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MV Indo Aggressor dive boat review
MV Indo Aggressor – formely known as the ‘Komodo Dancer’ – is one of the vessels of the world famous Aggressor Fleet. Aggressor Fleet are a USA based company with extensive international experience. With a vessel in almost every highly desirable diving location on the planet, they have consistency of approach and globally high standard.
Komodo National Park – establish in 1980, is part of the country of Indonesia, is famous for it’s nutrient rich waters. The waters feed the plankton. And the plankton feeds some of the amazing life that lives in it’s waters – and pelagic life that’s passing through. Currents here are sometimes strong. However, the lush waters sometimes attract manta rays and whale shark. At the other end of the size scale the macro life here can be stunning pygmy seahorse, nudibranch and harlequin shrimp are often found here. And that’s not all – the warm, tropical waters are also home to reef fish such as grouper, potato cod, Napoleon wrasse, surgeonfish and snappers.
The Indo Aggressor is a peer of the luxurious Blue Manta. At approximately 38m long and 8m in beam she is a stylish traditionally laid out vessel, ideal for the task in hand; cruising the waters of Bali and the Komodo national park.
As you would expect from the Aggressor Fleet is built to the specifications of the local regulatory agencies. She is also approved by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in accordance with SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea). There is a full compliment of safety and emergency equipment onboard. She is capable of cruising at 8 knots as she elegantly wafts from site to site.
You can check the availability and prices for this Boat here.
Cabins and Boat Layout
The 16 guests have a choice of 3 separate cabin options depending on budget and personal circumstances.
- Twin Stateroom – approximately 10ft x 8ft in size, these cabins have twin single bunk beds (European size), private bathroom, air-conditioning and porthole view. Bathrobes, hairdryer and a mirrored wardrobe are also in the cabin.
- Deluxe Stateroom – approximately 9ft x 9ft in size, the deluxe stateroom has a queen-sized double bed for couple. It also has all the features associated with the Twin stateroom.
- Master Stateroom – for those guests wanting additional space and luxury, this cabin is approximately 12ft x 10ft in size. In addition to the features of the deluxe and master staterooms, the Master Stateroom has the option of an (Asian sized) king-sized bed or two single beds in addition to the other great standard features.
Twin Stateroom
Deluxe Stateroom
Master Stateroom
Outside the cabins on the Indo Aggressor the attentive 14 member crew will attend to your every whim. There is an air-conditioned salon area. In the salon you can relax and watch TV or make use of the entertainment system; watch a film or listen to music.
Relax indoors
The dining – which may be done either indoors or outdoors – is a carefully selected buffet-style selection of local and western cuisine throughout your voyage. In addition there are fruits juices, tea, coffee, water and snacks available throughout your voyage.
Outdoor dining
There’s lots of space to relax outside too – either on the sun deck or at one of the other relaxing areas – where you can soak up the sunshine in comfort or watch the sun set with a cold drink.
Photographers benefit from plenty of charging points and a camera facility with charging points and a table.
Diving onboard Indo Aggressor
Between 4-5 dives a day are available on Indo Aggressor following your briefing from the dive professionals onboard. The vessel has a spacious, shaded dive deck on which to set up your equipment. The English-speaking crew, are there to lend a helping hand with any logistical requirements you may have.
Briefing time
The many dives are generally undertaken from diving tenders. And, a big benefit on repetitive dives, EANX Nitrox is available for those qualified or wishing to train.
Itineraries
The voyages to range over a series of options; Komodo Deep South, Bali, Tulamben, East Sumbawa & Komodo National Park, Komodo National Park, Alor Archipelago, East Flores and Wakatobi. The Komodo National Park cruise is typically 8 days/7 nights – offering copious time to enjoy the underwater world.
Expect to pay around EUR2,738 for a 8 day trip. This equates to EUR342/day. Please note that this does not include some extras such as crew tips, port/marine park fees, nitrox and equipment rental. Please contact us for further details.
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 monthKomodo 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.
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!
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!
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.).
Padang Bai
Night Diving, Underwater Macro Photography, Resident Whitetip Reef Sharks, Huge green Turtles, and crystal clear water! Also a great Snorkelling spot!
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.
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.
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!
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. !
Amed
Magnificent coral, no current, relaxed and easy diving, possibilities for night diving, good place for underwater macro photography, and a great snorkelling spot.
- If you have been diving on board this liveaboard dive boat in Bali & Komodo Island & Tulamben & Wakatobi, please share your review and let us know what you thought. Please post your comments in the review section below, by doing so you will help fellow divers to plan their next diving trip
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A diver went missing on the first diving day of our cruise with the Indo Aggressor in December 2017. He was found dead a week later. His level of experience was in direct violation of what is listed as a prerequisite for the cruise (OW 10 years ago and 1 dive since then). The cruise was cancelled. We were offered to stay on the boat for the rest of the planned cruise time. An offer we declined, since the boat was about to be used for the Search And Resque effort by the police, it was full of uniformed officers and the mourning family of the missing diver. This offer felt like a smack on the face, it was clearly given to avoid any responsibility later on. After a lot of negotiations, one night of accommodation onshore was covered. We had to organize the rest ourselves. We also got an offer of one free cruise later on, but most people in the group will probably never go aboard the Indo Aggressor again so that was not really fair. No other expenses, like the cost of extra flights or accommodation, were covered. What was supposed to be a vacation in paradise turned into a hellish experience! The boat owners showed complete neglect for their guests and lack of basic emergency preparedness routines. This is what happens when somewhat puts short-term cash flow before safety!
Hi Dmitri!
