Kira Kira Liveaboard Review

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Kira Kira dive boat review

The 22 meters long Kira Kira Liveaboard is an original Phinisi sailing in the Komodo and Raja Ampat regions of Indonesia. Moreover, the Kira Kira is very stable and also economical, thus environment friendly. She’s a great budget option for a scuba diving adventure in Indonesia.

Boat Cabins & Layout

The Kira Kira has a total of 4 cabins on board, catering to a maximum of 8 guests. Indeed, it’s the perfect vessel for groups of friends that want to dive together, or individuals that like a more personalized dive cruise.

You can check the latest schedule & prices for this liveaboard here.

cabin diving with the kira kira in komodo raja ampat liveaboard

The 3 lower deck cabins are featuring 2 twin beds as well as enough space to store your belongings and clothes. On the top deck , there is 1 more cabin, fitted with a double-bed and amazingly large windows for a great view. Also, the Kira Kira’s guests share 2 bathrooms together.

diving with the kira kira in komodo raja ampat liveaboard cabin

Kira Kira’s On-board Facilities

Sun lovers are welcome to enjoy the massive sun deck from which you can always admire a great view. Furthermore, the Kira Kira has an open-air lounge which is the perfect place to mix and mingle, read a book, etc.

The food is prepared by a chef which cooks both Indonesian and western fares. Plus, freshly baked breads and fresh from the day fish are often on the menu!

diving with the kira kira in komodo raja ampat liveaboard

Diving with the Kira Kira

Diving the Komodo or Raja Ampat area is already a special moment, perhaps a dive vessel such as the Kira Kira can enhance this experience. Indeed, they are fully equipped with the basics you need, such as tanks, belts, weights, etc. and offer a highly customizable experience, which is also very unique.

The Kira Kira offers great scuba diving itineraries and discovers the best sites of Indonesia. The professional dive guides and owners of this dive boat have been sailing in Indonesia for a while a get a great deal of experiences to share.

Uncrowded diving and magical moments await!


Price starts at 1916$US for 9 days / 8 nights – Sorong – Raja Ampat – Sorong
 OR 1532$US for 9  days / 8 nights – Gili Islands – Komodo 
***Different time duration is available on some itineraries***

Where does this liveaboard dive boat go?

Check out the fabulous places where this dive boat travels to.
Note: some destinations may not be listed below, please enquire for more details.

destination of the month

Komodo Island

Diving in Komodo Islands is all about action! It is BIG fishes land! With wonderful coral, it is just incredible diving all year round.

Komodo Island Diving Review

Wakatobi

Wakatobi has some of the finest coral in the world, amazing biodiversity and one of the best places in the world for macro photography! On the right day, the visibility can be outstanding!

Wakatobi Diving Review

Raja Ampat

Richest Reef in the World, Amazing Biodiversity, Wonderful Coral, perfect place for underwater photography.

Raja Ampat Diving Review

Gili Islands, Lombok

Diving in Gili islands is great for swimming with Turtles! It can also be a great spot to take your next diving course as the dives here are relatively cheap.

Gili Islands, Lombok Diving Review

Lembeh Strait

Best Muck Diving in the World! One of the Best spot in the World for Macro Underwater Photography. Amazing Biodiversity!

Lembeh Strait Diving Review

Bunaken, Manado

Diving in Bunaken is just fantastic for wall Diving, Coral gardens, endless visibility, incredible biodiversity. Also staying on an isolated island is something really special to experience!

Bunaken, Manado Diving Review

Tulamben

One of the best Wreck Dives in the World!!! And the most easy for sure, 30m from the Shore and starts at 4m deep! Fantastic Marine life and great Coral!

Tulamben Diving Review

Pemutaran, Lovina

No current, Good visibility, unusual Marine Life and one of the BEST Diving sites around Bali for Muck Diving: Puri Jati (P.J.).

Pemutaran, Lovina Diving Review

Padang Bai

Night Diving, Underwater Macro Photography, Resident Whitetip Reef Sharks, Huge green Turtles, and crystal clear water! Also a great Snorkelling spot!

