Dancing Wind Liveaboard, Indonesia

Outstanding dive trip and cultural connection in a paradise setting.

Our recent Dancing Wind Liveaboard experience was great! We dove numerous dive sites throughout Central Raja Ampat during our March 13-20, 2026 trip. The vessel is lovely, clean, spacious, and transported us fluidly to our destinations. The boat crew were friendly, the staff were exceedingly courteous and helpful, and the divemasters were knowledgeable, skilled, and gracious to all in our group of 14 divers. The staff were safety-conscious throughout the trip and accommodated our priority attention to safety at the outset as our group coordinators considered our pre-planned safety checklist, did walkthroughs, asked questions, and inspected equipment such as emergency O2. We had 4 dives/day, including night dives, and a checkout dive, totaling 21 dives offered for the trip. I enjoyed all of them and saw several sea creatures for the first time amid the lovely coral. The highlight was several huge manta rays that visited the Manta Sandy dive site, especially one that put on a ~ 2-minute “performance” for us! Each dive briefing was thorough and featured magnificent drawings. All the divemasters had the opportunity to conduct briefings and respond to any questions/concerns/requests that we had. Their English language skills were proficient, and I always felt prepared for each dive. The dive crew were consistent and took great care in handling, setting up after tank-filling, and cleaning our gear. They were always right there to hang our wetsuits/dive skins for drying after we rinsed off. We enjoyed enthusiastic send-offs from the available boat and dive crews as we departed for each dive, and super-enthusiastic welcoming on returning from each dive, including addressing us by name. Being greeted with ginger tea and name-labeled towels after climbing back aboard the Dancing Wind from the dinghy was wonderful! Thanks, Ellen. Thanks, Fony. And thanks, Rama for great coordination on so many aspects of our on-board activities. The chef provided a wide variety of delicious/nutritious meals, and I appreciate her additional efforts to accommodate my vegan dietary status. Land excursions were meaningful, culturally enriching, and fun. In addition to providing us with opportunities to gain insights about Indonesia culture and heritage (especially my Blu River Forest/Water Initiation,) the staff facilitated our community outreach priorities, so we were able to visit a school (equivalent to US elementary school-aged children) and to help support plans for expanding the facilities. The adorable children welcomed us with great kindness and warmed our hearts. Big shout out to CoCo, whose team-oriented leadership style initiated and maintained an outstanding experience for us. His balanced business/management and interpersonal skills are evident and appreciated. And a special shout out to AJ, who was my divemaster throughout. AJ is an amazingly multi-talented, skilled divemaster and artist with a heart of gold! He’s got a sharp eye for macro creatures such as pigmy seahorses and is diligent in guidance on dives (pre-dive and during.) He sparks joy, fun, comradery and connection, and we all loved his singing, musicianship, historical insights, and representing cultural aspects of Indonesian life. Everyone associated with the Dancing Wind on this trip demonstrated exceptional customer service throughout. I highly recommend the Dancing Wind Liveaboard and once again thank the crew and staff.

Recommended for

The deep customer service dedication of the boat and dive crews.. The varied dive sites and inclusion of numerous night dives.. The opportunity to visit local destinations and participate in Indonesian cultural activities with my group of dive friends..

27 Mar, 2026

I was a truly satisfying bucket list experience and worth every dollar.

I enjoyed the pre-dive briefings, the diving, the dive masters and the entire team's light-hearted yet professional attitude. It was a truly fantastically smooth operation. Their knowledge of the dive sites and overall area was second to none.

Recommended for

Dive Master CoCo. Great facilities, staff and the food. The diving and daily adventure activities.

02 May, 2025

Dancing Wind is Raja Ampat royalty.

The crew was outstanding. Warm, attentive, and genuinely friendly. We sang, we danced, and had a great time with them! A.J., Coco, Rama, Ellen, the captain, and others. All made the experience great. The food was really good. We had a great chef who made tasty meals and wonderful wait staff. The after dive drinks and snacks were always a pleasure! Our dive guides and boat staff were great as well. Very helpful with gearing up and diligent in showing us all that Raja Ampat had to offer, despite the limited vis on some sites. The macro, especially on the night dives, was nice really good, as were the sharks, rays and mantas. The schooling fish, corals, and biodiversity, were on display and a real treat!

