As most countries around the world seem to have already passed the peak of the recent pandemic, we all prepare to adapt to what has been named “the new normal”, where higher standards of safety and hygiene will be followed in order maintain the levels of protection required after this health crisis.

Together with the liveaboard association of Indonesia and other sectors of tourism such as hotels and restaurants, we have been discussing the measures that will have to be implemented, as part of a general plan of guidelines and standards of procedure to be adhered to by everybody involved in the tourism industry in Indonesia.

For that purpose, we are creating a set of procedures following the guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO), Divers Alert Network (DAN), PADI, and local health authorities. All our crew members will adhere to the latest guidance and hygiene protocols and will be well trained to handle any potential situations that may occur. 

The set of guidelines are divided into three sectors: Crew, Boat and Guests, and are treated separately, although several points apply to more than one sector, such as:

1. Minimize contact with other guests and crew not within your family/friend group, avoid handshaking, no touching, and respect physical distancing when possible. 

2. Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.

3. Avoid touching your face (eyes, nose, and mouth), as contaminated hands may transfer the virus to your body through these openings.

4. When sneezing or coughing, cover your mouth and nose with bent elbow or tissue and immediately dispose of the tissue in an appropriate place.

5. Use hand sanitiser in common areas. Hand sanitizer must be at least 60% alcohol based.

6. Self-monitor your health condition. Immediately report any fever, cough, or difficulty breathing to the Cruise Director. Face masks can limit the transmission of the virus to others if you are sick or showing symptoms.

In regards to the crew, standard procedures include – but are not limited to – the following points:

1. Minimize contact to fellow crew members only and keep 1 m distance if contact with the crew from other boats is necessary.

2. To prevent crew infection between cruises, the crew must stay on board as much as possible and must have permission of the Captain and/or Cruise Director to go on shore. They must adhere to all health and hygiene guidance while on land.

3. Crew should avoid touching guest’s diving or snorkelling equipment wherever possible, excluding dive tanks.

4. Dive and snorkel equipment should be loaded on board speedboats when it’s already assembled. 

5. Rental equipment will be disinfected after use, at the end of every cruise.

6. Make sure distancing rules are respected also when divers enter and exit the water. That will probably involve smaller groups and more trips with the tenders.

7. Staff handling materials, equipment and dive tanks must practice hand washing and disinfection of high-touch areas including dive tanks and fill stations. All those carrying out refilling operations must follow correct hygiene procedures by washing hands.

8. Personal hygiene and physical distancing procedures should also be observed in gas refill areas. Only authorized people will be allowed to be near compressors.

9. Particular care is required when using alcohol-based disinfectants, including hydroalcoholic hand solutions. A small percentage of alcohol, a highly volatile and flammable substance even at relatively low temperatures, can cause fire or explosion. Avoid direct or indirect contact with equipment, cylinders, and filling hoses used for oxygen-enriched air. Wherever possible, it is preferable to use simple soap and water to clean hands.

Next are aspects concerning the boat. We will adhere to preventive hygiene measures to minimize the risk of contamination on board. These have been drafted as follows:

1. Health, hygiene and safety notices specific to Covid-19 prevention will be displayed onboard. These notices will be created by the Association of Liveaboards and distributed to all members (samplers are displayed here).

2. Common areas will be disinfected, in particular tables, door handles and hand railings.

3. Proper handwashing facilities are provided in cabins and hand sanitizer will be available onboard, especially in common areas.

4. Meal service will be provided in a safe and hygienic manner.

5. Guest’s dive and snorkel equipment will be transported and stored in individual baskets/areas marked with guest’s number.

6. Avoid washing dive or snorkel equipment in one big rinse tank.

7. Ensure high hygiene standards are adhered to when cleaning the boat for the next group of guests.

And last, we will ensure that guests are given an extra, detailed briefing about the procedures regarding Covid-19. We will also ask our guests to comply with the following procedures:

1. Guests must handle their own personal belongings, including scuba or snorkeling equipment.

2. Whenever possible, guests are encouraged to bring their own diving or snorkeling equipment.

3. Guests must wash or sanitize their hands after touching their dive or snorkel equipment.

4. Guests should avoid taking any unnecessary material on board the speedboats that is not needed for safety reasons or in-water operations.

5. Guests should preferably use defogging products (provided by us) to defog their mask, the use of saliva is discouraged.

6. After a dive or snorkel guests must not use buckets to rinse masks, but rinse them in open water instead.

7. Guests must look after their own masks, placing them in their own designated baskets.

8. Luggage might be sprayed with a mild disinfectant upon arrival on board.

Note that this is just a draft and that we will continue to monitor the situation closely and keeping you updated with the latest implementations and protocols.

