Ok, we are a bit late but we just spent a week on the nicest appointed boat we have been on, the Pelagian, part of the Wakatobi dive resort. It started life as a private yacht and was converted into a dive boat. There are a few odd things about it but the adaptation is very well done.
The rooms, I presume, are the old staterooms of the previous owners and their guests. Our room had its own private stairway. The room itself was actually big enough to move around in. Two beds, a small bench, a washroom and 3 closets. A room that big is in itself luxury on a boat of any kind. There are other small things like brass handrails on the interior stairs, carpeted lounging and dining areas and an outdoor lounge aft. The décor is not super modern but it suits the boat very well.
The meals are gourmet. There is a daily menu and you can choose what you want at any meal but if those choices don’t suit you, you can have anything made special. The portions are small which suits Debbie and me perfectly. We generally just eat the main course but if one requires more sustenance there is soup or salad and dessert.
Check out the website for the Pelagian. Their photos are much better than mine. Pelagian
The group we dove with was fantastic. It helped to restore our faith in small group ‘tours’ where we are confined to a small space for several days with people we don’t know. Two of the last three boats we were on had what I would say were undesirable guests. Each of the tours (one on a river and the other a dive live a board) had 4 people on them that made the 7 days very uncomfortable. We were wondering if we should gamble and book any more of those trips. This group was friendly, chatty, personable to a person. I enjoyed visiting with every one of them. They were interested in us and they all had interesting stories to tell. Their diving experience was extensive and we were able to learn of a few places worth diving we have not been too yet.
There is no dive deck on the Pelagian. We struggle into our wet suits in the exterior lounge at the aft of the boat and load the tender via a ladder on the side of the mother ship. The small boats ferry us out to the dive site and pick us up 70 minutes later. Boarding the Pelagian using the same ladder we used to get off the boat, then the side aisle is used to strip off the wet gear and rinse it with Dettol and hot water from the available spray nozzles. No rinse tanks except for the cameras and dive computers. The system seems odd at first but once you figure out a way to be efficient it works pretty well.
The diving is amazing. The reef is in excellent shape. The fish seem to be sparse and then around the next corner there is a massive school of Redtooth Triggerfish, hundreds and hundreds of them all moving in unison. The coral is probably the highlight of the area. It is abundant and amazingly colourful. Soft coral, hard coral, sponges, you name it, it is here. Every colour you can dream up.
The diving is not particularly hard, at least we didn’t experience any difficult dives. The first few dives the current was odd. Down current, up welling, drifting along and the current changes direction so you turn around and drift in the other direction. The dive masters are very accommodating and we rarely fought current and then only for a couple of minutes before we reversed direction. The last half the week the current was more normal and we just went with it again, not fighting the direction.
The crew is beyond attentive. We hadn’t been on board more than a minute and hadn’t been formally introduced yet and they were addressing me by name. After one meal they knew our preferences and would clarify that we would like to continue status quo or would we like to change up. For instance, the first time I was served a bun there was only one pad of butter, I asked for a second pad and every time after that when I was served a bun I was the only person with two pads of butter. They noted all the oddities for all 10 guests on board.
We had heard all about Wakatobi and how fantastic it is before we got here and it is all true. This dive resort and live a board are a step above any other place we have been. And most of the boats and places we have been are first rate operations. You pay for the upgrade for the Pelegian, but it is very special.