In this blog I’m going to take you on a journey of a day in the life of a liveaboard diver in Indonesia. If you are wondering what it’s like to go on a liveaboard in Indonesia, this will give you the vibe to see if this type of trip is for you. So without further delay, lets get started.
It’s 6am. I’ve just woken up naturally with no alarm, my body has told me it’s time to get up and see what another great day has install for me. Although I’m excited to see what the day holds its also tempting to stay rugged up under the warm doona in my cool air-conditioned cabin. The mattress is soft and inviting, but I give out a big stretch and jump out of bed. Although a little groggy because I’ve just awoken, I feel well rested from the subtle rocking of the boat overnight that triggers a part of the brain that remembers the safety of a cradle as an infant.
I walk up the warm lit wooden staircase from my cabin in the lower deck to the communal restaurant area of the boat. The local cabin steward named Raja is in the resto, and I’m met with the Indonesian morning greeting “Pagi” and a smile. The pleasant aroma of coffee is in the air, Raja has just brewed a fresh pot and he pours me some into a mug. I take my coffee and proceed to walk out onto the deck.
No other guests are awake yet, but there a few of the crew about carrying out various tasks. Some are mopping the dew that has accumulated on the deck from the previous evening. Others are making a quick call to their families back home before they start the days work. I take my coffee to go sit on the bow sprig to watch the day start. Below me a gentle lap of water against the hull creates a peaceful rhythmic sound as the slightest hint of glowing fluorescent blue can be seen from the bioluminescent plankton in the water. By the time I’ve finished my coffee the sun has started to rise, revealing the stark limestone karst islands that rise out of the water all around us in the lagoon where we had anchored overnight.
Walking back into the resto I discover a handful of guests have woken up and made there way to the coffee too. I go to grab some of the fresh baked bread that the chef makes ever day and put it in the toaster. This is what they call the “small breakfast” one of the five meals for the day. I sit down with a Canadian guy that I had met on the boat just a few days earlier. Although we have only known each other a few days the conversation flows freely, and we have a laugh about the previous day’s antics. Although most people on liveaboard trips start as strangers to each other, everyone has diving and often travel in common, so it doesn’t take long for everyone to gel.
7am rolls around and the cruise director starts to walk around the boat ringing a small desk bell. This signals time for all the guests to make there way into the resto area for the first dive briefing of the day. The expert dive guide from Manado named Aghi is standing by a white board ready to give the briefing. He has just hand drawn the whole site intricately from his memory and is now filling in the current strength info that was just reported back from a fellow dive guide. He has just got back from the tender, after jumping in the water for a current check. The dive plan is explained to the 14 divers ready to jump in the water with their guides, and then the mob breaks off with the first two groups heading to the dive deck to gear up.
My group of 4 divers jump into the tender with out dive guide named Fendy ready to head to the site, about a 3 minute boat ride from our anchor point. When we get into the tender out BCD’s, tanks and fins are all waiting for us, all we need to do is slip into them with the assistance of the crew. Time for a buddy check on the way to the site and before you know it we are there. Up to the edge we sit as our guide counts us down 3, 2, 1 and we all back roll in unison into the water.
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The dive site is amazing, bright coloured corals are everywhere you look. There is a slight current bringing in some great hunting pelagic’s but nothing too heavy to make the dive uncomfortable. The water is a beautiful 29 degrees Celsius. Our guide navigates us through the site, stopping to show us some incredible tiny macro creatures that he has spotted with his superhuman eyes. We spend 55 minutes exploring the area before heading up to 5 meters to hover in the blue doing our safety stop. As soon as we breach the surface and remove our regs the vocally contained excitement of the dive is broken. Everyone starts to chatter loudly with “did you see this” and “oh wasn’t that reef shark darting at those fusiliers so cool”. The tender with the smiley crew is there to pick us up so we start to de-equip our gear and pass it up to them from the water before climbing the ladder back into the tender.
When the tender reaches the liveaboard half of the crew are there on the dive deck to welcome us back with a cheer. We are helped off the tender and back up onto the dive deck while the crew carry our gear for us and start prepping tanks for the next dive. Old trusty Raja is there again with a warm towel he wraps around my shoulders to dry off. Towel around my shoulders I make my way up to the bow of the boat with the other guests where Ari the other steward is serving up a traditional hot tea made from ginger and palm sugar. I drink my tea and I make my way down to my cabin to quickly rinse the salt water off me and get into some dry clothes.
Time to take a wander up to the sun deck with a book to take in a bit of the morning breeze. I take a seat on the long couch in front of the captains bridge next to a Japanese couple that are flicking through a fish guidebook together ID’ing the new species they had just seen on the dive. After a little while I hear “ding, ding, ding” – it’s the bell again to announce the food is served and it’s time for big breakfast.
Big breakfast doesn’t disappoint. A buffet style spread where you can help yourself to sausages, bacon, baked beans, hashbrowns, mushrooms, all sorts of fresh cut fruit, toast and rice. We are also served with the fresh cooked “eggs your way” for which I placed my order the previous night for a ham and cheese omelette. Content and perhaps a little over indulged with the delicious food that chef Dede has provided once again, I retreat back to the lounge upstairs to laze back and digest in the cool breeze.
11 o’clock and there’s that bell again. Time to head down for the briefing for dive number 2 of the day. The boat has moved off its anchor position from this morning as we were having breakfast and relaxing, and now we are in a new location to explore the local dive sites. After another amazing dive, lunch is served and again my taste buds are not disappointed either. After this round though I fell like I can squeeze in a quick little nap back in my cabin since the next dive does not start till 3pm.
Dive 3 at 3 pm, is another mind-blowing experience, followed by the same top standard of service out of the water as well, and this time an afternoon snack of fried banana and traditional Indonesian cakes to go with the post dive tea. I head up to the top deck this time to find some fellow divers lounging in the afternoon sun. They are sitting back in beanbags about to start a card game so I pull up a beanbag and join in. It’s around 4:30 now and our night dive isn’t scheduled till 6pm so I have time for revenge on any lost hands.
As our fourth dive for the day approaches, I’m as excited for the night dive, if not more excited than the previous 3-day dives. Indonesia is famous for its night dive critters and I have a few on my bucket list I need to tick off. The opportunity to see Blue Ringed Octopus, Bobtail Squid, Flamboyant Cuttlefish, Stargazers and Spanish dancers has me squirming in my seat on the tender ride out to the site.
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Aftre an amazing final dive for the night I go and get cleaned up for dinner. As soon as I stepped foot back on the liveaboard I could smell the, no doubt about to be delicious, food that chef Dede has served up. I grab a seat with my dive buddies and this time crack an ice cold Bintang beer as well. A great days diving for all and we have a lot to discuss about who got the best photo of a Nudi, and trying to roll off all the new species that we had never seen underwater before.
After dinner the cruise director gathers us all around the TV to show us a map of where we had travelled today and where we will travel to the next day for our diving. The plan is explained and some photos of the sites we will visit shown to get us excited. Tomorrow looks like another action-packed day of diving and even includes a bonus land tour where we will be hiking to a viewpoint which I’m excited about.
The rest of the evening is spent chatting away with the other guests and comparing war stories about other dive vacations around the world. It’s not a late night though as my body is knackered from all the days activities and I want to be fresh and ready for a big day tomorrow. Around 10pm I bid fare night to my fellow dive comrades and head back to that comfy bed. I’m excited and can’t wait for what tomorrow brings.
