The Liquid Adventures: Schedule, Deals, Reviews

Overall, we had a genuinely wonderful seven night trip aboard Kira Kira, and I don’t regret choosing it. If I were doing Komodo again, however, I would probably choose a different boat. Here’s why. First, the positives. The crew was absolutely lovely. Every member of the staff was warm, friendly, and genuinely eager to make sure we had a great experience. Our English speaking guide and divemaster, Marse, was exceptional. He was knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and consistently went out of his way to tailor each day to what we wanted to see and do. He was one of the highlights of the trip, and if you’re fortunate enough to have him as your guide, you’re in excellent hands. The captain was clearly experienced and inspired confidence throughout the voyage. The chef also deserves special mention. Every meal was fresh, varied, and surprisingly good considering the size and simplicity of the galley. The boat itself is charming as hell. It has tremendous character and feels like a traditional Indonesian sailing vessel rather than a floating hotel. I specifically chose Kira Kira because it could accommodate just myself and my two teenage daughters without requiring us to charter a much larger yacht. Having the entire boat to ourselves, along with the eight crew members, made for a very personal experience. The scenery, of course, was beyond description. The coral reefs and marine life were some of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. It wasn’t simply the astonishing variety of colors and patterns; it was that every color seemed to exist in its most perfect possible shade. The blues, purples, oranges, yellows, and reds almost looked artificially enhanced. Photographs simply don’t do them justice. I also want to mention something that initially concerned me but ultimately wasn’t an issue. Knowing this was one of the more budget friendly boats, my biggest concern before arriving was the lack of air conditioning. Fortunately, that fear proved completely unfounded. With the hatches open and the small fans running, our cabin was surprisingly comfortable and even cool at night. We were told that roughly 75% of guests choose to sleep on the upper deck instead of in their cabins. After our trip, I’m honestly not sure why. We slept below deck every night and were perfectly comfortable. The only exception came during a single rainstorm, when the hatches had to be closed. Once closed, the cabins became hot, humid, and stuffy very quickly. Unfortunately, that same rainstorm also exposed another issue: water entered parts of the boat, including a few cabins. Some beds became wet, and our luggage took on water as well. Fortunately, it only rained once during our voyage. Now for the reasons I would probably choose a different boat next time. The first is the bathroom arrangement. The bathrooms themselves were clean and well maintained. This was not a cleanliness issue. There are two bathrooms on the middle deck that are shared by both guests and crew. The crew was remarkably considerate and seemed to use them very infrequently, so availability was never a problem during our trip with only three guests. Had the boat been full, I suspect that might have been different. The bigger issue is simply the location. The guest cabins are below deck, and reaching the bathrooms requires climbing multiple steep stairways and walking through much of the boat. If you’re someone who regularly wakes during the night to use the bathroom, this setup is far from ideal. Because it was only my daughters and me aboard, we eventually resorted to keeping a “pee bucket” in the cabin overnight. That solution obviously would not be practical if multiple unrelated guests were sharing the boat. Finally, the elephant in the room: the cockroaches. I don’t use the word infestation casually, but this truly was an infestation. Thankfully, they were the smaller cockroaches rather than the large flying species. Had they been the giant flying ones, and we only saw one during the week, we probably would not have lasted a day. The worst area by far was the galley and kitchen, but we also found cockroaches consistently in our cabins and eventually in our luggage. Even now, every time I unpack a pair of underwear, I instinctively give it a vigorous shake to make sure there aren’t any unexpected passengers hiding inside. At night, the galley became overrun. One evening I made the mistake of turning on the lights and lifting the metal covers protecting leftover food. Hundreds of cockroaches scattered in every direction, and the remaining food was literally covered with them. After seeing that, I asked the crew that we never be served anything that wasn’t prepared fresh at that moment. They assured me they never served leftovers to guests, and I believe them. Still, once you’ve watched hundreds of cockroaches crawling over food, it’s difficult to completely erase that image from your mind. Even knowing the leftovers were intended only for the crew made eating a bit of a mental challenge afterward. I honestly don’t know if this is simply an American aversion on my part. The crew was completely “cockroach blind.” They simply seemed to accept them as part of everyday life. I also haven’t seen other reviews mentioning the infestation, even though I find it difficult to believe we were uniquely unlucky. Perhaps other guests are less bothered by it than I was. Regardless, I think it’s important that future guests know what to expect. What surprised me more was that the owner is British. I would have expected him to be more aware of the problem and more motivated to address it. Modern bait based treatments are remarkably effective against these small cockroaches and generally do not require widespread pesticide spraying in food preparation areas. It seems like a problem that could realistically be solved. I don’t want to dwell on the negatives because they genuinely were outweighed by the positives. The crew was wonderful, the diving and snorkeling were unforgettable, and the scenery exceeded every expectation. My goal is simply to make sure future guests arrive with realistic expectations. If you go aboard Kira Kira with your eyes wide open, and you’re comfortable with the bathroom arrangement and the cockroach situation, I have little doubt you’ll have a fantastic time and come home with incredible memories.

