Liveaboard Diving in Raja Ampat - any reviews of boats?

The MV Raja Ampat Explorer is the best boat of the fleet owned by Grand Komodo, aka Komodo Alor Dive, who have a fleet of no-frills boats.

Have heard some horror stories in the past about those boats but who knows, maybe with this boat they are upping their game. Make sure you have all your own equipment (including safety sausage) since my personal experience of relying on theirs was not the best.

It is an awesome place to dive so you will want to make sure you get the Raja Ampat Liveaboard that's right for you, so do have a look around.

You can expect, because of the huge distances these boats cover, that you will have to pay for them, but the diving should make it all worthwhile.

Good luck.

Hey OTS,

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I've heard some sketchy things about liveaboards in Raja Ampat (from cooking to lack of a pick up for an hour at sea). Great advice on the safety equipment. May go for a big 2 meter sausage and an airhorn (I'd take a damn flare gun if it would work).

Those other boats looked great too. We've been looking around for boats but everything is booked solid (including the Papua Diving resort). There's a new place at Misool but don't know much about it.

So excited I can barely sleep.

Hi, I haven't dived Raja Ampat yet but am booked on The Arenui for March ( [http://www.thearenui.com/] ) which covers that area as well as North Sulawesi and offers just the Raja Ampat area as well. They had a launch special when I booked as they seem to be new, but I just checked and they're still posting a discount which seems cheaper (and includes alcohol and other perks!) than most similar liveaboard cruises. Anyway, if anybody has any feedback or reviews for this liveaboard, I'd appreciate it even if I've already paid the deposit! Sorry if I'm crashing the original post.