Bali liveaboard?

In article <11o4238b39nt5ee@corp.supernews.com>, mossman@qnet.com (Greg
Mossman) wrote:

> I'll let the agency deal
> with the money and paperwork and if I have problems I can pick up the
> phone and talk to someone during my normal waking hours whose first
> language is English. We'll see . . .

OK, you should give Annabelle a call, she just might be able to help, you
have nothing to loose. She is English but has been in Bali for some time
and understands the indonesian way of doing things........

www.seatreker.com
Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK

In article <11o4238b39nt5ee@corp.supernews.com>, mossman@qnet.com (Greg
Mossman) wrote:

> I'll let the agency deal
> with the money and paperwork and if I have problems I can pick up the
> phone and talk to someone during my normal waking hours whose first
> language is English. We'll see . . .

OK, you should give Annabelle a call, she just might be able to help, you
have nothing to loose. She is English but has been in Bali for some time
and understands the indonesian way of doing things........

www.seatreker.com
Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK

<morgand@cix.compulink.co.uk> wrote in message
news:XqidnclmK9pnDRneRVnysw@pipex.net...
> In article <11o4238b39nt5ee@corp.supernews.com>, mossman@qnet.com (Greg
> Mossman) wrote:
>
>> I'll let the agency deal
>> with the money and paperwork and if I have problems I can pick up the
>> phone and talk to someone during my normal waking hours whose first
>> language is English. We'll see . . .
>
> OK, you should give Annabelle a call, she just might be able to help, you
> have nothing to loose. She is English but has been in Bali for some time
> and understands the indonesian way of doing things........

After some e-mailing back and forth with Indonesia, we finally got my boat
reservations transferred to the travel agent's capable hands. Instead of
the rigamarole of having to fax all this paperwork to a broken fax machine
in Indonesia, complete with copies of both sides of the credit card,
passport, etc., I simply gave the travel agent my credit card number over
the phone and it's done. I'm now booked and confirmed. Komodo here I come.

http://www.kararu.com/liveaboards/voyager/index.html

I'll do Wakatobi some time in the future, I'm sure. But I'm already flying
three legs to get to Bali, a total of 18 hours in the air plus airport time
in between and an overnight at LAX, so I can't imagine wanting to do any
more traveling other than climbing into the back of a taxi, until our bags
are aboard and the boat leaves the dock. Plus infernal Continental hasn't
upgraded us yet on the HNL-GUM legs even though I bought the plane tix and
got on the upgrade waiting list at the earliest point possible. If I get
stuck spending 7.5 hours in coach with my "big bones", even though we did
score our own row of two together in bulkhead, I definitely won't be in the
mood to cram myself onto a puddle jumper. (It's not all fat. My skeleton
measures 24.5" wide from shoulder-to-shoulder. Economy-class seats on
Continental's 767-400 are 17.9" wide. Where do I stick the other 6.6"?
Usually it hangs into the aisle, unless I'm unlucky enough not to get an
aisle seat. Then I get smacked by passengers heading to the head, and
flight attendants with their heavy metal carts and politically correct large
derriers. Sleep is entirely out of the question.)

<morgand@cix.compulink.co.uk> wrote in message
news:XqidnclmK9pnDRneRVnysw@pipex.net...
> In article <11o4238b39nt5ee@corp.supernews.com>, mossman@qnet.com (Greg
> Mossman) wrote:
>
>> I'll let the agency deal
>> with the money and paperwork and if I have problems I can pick up the
>> phone and talk to someone during my normal waking hours whose first
>> language is English. We'll see . . .
>
> OK, you should give Annabelle a call, she just might be able to help, you
> have nothing to loose. She is English but has been in Bali for some time
> and understands the indonesian way of doing things........

After some e-mailing back and forth with Indonesia, we finally got my boat
reservations transferred to the travel agent's capable hands. Instead of
the rigamarole of having to fax all this paperwork to a broken fax machine
in Indonesia, complete with copies of both sides of the credit card,
passport, etc., I simply gave the travel agent my credit card number over
the phone and it's done. I'm now booked and confirmed. Komodo here I come.

http://www.kararu.com/liveaboards/voyager/index.html

I'll do Wakatobi some time in the future, I'm sure. But I'm already flying
three legs to get to Bali, a total of 18 hours in the air plus airport time
in between and an overnight at LAX, so I can't imagine wanting to do any
more traveling other than climbing into the back of a taxi, until our bags
are aboard and the boat leaves the dock. Plus infernal Continental hasn't
upgraded us yet on the HNL-GUM legs even though I bought the plane tix and
got on the upgrade waiting list at the earliest point possible. If I get
stuck spending 7.5 hours in coach with my "big bones", even though we did
score our own row of two together in bulkhead, I definitely won't be in the
mood to cram myself onto a puddle jumper. (It's not all fat. My skeleton
measures 24.5" wide from shoulder-to-shoulder. Economy-class seats on
Continental's 767-400 are 17.9" wide. Where do I stick the other 6.6"?
Usually it hangs into the aisle, unless I'm unlucky enough not to get an
aisle seat. Then I get smacked by passengers heading to the head, and
flight attendants with their heavy metal carts and politically correct large
derriers. Sleep is entirely out of the question.)

In article <11o9bf5nv392m6b@corp.supernews.com>, mossman@qnet.com (Greg
Mossman) wrote:

> Then I get smacked by passengers heading to the head, and
> flight attendants with their heavy metal carts and politically correct
> large derriers. Sleep is entirely out of the question.)