A couple of points that are worth mentioning are: Indonesia has not been affected by the Corona Virus as other countries have, particularly Europe and the US, and we haven’t experienced a major health crisis derived from it.

Also, the experience of a liveaboard cruise is a form of isolation in itself; once we make sure that both crew and guests are healthy (we believe guests will have to take a test before traveling, and we are considering testing our crew between every cruise as well), we only need to make sure to avoid contact with any other people during the length of the cruise. We are discussing a protocol for the times we go ashore on land tours (as in Komodo National Park or the treks to the bird of paradise), to avoid running into other groups of guests and crews.

The bottom line is we will do our utmost best to provide our guests with a very safe and healthy stay on board; we will keep updating this communication regularly in the hopes of providing a safe environment for you to come and spend an enjoyable journey in your next well-deserved holidays. Meanwhile, stay safe and stay strong.

As the effects of the pandemic continue to unfold around the world, we wish all of you are faring the storm with strength. We hope that you and yours are healthy, and that you find the inner power to cope with these difficult times at all levels. This is a real tests to our resilience, but we will get through the other side stronger and better. 

From our side, here in Indonesia we are somewhat fortunate not to have experienced a major health drama, at least until this day. Maybe because of the weather (some claim the virus doesn’t live well in heat and humidity), or maybe we have already been exposed earlier and gone through some sort of herd-immunity process, but for some, almost mysterious reason, we are being spared the hardships Europe and the US are experiencing these days. Our hearts are out to all our friends and families affected by this terrible health crisis.

Meanwhile, we continue to do our best, one day at the time, to protect our team and the boats here, in wait for better times when we will be able to meet again and sail away to new adventures.

By the time the borders were closing around the world, Ondina had four cruises left of the season, all fully booked. The last of these trips was meant to bring her from Sorong to Bitung, diving through Raja Ampat, Halmahera and Lembeh. After that, she was set for her annual maintenance break and dry dock scheduled for May-June. Since we couldn’t do these trips, we decided to relocate her to Kendari, in Southeast Sulawesi, a protected natural harbour and much safer anchorage for a long lay. After sailing the 600 nautical miles that separate the two ports in four days with crew only, we are now taking care of the boat and the engineers are currently overhauling the gensets and offboard engines of the tenders, in preparation for the next season. Some members of the crew have been sent home to spend time with their families, until we are able to reunite and get back to work.

Oceanic, on the other hand, had just finished her refurbishing works in Bali at the end of February, and was ready to hit the road (or the oceans) for the new season. The first cruise started in Bali and ended in Labuanbajo, Flores, through Nusa Penida, Moyo-Satonda, Sangiang and the National Park of Komodo. Once in Labuanbajo, when the crisis started, we decided that the best thing to do was to bring her back to Bali, where she has been laid since mid-March in Serangan, another safe natural harbour, the most protected anchorage in Bali. Part of the crew is looking after her whilst anchored and the remaining crew has reunited with their kin. 

So far everybody is safe here, no-one from our team here has experienced any health issues, nor any relative or friend has had them either. On the other hand, the tourism industry throughout Indonesia – specially in Bali, Komodo, Raja Ampat and other famous tourist destinations – is being hit hard because of the lack of visitors. Thankfully, Indonesians are resilient people, and apart from the efforts the local government is making to support the small survival economies, people’s best asset is – as it tends to be the case, their families and friends back on the villages. Where before people employed in tourism supported their relatives with the higher income they were making, they now find solace in returning to their villages of origin, and some even reengage on agricultural or fishing jobs to get through these hard times. Like anywhere else in the world, this crisis is bringing forth the best in people, and charity, cooperation and support of communities in distress is being carried out in a daily basis throughout the country.

And as for the foreigners in the company, we keep working from home, preparing new routes, improving our website, discussing better itineraries, making presentations to provide clearer briefings on board, and discussing ways to serve you better once we can leave this nightmare behind and you can come back for a well-deserved holiday. 

One day we will find ourselves again sipping a drink on the deck of the boat at sunset, breathing the fresh tropical air after a great diving day and some rewarding land tour, and we will recall this times of hardship as a thing from the past. Until then, stay safe, stay strong, and trust that this will end sometime, hopefully soon.

The Best Diving in the World.

The majority of our guests travel a really long way to dive with us, and they do that to experience some of the very best diving in the world. 

Many have dived with us before and liked the overall experience, while many others hear about us through word of mouth. And from time to time, people turn up simply because our schedules have worked for them or they like the way we price our packages.

