Getting it down pat – at Raja Ampat

[JohnM]

Welcome to AFF

Ours had about six whites and six reds. Nothing very exciting. I ended up buying two whites and one red to have a glass at dinner, but it was the pre-dinner G&Ts that most people enjoyed from their own duty-free gin. Tonic was supplied on the boat at no extra cost.

 

[zig]

Wow, fantastic photography.

 

[JohnM]

Young fella @Daver6 had a good underwater camera and he wore a bit of weight so he could dive down a lot.

I just pottered along on the surface.

He also had his drone, which was a big bonus.

 

[Daver6]

Wow, fantastic photography.

Young fella @Daver6 had a good underwater camera and he wore a bit of weight so he could dive down a lot.

I just pottered along on the surface.

He also had his drone, which was a big bonus.

Thanks. Glad I invested in a new underwater camera. Previously I had the Olympus TG-3 (released in 2016). I upgraded just prior to the TG-7, which while the latest in the series is still a few years old. Big improvement in image quality. Videos look good but lacks image stabilisation in them. I'll post some when I have some time.

 

[RooFlyer]

Superb photos

Still waiting for decent Wi-Fi for them to download

 

[VPS]

Still waiting for decent Wi-Fi for them to download

The joys of travelling

 

[JohnM]

Still waiting for decent Wi-Fi for them to download

No Starlink on Ponant, then?

 

[Daver6]

No Starlink on Ponant, then?

HBA QP internet perhaps?

 

[Daver6]

Here's the video of the trip created by the professional onboard. All footage was from our trip except for the crew footage at the end.

 

[k_sheep]

If it's not an impolite question, what was the cost of the liveaboard?

 

[JohnM]

If it's not an impolite question, what was the cost of the liveaboard?

Our group took exclusive use, which gave a chunky 20% saving. I'd have to delve back to piece together the initial deposit then the final payment to get the total of what it actually cost.

Add to that Euro275 P/P marine park fee only payable in Indonesia and hire of gear. We only snorkelled and took our own kit, so I don't know cost of hiring scuba gear.

Best you look at the Mermaid Liveaboards website to get the current base price: Mermaid Liveaboards - Official Website - Indonesia Liveaboards.

They price in Euros.

As a dummy, April 2027 shows Euro5,000 P/P in a deluxe cabin on Mermaid II for what we did. So about $1K P/P/night.

Typically, that's about what I have become accustomed to expect to pay on any sort of decent boat trip (120 pax Coral Expeditions, 12 pax Kimberley Coast - as variously linked in my TRs below.)