Padang Bai Diving Review

Menjangan Island

Menjangan Island is famous worldwide for Wall diving with small caverns to explore. The reef and Coral are also great. A very nice wooden wreck from the 19th century: Anker Wreck.

Menjangan Island Diving Review

Nusa Penida / Nusa Lembongan

One of the best spots in the world to see the rare Mola Mola and the graceful Manta Rays! Big fishes and action with lots of sharks. Very good Visibility and stunning Coral.

Nusa Penida / Nusa Lembongan Diving Review

Candidasa

It is all about action! Big pelagic fishes, hunting action in the current, and many Sharks! Regular seeing of Hammerhead Sharks and Mola Mola!

Candidasa Diving Review

Bali

Diving in Bali is simply amazing as you will see both an incredible array of marine life and plenty of wrecks. Indeed, Bali's underwater world will expose you to meet interesting critters, fishes of all sizes and mantas rays among others! Plus, scuba diving in Bali means being all in for stunning underwater visibility and great opportunities for drift diving. !

Bali Diving Review

Indonesia

Diving in Indonesia will suit every diver's hopes and desires. In a land of opportunity, dive spots range from those suited to beginner divers wishing to learn in perfect easy conditions to unexplored dive sites with fierce currents for those more experienced divers looking for a challenge.

Indonesia Diving Review

Amed

Magnificent coral, no current, relaxed and easy diving, possibilities for night diving, good place for underwater macro photography, and a great snorkelling spot.

Amed Diving Review

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MSY Waow

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Dive spots reviews in Gili Islands, Lombok & Indonesia & Komodo Island & Raja Ampat

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One of the best dive sites in Bali for muck diving and macro photography! This shallow black sand bay is host to all sor...
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Tatawa Kecil is a small island and is a magical world class dive site for a drifting! Be careful the current there can b...
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Crystal Bay is a very good dive site in Bali but reserved to experienced divers as the current can be quite strong and d...
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This is one of the best dive sites in Komodo national park. It is the best place to dive with manta rays. From September...
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Ghost bay diving site in Amed is an artificial reef with bottles, wheels, etc. But it is a wonderful place for underwate...
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Gili Selang is a new dive site and the area is still under exploration. The North of Gili Selang is full of surprises bu...
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Raymond's point is a vertical wall with usually strong current, making it an ideal place for drift dives in Bunaken. The...
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The Blue Corner dive site in Nusa Penida is THE place to drift dive in Bali! The current can be very strong and for this...
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This is one of the best dive spot of Komodo Islands national park! Not to be missed! This seabanks is full of fish with ...
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Mike's point dive site in Bunaken is a very beautiful wall with a shape of an amphitheatre. The wall is covered with mas...

7 liveaboard reviews for “Kira Kira”

  1. Stunning trip! We booked because it was the most budget friendly option and we were trying to be positive about the boat it self… We’re fools!!! It’s been a better trip than we hoped for!

    The accommodations are comfortable and there is space for some clothes and personal stuff organizing, closets, etc. The chief is amazing, I was often peeking in the galley to have cooking tips and he was so friendly. The food was simply great. Of course that implies that ones like fish a lot haha!

    The British owners are fun, professionals and always have a story to tell from their travels. We were a great group and every body was flexible about diving so there was no fuss and the whole week went by like a breeze. We often chose not to visit a crowded site and come back later and it was no problem so I feel like we’ve seen a lot and had great dives every time! So many manta rays, nemos, sharks, turtles, schools of many fishes, etc.

    I, and we, were doubting at first and booked for the price… now I would go back with no hesitation! Thanks Kira Kira!

  2. I have just returned from a Raja Ampat diving holiday aboard Kira Kira.
    What a fantastic holiday.
    Besides the obvious (fantastic diving and incredible scenery above and below the waves) what we will remember is the staff.
    Paul, Alex and crew treated us like friends without sacrificing professionalism and safety.
    The small guest list allows for a very personalised experience, and Paul and Alex bent over backwards to ensure an unforgettable trip.
    A special mention also for the cook!
    I can recommend them without hesitation for an unforgettable diving holiday

    • Hi Dirk!
      So glad to hear you’ve had an amazing time! Thanks for sharing your review on Divezone! Sometimes budget boats are just as great as 5 stars ones for a fraction of the price!

