Modern Indonesian Phinisi Style Liveaboard: Akora

Do you want to know the best way to dive Raja Ampat… Choose liveaboard life!

We were asked to come aboard the new Akora liveaboard which sails the waters of Raja Ampat over a ten day liveaboard trip, departing from Waisai the main town and harbour on the island of Waeigo, one of the four mainlands that make up the region of Raja Ampat.

The vessel and its eight guests (max) hit the high seas to dive and explore the waters as far as Misool, the most southerly of the Raja Ampat, translated; Four Kings islands. For the number of guests it’s a beautifully spacious and wonderfully open designed liveaboard and one we would love to take an exploration trip on.

The fact that it is a new build means that the owners have taken the initiative to design it as a silent liveaboard, which means it’s running on solar power rather than generators for its main electricity. This detail is a god send, as if you have ever been near a generator you will know just how noisy they can be, let alone trying to grab some kip with one running on a boat.

(Though we would argue that after four dives in a day there’s not much that can keep your eyes open bar some toothpicks. )

Proud of the newest addition to their liveaborad fleet, they asked us to jump on-board and take a few snaps for them. We think it’s beautiful with a wonderful focus on authentic cultural design and spacious living – take a look and let us know what you think!

What do you think of taking to the seas on a pirate ship for ten nights, is this your style of diving?

WD.x

Travel

Introducing the Jewel of Malaysia & Your Next Island…

Looking for an island get away that offers an abundance of natural beauty, doesn’t cost the earth, won’t be filled with tourists and doesn’t require a tour guide?

Langkawi Malaysia Ultimate Travel Guide Wander Deeper Geo Park Giant Eagle

Well, aren’t we all. And so begins the impossible search for the idyllic setting without paying the earth or being stuck without home comforts in the jungle for weeks on end.

Well, look no more.

Let us introduce you to the island of Langkawi, the Jewel of Malaysia and your next destination for a dose of island life bliss.

Watch The Jewel of Malaysia video here

*The island is a UNESCO-listed World Geopark and offers pristine nature and stunning scenery.*

Langkawi makes a perfect balance of convenience, natural beauty and remote exclusivity entirely possible, in the most exciting and satisfying way and a visit here won’t break the bank. Located just west of mainland Malaysia, you can fly direct on a domestic flight from Kuala Lumpur to this small island, which seems to be growing in popularity as an international destination. Evidently it’s been a popular escape for those living near by for a while, yet you will find that it doesn’t entirely exploit itself to the commerciality of tourism. The natural beauty remains very much that, untouched and un-taxed – no queues, no cheesy photos, no barriers and ropes (every photographer’s nightmare) and no tickets, yet still beautifully maintained and well looked after in a lot of spots. However, The Sky Bridge is one spot you will find all of these tourist taxed excitements in abundance, but more about that later.

How long do you need in Langkawi?

You can enjoy Langkawi in five days with a ‘go-getters’ style itinerary like we did or, you can spend longer and include lazy beach days with the possibility of doing and seeing a bit more. We could’ve happily stayed there longer, something we instantly realised after driving to the Giant Eagle pier on arrival and feeling the relaxed, unspoiled vibe of Langkawi.

Langkawi, Malaysia; The Ultimate Travel Guide by Wander Deeper

So how do you get to enjoy the beauty of Langkawi without paying over the top prices or getting stuck in the crowds?

Let’s start with your accommodation, you can hire somewhere cheap, clean and basic. There are plenty of options but it’s still advisable to book ahead. It can be in any location, the island is small enough to drive around the perimeter in just 2 hours more or less. When venturing out for the day you tend not to have to drive very far in any direction to reach a view point, waterfall, town centre or beach; nothing is more than an hour away. Do note that there are a lot of small backroads that lead to some of these smaller, cheaper apartments – not the easiest to navigate on first attempts, but they do get easier with the right GPS. So pin your location and pack an in car charge and then there’s no need to avoid them, as they are cheaper and perfectly hosted by friendly local families or smaller companies.

Staying near Cenang beach will allow you close access to the most tourist filled place on the island as the main stretch of restaurants and tourist shops run parallel to it, this will be a bit pricier but it depends what your needs are. On most days we drove from one side of the island to the other more than once, so bear in mind you can be close to it without being caught amongst the chaos when trying to sleep. Whatever you’re after, you can find all types of accommodation easily via Airbnb.

So, you’ve settled in, now how do you get around?

Hire a car. It costs a little more than a motorbike or scooter and allows you to set out for the whole day with supplies and shelter should the weather decide to take a turn for the worse. It was a god send for us, storing all our photography equipment, gallon bottles of water to keep our reusable water bottles refilled and it additionally gave us the priceless ability to carry back large bottles of gin and endless tins of tonic water to our apartment! Need I convince you anymore?

So, what is there to do?

Well, you can start chasing waterfalls! There’s plenty of beautiful and different ones on this small island and as previously mentioned they’re accessible and free of charge and guide ropes. We think you’d be silly to miss out on seeing at least one.

The Seven Wells Waterfall, Air Terjun Temurun Waterfall and Durian Perangin Waterfall are all easily accessible by car and a require a small to medium walk with some steps.

Langkawi Malaysia Ultimate Travel Guide Wander Deeper Seven Wells Waterfall

There’s a few monkeys, especially at Air Terjun Temurun, that hang around, so just pack away any snacks, water bottles and keep your glasses in hand if you don’t fancy having a close encounter with these mischievous locals!

The beaches are the next attraction and though there are rather a few of them, there’s a couple that stand out as the best ones to visit for different reasons.

For a quiet cocktail, a clean beach and a stunning view over little islands visit Tajung Rhu beach, it’s at the north of the island and boasts a memorable sunset, even when it gets a little rainy!

For a bit of a busier beach scene head to Cenang where you’ll find parasailing, banana boats, lots of places to eat and plenty of frosty beers along the way.

