I can usually bang out a somewhat cohesive trip report in an hour. The pro’s and con’s are mostly self evident and clearly defined. Such, however, is not the case when it comes to cogitating over my experiences aboard MV Palagian, Wakatobi Resort’s live-aboard, and the 15 days at the resort itself.
To cut right to the chase for those of you who do not want to linger, I always ask myself one simple question to get the tenor of my article straight in my own head before I begin hunting and pecking; “would I recommend this operation to a friend?” The answer in this case was a definitive ”no”.
Why?

MV Palagian
The Palagian was built in the 1960’s as a private yacht and in the ensuing years has gone through several refurbishments. I can tell you our cruise director did mention that the ship had recently been re-decorated to give the interior spaces a more up-to-date look. The interior was tasteful and had a rich, warm feel. What was not mentioned was the fact that the air conditioning system did not work and had been an issue for some time. This fact I learned later while on the island. But while we were on the boat, it was an issue treated as if the AC had died just prior to our arrival. During our briefing in Bali before we boarded the plane there was also no mention of a broken cooling system. It was as if management was hoping we wouldn’t notice we were sweating through our sheets every night. So, at around midnight when my cabin hit 28C, I would take my sheet and pillow up to the main salon and lie down for the few hours before the crew began their -pre-dawn rituals. I survived Palagian on 2 to 3 hours of sleep per night.
Some of the guests said their cabins were cooler than mine.
Also of interest, Palagian charges their guests for everything... sodas, beer, nitrox. You also get 1 towel for the duration which is tagged with your bunk number and dried between dives. They began to pong a bit towards the end of the voyage. This from a supposed “Luxury” live-aboard?
I was told they have to charge such high prices... $2.00 for a soda, for instance, because everything is flown into the Island. I have been on live-aboards such as Pindito and Seahorse which operate out of more remote locations than Wakatobi, and on those vessels soda, beer and nitrox are included. I won’t question the claim of flying in all food and supplies for the vessel and resort but I will say I wasn’t ferried to the island in a loaded C130.
The diving operations on board were run efficiently and the Indonesian crew were great and always ready with a smile.
We spent two days at a “muck” site at the request of the macro shooters amongst us. This is not the volcanic muck one finds in places such as Lembeh. This is the runoff of a town with no sewage system. I called it quits after day 1 when a dead, bloated dog floating by was pointed out to me by another passenger. The other shooters were more brave than me and only called it quits when several dump trucks of “poop” were dumped over their heads, some of the townspeople standing on the dock doubled over with laughter. No kidding, this really happened!
The food onboard was of average quality, and there were no snacks between dives which was a comment of some of the guests. We did 3 dives per day and a night dive on most nights. Overall, I would normally give Palagian a B rating, but until it is confirmed that the AC is fully functional, for the price paid, I would simply say “Pass”.

Wakatobi Resort
The resort is beautiful, and the accommodations are wonderful. I am pleased to report that the AC in the bungalows is hyper-efficient. My Palagian bunk mate and I were upgraded to single beach bungalows after my wonderful host Jason Heller mentioned our troubles aboard the vessel.
The food was quite good and plentiful.
The diving operations were where I and some of the other guests had trouble.
Wakatobi has briefings about briefings. They have rules. Lots of them. Lots and lots of them. Most of them are aimed at protecting the reefs and I have absolutely no problem with that. It wasn’t until it was pointed out that all the biological garbage from the resort was being dumped in the water in front of the resort with some of the plastic garbage bags getting away and floating off into the currents, that I questioned the resorts’ commitment to ecologically sound practices versus convenience. This matter was brought to the owners attention and his explanation was that it is hard to educate the local population towards conservation. I will state right now that I personally witnessed the garbage handler washing out used garbage bags back on shore for re-use and also witnessed one floater at a dive site.
The problem was the attitude. Orders were barked at the guests. One guest was yelled at by a dive guide to jump into the water, “NOW”! Personally I have a real problem with that sort of behavior, as a rushed diver is an accident waiting to happen, not to mention that yelling at someone who just plunked down 6 large to get there is just bad form. The attitude extended into the common areas, with the owner sitting at a table with a reserved sign on it and the crew huddled en-masse at another. It seemed that a distinct line was drawn with the paying guests on one side and the staff on the other. Slowly but surely we won most of the staff over by plying them with drinks at the jetty bar in the evenings, but it was a continual struggle to try and get a “one for all, all for one” attitude seeded. There were two dive staff, one an arrogant ass of a frenchman who has absolutely no business being in a service industry, and was roundly despised by the entire group. His favorite game was to join in a conversation taking place between a guest and a french speaking staff member, then half way through the conversation start speaking to the staff member in french and turning his back to the guest. Perhaps it is difficult to get dive professionals who weren’t raised by wolves to work in paradise, I don’t know.
How was the diving? It was OK, just OK. Having come directly from Raja Ampat I noticed a distinct decline in fish mass and soft corals. Lots of hard corals, turtles, sea crates and nudibranchs for sure. But no large schools of fish and no explosion of colors one sees in Triton Bay.
On a bright note, much of the ill will reported by the guests was mollified when the chartered plane which was due to take us back to Denpassar broke down in Bali. The resort put up with us for the night and chartered a special plane for the following morning to make sure those guests with connecting flights could make them. That had to ruin their profit margin for our group, but showed a long term customer service attitude which we had not seen previously. They get an A+ for that one.
Overall, given Wakatobi’s proximity to some of the best diving on the planet and it’s from the top down exclusionary attitude bordering on arrogance towards the guests, I would have to recommend a pass.

