Arenui
Arenui
The Arenui liveaboard diving boat is a traditional and magnificent Phinisi, wooden designed sailing vessel with the purpose of helping the visitors to explore the magnificent Indonesian Archipelago. On Arenui, you can explore the world’s number one site offering diverse marine life, including Raja Ampat, Alor Maluku, Komodo, and beyond! The Arenui liveaboard diving ship offers professional massage and spa treatment to our divers.
Arenui liveaboard dive boat provides a culture and style as you sail through the beautiful Colar Island. The boat is here to provide you with convenience equipped dive liveaboard, combined with artistic touches and a 5-star luxury hotel. Unlike land resorts, Arenui liveaboard dive resort drops you directly at the Indonesian dive site.
The Arenui has been designed to host a maximum of 16 passengers in 8 exceptionally spacious cabins (starting from 19 squared meters), which is perfect for individuals, couples or consider booking the whole boat as a yacht for charter with a group of friends.
All cabins on Arenui have been luxuriously furnished in a sophisticated and tasteful manner. The cabins’ individual themes and styles were inspired by handicrafts from each of the Indonesian provinces.
Each cabin has a private en-suite bathroom and individual air conditioning. A king-size bed or roomy singles and a distinct lounge area guarantee maximum comfort and ensure that our guests never feel crowded.
The Arenui can be your private sanctuary and second home, but one located amidst a constantly changing tropical landscape!
Itinerary
Arenui's annual cycle:
From May to October Arenui cruises the Komodo National Park area, taking in dive sites and landscapes from Bali right across to Flores and Alor, which can be dived all year round.
Then in November Arenui will move towards Ambon in Maluku and the Spice Islands in the Banda Sea, working its way to the Raja Ampat area of Western Papua (the world ‘epicenter of marine biodiversity’).
The cruises continue in Raja Ampat from December through April, before traveling back towards Alor and Komodo National Park (one of the ‘New 7 Wonders of Nature’).
While diving around the Komodo National park, we enjoy excellent muck diving, but also outstanding pelagic action. We offer 7 to 13 night cruises, exploring all the popular dive spots such as Gili Lawa Laut, where we dive at Crystal Rock and Castle Rock (great opportunity to try out a ‘reef-hook’ dive, as you secure yourself to the rock and float in the current, watching the schooling fish and predator/prey action). Plus, we visit a dive site in the shadow of an active volcano to feel the bubbling hot springs, and take a stroll on land with Komodo’s giant lizard population. To sum up, these cruises are all about diversity, with exhilarating drift diving, interesting muck diving, encounters with pelagics (mantas, sharks, whale sharks, sunfish), macro attractions (pygmy seahorses, blue-ringed octopus, frogfish, ghost pipefish), shallow reefs, walls, pinnacles, seamounts, and pristine hard/soft corals.
The Raja Ampat season offers various 11 to 13 night cruises, taking in the major dive sites such as Manta Sandy (great for watching and interacting with mantas as they visit the cleaning station), Boo Windows (try out your photo skills at the ‘window’ as your dive-buddy swims through an opening in the submerged rock past a reef draped in soft corals and brimming with fish), Neptune’s Fan Sea (rush along a gulley in the current, past giant colorful gorgonian sea fans) and Arborek Jetty (famous for pipefish, cuttlefish, octopus, and giant clams, plus the newly discovered Pontohi pygmy seahorse). This area is known for its vibrant underwater colors but also its majestic landscapes, making it a perfect destination for keen photographers. The only problem with diving here is that you’ll be so spoiled by the near-perfect conditions that you may never want to leave.