The lighthouse and harbours are worth a little walk around and the lighthouse makes for a cool drone shot, you can also swing by Eagle Pier and check out the huge statue they have swooping out over the water, Langkawi’s signature monument! Bear in mind these are all very open places with little shelter so wear a hat and bring some water with you to avoid dehydration on your island getaway.

The Sky Bridge is an attraction that brings lots of tourism and one we were willing to pay to see. Arguably it is a pretty cool one, as it curves and bends across the tree tops of Langkawi; hidden in the mountains it’s a steep cable car ride up to the top where the views are truly one of the gods!

However, we were a little stumped on the ticketing, as we paid for three attractions including the The Sky Tower.. but it turned out this only got us up to the first level and not up to and on the bridge itself. So we had to buy another ticket when we had arrived at the Sky Tower, this was not very clearly labelled when buying tickets initially, so make sure you have enough cash on you if you do want to get all the way up!

We also had the misfortune of the sky lift not working and so we had to take all the steps down and back up again, we’d advise paying out a little extra to get the sky lift back up as the steps are steep and plentiful, which is not ideal on a hot day in Langkawi. And certainly pack plenty of water as it’s pretty pricey in the shops.

We loved our time in Langkawi and would most certainly head back again for a little more exploring and some down time when we’re not diving! It’s a true mix of everything you can want from a holiday and we hope you’ll agree that there’s some wonderful photos to be captured!

What’s your ideal island get away?

The last morning on Langkawi and we pulled ourselves out of bed to meet the sun rising over the rice fields.

Check out the short video we made to capture the beauty of island and attractions that we visited.

Scuba Diving

This Blog Will Find You The Best Divemaster Training…

If you’re wondering what a Divemaster is, or what it takes to make the most out of your training… wonder no more.

I had unquestionably the most challenging, rewarding, invigorating and life expanding experience possible when doing my Divemaster course. Truthfully I would challenge anyone who wished to prove they made more out of their experience than I… And here’s why.

Invariably the requirements to become a Divemaster are the same under any course structure, be it PADI, SSI, SDI, RAID or any of the professional bodies you chose to progress with; I’ll be referring solely to the PADI Divemaster Training course in this article. However, what you can take from it, in what ways you can best use the opportunity and time you have and how you select the best place to suit your ambitions for the course is a variable and broad spectrum.

This is where you should take into account a whole bunch of different considerations. We did a lot of research and from it came one of the best decisions we’ve ever made.

So, I’m going to offer you an insight into my experience and a couple of tips when considering your Divemaster Training course, from why to do it, when and where to do it to who to do it with, whether you should pay for it and how to get more out of it than your co-Divemaster Trainees. Then you too might be best able to plan your Divemaster training; to understand what is required to simply qualify and most importantly what changes it into a life changing an utterly incredible experience, and let’s see if you agree with me by the end.

Firstly, why does anyone do their Divemaster training?

Officially speaking, becoming a Divemaster is the first professional qualification you can gain in the industry, many people do it to open up opportunities for employment in foreign countries and as a means of work and travel. However, the training aspects of becoming a Divemaster begin with yourself and end with the customers. You have to know how to look after yourself before others; by which you should know your gear back to front, inside out and be able to make routine manoeuvres (like deploying your SMB) with your eyes shut.

Individually speaking ,people become Divemasters for a variety of personal reasons and this is why my own perspective will differ from everyone else’s in one way or another. However, I think on a general scope most do it to gain more confidence and simply because they love diving. So, much like with any hobby, you always look to advance your skills and get to the next level, or to shift into a niche platform; like tech diving or underwater photography for example. It is simply the next step on the ladder.

Study days don’t look like they used to in school.

What does a Divemaster status allow you to do?

Well, qualifying as a PADI Divemaster allows you to guide up to four qualified divers around dive sites, up to two Discover Scuba Divers on their second dive, you can go through the ReActive programme with guests and it signifies that you have been trained and tested in the importance of safety processes, fitness and knowledge to be competent enough to do so. All of these make you far more employable to dive companies looking to hire extra hands!

How do you make the most out of the course?

How long do you have?

That’s an important question, it doesn’t impact how much you can get from it but it does impact how hard you might have to work to get it. If you have little diving experience before starting your divemaster’s, say perhaps just the 40 logged dives required to begin it, you may want to consider giving yourself longer than four weeks. If you’ve been diving recently and you have a lot of experience, perhaps the leap will not feel quite so monumental and within the four weeks you can progress swiftly enough to still get your maximum potential out of it.

Some people quit their jobs and travel halfway across the world to start their professional career. Others take an extended vacation and simply want to increase their dive skills whilst having an extended diving holiday! Yes, that is one key thing to consider when booking your Divemaster Training Course – how much value can you get out of your investment, what is it you really want to learn and where would you really like to go diving?

Do you want to know how an expensive resort runs and the standards they hold for customer service or, do you want to know what it feels like to hook on in the strong current as mantas fly over your head and sharks cruise by? But then again, perhaps you want something local to avoid travel costs and allow you to participate at weekends.

It’s a good tip to remember that you will be paying for a course that is to enhance your dive skills, so a place where they offer an unlimited amount of diving with the course is preferable (usually this is conditional depending on space on the trip; but with really good programs you’ll find they will make space for you on trips a few times a week at least). Considering the amount of diving you’re doing, you should chose somewhere that would inspire and challenge you, perhaps somewhere you’d like to work if that’s your goal. This is the perfect time for networking with prospective new employers.

The dive industry’s social calendar rivals that of Beyonce.

Do you even want to pay for your Divemaster Training Course?

There are plenty of internships out there, this means the dive shop will offer you free training in exchange for your employment afterwards, essentially then working for free to pay it off. My advice would be, that if you can afford to pay for it or, if you can wait to save up and pay for it a bit later on – do that.

