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Pearl of Papua dive boat review
Specializing in shorter trips ranging from 6 to 10 nights, the Pearl of Papua is for those liveaboard enthusiasts that are on a tighter budget and have very limited time.
This Buginese schooner is 28 meters in length and can accommodate up to 15 guests with 3 dive guides on board. The liveaboard has an air-conditioned dining area, where food is served buffet style by a waitress.
You will be provided with all the coffee, tea, fruit, drinking water, candy bars, ice creams and biscuits you want since this Raja Ampat liveaboard provides them free of charge!
You can check the availability and prices for this boat here.
Pearl of Papua yacht on board facilities and services:
- 2 motorised dive dinghies
- Dive deck with shower, toilets, camera table and rinse tanks
- Air-conditioned saloon with bar, TV, DVD video, music & computer
- Movie and book library and fish ID books
- Shaded area and sundeck with sun chairs and mattresses
- Massage service
- Water dispenser
Pearl of Papua Boat Budget Range / Price: Starts at US$ 2,850 for a 10 night tour.
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.
Raja Ampat
Richest Reef in the World, Amazing Biodiversity, Wonderful Coral, perfect place for underwater photography.
- If you have been diving on board this liveaboard dive boat in Raja Ampat, 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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The information on the website is out of date. No massage service for example (fine, not essential but don’t advertise it!) and the dive deck does not have a toilet, in fact the only facilities are in your cabin which is a nuisance. Upper deck is not well shaded, just a thin net which can get very hot. Saloon/restaurant was not big enough to seat everyone at meal times. Boat needs work – portholes did not seal, meaning water came in when sailing in waves, also water came in from the ceiling of the cabin soaking the bedding. You could see significant daylight through the wood. Infested with bugs under one of the beds in our cabin.
Didn’t take us outside of the dive sites reachable by resorts, (resort diving is cheaper so this was pointless paying on a liveaboard) disappointing as we saw no other liveaboards so I do not believe this was weather related as we were told. Conditions were not bad at all. ALL divers were dumped in the water together, was a horrible experience as varying experience levels and lack of organisation meant you were avoiding people the first 15 mins of the dive, if not the whole dive and the groups they tried to keep us in always fell apart. If you fell behind, don’t expect the guide to wait. Not a problem for me but for some divers may be.
Seems they are cost saving but still charging fuel rates based on venturing to more remote sites. Dive guides not the best I’ve been with, but also not the worst. Deck crew were oblivious to how to look after dive gear properly, pulling equipment by the hoses, leaving dust caps off with the first stage exposed under dripping wetsuits etc. For the little difference in price, spend that bit extra and go for another boat. Food was nice, bed was comfy but cabin too noisey in the front lower deck. Hot shower and OK water pressure. Air fills were sometimes over 200bar, but sometimes 190bar. Briefings were always right before you got in the zodiacs so you didn’t have much chance to consider if you wanted to do the dive / how to set up your camera.
Dont expect too much.
It’s not the cheapest live aboard but definitely the cheapest in service and activity so far.
The cruise director is a good dive guide but not neither a talent in organisation or communication.
The chosen dive sites were mostly crowded and they seemed to stick more to their plan than adopting to conditions.
The common area is definitely too small for 14 people. If you are lucky your cruise has only 10 guests, then its doable if you move some chairs out.
the cabins are ok, lack a little but of maintenance but if you come for diving, you wont spend too much time in the room, so it’s completely fine.
The food is a mix of local and western food. Where the western food is more an attempt to make the food more western by adding mayonaise or some cream cheese. We mostly sticked to the vegetables as the chefs seem to like salt over all.
I mean the crew is nice, very friendly, the captain a very welcoming guy but the overall experience is definitely disappointing.
Because of the lack of organisation we missed one whole day of diving and the last day after the last dive was spend on the boat as we were going to sorong.
We had already different experience in Raja Ampat where we visited deserted islands in between the dives or spend the sunset on beautiful beaches. Requesting anything like that just doesn’t seem possible on the Pearl.
It would have been lovely to go snorkeling or something on the last afternoon and go to sorong in the night but unfortunately the crew seemingly wanted to go home as quick as possible not matter what the paying guests would have liked to do…
Dive time for a night dive 45min until you tell them, that that’s definitely not ok. so from the 2nd night dive we had 60minutes but why do we have to tell them???
Day dive time point 60minutes, the cruise director justified that because they have a tight schedule but mostly we were leaving much later or still had plenty of time at the next destination that even a 90min dive would not have disrupted their schedule.
The dive guides were lovely people but sometimes we had the feeling they were just busy with themselves underwater. Certain macro stuff, they exactly knew where to find it (an experienced diver knows that seahorses dont move much around) but actively looking for stuff was depending on their daily mood.
Our guide was experienced, he seem to know certain dive sites very well as he brought us to places under water which we’ve never been although we’ve been diving at the same spot before. But still showing things could have been much better.
Pearl of Papua – a one time, never again experience and like this definitely not to recommend.
It was the worst LOB experience. Was on the boat in Dec 2023 over Xmas and New Year. We had chartered the boat and paid in full almost 9 months prior to the trip. We were promised 3 free nitrox dives per day and it was stated in our agreement. We ended up with only 2 nitrox per day and ultimately they ran out of nitrox a few days before the end of the trip! What made the trip worse was that the owner, Yayu, an Indon woman, was on the trip as well! No offer of compensation nor even an offer of drinks whatsoever. She just blamed her office for the poor arrangement. Full 9 months to prepare and she can just blame her office. Boat needs upgrading. Some rooms had drainage issues, housekeeping was bad (rooms not swept, towels not changed, bathroom drainage not cleared). Food was IMO poor, noting that Indonesia is well known for its great cuisine. Considering that we went over Xmas and New Year, one would expect some celebrations of sort (better dinner spread) but nothing. Just a BBQ on an island with lousy spread of food.
The owner, Yayu, was a terrible host. Proud and not open to feedback. Full of herself and was not able to handle guests who had given her feedback. She even insulted a guest. Totally unacceptable.
The only saving grace was that the quality of diving was fantastic. It would have been an awesome LOB trip if not for the very bad service by the boat and its owner.