Dive Review of Pindito in
Indonesia/Komodo

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Pindito: "Not the best dive sites for Indonesia - Komodo", Sep, 2016, by Terramoto, BC, CA ( Reviewer 4 reports with 4 Helpful votes). Report 9122 has 2 Helpful votes.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food	N/A
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	I wish I had known that this live aboard would not visit the eastern side of Komodo island. They only offered 3 dives on the northern tip of Komodo. They also advertised 38 dives (dependent on weather, current, etc.), but only offered 30 dives. The dive guides (2 of the 3) chose the dive sites in email collaboration with the Owner of the Pindito. Unfortunately, many of the dive sites chosen were inferior sites that offered little macro life or larger pelagic sitings. The head dive guide had 2 years on the Pindito and the next senior dive guide had just over 1 year experience on the Pindito. The third dive guide didn't have any input into the choosing of the dive sites. Although the dive guides may have had other Indonesia dive site knowledge before being employed on the Pindito, it became apparent that they really weren't familiar with the dive sites. In fact many of the divers skipped diving some sites because of the poor dive locations. The last two dives of our live aboard trip were near the Gilli islands off Lombok. I'm sure there are a few nice dive sites in this area, but our dive guides chose sites that were poor (the first site) or terrible (the second dive site). During our first dive (muck dive?) there was little to see and the dive guides could find only the occasional lobster or shrimp, and sometimes a colourful Nude. During the surface interval the head dive guide offered to dive the same general location, or if we preferred we could pull up anchor and find a different dive site, but still in the Gille islands. The divers said a different location would be better based on the first dive. However, only three divers of the 16 opted for the second dive. The other 13 had no enthusiasm for the same BS dive sites. The last dive was in front of a busy island (I can't recall the name right now, but it was the most commercialized of the 3 Gille islands). We were supposedly heading to the point away from the main beach area, but the head dive guide said that he spotted current and aborted that dive plan, and instead had us dive 50 meters in front of the sandy beach. We dove in the garbage filled muck with swimmers and snorkelers nearby. I don't mind muck diving, but there was absolutely nothing of interest too find here. In fact, because a rubbish boat had lost part of its load in front of the beach a few days earlier, there was garbage and plastic bags strewn over the bottom. Even without the rubbish this dive site was terrible. Basically devoid of any significant sea life. I could classify this dive as the worst of my life. Surely, Indonesia-Komodo diving offers many better dive sites than what the MV Pindito offered us. I wasn't the only complaining diver. I believe the majority of the divers were unsatisfied with this live aboard trip. Thankfully, I spent another 2 weeks on the island of Bali diving with Bali Scuba who had arranged a land trip of Bali where we dove many of the dive sites of Bali; Padang Bai, Nusa Penida, Menjangan, Pemuteran, Tulamben, east coast islands. I saw more Mantas on my first dive with Bali Scuba than I did on at least 2 or 3 discovery dives on board the Pindito. Also, saw ghost pipefish, scorpion fish, razor fish, schools of catfish and trevalees, cow fish, frog fish, etc. etc. that I never saw on the Pindito dives. Not all of the Pindito dives were poor, but I expected much more. Too many of the 30 dives offered were in what I consider inferior sites. Either that or the dive guides were not very good at finding sea creatures for us to view. Viz for most of the dives were poor as well. All-in-all I was quite disappointed with the Liveaboard trip, but I was very happy with the land trip and dive sites chosen by Bali Scuba. The boat crew ie. kitchen chef, kitchen staff, boat attendants etc. were excellent. The food was good and plentiful. The staff were attentive and very friendly The speedboat drivers were excellent. My complaint is with the dive guides and the dive sites.
Websites	Pindito
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Routan; Key Largo, FL; Japan - Okinawa; Hawaii; BC - Canada;
Closest Airport	Denpasaw	Getting There	Vancouver (YVR), Taipei, Denpasar Bali
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	75-85°F / 24-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	25-40 Ft/ 8-12 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	60 minutes and usually less than 100 feet.
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish	N/A
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	The dive groups were too large. 5 or 6 divers per guide with a mix of Videographers, serious photographers, and Gopro users. There didn't seem to be much reasoning as to the grouping of divers. For example, in our group we had a serious videographer with lights and a tripod setup, a serious photographer with her camera and strobe setup, Gopro users, and point and shoot camera users. It wasn't a good mix, and the dive guide didn't find enough critters to keep us busy. The videographer and photographer were logically last to approach any small critters that were found, but the dive guides didn't come back to show them the next find. Nor did they offer any assistance in helping to setup the video or photo shot, which is needed with macro lenses.

Report currently has 2 Helpful votes

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Dive Review of Pindito in Indonesia/Komodo

Pindito: "Not the best dive sites for Indonesia - Komodo", Sep, 2016,

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 Pindito in
Indonesia/Komodo