As with most things in life, if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is and there’s no such thing as a “free” internship. Not only will you end up paying it off for longer than it would take to earn the money to pay it upfront, I would also be presumptuous enough to say that, if you’re not paying to be taught you stand less of a chance getting proper training and guidance from someone specific. This renders you as a source of free labour rather than a customer, where they will simply let you ‘learn on the job’ rather than having a mentor guide you. If you pay, you have the ability to question the standards you’ve paid for or ask why you haven’t had sufficient attention or time in the water. Makes sense!

So, if you’re going to pay for it and it should include a substantial amount of diving, it also makes sense to be selective of where you want to go and which company you choose to apply to. Here is where I think my experience may have easily trumped many others and how you can make the right decisions to make the most out of your Divemaster’s and your money and more importantly, your time that you’re intending to spend doing it.

Will your DMT include a free liveaboard trip?

Firstly, take up the challenge.

If you want to learn, find a location where you can learn the most. I chose Komodo. Why? Komodo means currents, currents mean fantastic marine life and challenging conditions. It means you’re kept on your toes and in my case – plunged into environments (crazy currents) I’d never felt in my life, never mind managed other divers in. You might be more interested in macro, so you might look for the most diverse macro specific dive site locations. There’s any number of ways you can intensify your course by making your initial choice the right one and deciding from on the outset that you’re going to learn more than just how to draw a dive map and brief a dive site.

Batu Bolong in Komodo National Park can be dived in a few different ways depending on the whether the tide is rising, falling or slack

But there’s some insane currents that pass around it, so when guiding here it’s always a new challenge!

Who do you want to learn from?

I was assigned to a mentor and I was his solo Divemaster trainee for the duration of my five months training. That meant, much like he was Yoda, I asked him everything and anything I could think of; stupid questions, questions I’d asked twenty times already and I made plenty of mistakes in the comfort of knowing they’d be recognised and resolved, with a confidence in my potential. I was pushed, notably a lot harder than some and, in the moments where I wasn’t sure, I learnt the most. I was always given a debrief on situations, circumstances, my actions and advice on any improvements and praise for just about anything.

Can you get this sort of personalised training, support and genuine investment when you are in a group of twenty, or maybe just eight Divemaster trainees? I think it’s worth considering how many other trainees they intend on taking on and how they allocate you a mentor. It’s worth nothing that there were four mentors in Blue Marlin at the time I was there, each had a ‘Luke Skywalker’ to pass down their Yoda skills to, yet each counselled and offered advice to me too, not to mention they all challenged my skills with equal fervour and supported my development.

You get to meet new people everyday who are endlessly interested in what you’re doing and excited to learn about our underwater world!

The rest is up to you!

Like most things in life, the energy you put into something determines the outcome of it.

I spent a year saving up to get myself out to Komodo, I invested in my own equipment and when I arrived I threw myself into it; full effort, full energy, with a sheer determination to get as much as I could out of the experience. I did that by not only pushing myself out of my comfort zone to learn more but by being surrounded by professionals who wanted to offer me their time, passion and knowledge and to challenge me to my limits.

I’m lucky to say that by the end they were friends who had believed in me when I was unsure and cheered me on when I was just about exhausted, guided me after steep learning curves in challenging situations, shared some of my most treasured diving moments, ambitious personal challenges and some of the proudest moments I have had in my twenties! From coffee in the mornings to sunset beers and late shifts, diving with them three times a day for up to fourteen days in a row, l couldn’t have chosen a better company or a better team of mentors. Part of it is luck, but most of it is planning and making sure that you personally make the most of it.

So best of luck to you if you’re considering doing the Divemaster Training Course. It’s a once in a lifetime experience, full of comradery, challenge and if we’re honest.. Beer. Push yourself if your mentor wont and don’t forget to take a rest when it’s absolutely necessary, nobody wants a wiped out Divemaster on the boat. But mostly, have fun! It should be a blast and like me, you should make memories and friends for life.

Thanks so much to the Blue Marlin for the amazing facilities and incredible Divemaster program, to the Blue Marlin Divemaster Mentor team of 2018 for everything they did for me. And of course to my instructor and personal Yoda who saw me through from walking in as an Open Water Diver with just 17 logged dives to qualifying as Jedi status with 200 dives and more knowledge than I knew what to do with… Until I started my IDC that is.

(Disclaimer, don’t expect all mentors to sneakily train you to Instructor standard on the sly.)

Scuba Diving

What Really Happens on a Scuba Diving Rescue Course

Who do you trust with your life? Who would rescue you? I mean, truly. Because if you’re taking on an activity like scuba diving, it involves a significant amount of risk for a recreational activity each time you decide to take part; regardless of your certification or experience. So with changing circumstances and perhaps changing buddies and certainly changing environments and conditions – it’s important to feel secure, to feel like the risk is mediated by your expertise, awareness and processes that you personally take to mitigate any of the controllable hazards taking place.

How can you best do this? By becoming a Rescue Diver. Simple.

A four to five day course where you’ll of have an intense array of circumstances present to you and you’ll be informed, demonstrated and supported in learning how to prevent and manage them all.

The intensity increases as you go through the course, so don’t panic, there’s nothing that you can’t handle by the final ‘hell dive’. Oh yes, the final dive of the course is called the hell dive.. and it’s where you put all your instincts, training and underwater ninja skills in to action. But we can come back to that – don’t freak out just yet.

Day One

If you already have an EFR (Emergency First Response) certificate, that’s going to reduce the time you’ve got out of the water, if not you’ll need to go through the training which crosses over into diving scenarios and how EFR is applicable within emergency situations in and out of the water, like with DCS (decompression sickness) and other likely forms of injury. After completing the EFR training you’ll begin to go through basic scenarios in confined water, like a training pool. This allows the instructor and assistant to demonstrate to you the most common and dangerous scenarios you might come across in open water and scuba diving scenarios, but on a very basic level at this stage. Everything is fully explained, demonstrated and then you have the opportunity to practice the communication, approach and execution of your rescue technique.

