Damai I (Dive Damai Liveaboard)
You really have to want to get here to make this trip. Our flight took us from Minneapolis to Tokyo to Jakarta to Ambon and then to Manokwari. The airport there is remote and far from anywhere. Our departure was delayed a full day because of riots in the town which was a bit scary. As a result of the 1.5 day delay, we missed a day of diving in the Cenderawasih Bay area which was OK, because it was pretty mediocre by Indonesia standards.
The Damai II is simply the nicest dive boat in the world. The rooms are enormous and spectacular. Many hotel rooms are not this nice. The boat had a nice home theater and we often watched movies in the evening. The food was very good and we had a lot of variety given the remoteness of the location. They had great post dive snacks. The only thing that they missed was popcorn and they promised to find it for future trips.
Of course, people come here to see whale sharks and this is the best place in the world to see them. I have also seen them at Darwin, but this blows that away. They are many, the water is warm and clear and you can literally spend the day watching them. We had two and sometimes three at a time. We parked our boat and just went in the water as we wanted without any real diving schedule. We also got to go on the fisherman platforms and feed the whale sharks from the surface. My memory of watching my daughter feed one of these beasts will always be with me.
We then headed to our next encounter which was with leatherback turtles which were laying their eggs on shore. Like the whale sharks, they did not disappoint. It was a life highlight for me. We also got to visit a native village and several of us played volleyball with the local people. I don't think that this was a standard part of the tour, but one of our crew members came from the village.
Finally, we moved on to Raja Ampat where we spent our final 3 days. Of course, the reefs and fish there are world class. If I could repeat just one dive trip in my life, I would redo this one. About the only negative was the time it took to get to Raja Ampat. It was a long cruise and took a full day without much diving.
