Seven Seas Liveaboard

We went to Komodo in Jan 2014 on Seven Seas. Dove at Cannibal Rock about 15 times while we were there. Fantastic dive site. Our trip manager was Mark, and he is very knowledgeable in Komodo diving. We had great time. Food was pretty decent. When it rained, water was leaking from the ceiling in our room, but they have put plastic containers to cover it. So there wasn't any problem.

My teenage daughter and I spent 10 days on the Seven Seas in July of 2008. Getting there is relatively easy with a short flight out of Bali and landing in Labuan Banjo where the boat is ready to go. Of course, don't miss a chance to spend a few days in Bali. We dove Crystal Bay and got to see three mola mola fish which was a pleasant bonus for the trip.While not specifically a family trip, the week was definitely more oriented in that way than any other liveaboard that I have been on. Jos Pet, the owner of the boat, had his entire family. Several other families from Bali were on the boat as well. Thus, it had a different feel to it than every other liveaboard that I have been on.Despite this, the boat did a good job of accomodating divers such as myself who were a bit more experienced.The land walks to see the Komodo dragons were spectacular. I have since seen these beasts in zoos and it is always disappointing to see them through the glass. One hike was fairly lengthy and we got to see some spectacular vistss. We also saw nesting sites were the dragons had their young. Impressive sites.The rooms were pretty small, but comfortable. I do understand that since we were on the boat, the rooms have been redone (2 eliminated) to make for a bigger space. If you are going to Komodo, you have lots of options. If room size is important, I would compare square footage and get the space you want.The food was very good and we had special meals on the top side of the boat that were especially good. On two nights we had "picnics" with a bonfire on small spits of sand. That was special and I don't remember doing that anywhere else.Summer in Komodo means north and south maybe. North was great with some very classic sites such as Chimney Rock. These pinnacles are exposed to current which is good for fish but bad for humans. The crew was extremely careful to make sure the current was quiet when we got in. I am sure their caution was extra high because of the children on board. For that, this crew was actually perfect.The setup for dive photography was good, but not fantastic as it is on the Damai and Arenui. Because of the folks on board (only one other very serious photographer), it worked fine. However, with a boat load of photo guys, it would have been very crowded.The highlight of the trip was mantas. We had mantas on a half dozen dives. Even the couple of swimmers had mantas with them. A handful of gray tips were seen on several dives. The Cauldran dive was specacular and filled with purple corals. But the currents were strong so this is not a dive for the beginner. But my favorite dive was Batu Bolong which is out in the open current. Our boat was very careful with the currents. (Just two weeks earlier, two British divers had been swept away from here). It is also easy to go deep. We blew up a picture of my daughter's dive computer display to see that she was at 140 ft in depth.Our only disappointment is that we were totally unable to go to the south at all. We had strong winds which kept us totally in the north. That wasn't awful, but we did miss half of the park. That was unusual, but it did happen occasionally.The coral was very good, but not quite as good as Raja Ampat. This is probably the best shark diving in all of Indonesia and certainly a great place to see mantas.