Days two and three…

…will see you in open water, where you will be presented with the same scenarios in a more real life environment, but again, this will be only a touch more realistic to allow you to build ‘muscle memory’ for the situations and confidence in your approach. The thing is, it tends to be irrelevant when you’re told to relax or enjoy the dive – I spent every moment wondering if someone was distracting me to turn my tank off. But this wasn’t the case, and generally this dive should be the one where you know what is going to happen and it shouldn’t be overly dramatic. But they might decide that the visibility is just too good for a search and recovery and zinc up your mask like mine… Can’t. See. Anything.

The third and fourth day… All bets are off.

This is the day that aims to build your confidence in your abilities by putting them to the test with much more realistic acting by your instructor and assistant, and will aim to catch you off guard. Regardless of knowing this at the start of the day, everything still happened when I least expected it – straight after a search and recovery I found myself with an unconscious diver at the surface, who I had to tow to the boat, haul onto the deck and provide theoretical CPR, until thankfully they sprung back to life before EMS was needed. Another time, whilst a fellow DMT completed his 400m swim in open water, I was told to make a life float and swim to him with it, little did I know he was in on this scenario. So, as I gently motion the float towards him, his eyes turn wide and unseeing, no longer a friend but a panicked swimmer, he jumps over the float and right on my head! I have no time to process this as I gasp for air back at the surface, only for a moment before I’m plunged with two hands on my head back into the ocean – cheers mate!

Then I had the pleasure of rescuing him as unconscious diver and dragging him on to a real life desert island for CPR! As you can see, total success!

Another classic bluff was being told that I’d been tested so much and done so well in my few days that we were just going to do an unconscious diver scenario on my last dive – well, don’t believe that for a second, what a naïve diver and student I was, let me enlighten you.

On the hell dive…

…I’m told I’m guiding the dive with not one but three divers, all of whom were capable instructors and divemasters. Cool, no problem, I just need to keep reef left and check their air occasionally. Five minutes in and I turn to see an array of mischief occurring; grasping at anemones, trying to catch fish with a hook they’ve found, lost fins, run away ascents whilst getting tangled in their SMB. Of course, as I’m assisting these terrible divers, my air runs dry – someone’s turned it off whilst I was trying to help them!

Not so long later, in a galaxy not far away, one’s now decided to be unconscious and incredibly heavy on the ocean floor, whilst another has stolen all my weights and swum off… what on earth! Cursing through my regulator I dash around, up and down, desperately wondering what in earth is going on. After an unbreathing, unconscious diver scenario sees me shouting ‘Bob Marley, Bob Marley, prepare the tea and biscuits!’ offering rescue breaths as I tow to the boat and haul myself on, before managing to get a man twice my size on there with a good heave-ho! Exhausted! Make sure you have a good breakfast and coffee before you begin your day on a rescue course.

Mania, but what an epic dive that was, and no one died! I couldn’t have come up feeling more confident than I did. Strangely you end up feeling weirdly grateful to have been tested so thoroughly – it removes so much doubt about what you could or could not handle in an underwater emergency and builds your confidence as a diver ten times over.

Why should you do your Rescue course?

For me, this course was the most impactive, the most useful but also the most fun course I’ve completed since starting on my scuba diving journey. Allowing me to overcome fears of being unable to cope with situations, confidence in my gear and my own understanding of what can both prevent and help manage an emergency situation. I have since assisted two rescue courses over my Divemaster training, and the students who passed agreed with the sentiment wholeheartedly, ‘what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger’, and have no doubt, they will try to kill you… Honestly, it’s a fantastic course.

Thanks to Blue Marlin Komodo for an yet another epic experience!

Scuba Diving

Welcome aboard Jaya Liveaboard: Komodo Dragons & Diving!

Finding our way around our new home for the next four days, we check out the top deck, sun deck and on passing by the kitchen and a quick hello to some of the most important people onboard – the captain and the chef, we carry on down the corridor to our twin cabin. It’s neat with a little pop roof for fresh air, air con for cold air and a fan to move it all around, two little bunks with fresh linen and towels, a little sideboard and two bedside lamps – perfect, we’re home! As we all know, homes have rules to keep us safe, so after a boat and safety briefing we get the run down for the day – we’re off to see some komodos!

Komodo is the Bahsa word for ‘dragon’ and one of the islands, aside from Komdo island, that they can be found in the National Park is Rinca. We’ve been here before and being that it is now the middle of the day, we know better than to do the trail walk again. We’re sticking it out in the shade by the rangers’ hut, because this is where the dragons like to hang out in abundance and this time we’ve managed to keep a guide for ourselves.

Now, these dragons look like lazy creatures and perhaps they’ve been spoilt too much by the tourism; more specifically the kitchen they frequent so often whilst lazing in the sun. But their reputation proceeds them as being huge, dribbling, ambush predators who bite and then stalk their prey until the venom and bacteria slowly kills them – which is why you will see buffalo in the park too. Yet, on looking at them laying there, hardly bothering to blink an eye, one can be tempted into believing that these beasts have been lured into a slumber by the treats and tappings of the tour guides’ sticks.

Our guide watches us, my phone is on video mode and Aaron has his camera on its tripod at the ready. Not much is going on, occasionally a head moves ever so slightly, but even the small bird that dots around them picking up crumbs is aware that these old dragons don’t move for less than a free treat these days.

Our tour guide looks towards us, heads to the office door outside which these komodos are laying, summons someone and seconds later something slaps into the dirt in front of us and everything is moving. Big loose, leathery legs and swollen stomachs lead long slow tails as they launch themselves, surprisingly swiftly, but heavily towards this morsel -they know it’s good whatever it is.