      Safe travels!

  3. I Visited Raja Ampat aboard the liveaboard Kira Kira towards the end of December 2017 and came back with mixed feelings. Previous reviews of the boat had been nice, but the ENTIRE set of guests on the cruise had a slightly different experience – wonder what has changed things

    Firstly – the dive sites… in one word AMAZING.!! The bio-diversity and the density of marine life and colourful corals is magical. Coupled with strong currents, the pelagic action was abundant. We only did South Ampat and Central – south had more marine density but the central had better weather. It is also possible to stay and dive from home-stays if you dont fancy paying a high price for a liveaboard.
    We saw sharks of various kinds, giant trevallys, barracuda, wobbegong sharks, mantas, rays, nudis of various shapes and colours, morays, groupers, schooling fish in huge balls, and the list goes on.

    Local crew – very cheerful and helpful and always at hand to kit up, un-kit and any other help – day or night.

    Diving – the dive booking website promised 30 dives – we got 26 (2 were cancelled due to poor weather, which I understand, but when the boat has a philosophy of “only 3 dives a day to keep the crew happy” and finishing diving by 3.30 pm on a liveaboard to such a remote location that most people took 30+ hours to reach, I cannot see them doing 30 dives in 9 diving days in the first place!! Also their own website talks about a hike in the forest to see birds of paradise, which never happened… and we reluctantly got ONE night dive! (website promises “night diveS”)

    Also the pictures on their website – food shots with lobsters and the boat with sails are like elephants tusks – just for show :) – not for real

    Now let us talk about the boat
    Kira Kira – non air-conditioned, with salt water showers in the day. the only freshwater shower was in the evening after all the dives. There are two shower/toilets that are shared by 15 people including staff and the toilets are marine bilge pumps that often got clogged

    Beer is available on board in an ice chest and a honesty bar form kept near it to tick off what you had consumed

    Part of the crew sleeps in the dining area or the sun-deck and hence it was not possible to hang around in the communal spaces at night without feeling that you were disturbing them

    One of the guests got sick and had to leave the boat on day 5 – and instead of (at least) offering the master cabin to one of the other guests as a service, the cruise director promptly took the cabin for himself for the rest of the trip. However they were very helpful in getting the couple a speedboat transfer to land for medical assistance

    This boat is not suitable for the elderly as all cabins and most common areas are accessible only via almost vertical ladders and hatches

    The dive deck near the bow where people change into their wetsuits is a SERIOUS health hazard with 3 guests (out of 6) slipping and falling on the painted and sloping floor and the cruise director himself almost slipped and fell (was told that that would get corrected at the end of the season)

    Charging points – there is one extension cord with 5 charging points in the common eating area – nothing in the rooms and people were constantly juggling chargers to charge up. Luckily not many on the boat had cameras with strobes or video lights or it would have been a battle to charge up. It does not help that the crew occupies at least 2 of the slots at any time to charge their mobiles!!

    Same with the rinse tank for cameras – ONE small bucket with about 10 litres of water – if two people had camera rigs or one person with two strobes, it would not be able to cater to even one guest, let alone 8

    Food – being a strict vegetarian I had warned them about my dietary needs repeatedly. The reviews suggest that the lady who cooks (who was no longer on the boat) caters to every individuals needs. However, I ended up eating rice practically for breakfast lunch and dinner for majority of the meals as potatoes (of any kind – hash brown, mashed or fried) were deviations from their set menu and not catered for!! (I did not eat the pancakes, scrambled eggs or omelettes due to my dietary requirements). The crew customized their own meals, but the guests had to eat what was the common meal cooked for all.
    Be prepared to eat basic Indonesian food at majority of the meals
    (In all fairness, we did have a beach BBQ, Spaghetti and French fries once each )

    They ran out of coffee creamer on day 4 of a 11 day cruise…. they had some fresh milk and some condensed sweetened milk to make up . Ran out of tofu and tempeh (my staple in the absence of options) on day 7 and out of potatoes and tomatoes on day 9

    Since they dont have an electric freezer, all cooling of F&B is done with ice packs and they ran out of those on the 9th night and a guest who had stored VERY expensive injections for a back ailment was left high and dry without refrigerated medication for the last 2 days – hoping that his injections were still fine!