Note: These are solely my opinions, and I know many people who rave about Wakatobi. Perhaps I was there during a staff turn-over or an Island Fever epidemic, because if the attitude of the staff had been more welcoming and friendly to our group rather than treating us as a necessary evil, the resort would have gotten a much different final grade.

I’m in Layang Layang at the moment. So far Im quite impressed by both the resort and the diving. More to follow.
MDA - Layang Layang, April 17th, 2008

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Excellent report.
A friend of mine rav's about the place but I was never convinced.

Thanks for the report Matthew, sorry to hear about the problems.

In LL at the moment? Say hi to Amanda for me..

Interesting read, Matthew.

I have never been to Wakatobi It is such a curious place that really seems to polarise opinion. I have heard plenty of people reporting similar experiences to yours and plenty more falling in love with the place and returning time after time. But reports of experiences like yours have probably contributed to the fact I have never been there.

Alex

My experience at the resort was great, on the Pelagian, not so much. I found the diving to be mixed. Our food was great and we had snacks. They rotate different cooks in and out. You obviously didn't get the same cook as we had.

At the resort, the staff ate at the table with the guests they were guiding when we were there. It was great. They've had a pretty full turnover. Markus had just started. Deni, Iman and Yann are the only other ones that appear to still be there from our visit a year and half ago.

Matthew, that is a pretty damning report. Wakatobi resort is definitely 'different'. To be fair, a lot of the supplies, when not flown in comes from the other islands supply ships. On the other island of Binongko, where the famed blacksmiths reside, a soda is about 8k rupiah. Being a resort, 18k doesn't seem that exorbitant to me.
The resort is also out to make money, and they do promote aggressively to get customers in. The staff does rotate often due to "island" fever and the management's 'style'. As for the 'special charter' flight, that's covered by the charter company and not the resort. They don't fly, they don't get paid. Everything is factored into your price already, since transport is paid. They did what most other companies would've done. Nothing special there.
Sorry to hear you had only a so so time in Wakatobi National Park area. The Pelagian was a nice boat and it was a pity it was sold to Wakatobi Resort. However, I think only the Adventure Komodo and Pindito throw in drinks (and wine), but they need(ed) to do that to justify the prices they charge, despite the many inadequacies of the boats.
The one dive towel rule isn't so bad unless it's raining. I mean it's only to dry you til the next dive. Even luxury boats have to think eco. Oh wait they charge more for 'eco'.

Wow Matthew...

Well, our trip to Wakatobi is already paid for and all of our reservations have been confirmed. So I guess we will be preparing ourselves for rules, rules, rules. Attitude, attitude, attitude. And lots of it! Thanks for the heads-up.

From my experience having now dived through out the planet, there is always one odd, weird, or highly neurotic dive master. I have learned to either avoid or humour this individual and no longer take it personally. I would assume that this "ass of a Frenchman" would qualify as this particular DM. Again, thanks for the heads-up. I will warn my fiancee and we will have our attitude-radar cranked up to a 10.

To be honest, I've never had a bad experience with a DM or dive guide in Bali, Lembeh or Bunaken.


Matthew, thanks for your informative report, I'm really looking forward to the Layang Layang report..

btw, Ive heard about these famous "briefings" in wakatobi. I don't think I could have handled that, when I arrive somewhere I like to be in the water taking photos within 30 minutes!

Scott

Matthew -

Thanks for the report. We were able to book a 2009 package at 2007 rates several months ago, so we're in for June of 2009. I have heard mostly positive reports, but I have heard reference to "nazi divemasters" and guests being yelled at...I was told to bring a "poke stick" for macro by someone who I KNOW does not buy into that sort of thing...

As for the arrogant ass, I think I could have some fun messing with any DM who behaved in such a manner, so I look forward to that!! Heh heh heh....must review my French...