Now, arguably a little startled, I reposition myself swiftly behind Aaron, who’s keeping his cool and filming the best bits of the active dragons. We know this isn’t quite the National Geographic footage we all desire, but it sure beats the hell out of spotting the odd komodo lazing in the dirt trying to warm up, whilst walking in the blazing sun through the park for forty minutes, so, for this type of experience we’ll take chilling out by the kitchen with the dragons any day.

Back on the boat we have a couple of dives to get under our belt before the day is done. Two dips into Siaba Besar it is. Also known as turtle town, this is a dive site that never fails to produce at least one turtle. Usually it offers us a range of green sea turtles being cleaned, sleeping in the coral and two of which are fondly called grandma and grandpa; because they are huge and undoubtedly the eldest of the bunch that frequents the area.

Diving Siaba in the later hour of the day shows us a totally new side to a dive site we’ve done so many times before. Usually buzzing with divers and go pros going wild for the turtles, yet now it seems sedate and relaxed, the light is warm and soft and the fish seem unphased by our presence, relaxed in the late afternoon light. The best bit? Not one other dive group in sight.

Find out more about what the Jaya liveaboard is like here and watch this space for the next post where the main events from our three days of diving in Komodo National Park are revealed in beautiful images and witty comment by yours truly,

Team WD.x

Whilst onboard the Jaya, we were commissioned to created a promotional video for the Scuba Republic, Jaya liveaboard experience, so you can enjoy the best bits right now if you fancy:

Visit the Scuba Republic website to find out more and book on for your Jaya experience here.

If you’re interested in working with Wander Deeper for content and media creation, get in touch with us at wewanderdeeper@gmail.com or message us directly through our social media channels: @wanderdeeper

Scuba Diving

The Jaya Liveaboard, Komodo National Park

One of the first ships to offer a liveaboard trip in Komodo, Jaya has a wonderfully rich history with the waters on which it sails, and an equally tried and tested method to how it operates. Built fourteen years ago, originally Jaya sailed the waters of South East Asia. Her design, a Phinisi sailing schooner, a traditional method of sailing that has served the Bugis people of South Sulawesi for centuries, she remains to be a strong and renowned vessel in the local waters. Venturing from Raja Ampat on an epic fourteen day liveaboard for the Komodo high season, Jaya then resumes her core role as a liveaboard in Raja for the following seven months. So if you’re looking to book on, make sure you check your dates.

Jaya has a decent sized gear area on deck, with enough space to store your fins and equipment out of the way. It’s kept safely and transported from the ship to the tender on your back, so there’s no worry of it being bashed or damaged. There’s three separate fresh water rinse tanks, one for your camera gear or special equipment, another for your masks, computers and reels and a third with small rinse buckets to freshen yourself up after a dive.

The ship’s cabins cater for up to fourteen guests in total and though not overly spacious, the twin and triple cabins offer all the space you require for two or three people. Cabins include a window ventilation, fans and crucially, air conditioning. It smells and feels clean and the flooring in the walkway is slip proof to stop any dangerous slips. Similarly, the three shower rooms, though not highly modern are perfectly spacious for the requirement and they feel clean.

There’s no big rules on the boat, aside from not knowingly wasting fresh water and keeping the dry area seats dry to benefit you and your shipmates; a reasonable request and something you will find on any boat. The fact is, when on the ocean people don’t want to be wet and water that is drinkable is precious.

For relaxing, socialising and eating there’s the upper deck, with tables and benches – just watch out for the one low beam, despite being padded, we guarantee it’ll still catch you out once or twice on a trip. If you’re lucky it might just knock sense in though, which you’ll need for the card games, we couldn’t help but find ourselves drawn towards the deck when the crew started shuffling!

As the light starts to soften, head to the sun deck for the perfect spot for settling down to a stunning dusky view of the islands. When a night dive isn’t on the agenda, sip a cold beer whilst you watch the swooping sea eagles, it’s the perfect way to relax for the evening , as the stars come out and dinner is served.

The Jaya liveaboard offers scuba diving trips into Komodo National Park for four or seven nights, and expedition trips at the end of season, for fourteen days venturing between Raja Ampat and Komodo, twice yearly.

It’s hard to consider Jaya as a budget liveaboard. OK, it’s not sleek and modern or overly spacious, but it’s got everything you’ll need, including an authentic character, a wonderful chef and exceptional hosts. The staff on board are keen to entertain, feed and inform you. This ticks a lot of boxes because budget should never relate to the level of service, only the facilities.

The schedule runs on time and amends are only in respect of currents. Briefings are engaging and clear whilst the dive guides themselves ensure you’re enjoying the best of what the site has to offer, they’re certainly familiar with the park and their enthusiasm doesn’t wain for a moment. It’s a great team on a beautiful boat and, when the sails go up to catch the wind at the end of the trip, it’s a magnificent one.

Find out more about what we got up to on our four days and three nights here…

Whilst onboard, we were commissioned to created a promotional video for the Scuba Republic, Jaya liveaboard experience:

Visit the Scuba Republic website to find out more and book on for your Jaya experience here.

Scuba Diving

The Ultimate Guide to Your First Scuba Diving Liveaboard…

We went on three liveaboards in three months and wow, do we have some top tips for you if you’re considering your first liveaboard experience!

If you are new to the world of liveaboard diving, be prepared to never want to dive any other way again. If you thought diving was addictive, liveaboard diving will have you upgrading your experience from here on out.

We write these posts for the scuba diving beginners to the pros in the industry, so skip ahead by clicking the links if you want to get past the basics, but we’re covering the following:

What is a scuba diving liveaboard experience?

Why it is worth taking a liveaboard trip over doing multiple day trips

What to expect from a liveaboard trip

How to plan for a liveaboard trip

Who you should speak to book the trip

What you can bring and how you can prepare to make the most of the experience

Links to our individual liveaboard trip blogs, so you can see how we got on over three different experiences in one location.

What is a liveaboard experience?