All of which tells us that our reputation is strong, and we think of that reputation as our #1 asset and something we have worked really hard to establish and maintain. Plus in many ways, after our crews and the systems that support them, our reputation is also our #2 advantage – here’s why…

How We Dive

The places we dive in Indonesia are some of the most vibrant and biodiverse underwater locations in the world. The marine life and seascapes to be seen there are just simply amazing.

And the reason for that biodiversity are the incredible currents that sweep through the Indonesian archipelago, rich in nutrients from the deep oceanic basins to the north, and laden with the eggs and larvae of the area’s marine life.

Those currents are basically the life-force of the Indonesian archipelago and the greater Coral Triangle. But (and there’s always a but), they are also strong and potentially dangerous, so how we dive in them is incredibly important to the overall safety and comfort of our guests.

When Ricard Buxo arrived in Indonesia in late 1999, he brought with him 5 years of experience of the Red Sea working in German-run operations. His plan was to replicate what he had learned there, as it had been both safe and efficient. But the Red Sea did not have the strong and difficult to predict tidal currents of the archipelago, or the potential for dangerous downdrafts. Similarly, there are no monsoonal weather patterns in the Red Sea or the rapidly changing conditions of Indonesia, where the same site can look different within hours!

A Highly Evolved System…

Ondina’s first full year of operation was in 2002. It was a steep learning curve and we owe a sincere debt of gratitude to those true explorers who were our guests that year – virtually all of them being highly experienced divers wanting to explore the remote corners of Indonesia.

For it was their feedback and comments, overlaid on Ricard’s first-hand operational experience in the Red Sea, that allowed us to develop our system of diving. 

We have made minor adjustments and tweaks to it over the years based on additional guest feedback, and as we have introduced new technology such as nitrox, but the basic points gleaned that first year have really stood the test of time. So much so that we have never had an accident in our 20 years of operation – something we are incredibly proud of!

But we are also equally proud of our flexibility around the needs of our guests, whether they are new divers, highly experienced dives, keen photographers, big fish junkies or critter lovers. We know one size does not fit all, so we strive to adapt to the situation, while staying within the overall safety envelope that is essential to dive Indonesia.

How We Do It

• We know the sites really well and our crew system makes sure that first-hand knowledge is made available when new Cruise Directors join our team.
• While we know those sites well, we also know how unpredictable conditions are and how rapidly things can change, so we always check the site before we allow guests to dive. 
• That means sending either the Cruise Director, or their backup, down on to the site to check the strength and direction of the current underwater, as it is not always the same as the surface current.
• The check provides us with a real-time indicator of what the currents are doing and allows the surface support crew to be in the right place as divers start to surface.
• We always have enough dive crew in the water with the divers to monitor and help if there is a problem, with a maximum ratio of 4-5 divers per guide.
• We always have two tenders in the water and always keep one on top of the site while there are divers underwater, so divers never surface without a tender being nearby to pick them up – this is possibly one of the most frequently and positively commented upon aspects of how we dive!
• Our dive and surface crews are trained to be very vigilant… We call this “proactive monitoring” so that we can identify potential problems early.

Three Basic Rules

Taking guests to some of most remote parts of Indonesia so that they can experience the incredible underwater world of the archipelago is one of those things that is much easier said than done… A huge amount of support, training and logistics goes in to making it all happen – but that all goes on in the background and it’s our job to make it all appear completely seamless to our guests.

We believe we do a really good job of that, and the high number of “repeaters” is our primary indicator of success. Feedback from those repeaters tells us they really like how we operate, how flexible we are, how safe we are, and basically how good we are!

They also tell us they like our three basic rules which are logical and make common sense:

• Do not break coral or harass marine life
• Do not dive deeper than 40 metres
• Always come back with gas in your tank

What this all means to you is that you can be sure that if you book a trip on either of our boats you will experience some of the very best diving in the world, you will do that safely and we will do everything possible to ensure you truly enjoy your experience!

After almost 20 years exploring the incredible archipelago that is Indonesia, you would think that we have probably seen it all, but discovering what Komodo had kept hidden is very exciting news! It is really quite ironic though, because Komodo National Park was one of the first regions that he explored on the SMY Ondina way back in 2001, soon after it was launched. Liveaboard dive boats were few and far between back then, and we were instrumental in establishing the enduring tradition that Komodo should only be dived between June and September, during the dry season, when the wind blows from the south-east across the archipelago, making it difficult to operate in other areas of Indonesia.

Komodo – The Dry Season

Those south-easterly winds can make life on a liveaboard quite uncomfortable for the guests, as diving exposed sites in many areas of Indonesia can become very challenging. Komodo on the other hand, with its incredible topography and its many islands, reefs and bays, offers multiple places to shelter from the wind, with good diving all around,  all within a few hours of sailing, so there are many options to see what the area has to offer.