Allison

As for the 'special charter' flight, that's covered by the charter company and not the resort. They don't fly, they don't get paid. Everything is factored into your price already, since transport is paid. They did what most other companies would've done. Nothing special there.
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We were specifically told by the management that they had to pay for an extra plane to get us out early. The scheduled flight in of new guests was arriving too late to get our transit flyers to their connections, so the resort did have an extra plane flown in early (6 am) to take us out, with the scheduled flight not arriving until 11am.
As far as the drinks issue, I was only referring to soda and beer, a usual give-away from my most recent experiences. Wine and alcoholic beverages are usually an extra charge.

[quote name='MatthewAddison' date='Apr 18 2008, 12:42 AM' post='166299']
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As far as the drinks issue, I was only referring to soda and beer, a usual give-away from my most recent experiences. Wine and alcoholic beverages are usually an extra charge.
[/quote]

Sounds like a miserable disappointment....

But: isn't beer an alcoholic beverage? Probably best avoided if you are doing several dives a day, and if the A/C is snafu, likely to lead to dehydration and DCS!

.... thanks for posting your experience, it sounds very much as if I should cross Wakatobi off my "to do" list.

Tim

Lets not get too hasty here Tim, you are infringing on the beer given rights of 80% of the world's dive guides here! We know they never drink at night after a long day of diving.. me not included of course..

... and I thought it was just me..haha.

You guys need to go to Coz Mexico...one cheap price, service is extraordinary, and only 1 or two neurotic DM's to cope with...haha. All is forgotten at the bar with unlimited drinks, alcohol included.

Between WETPIXEL and UNDERCURRENT, I have read so many reviews about WAKATOBI which alternate between the resort being diving heaven or the antithesis: the last place to dive in Indonesia. I think a few more of the reviews seemed to air on the positive extreme side. I am now more curious than ever to what my June Wakatobi adventure will bring...

I was on the trip with matt. I agree with everything he listed. I would add that jason and wendy heller did a great job organizing the trip and trying to help with our concerns. I would recomend any trip with them. Ive been diving regularly for 15 years, and have never had any experience like I did at wakatobi. I wouldnt go back for free

I would go anywhere with Jason and Wendy. Not only is Jason always available to share his invaluable photographic knowledge (even when he is inundated with logistic concerns), he's just a really, really nice and genuine person.

Was it that bad that you "wouldn't go back for free"???????????? I am getting worried now especially because our Wakatobi trip is all booked for June. Could it have been that you happened to be there on a bad week?????? (I am hoping!)
What would you say the positives were, if any?

I was in Wakatobi in May 2007, and understand the frustrations that the folks in this thread experienced. Sounds like a combination of a bad week (I didn't experience) and some overly restrictive rules (I did). During our trip rules were enforced "stringently." And by the end of the week I had grown very tired of the briefings.

However, the diving was nice, the resort/location was efficient and the above water scenery beautiful (we luckily were on the windy side of the island and the evening breezes were amazing). And while I agree there weren't the amazing soft corals of Triton Bay or schools of fish of other parts of Indonesia, there were some great things to shoot - especially if you were willing to work for it and if you like macro.

I thought the guides were very good (didn't meet the frenchman, thankfully); the discussion on our trip was around the fact that there was only one local divemaster. It wasn't an issue for diving; the only problem I had diving-wise was the "get in line" situation that happened at just about every cool critter. Divers were lined up five deep to shoot pygmies.

However, if you were willing to risk it and go searching on your own vs. relying on the guides, it wasn't difficult to find great stuff. On one frustrating dive (where guys were shooting 20-25 shots of a pygmy while four others were lined up, I swam off 10-20 meters ahead with a couple of others who refused to join the cue. Down about 5 meters I was lucky enough to spot a massive spanish dancer hanging upside down in an undercut (Spanish Dancer @ Wakatobi ). I did call the others over -- after I had taken my share of pics.

I just did my own thing, didn't get all caught up in getting in line, and kept and eye on the guide to see where the critters they spotted were. Then I'd usually go back to take a pic after every other photographer had finished.

Overall, I enjoyed the diving and photography. As for returning, it'd be down my list -- after all the other places in Indonesia that I still need to see or want to see again. I'm already planning on going back to Lembeh, Ambon and Raja Ampat/Triton Bay; still need to see Komodo/Flores.

It's an "easy" place to dive, because of the convenience/location of dive sites, the variety of life and the organization/efficiency of the resort operation (which some might find convenient and others restrictive) so I certainly can see why people continue to go back.

I know this is a trip report thread, but this is Wetpixel, right? Let's see some Wakatobi pictures!!!

EFD

yes, the diving was good, but a big part of any trip is the vibe of a place, and thats a problem there. Ive posted pelagian pics on flickr. that boat staff was great, nice crew. hope to get to resort pics soon

Radiant/Fantasea 2/Pelagian has been plagued with hull problems since it was built. Although this does not affect the passenger directly, it can affect the owner and an owner's depression can be contagious among his employees!