New White Manta, Indonesia

Extremely nice ship, well maintained and a very professional crew. Equipment is very well maintained and the stuff is very helpful. Organization of all the dives was absoolutely top notch. The cabins and all areas of the ship were spotless clean. The food options were exceptional. The dives were perfectly organized. We had one issue with the stairs down to the dive deck being too slippery but the crew took care of it right away. This was my absolute perfect liveaboard experience - special thanks go out to Nacho - our tour director and dive instructor! Great job!

I enjoyed the New White Manta Misool to Triton Bay trip. The steel boat is spacious, comfortable with large user-friendly cabins. The diving is world class, spectacular soft and hard corals, dolphins, mantas and whale sharks. I really enjoyed the authentic Asian cuisine on board.

I wasn’t aware this dive safari was an exploration to find new sites. 80% the visibility was 10meters. The last 3 days the current and swell was strong. 60% of the time the zodiac /pangas was never near the dive sites. The wait time was 5-10 minutes even when the DM put up his SMB and blew his horn. They were picking up snorkelers/owners/photographer, DM doing fun dives. They should have found a group to surface up with instead of being pick up individually. I let my concerns be known to the owner, Vincent, who was on board. He joined the trip to see and find new sites and to visit Triton Bay Resort, which, he is an investor. They dropped off supplies and provisions for the resort. The owner stayed overnight at the dive resort and returned to the White Manta the following morning. The White Manta site stated intermediate to advanced divers. We had several divers that had less than 10 dives and inexperienced joined the trip. And, an introductory scuba. Instead of having 6 groups of 4, we had 8 groups going to the sites and snorkelers which delayed pangas and us waiting on the surface. The timing was not space out correctly to accommodate the extra’s for the fun dives by the owner/DM. Several occasions the group merged together on several sites with poor visibility. Having an owner on board you would think it will improve the overall experience but it was the opposite. The crew did everything to please him including picking him first instead of divers. I feel he disrupted the flow of the safari to his personal agenda. As for the cruise director, they were nice and entertaining. We had two, Cedric and Nacho. However, the boat briefing was misleading. Cedric mentioned the Yellow CAMERA buckets are only for camera and dive computers. The camera would be dunk in the camera bucket then placed on the camera dive deck. This never happened. I mentioned to Cedric that I’m finding more than camera and dive computers in the camera bucket. He said, it's OK after a dive. THEN, do another boat briefing from the previous announcement! We as divers w camera would like to be informed to determine if we like our camera to be rinse in the Yellow camera bucket w other equipment or rinse it in our room or from the dive deck hose. I was backlash by another diver when I mentioned to her about her mask and hood in the Yellow camera bucket. I mentioned to Nacho, a cruise director, he then informed Cedric, the cruise director. Nacho told me that it’s OK after a dive which he validated with Cedric. Please inform the new dive boat briefing if it’s changed from the original as to ALL of us being on board with the new protocol. The food was sufficient and plentiful and good. I had better. Even though my request was gluten-free they didn’t realize it on day one. Pasta night only had gluten pasta on the menu. They were kind enough to make a different dish. Overall, the Blue Manta that dives Komodo was superior to White Manta. With or without an owner present, it should not interfere with the dive safari itinerary or procedure. I did not punish the crew. I tip them. I believed that they acted and performed the wishes of the owner. I’m not sure I’ll be back on the White Manta anytime soon. I was originally thinking of going to the Kalimanta route in mid June. Also, I finally received my marine park card thru email once I contacted Divebooker support after my Safari was over. However, I did not receive the actual card but it should be sufficient when I return to Raja Ampat before 2025. Which I am returning in May and September of 2024. The marine park permit should have been handed out at the beginning of the safari. A cruise director should have mentioned they were a problem for picking up the permit at the Waisai office where it should have been collected. Overall, I gave this safari below average. Out of 15 Liveaboards I have been on, there were too many protocols and disruption on this trip.