Typically, if you enjoying scuba diving, your holidays are frequently based in diving destinations – because what else would you want to do with your time off? Looking for the right dive shop, ensuring there’s availability to get to the sites you’ve read all about, researching the local facilities, restaurants and bars in-depth and booking the room with the view, all come as part of this planning.

A scuba diving liveaboard experience includes all of the above. Having set sail from shore you then live on the ship floating (hopefully) on the ocean. Diving from morning till night, playing cards at sunset, sitting under the stars with a drink and rising with the sun. In layman’s terms: dive, eat, sleep, repeat.

Liveaboards host a number of guests, which could range from just you to up to around twenty others; not forgetting the crew of course. They set sail for four to seven days, in some areas you can do expeditions for up to fourteen or more days.

Why is it worth it and what should you expect?

Nothing quite beats the feeling of getting up from a dive, removing your gear and settling down with a good book in a hammock whilst an array of wonderful food is laid out for your pleasure. After food, you settle down to a small cat nap in the shade to get you back on track and after a couple of hours of surface interval you’re feeling refreshed and ready to dive again! This happens four times during the day on a liveaboard trip.

If you think four dives a day sounds too much, think again – being surrounded by the big blue ocean and fresh air there’s little more you’ll need to get your happy bubbles blowing.

Longer surface intervals make for longer bottom times, so relax and release that nitrogen, feel fresher and if you’re looking to do multiple deep dives you’ve given yourself the potential for a longer NDL than on a day trip.

Did we mention all the food? Diving uses up a lot of energy and it seems that it’s a keen hobby of the chefs on board these trips to keep you full to the brim! Like Hobbits you’ll have a first and second breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner, drinks and treats are in full supply too.

The company can’t be bad, you’re surrounded by co-divers who have also found themselves on the same diving liveaboard – there’s a few talking points to get the conversation flowing, perhaps you both read this blog – add that to a pack of cards and you’ve got divers paradise.

The diving. Well, come on – this seems too obvious to put first. In truth, all of the above affect this element, there’s no need to hang around in a dive shop in the morning, no potentially awkward commute to the sites with different people daily, no limitation on the dive sites due to changes in circumstance and the surface interval spent in between dives on a liveaboard swiftly feels like settling down at home.

Not to mention, your home comes with a room with a view, well – of course this does depend on where you go in the world, but it’s guaranteed not to be another building block! Lounging around on the ship you’ll have that sweet horizon in your site all day, especially beautiful in the dawn, dusk and dead of night. Birds swooping past, stars at night and splashes from the ocean activity will have you feeling utterly peaceful.

When you should book your trip

Of course, booking in advance ensures the trip isn’t going to be spoiled by getting the small cabin or the trip booking out. If you have the luxury of flexibility with your dates when you arrive you can find some last minute deals, this isn’t usually the case in high season but if you arrive near the end of the season there could be a potential for a decent discount – but it could be a risky game to play, especially if you’re feeling particular about the type of experience you’re after.

Many liveaboard operations don’t have offices, which would mean booking online is the only option, these companies will often arrange a meeting point for the departure in a location close to the harbour. There are also plenty of online liveaboard booking sites which offer competitive and secure booking. Be sure to check reviews of the company you’re going with, the authenticity of the site you’re using, the transparency of costs and ease of organisation before clicking that final payment button.

What you can bring and how you can prepare to make the most of the experience

What about this being your entrance to the advanced diving world? You could take your advanced course on the trip, or perhaps you haven’t dived in a little while and might consider doing your refresher course in advance, getting your gear serviced and insurance updated – there’s always ways you can be more prepared to allow for maximum enjoyment on the trip and reduce any potential stress or difficulties.

Don’t forget to bring your your divers qualification certificate or card, insurance details and log book. Any equipment – remember that new masks need a little wearing in (toothpaste, burning or serious anti-fog) for the first few uses, but that they’re the most likely thing to not fit or cause you aggravation when renting them, so investing in one is a great idea if you’re looking to start gathering your own gear.

Your own scuba gear that hasn’t been used recently, within the last couple of months should be tested – you can bring it to your local dive school and rent a tank to test it in the pool. Any scuba gar that hasn’t been used for an extended period of time, even if it was new when you used it last, should really be serviced to double check it’s all fully functioning.

We went on three liveaboards in three months and wow, do we have some top tips for you if you’re looking for your next and best liveaboard destination… Bear in mind that, like everything, there are levels of luxury you can pay for on these experiences and even among the luxury and budget liveaboards there are some that are better than others – don’t buy into the label straight away, check the reviews first!

Check out our individual reviews in each here:

Jaya, Scuba Republic

Ikan Biru, Blue Marlin

Wicked Diving, Wicked Adventures

Check out the promo-video we made for Wicked Adventures during our trip:

Scuba Diving

PADI Advanced Open Water Course – Everything you need…

An introduction…

It seems logical to me that you would want to expand your skills once you enter the world of diving from your initial experience of perhaps a Discover Scuba Dive or your Open Water certification, that is of course because I loved completing my Open Water course and without much persuasion decided I wanted to qualify to become a Divemaster and live my life as a mermaid (a lifelong goal since the age of 5). Not only did my open water course prove to me that life truly is better down where it’s wetter, along with the vibrant corals and fish, the feeling of scuba diving also fulfilled my dreams of flying weightlessly and so there wasn’t any resistance to my new found hobby; only that I had to wait over a year to get back in the water whilst I saved for the dream. It helps of course, that Aaron is a divemaster and was most definitely a dolphin in his past life, I mean, merman, mermaaan himself and so with a shared goal we managed to save our way through a year in London and make our way out to Indonesia all the way to Labuan Bajo in Flores and right into the Komodo National Park; well, we didn’t wait over fourteen months to go somewhere less than spectacular and for anything less than the ultimate experience for us both.

For those who haven’t heard about the diving in Komodo National Park – hello! Where have you been? Joking (I was clueless too – I had only just picked up the hobby, I knew nothing!) But Aaron knew, because being a diver he’s well aware it’s world renowned for its diverse and flourishing marine life from megafauna to macro, multiple and unique dive sites and challenging currents – cue the current junkies from all corners of the globe!

