up close and personal with many of us. Mandarinfish did their dusk/night courting dance at the jetty at Banda Neira and were not spooked by dive and video lights. Some of my fellow divers were repeat passengers on the Mermaid I and after this trip I can see why. I will be looking at its schedule for my next trip to Indonesia.
Websites	Mermaid I
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Caribbean, Australia, PNG, Philippines
Closest Airport	Ambon & Maumere	Getting There	Connections to/from Jakarta or Bali. Can be an overnight in Jakarta or another red-eye to Ambon.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy	Seas	calm, choppy, currents, no currents
Water Temp	77-81°F / 25-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	25-60 Ft/ 8-18 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	70 minute max, but if you come up early there is a quick pick-up by a dinghy
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 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	large rinse tanks; big camera table on the dive deck. Power strips in each cabin for recharging.

Report currently has 2 Helpful votes

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Dive Review of Mermaid I in Indonesia/Ambon-Banda Sea-Maumere

Mermaid I: "Great long trip among lesser seen islands", Oct, 2019,

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 Mermaid I in
Indonesia/Ambon-Banda Sea-Maumere