I did a 10 night trip through Raja Ampat. Kira Kira has been recently remodeled so there are now 4 double/twin cabins and 2 small singles for a total of 10 passengers. Dive deck is spacious and well organized - lots of space to hang your wetsuit and clothes between dives and a covered area to hang out and relax. All diving is done off a small speedboat and dive guide/diver ratio is 5:1.. The crew, from the fabulous cook and always smiling dive boat driver was awesome and they seemed to work as a team, stepping in where necessary to help each other. Meals were always plentiful, favorful varied and the snacks were always homemade - you never went hungry on this boat! Beachside BBQ on the last night was great way to end the trip. The rooms are very basic but you're there to dive. All are below deck and ventilation is through the hinged roof part that props up. A small fan is the only other means of moving air through the room. Some people chose to sleep up on the top deck as it can get hot in the cabins. 2 bathrooms are shared among the 10 crew and 10 passengers and there is only fresh water to shower after the last dive. Don't expect hot showers and your shower is basically a rinse. Essentially, think of this as camping on the ocean. Diving: Raja Ampat sells itself so I won't comment on that. We did 26 dives of which 1 was a pretty mediocre night dive. Dives were stricly timed at 60 minutes or 50 bar. About 25% of our dives had some sort of current - if you have a reef hook, bring it as you may need it for stroner current dives. For the liveaboard: 2 dive guides Faldi & Safri appear to be new to the boat this season and their area of expertise seemed to be more in the Komodo/Lauban Bajo area rather than Raja Ampat. Safri was the "cruise director" and determined the dive itinerary . Compared to other dive guides didn't seem to be all that engaged with finding things or pointing out things except for the obvious - shark, pygmy seahorse, baraccuda, trevally, etc. He led the dive and made sure we stayed within our time limits but the other divers were the ones that were frequently finding interesting things and pointing things out. Safri wasn't particularly exceptional - it appeared that Faldi was more engaged with pointing things out to his group and checking in with them to make sure they were doing ok. Other: I found sorting out the bill at the end to chaotic. Prices for the Raja Ampat fee had changed from the 2,500,000 to 3,000,000 IDR but was never able to get an adequate explanation as was also the case for the rental equipment and beverages which had gone up compared to the website and briefing info that we received. In the scheme of what I paid, it wasn't a huge deal but I wish that they updated the informationn- all about setting expectations. Make sure you bring IDR to tip the crew - you can pay the balance of your bill through Wise (get that set up before you leave for the trip) or IDR cash. On the subject of tips, I wish they had given us an option to pool our tips as they gave each of us 2 envelopes marked "crew tips" and "dive guide" tips but with our names on it. 6 of us decided to put all our money into 1 envelope for crew tips and another for the dive guides and avoid the whole "xyz is from guest abc....". There's always that matter of how much to tip as well and how to allocate the tips - does the dive guide as an individual get 25% with the other 75% to be shared among the other 8 people or should it be more even? Do you take into account local wages vs a percentage of what you paid? All in all, a good trip as long as you understand that this is a pretty basic liveaboard but you get to enjoy the same diving as you would a liveaboard charging 3x the price.

First and foremost: diving was great. Dive guides Claire and Alex were very enthusiastic about diving and accommodating to guests’ needs. Instead of advertised 19 dives, we did 25 over the course of 7 days. This is wonderful! However the facilities on the boat and the boat itself are not very diver-friendly. The biggest issue: fresh water only for an hour or so after all dives for the day are finished. No fresh water at other times, even to wash hands before meals. This is just unsanitary, especially in the tropical climate. Only one small bucket with fresh water for cameras where the water would not be changed for days and become just gross. Another issue is the boat design with very narrow passes where people constantly bump into each other, and kitchen combined with the dining room causing the dining room to be very hot most of the time. Overall, Kira Kira is good value for the money, if all you are looking for is diving. It would be great value, if they could fix the fresh water issues. Maybe a second fresh water tank?