I’m very sorry to hear about this extremely sad experience. I can only thank you for sharing it with our scuba diving community.
Of course, we wish you safe and amazing dives in the future!
I did a 10 day trip on this boat in Dec 2018/January 2019. It was a three star trip at 5 star prices (compared to the other recent Aggressor cruise that I was on in the Red Sea which was a 5 star experience at 3 star prices. Summary of issues with the Indo Aggressor
1) rental gear
– had advised in advance about rental gear, needing wetsuit etc. and sizes. On arrival we spent 7 hours in port while staff ran around town trying to find suitable gear to fit for myself (BCD and wetsuit) and others. Was finally given a wetsuit that was in the process of shredding due to rips. By the end of the week, my suit was open at the top with two eight inch rips in the shoulders. (note they waved the fee for the suit). I had split fins, that decided to split even more when the ribs separated from the blade surface. Pressure gauge started leaking profusely, had to be replaced. That was just my rental gear.
– one client, with spine problems was told the boat had BCD’s with integrated weights – which were not available. So she had great discomfort.
– lots of gear problems that week, my guestimation is that 1/3 of the rental gear on board should be thrown out and replaced. Some people missed dives due to rental gear issues.
Red Sea Aggressor – no gear problems or failures, condition was good, no delays.
2) air compressor & fills
– while we had two compressors on board, one had a failure, and the other was teed into it, so effectively the good one was operating with a big leak out the other compressor, so not enough time in the day to fill all the tanks. NO spare parts on board (ridiculous). Started to head back to port, they cancelled diving that afternoon. Thankfully cruise director Gary decide to separate the compressors by terminating the inter-connection, and we limped along with one unit hoping for replacement parts. They ordered parts by phone to sent out by boat (not the boats fault but first package of “parts” was new years party favours nothing for the compressor, 2nd package the shipper threw the piston into a box without packing and with other parts so it was heavily scored.
– nitrox fills – they only had one gauge (one client had their own) to measure the mix. Started out with everyone checking their mixes as per normal procedure. the boat then switched to having crew check and write down the mix level, and clients to sign off. Many of us started double checking the mix to find that the crew measurements were not accurate. If there was a dive accident, the documentation trail was not present, so it would be either huge liability or huge LIE-ability (done after the fact)
Red Sea aggressor was totally different, we had to measure and sign off on our mixes (as expected), and and staff made sure to record max depth and bottom time for everyone as they got back on the boat. Lots of nitrox gauges. No compressor problems.
3) dive site selection
Understand that site selection is always subject to wind weather and tide conditions. While we did do a few top notch site, my impression was that were were doing a lot more B grade dives site out of convenience, than I would have expected. In particular a couple of sand dives with nothing much to see until the very end when we hit some coral. We actually had very good weather given the season and only one rainy day.
We had one diver, a lady 75 years old (great that she is still diving), but she had issues with her fins (rental I think) and wound up being literally towed by by the dive guide on some dives. Fine in slack water but dubious if there was any current. She should have had her own dedicated guide and not put within a larger group in my opinion.
Red sea aggressor – we had some B level dives as well, but not so much that I felt we missed out on what Komodo was supposed to be, which is top notch diving.
4) Dive guides, Cruise Director, Dive Director
While the boat staff have been working together for a long time, and were fine…. the dive guides, cruise director and dive director essentially were all thrown together at the last minute, and had never worked together before. Some guides had not dived some of the sites we did apparently. Midway the guides changed as some left and others got on board adding to the turmoil. We (the customers) found out that apparently nobody (dive guides) wants to work on this boat. I can understand why. It was generally mass confusion each day. I started likening it to Faulty Towers, with our own version of Basil and Manuel – although to be fair, I reckon that Gary and Diego saved the trip from being a complete disaster.
Red Sea Aggressor – diving and cruise staff worked as a team, knew the boat and the dive sites. No daily mass confusion, everything worked like clockwork.
4) Boat & cabins
– cabins very dusty, and mildew stains in the showers (mold still in some cabins I understand).
– many deck leaks when it rains including inside supposedly dry areas like the salon and below. I know boats, function of the style and construction of the boat, but its indicative of the boat not being properly maintained. Another person who had been on this boat twice before was shocked at the condition, and how the owners had let maintenance slide.
Red Sea Aggressor- obviously different design and construction (plastic fantastic), but no indications that it was being poorly maintained.
5) Responsibility
– I blame the owners. This boat should be pulled from the Aggressor franchise fleet until its up to snuff. Indo Aggressor was a three star experience at a five star price. Whereas Red Sea Aggressor was a 4 or 5 star experience at a 2 or 3 star price.
Good Stuff
Food was good, Pollos the server was great. No issues with the Captain or boat staff in general. Appreciated that we did a boat trip end of one day to see wild komodos on the beach, as the formal park experience of seeing komodos was not great. Also appreciated that on our first attempt to see wild komodos (none at that place), Diego organized us to do a beach cleanup of plastic, and we lifted a few big bags of crap out and back to the boat.
Bottom Line
A number of other clients felt the same way, as we discussed the Indo-Aggressor state of chaos on a daily basis.
Apparently I can’t count on Aggressor Liveaboard boats being up to a certain standard of maintenance and dive operation, so their brand is highly damaged in my mind. The company offered a 500 credit towards another cruise in their fleet, but frankly I dont trust them anymore,
B. Bady
PS – I have been diving for 43 years, with more than 5000 hours when I stopped counting in the mid 1980’s, and have dove around the world in many of the top locations in the last decade.
Thanks for your review Brant. I was considering this Komodo Liveaboard, but have crossed it off my list after reading your review.