Recommended for

Friendliness and warmth of the crew.. Food was tasty.. Biodiversity and really good dive guides made for great diving..

25 Mar, 2026

My most beautiful dives

The most beautiful dives of my life. The staff on board is very caring, the food is excellent and the cabins are very drinkable. Just a little disappointed by the divemasters who did the job very well underwater but were not very nice off it.

Recommended for

Dive. Service. Food.

05 May, 2025

Awesome trip and stunning value for money

I booked an 11D/10N trips with Dancing Wind for the best of Raja Ampat. The price for this trip was only 2500$ which is a crazy value for the money especially since I got a whole cabin for myself since there were only 9 guests on board (I booked a triple shared cabin). The crew did a fantastic job the whole trip and everybody was super friendly. Nunu (the main host) made sure that we felt comfortable the whole trip and made sure that we got everything we needed. The dive masters all had a lot of experience in the areas/sites we dived and were great at spotting small creatures. They made a great selection of dive sites and all the dives were absolutely stunning. The food was good and plentiful. Breakfast, lunch and dinner were excellent and there was a wide variety of dishes to choose from. Snacks and drinks were also available the whole day, so we were never hungry. After each dive we were always welcomed with a welcome back and some drinks. The crew set up the tanks before every dive and carried them in and out of the dinghies. We did some land trips (pyainemo, love lagoon, a beach and a jellyfish lake) which were a great addition to the diving. There are two kayaks on board which can be used between dives (highly recommended to do in Misool!) to explore lagoons and hidden beaches. The boat is a wooden pinisi boat. The boat looks good and is well maintained. Since it is a wooden boat, you can expect a lot of creaking in the cabins. The engines and generator made a lot of noise when they were running, but I got used to this very quickly and it didn't really bother me. The cabin was roomy to accommodate two persons. When three persons need to share these rooms it could get a bit cramped. The room was clean and was cleaned every morning. The diving deck is roomy and there is plenty of space to setup the tanks and gear. On top of the dining area there is a sundeck with chairs and bean bags to relax between the dives. The only downside of the trip was that they skipped the northern part of the trip and we spent 5 days in central Raja Ampat and 5 days in Misool. The reason why they didn't went north was not clear for me, but I guess it was to save some fuel costs since the boat was only half booked. This was not really a problem for me since the diving was great everywhere. Conclusion: highly recommended dive operation especially at the current prices that they are offering their trips.

Recommended for

Fantastic crew. Great diving guides. Good food.

14 Apr, 2025

Beautiful dives in the center and west of Raja Ampat!

Our stay was generally satisfactory, the dives are beautiful and the welcome of the crew is excellent. Life on the boat is well organized and the food is good and diverse.On the other hand, we were disappointed by the noise on the boat. We had a room on the upper deck and we could hear everything that was being said in the cockpit or in the crew's rest area. Similarly, the noise of the engines and generators was annoying for sleeping. Fortunately, the boat was not full and we were able to change rooms and be partially compensated by the owner of the boat, with whom exchanges are easy by email. The rooms are large, clean, cleaned every morning, with towels for the shower and others for the return from diving. In general, the boat is spacious (bedrooms, dive deck, saloon, sun deck).We also regret that the person in charge of the boat did not make more efforts to create a friendly atmosphere: the crew was not introduced to us, the briefings were succinct and there was a falling out between him and other passengers during the last two days of the cruise.The boat only accommodates 7 passengers, so we were able to easily bond with each other, but not with the crew.On the diving side, the dedicated space on the main deck is large enough and there are two tenders to get to the sites, with ladders to get back on board. Be careful for the rented equipment, we had several small leaks with regulators of the boat, without consequence for the dives., they are not all recent.

Recommended for

The quality of the dive sites. The reception of the crew. The return from diving (equipment, snack).

02 May, 2025