So here I am, situated in the perfect place to advance my scuba diving skills, and as it happens I’m planning on going the whole way through to PADI Dive Professional status, as a Divemaster. But, first thing’s first, scuba diving beyond 18 metres here I come!

What are the benefits of doing the PADI Advanced Open Water Course?

If you’re considering doing your Advance after Open Water it’s a great idea for many reasons, but mostly because it enables you to dive deeper, on successful completion of an Advanced PADI Diving course you are certified to dive depths of 30 metres, having successfully demonstrated five new skillsets.

What does this mean for your diving?

It means greater depths, greater opportunities and great variety of dive sites and a more confident and fine tuned dive style (we would hope) with an extension to your understanding of both your skills and the marine world. The five skill sets are made up by three predetermined skills and two of your choice, or of the dive schools choice. They may be predetermined by the dive school because certain specialities require certain environments – for example, you can’t choose wreck dive if there’s no wreck, or you can’t complete the course, similarly if you want to do a drift speciality and there are no places to drift dive, it doesn’t make sense to offer it. So you may need to take the advice of the dive shop you choose an the make the most of the available environment.

For diving in Komodo National Park it’s a Drift Dive Speciality and Fish ID Speciality for me, along with Peak Performance Buoyancy Speciality Dive, Navigation Speciality Dive and a Deep Dive (to a maximum depth of 30m). With an Advanced course it’s all about reading before hand and following up your knowledge both in the water, displaying it with various skills and finalising it by completing knowledge reviews afterwards.

I did two days of diving and I had a brilliant experience. Expanding your skill sets and understanding the environment by immersing yourself into it is a prime way to increase your confidence, skills and, in turn, enjoyment when scuba diving. It is also the first step to becoming a professional diver, moving from the basic survival techniques taught in the Open Water Course, to becoming a fine tuned scuba diver, understanding the environment and your role within it more as an Advanced PADI Recreational Diver.

A basic break down of the specialities I completed are as follows:

Drift Diving:

This is a technique used to ride a current and explore areas from point A to point B, not returning to the drop-off point. Drift diving isn’t completely passive as may imagine – you used the currents general direction to dictate your dive but you can also cut across it in a zig-zag pattern as not to go too fast and to see more of the dive site. You also need to be able to kick out of the drift to exit your dive. There are many dive sites that use the tides here in Komodo to their advantage for drift diving.

Fish Identification:

Identifying the species local to the area makes diving more fun, it allows you to experience the dive more fully by understanding the habitats, interactions and roles they play as part of the ecosystem… because they do all live in perfect harmony with their environment, many with symbiotic relationships. It’s beautiful to see and fascinating to find out about the more unusual species, the more hidden critters and you’ll soon find the small things as fascinating as the big stuff.

Peak Performance Buoyancy:

The first of the three obligatory skills, this has a great practical application – because when you have your buoyancy on point everything else is just blissful and that is what diving is about, being weightless, being perfectly, neutrally balanced and in control of your movements. Fine tuning your buoyancy means less movement, which means less air consumption which, my friends, results in a longer dive with no accidental damage to yourself, coral or anything else!

Navigation:

As an Open Water certified Diver you’re allowed to take a buddy and plan your dives unassisted, unguided and so it makes sense that you should have some additional navigational skills. This builds upon the basics learned in the Open Water course and reconfigures you with your compass skills by presenting an situation in open water, in which you will need to navigate a reciprocal bearing and a square, both times returning back to your starting spot. Generally a good skill to have if you plan to head out diving without a guide.

Deep Dive:

This will bring you to your deepest depth thus far in your diving experience – how exciting! Allowing you to see the change in colours, mostly the depletion of the red tones at depth, perhaps the start of narcosis from 23m, noticeable with a small maths test using fingers to count to a number so you can see how your mental processing may slow. It also allows you to notice the change in air consumption at depth, you may find you have a shorter dive than usual!

Plenty of time to complete other specialities along the way if you aren’t able to cover the ones you’d ideally like to do on your course, but this is a great step towards becoming a better diver and it’ great fun too! The course usually runs over two days or four dives but it can vary wherever you go.

Happy bubbles!

WD.x

Travel

Plastic or Paradise?

You’ve arrived in paradise, the sun is shining, the water is turquoise and the beaches are white sand and lined with palm trees… You’ve been passed a cold cocktail – now sit back, relax, enjoy the natural beauty and heat of this foreign land – you’ve earned it.

But what’s the actual reality of the Instagram-perfect portrayal of these remote luxury destinations or the top sites for luxury hobbies like scuba diving. At the moment, the truth of the photo is that it is cropped or photoshopped for the travel magazines and travel blogs and the reality is that soon no amount of cropping will remove the amount of waste that’s washing up, plastic forks from our lunch breaks are arriving on the shores of our holiday spots.

We have described the small fishing town of Labuan Bajo as ‘developing’. It’s well known that many poor countries, like Indonesia, have struggled to find income from tourism and land and therefore pillaged many of their beautiful natural resources. As an example; palm oil production has seen the irreversible destruction of rainforests of Indonesia – destroying ecosystems for countless species in order to plant palm trees and sell cheap oil with a fast turnaround in growth and production. Education on ecosystems on land is as lacking as it is about the ocean – this is a country surviving on whatever they can create or produce in order to gain an income to feed their families.

With tourism growing in Indonesia, including remote dive spots such as Labuan Bajo; so closely commutable to the world renowned Komodo National Park, it’s hopeful that education about these ecosystems, which tourists flock to visit may encourage them to protect them more. This is evident here in Labuan Bajo, a town sat on the harbour as the entry point to the Komodo National Park. From speaking to people who have lived and worked here for the past ten years, it seems much of the infrastructure and huge development has come about only over the past five. With this it has brought with it extra tourism from Indonesia, Asia and further abroad and so increases the demand for food, housing and transport. All of these things have grown due to the neighbouring world underneath the waves here; scuba diving in Komodo National Park is on almost every scuba diver enthusiasts bucket list – and truly, there is little other reason to come to Labuan Bajo.

Scuba diving in the Komodo National Park is magical and rarely do you see plastic floating to meet you in the ocean – though you do see some. This, however, can only be short lived with the current processes here. Having taken a walk to see the coast line to find some viewpoints for photos and drone shots we came across a, quite literal, breath taking scene right on the beach. There’s a whole host of local tourists taking their kids to an inflatable water park. It’s a busy beach as children splash around in the shallows, parents are having picnics on the sand and enjoying the view, when suddenly there’s a strong waft of burning in the air – not the soul filling smell of a wood fire or a beach barbecue however, no, a chemical, choking smell of burning rubbish.

Rubbish which has been cleared off the designated area of the beach for those tourists to enjoy the water park, piled high and set alight – a solution to the problem washing up on the shores of Labuan Bajo. We continue to walk down the beach and find that the problem is far wider stretched than one pile of burning plastic. The uncleared coastline runs for miles, covered with plastic bags, bottles, styrofoam, plastic cutlery and various objects including building materials, food scraps and a bloated rat lulling in the tide. Horrifying and heart breaking. Further along massive pits of burned remains of plastic lay along the coast; this seems to be the local’s only solution to the problem.

The infrastructure here is growing in the only way they know how, buildings, buildings and more buildings – but yet they only have water delivered two times a week and there’s no knowing where the rubbish that is collected is put. The set-up and support for a growing town is not available and doesn’t outwardly seem to be a concern. Though, that is from the perspective from someone who neither speaks the language or understands any of the political structure, so I may be well out of my depth here. But ultimately, the evidence speaks for itself – and it will not be long until this rubbish is washing up in the Komodo National Park and laying waste to the corals and thriving marine life there – from the resident Manta Rays right down to the shrimps, nudibranchs and pygmy seahorses.. everything will be notably affected.

The problem is that we travel to see the beauty of a place, we take photos to capture the best bits of our holidays and create an image of a lifestyle as we do so. We crop out the rubbish, the building works and the poverty. The reality is all too real for us, inconvenient for our unwind time. No one wants a beautiful sunset with rubbish in the foreground, or beach photos of their children next to a drowned rat.

The photos in this post aren’t glamorous, they’re taken with my phone in the moments we came across it – because it’s the reality that you can’t crop out of this scenario. Since this we have since been to beautiful, breath taking view points and Aaron has taken stunning photos at every place – yet the reality is that we are standing among crisp packets, plastic water bottles and wrappers and packaging from all kinds of single use plastic. It’s incredibly heart breaking and it doesn’t make for a pretty picture – right now we may be able to crop it out, ignore it, but it won’t be long until there’s no potential to crop it, no national parks to escape to and no coral reefs to scuba dive on or fish to swim with.

Refuse. Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

WD.x

Scuba Diving

Diving into Komodo National Park

What do you do differently when the day you’ve been waiting for, for over six months is imminent? Prepare your clothes the night before, get to bed early and make sure you’ve set an overzealous amount of alarms (considering you’ll be awake even before the stupidly early one out of sheer excitement). #DiveGeeks maybe, but #LivingOurBestLife definitely.

Today is the day we get to go out into the Komodo National Park and dive! We’re up and feeling spritely and the weather is wonderful, like two spring chickens we’re out with no sign of an alarm. Bags packed and looking smart like it’s our first day of school we head to the dive shop. It’s a chilled atmosphere, everyone is waiting or having a little breakfast and enjoying the view out the back of the Blue Marlin Dive restaurant.

We are heading out to two dive sites today and though the weather is beautiful we are well aware that currents are notoriously strong and unpredictable in Komodo, and it seems today we have to avoid entering the actual Komodo National Park for this exact reason. Luckily for us, there are more than a few dive sites to choose from still and we are soon kitting up for our first dive. The water is like glass, it’s stunning and the first decent is magical.

With only us two and our fantastic guide, Rebecca we need not stress, with a flourishing world around us; abundant fish life and soft and hard corals. The macro life is just as apparent as the schooling fish that make their way around us, unphased by our bubbles and big tanks clogging up their daily commute – maybe it’s their first day at school too.

We are swimming through a colourful oasis, it’s vibrant even at 12m down and as I stare for a while at the smallest anemone fish I have ever seen, I see Aaron several metres behind me captivated by something I have clearly missed. But with the current guiding us, the energy to go and find out exactly what it is seems like a waste so I continue on – later I find out he was being mesmerised but a cuttlefish as it struck a pose for him.

When I say current, it’s a comfortable drift and with the reef guiding us on our way we come across a small octopus perched atop a rock with a larger octopus clinging on to it whilst hiding underneath – naughty little thing – he clearly was up for having a look at his reflection in the big camera dome! Nudibranchs everywhere and some seriously big trigger fish looking to defend their territory! Now you don’t want to ask those guys for a photo, they’re not called trigger for nothing; bitey little angry fish they are!

Can you spot the third octopus we met? He’s hiding in the photo…

The day out on the boat, Hugo – a small wooden dive boat with an incredible team onboard – has been incredible and exactly what we needed to wash the travel fatigue and dust from our souls.

We can hardly believe that these sites are not even part of the National Park, we’ve yet to experience the main event and we are so ready for it! What a joy to see such a thriving ecosystem.

Thanks to Blue Marlin Dive for an epic introduction to what is bound to be an adventure of a lifetime for us in the next few months! You can visit their website via this link for details about their scuba diving day trips, liveaboard trips and of course their courses. We’ll be posting plenty more information about the scuba diving development journey from Open Water to Divemaster with them on here – watch this space.

WD.x