Pay the extra and get the "B I G" seats.........;^) i have a smile on my
face now, i have just received two minutes ago our tickets out to
Singapore for our trip to Sulawesi......happy times........

www.seatreker.com
Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK

In article <11o9bf5nv392m6b@corp.supernews.com>, mossman@qnet.com (Greg
Mossman) wrote:

> Then I get smacked by passengers heading to the head, and
> flight attendants with their heavy metal carts and politically correct
> large derriers. Sleep is entirely out of the question.)

Pay the extra and get the "B I G" seats.........;^) i have a smile on my
face now, i have just received two minutes ago our tickets out to
Singapore for our trip to Sulawesi......happy times........

www.seatreker.com
Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK

Having just found out that July '06 charter of Kararu's Sea Safari III that
I had been planning on going on has been canceled due to lack of interest, I
now have plane tickets sending me to Bali for two weeks with no place to go.

Does anyone have any recent experience with Kararu or with the Komodo Dancer
(providing there's still space available)?

I've read some positive and some less positive reviews on the Dancer from
Undercurrent's publicly accessible reviews, and slightly more positive
reviews about the Sea Safari III. The problem is that Kararu is obtaining a
new boat, the Voyager, to be put into service in February. The itinerary
for our planned charter, now canceled, has apparently been moved onto the
new boat, an as-yet unknown quantity. So my choice is (a) trying to get on
the Dancer instead, (b) sticking with Kararu if they can book me direct, but
planning on going out on a boat that's still in the process of being
converted to a dive boat, or (c) finding yet another liveaboard. I suppose
I could monkey around with the plane tickets, but that will not only cost me
money but also lose me my place in the upgrade wait-list on the HNL-GUM legs
of the trip. Since I've already planned on those weeks off, and it's
supposedly the best time of the year to go, I'd rather stick with the
itinerary I have.

The Dancer is smaller and has some reports of leaky cabins (from rain). On
the other hand, it's a bit cheaper (especially with free booze figured in)
and I'm going in the dryest month of the year so leaks shouldn't be an
issue. I have booking requests into both their websites and hope to hear
back early this week as to what options I truly have available to me, but if
anyone has a preference, please let me know it and why.

Greg Mossman wrote:
> Having just found out that July '06 charter of Kararu's Sea Safari III that
> I had been planning on going on has been canceled due to lack of interest, I
> now have plane tickets sending me to Bali for two weeks with no place to go.

Cancelling EIGHT months before charter date?

It sounded like vapor ware liveaboard to me. I TOLD you Bali
is not worth all the trouble getting there for some mediocre
dives. I think you gloated too soon about your charter.

I was booked on a Peter Hughes Dancer for the Red Sea a
few years ago, and it was cancelled for lack of interest, but it
wasn't cancelled until ONE MONTH before the trip because
only three people signed up for it.

The latest massacre in Bali didn't help the tourist trade there.

But if you want to dive Bali, from land or liveaboard, the person
to talk to is Robert Delfs on the Scuba-SE LIST.

Robert was the one who arranged for the multinational
(Australia, Germany, Singapore, USA) group of 10 divers to
dive Bali in April 2004. He had to cancel the very last minute
because of the unexpected death of his SO.

He is back to Bali now (has been living there for some time),
and he was trying to get a group interested in some liveaboard
there again, in 2006. So far, the only one who seemed interested
was Michael Doelle <aka Mika> (whom Lee Bell flamed NOT
in scuba-SE where Mika posted, but in rec.scuba, where
Mika hadn't posted for years!). That outrage even caused
Popeye to visit Scuba-SE, and crossed swords with Mika, and
da Feeesh had the rare occasion to be the mediator, telling
BOTH of them that they are both GOOD assholes.

That ended the inter-group internet outrage caused by DING
DONG Lee Bell.

At any rate, Robert Delfs is the authority and source to consult
for EVERYTHING you might want to know about Bali and
nearby diving, in Thailand and Asia.

Just send the line "Sub scuba-SE Greg Mossman"
to LISTSERV@raven.utc.edu

and after the subscription, then you can POST and ask your
question(s) there and Robert will be sure to respond even though
scuba-SE is a pretty dead list now.

Scuba-SE is where nearly all of the former Scuba-L members
<any and every one worth the salt> went after Nick Simicich's
massacre resulted from his attempted censorship of ME. <and
had to expel three wrong "good guys" for the stupid rule Nick
set up> ) Now BOTH lists are more or less moribund, though
Scuba-SE thrived for several years while Scuba-L limped.

-- Bob.

You may find this worth:
http://www.atlantis-bali-diving.com/
(have been diving with them last week)

In article <11nesj12tvflc48@corp.supernews.com>, mossman@qnet.com (Greg
Mossman) wrote:

>
> Having just found out that July '06 charter of Kararu's Sea Safari III
> that I had been planning on going on has been canceled due to lack of
> interest, I now have plane tickets sending me to Bali for two weeks
> with no place to go.

Now that your in Bali, your in Indonesia, one of the really great places
for diving, your only a short distance from Sipadan and Mabul and flights
are cheap out there........you get a cheap hop to loads of
places.....Malaysia, Borneo, Philipines, Sulawesi.....even Oz....

www.seatreker.com
Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK