Raja Ampat is not a destination for a luxurious resort holiday - you go to the expense and effort for diving in and around the Dampier straights. Some key considerations for choosing this resort 1. the two large dive boats they have appear to be the best/fastest dive boats in the area - so travel in comfort/space, and save time, especially on longer trips and when the seas get rough (which they did). 2. They offer Nitrox - the other place we looked at didn't offer this which is important for a week diving every day. 3. You get access to all the amazing dive sites in the area (Cape Kri, Blue Magic etc) and get to/from the further away ones quicker thanks to the fast boats, without being on a liveaboard....which suits some parties e.g. with a non-diver. From that perspective the resort/experience gets 2 stars - the house reef was mostly too murky to snorkel due to rain and wind....maybe a lot better in dry season. The visibility was poor at quite a few dive sites as well - making those dives average and the snorkelling v.poor. Some of the sites with shallow reefs, so in theory good for snorkelling were effected by rough seas/strong currents - not ideal even for an experienced snorkeller. Sawandarek was the only really good snorkelling in a whole week (was a great dive as well). There was very little else to do at the resort other than diving - the Piaynemo day trip was good, although snorkelling poor, the Mata day trip was poor - no Mantas and a very dull site for diving and snorkelling otherwise. Two land based trip are available - blue river, which was brown river all week due to heavy rain, and a bird of paradise trip which was supposed to be great if you are happy to get up in the middle of the night. Accomdation is ok - not luxurious but comfortable enough. A lovely view out across the beach and ocean. The main issue we had was being in beachfront villas, when the tide came in at night it was extremely noisy with the waves crashing in front of the villa, sometimes with wind and rain as well, making it very hard to sleep even with earplugs and a spare pillow over head. Food - breakfast buffet was limited in choice - fresh fruit was amazing. Adding some nice cerial (e.g. muesli/Granola), yogurt, fresh pastries would have helped. Lunch and dinner was a bit variable - on the last day of our weeks stay, both meals were amazing - all guests 100% happy, up to that point some dishes were hit and miss - flavours were always good, but red meat dishes tended to be mostly bones or fat/grissle and very little meat. Mixing up the starters a bit would be good too - soup twice a day is a bit odd. Drinks choice was limited and prices were a little expensive by Indonesian standards e.g. local beer over 2x cost in Bali. The resort did seem to be listening to guest feedback. Having a bbq would have been nice to mix things up a bit....apparently only happens when more guests are there. Service - all the local staff were great - resort and diving. Diving - Sonly
2 評價