    Finally the guiding – at best patchy and sometimes confusing. One of the two dive guides (both European) made it a point to look out for stuff and point it to the guests whereas the other guide was often 20-30 metres ahead with his girlfriend and oblivious of the 3 guests he was ‘leading’ and did not deem it necessary to look back and check on their progress on many of the dives (even when the dive plan was changed at the moment of jumping in! We were swimming against current for 18 mins and LOST one diver for over 8 mins due to exhaustion and panic before the guide noticed and went up to look for him!!! This was at a site where the briefing was – “we would hit a split current and swim against it for a min or two and then flow with the current”).

    On another occasion in-spite of the guide who had jumped into the water to spot the site and check currents, the other dive guide decided to jump 30 metres away and missed the underwater reef completely and the first guide told his group “they will be back on the surface in 5 mins”. Sure enough, we had to surface in 8 mins in the blue where an Open Water Diver was down to 38 metres and panicking before the guide noticed :( (BTW no certification cards were checked on arrival at the boat or no disclaimers/medical history forms were given to be signed – people had electronically signed medical forms upto 6 months before coming and things could have changed in the interim with people suffering from a recent bout of illness – something that would have slipped by in the current scenario)

    Also, instructions were confusing as we were commanded to stay behind the dive guides who would fin away to look for things in strong currents and low visibility and the instructions were ‘get down fast and use the reef hook – and dont move’ and 30 mins later, with no visual contact but just banging on the tank from the guide, we were expected to understand that we had to unhook and drift towards the guide!! No way in hell was i going to unhook till I SAW the guide asking me to do so – not just banging on his tank which often was done to point out to mantas or critters

    Comment from dive guide “if you cannot see me, you are not following me” – what about the corollary in strong currents and average visibility “If I cannot see you hooked on the reef, I should come looking for you and be in your face to give you instructions to unhook rather than banging on the while tank out of sight?”

    ALL guests raised this issue with the dive guide whose demeanor was “I have over 4000 dives and I am right and YOU are wrong!” and “I don’t want to argue with you about this” as well as “I am perfectly capable of guiding 7 guests” (whereas the website clearly says 4:1 ratio) With over 1400 dives as a non professional and having done my dive-master training and being led by over 100 guides on dives, this was one of the first time I faced this behavior and attitude

    It did not help that there was a dive instructor (the girlfriend) who was also a guest who was deputed on dives to fill in for one of the guides who had a back problem and had to stop diving – we would follow her assuming that she is following the guide and then the guide would be upset that we were not following him – our assumption (and as per their statement ‘She is a guest, not a dive guide – in which case we assume that she is following the guide like all other guests. And by her own admission “If I did not see the guide for a minute, I would look for him and follow him” whereas in reality, she was just a solo diver on most dives – in-spite of being deputed as a buddy for a day for one of the divers who could not descend fast due to equalizing issues) On one dive the guide just surfaced to prove a point after a few mins of jumping in as he did not see anyone following him – instead of trying to find the divers!

    In sum, all the 6 guests on the boat felt that that they had a ‘I dont care’ attitude

    All in all, the boat has to get its act together if they have to make an impact on guests….

    Hope they do so

    I will not delve into the story of the missing ‘kelapas’ (coconuts) – the others on the boat will understand the hint!!

