First the good to great things about the trip:
The boat was new/ish in good condition and well organized.
The crew were cordial and professional
We did see the mantas. I have dove with them before in Bali, they are magical to watch and if you love to see unusual wildlife up close this is a chance.
As mentioned by other reviewers, it was nice to have a warm shower and homemade cookies when we got back on board.
Now for the stuff that subtracts stars:
When we arrived carrying some of our own gear, one of the first things said to us was “you won’t need fins.” Can we wear them? “No, they are not allowed, no free diving”. Perhaps I should have read the description of their service better, but this was just the beginning of many rules, edicts, do this, don’t that’s. If you are an experienced scuba diver, it is a much better and probably more enjoyable, less constrained, experience to sign up with one of the dive companies that has a 2 dive package afternoon and manta evening.
Despite talking up the “100,000 lumens “ lights he has set up, it was evident that other boats had more intense lighting attracting more plankton and hence more manta. Sad to say this is now a lumens war. 10 minutes into our dive, 2 manta passed underneath us on the way to more bountiful hunting. We lay in the water for another half hour waiting until finally 3 manta returned and fed underneath our boat, but never underneath our floats which we were strictly attached to by the guides.
If you have little experience with snorkeling or open water diving, this is the tour for you.
Відповідь від хоста
May 2019
Hi we are sorry about your disappointment and we offer you another trip on us on your return trip. We do not practice 'live boating" or "free swimming" with Mantas, these both are unsafe and dangerous. Our guidelines and procedures are in place for the safety of our guest and the Mantas - they are not flexible and are under the guidelines in place afforded to us as a condition of our commercial permit.
mahalo