As those winds blow, they stir up the shallow waters around the rugged southern coasts of both Komodo and Rinca islands, which means that the visibility in those areas actually reduces during the dry season. In addition to that, the south-easterlies bring cold water from the south, so the combination of poor visibility, frequent swells and decidedly chilly temperatures make most liveaboards abandon the southern part of Komodo and head to the north, where the conditions are just the opposite.

And so, the tradition was established that from June to September each year, the northern areas of Komodo National Park are the best places for a liveaboard to operate. After which the boats migrate north up through the Banda Sea towards Raja Ampat.

The Other Komodo – What Changed?

It really is quite simple… If you only have one boat, you have no choice but to go where the conditions will probably be best, which is exactly what we did when Ondina’s routes were first established. We explained about those traditional routes and why they were the best choice in the last post. So you are probably wondering how we discovered what we are calling the “other Komodo” and the answer is that we now have our second boat, the M.Y. Oceanic.

After we retrofitted Oceanic, we decided to base her in the south of Indonesia and keep Ondina in the north so that we could fully explore both of those regions in-depth all year-round. What we have discovered from doing that has greatly exceeded all of our initial expectations and that’s why we are so excited!

The Other Komodo – Spectacular Diving!

As we explored southern Komodo we realised that during the wet season (December to March) the conditions are almost the complete opposite of those in the dry season… While the north becomes colder, greener and quite choppy, the south enjoys warmer, calmer waters with an average of 25 mts plus visibility! Several of the well-known sites take are transformed from great dives into spectacular ones. Plus, our extended exploration, where we have been the only boat there, has allowed us to discover many new and equally spectacular sites.

Basically, we have discovered something of great value – a new and exciting route within an old established one. The other side of a well-known destination that offers a whole new world of opportunities within the boundaries of the famous national park.

The Other Komodo – Spectacular Scenery!

The islands of Komodo National Park are as spectacular above water as they are below, and offer tremendous photo-opportunities for photographers who also enjoy making great terrestrial images. The shapes, landscapes, bays and beaches of the islands are incredibly photogenic, particularly so when photographed with a drone.

But… in the dry season the land is arid and brown! Come the wet season however and the rain completely transforms the landscape, creating incredible, almost unique vistas and photo-opportunities!

The Other Komodo – Special Offers for Pioneers!

In December 2018 we began our first wet season operating in Komodo National Park and started by diving the sites we knew well from the dry season. The first exploratory cruises were done with just a handful of friends, because of the uncertainty around what we would find. It was an expensive thing to do, but we considered it as an overall investment in our future.

International dive travel has grown exponentially since we launched Ondina in 2001 and there are now many options for the traveling diver. We knew we needed to offer new and exciting locations, but we had to do it safely and well.

The return we have realized on that investment has really been quite something, as we are now able to offer something few others can, and it all begins soon when we kick off the wet season in Komodo National Park this month!

But the “Other Komodo” is just the first of the exciting news… there is more to come from the north. For now though we want to make a special offer to you, our loyal and repeat customers, to come and see what we have found in the south of Komodo! 

If you have dived Komodo before and know the famous sites there you will be amazed at the difference and just how incredible the “Other Komodo” is.

If you have never dived there before though you will be in for an amazing experience because what we have discovered raises the bar to a whole new level!

If you want to enjoy the privilege of diving alone in this well known destination, be the first to book a trip to “the other Komodo” click here to check availability.

It had been quite an adventure… Ricard Buxo had spent almost 12 months living among the legendary boat builders of southern Sulawesi, supervising the construction of SMY Ondina, while learning Bahasa Indonesia and the animistic traditions, rituals and legends of the Bugis.

By mid-2001 Ondina had been successfully launched and was now afloat with the fit-out of all the cabins and topside infrastructure proceeding well. Ricard was hiring and training the first crew and soon it would be time to sail – but to where? 

The newly built Ondina was about to join a very small and quite exclusive club of just a handful of boats operating in Indonesia, catering for foreign tourists. And, of them only a couple were dedicated to scuba diving, while the rest offered a combination of snorkelling, land tours and the occasional dive… 

Indonesia is a vast archipelago of over 16,000 islands, occupying an area the size or Europe or US, and across that huge area, back in 2001 scuba diving was in its infancy. There was virtually no public domain information available on where to dive and what the associated hazards might be, and only a few people to ask – if, of course, you could locate them… You could say that it was a quite challenging situation!