    My journey continues to Lembeh and Bunaken where the guides have been a lot more visible and responsive and great spotters…. it is all ending on a good note

    7 key takeaways for me on this trip

    • Keep instructions clear – and keep divers in VISUAL sight on difficult dives
    • Plan the dive and dive the plan – or inform the guests if the plan has changed
    • Remember – you know the sites and the currents, most of the guests are first timers to that site – keep it safe and clear enough for the most inexperienced diver in your group
    • It is bad customer service to say ‘I am not going to argue with you’
    • Make the boat safer and deck less slippery
    • Have adequate supplies of all food and ice on board
    • Personalize for dietary requirements as per your claims

    • Hi Eli & Dipen,
      I’m very sorry to hear about all the considerable flaws of the Kira Kira and the cruise they offer. I want to thank you for taking the time to review your trip as it is, indeed, very important for other divers to be able to find and consider such reviews from customers. I can’t help but be happy to read that at least, the diving was as great as it should be! I truly wish you a stunning liveaboard cruise on the next one, and the same great diving!

      Safe bubbles, always!

  4. I feel it is important to share with future divers so that they can better judge if this boat fits their needs since I didn’t find any negative reviews until experiencing it first-hand. 27 dives were provided over the Raja Ampat 10 night trip.

    The pictures on their website; food shots with lobsters and the boat with sails are fake. Food primarily consisted of heavily msg sauced fish with rice and various deep fried foods. There is a lack of fruit onboard, which for the health conscious would be a strong negative. The boat does not have any AC. Very important to consider when you are on the equator and forced to sleep in below deck bunks with no air flow. Their “fan” in the room is barely the size of a computer heat sink fan, completely useless. I was forced to “try to sleep” above deck on a yoga matt/bean bags exposed to the elements. This did not work (rain dumped on me at 2am) which only led to getting only 3-4 hours of sleep nightly.

    There are only two bathrooms shared among the crew and guests, and it did consistently get clogged. A problem when there are 16 people on this small ship. Beer is kept in a cooler, however since there is a lack of refrigeration on the boat it is never cold, also don’t expect to have any ice cubes through the trip. There is no fan in the dining room, again no airflow there unless the boat is moving. Yes there is no rinse tank for your gear, only a small bucket. Yes, the front of the boat is a hazard, I’ve seen multiple people slip there, I was able to catch myself and avoid that injury.

    I was very disappointed in getting re-assigned cabins. I had negotiated with the owner prior to sailing to have the room with the double bed on top of the boat. This is the only area that has proper air flow, where without that room you are forced to sleep exposed just outside it. The trip leader opted to give away that room to another couple who only snorkeled. I was not even given the option to pay more to reserve it is just poor business sense. I had also pre-negotiated a unique dive site to do in northern Raja Amapat, which was ignored to cater to the two snorkelers aboard because the crew was afraid of their swimming skills. It seems during the trip some of the good dive sites in the south weren’t done to account for the snorkelers. I did not understand this choice, it’s a dive boat focusing on diving, giving precedence to snorkelers who were there to just fill capacity is another reason why I must warn other divers that there are issues when choosing this operator.

    For our sailing they brought aboard a visiting dive master to assist. It was nice that there were only 6 divers split into two groups. While a competent diver and not associated with the boat my only complaint is that she couldn’t really find anything to show me. Most dive masters know the area, where to look and really try to be able to show the divers unique things. This one couldn’t, and I felt she cared more about getting her own pictures underwater than providing a dive master service. The primary dive master had such an elitist attitude stating he doesn’t like night dives because people destroy the environment. Expect only one night dive in an area where the night diving is pretty epic. That being said the local crew did work hard to keep the boat seaworthy, and the customers appeased.

    You can’t mess up the diving in Misool and Raja Ampat, the sites are just that good! This boat however messed up my trip enough for me. Out of the ten liveaboards I’ve been on in the past three years this ranks on the bottom.

    • Hi Eli & Dipen,
      I’m very sorry to hear about all the considerable flaws of the Kira Kira and the cruise they offer. I want to thank you for taking the time to review your trip as it is, indeed, very important for other divers to be able to find and consider such reviews from customers. I can’t help but be happy to read that at least, the diving was as great as it should be! I truly wish you a stunning liveaboard cruise on the next one, and the same great diving!

      Safe bubbles, always!

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