Exploring the Indonesian Archipelago – Start with the Known!

Word of mouth was that there was good diving to be had in the Lesser Sundas, along the southern edge of the archipelago, and Wakatobi, in southeast Sulawesi, so Ricard targeted both these areas for the first trips. Marketed mainly in Europe as exploratory trips, the combined allure of the newly built Pinisi style Ondina, together with the prospect of discovering new areas in a remote part of Indonesia, caught the eye of adventurous divers. And so, the first intrepid divers arrived to experience the underwater wonders of Indonesia onboard the Ondina!

These were tough times for us, nevertheless because of all the happenings around the first few years after the launching of Ondina, but they were also a unique opportunity, as those divers who did join us were true adventurers who really wanted to explore, and so together we were able to discover some of the very best dive spots in Komodo, Alor and Wakatobi. Plus, we had the whole area almost to ourselves…

Exploring the Indonesian Archipelago – Continue with the Unknown

As we progressed through 2002 and 2003, our thoughts were on where we should take Ondina next and most importantly… when we should make that move.

The 16,000+ islands of the archipelago straddle the equator and are very much subject to monsoonal trade winds – which are generally quite predictable. Blowing from the southeast from May till September and then from the northwest in December through to March. 

While strong, those winds rarely, if ever, develop into typhoons and their predictability was what the Bugis seafarers of south Sulawesi based their trade routes upon. Sailing east from Sulawesi in their Pinisi boats with the north-westerlies, the Bugis traded with the islands along the bottom of the archipelago on the way. And then returned through the islands of the north with the south-easterlies – a journey that required making the long crossing of the Banda Sea, the most exposed of all inner seas of Indonesia.

In 2003 we decided to follow that Bugis tradition and, with a huge leap of faith, did our first crossing of the Banda Sea in October, during the break between the monsoonal seasons, when seas are at their calmest. The 1.000 nautical mile journey across 4 different inner seas took 14 days, and saw Ondina sail from Maumere in Flores, to Sorong in Raja Ampat. And so it was that we began operating in Raja Ampat from November through to March each year, an area of the archipelago that has captivated us from the very start and we are incredibly proud of the pioneering work we have done there!

Exploring the Indonesian Archipelago – Follow the Bugis…

All ships need their quality down-time so that annual maintenance and problems can be fully resolved. Typically this is done in a dry-dock, so that the hull can be inspected and repaired if necessary, followed by a 5-week maintenance period to make the ship ready for the year ahead.

Traditionally Ondina comes back “home” to south Sulawesi each year for her annual period of maintenance, so again we followed the path of the Bugis seafarers from Raja Ampat and West Papua to Sulawesi in April, when the seas are typically calmest, a yearly journey that allowed us to learn where the best diving is in Halmahera, Lembeh, Togian and the Banggai. And as the maintenance works were finished, we would start another season again in Komodo.

Exploring the Indonesian Archipelago – Setting the Standard!

Since 2003, when we did our first Banda Sea crossing and started operating in Raja Ampat, we followed the same overall pattern initiated that year and fully established in 2004. Basically this was annual maintenance in Sulawesi during May, then down to Komodo for June, July and August. Then head east to Alor for September, followed by October in the Banda Sea and Ambon.

November through to March was dedicated to Raja Ampat, with some incursions to Cenderawasih and Triton Bay, and then we headed west to Sulawesi through Halmahera in April for the annual dry-dock. We followed this routine for 14 years, as it was a very logical way to dive all of the best areas of the archipelago in accordance to weather patterns. Interestingly, as other boats started operating in Indonesia, we saw them copy what we had established… And it all makes perfect sense – if you only have one boat. But that all changed for us in 2017, with the acquisition of Oceanic. Now we were finally able to do things significantly different!

Exploring the Indonesian Archipelago – Setting the New Standard!

The basic premise to our customers is that we want to show them the best diving Indonesia has it offer, and our basic promise to those same customers is that we will do that comfortably and safely. That was why we followed the same routes around Indonesia for such a long time, but with our new boat Oceanic we now have some very significant options to do things differently, while still providing the very highest levels of safety and comfort.

So our decision has been that Ondina is now based in West Papua, in the north of Indonesia, to cover Raja Ampat, Ambon, Triton Bay, the Banda Island and Cenderawasih, while Oceanic covers the south portion of the archipelago, from Komodo to Alor and the Forgotten Islands. By being based in these areas we are now able to explore the diving in what would have previously been considered as the “off-season” – something we find incredibly ironic given that we helped establish those seasons…

We are finding some incredible diving by doing this. In the next newsletter we will share what we have discovered.

As they say… watch this space!