Deck Plans
Vessel Specifications
Name: Arenui
Length: 141 feet
Beam: 30 feet
Draft: 12 feet
Displacement: 300 tons
Engines: Mitsubishi marine 10 cylinders 440 HP
Electronic Appliances: Radar 35 MM Furuno, echo sounder Furuno, GPS Furuno, WHS SSB Radio, Ericsson satellite phone,
Cruising Speed: 9 -11 knots
Safety: 2 * 20 persons inflatable life rafts, life jackets (40 pcs), buoys, safety flares, smoke detectors in each cabin, fire extinguishers, first aids equipment, oxygen onboard
Diesel Generators: 1 * Mitsubishi 60 KW ~ 1 * Mitsubishi 20 KW
Available Voltage: 220 Volt, 50 Hertz avalaible for cabins ~ 110 Volt available in the camera room
Water Tank: 10,000 liter + desalination unit (capacity 7,000 liters per day)
Fuel Tank: 10 tons
Scuba Tanks: 30 * 11 liters tanks. 4 * 15 liters tanks
Compressors: 2 Bauer Mariner, Nitrox membrane system available
UW Photography: Individual charging stations, photography table, iMac computers with photo editing software
Guest Accommodations: Max 16 guests, 8 double-twin cabins, on request possible third bed for families or groups
Cabins: For each cabin a min 19 squared meters, sofa' area or desk, private toilet with window, hot water shower, individual AC, electricity 24 hours/day minibar and safety deposit box
Crew: 22 persons included 2 western cruises directors
Tenders: 2 fiberglass dinghy (24 ft each) with outboard 40 HP Yamaha engine / 1 inflatable rubber boat (18 ft)
A day onboard Arenui
6:00-7:00am
Wake up in a remote paradise, head out to the restaurant area and start the day with a small breakfast of toast, pastries, fruit, coffee, and juice. One of the cruise directors gives a full dive brief, using two TV screens to highlight the dive site map and a recommended route to explore the reef, and also uses the fish ID books to show photos of the popular critters we hope to see that are special to this site.
8:00am
First dive of the day. Grab rash-guard, mask, booties, and fins, then pass crew the camera to put in a plastic basket and take to the tender. Step down into the tender and check over BCD (already waiting for you, set up and ready to go). Quick 2-3 mins ride out to the site, gear up and then back roll into the water. Probably a deeper dive, perhaps a nice slow drift or maybe a good chance to hook onto the sea bed and watch some early morning fish action. Pop up (after safety stop) to find tender waiting at the surface. Head back to boat and crew member hands over a warm towel to dry off!
9.30am
Time for the big breakfast now, with a full spread of hot items and eggs cooked to request (before the first dive you'll be asked how you'd like your eggs so they can prepare and have everything ready after the dive). Relax on the sky lounge, go for a nap in your cabin or complete logbooks. Thirty minutes before the dive time it's another dive briefing, with map, route, photos.
11:30am
Second dive of the day. Good time to take out the underwater camera and try for some images in good light.
1pm
If it's not dive-time then it must be food-time. Lunch is a mouth-watering buffet of local and western food with healthy salads and vegetables to make sure everyone's feeling fit and healthy for the next dive. Perhaps time to pop up to the sky lounge for a short cat-nap, or to read a good book or chat with other guests and crew. Step in to say hello to the captain in the wheelhouse and ask him about the beautiful islands we're sailing past. Back down to the restaurant for a full dive briefing.
3:00pm
Third dive of the day. Fueled by a tasty lunch, drop in for a current dive and try to keep up with the schools of fish
4.30pm
Chef puts out some tasty snacks, savory and sweet. Try to resist eating too much but it's all so delicious and you have the excuse of needing energy for all this diving! Time to decide whether to do the night dive or not. If not, there's the option of an early dinner so you're not eating too late.
5:00pm
Find some time between reading, chatting, snacking and looking at photos on the computer to get a back massage. Fragrant massage oils smell great, mixing with the salty ocean breeze. Now it's decision time; sunset cocktail or a last dive? There's time later for a drink with the stars instead, so head down for a dive briefing to find out what's in store on this night dive.
6:30pm
Fourth dive of the day. Well worth skipping the cocktail, as the reef is alive with weird and wonderful creatures. Eagle-eyed dive guide points out tiny bits of fluff that turn out to be minute species, rarely seen. After the dive, head back to the boat through inky black water under a canopy of stars. Crew members have a hot towel and a cup of hot chocolate ready and waiting!
8:00pm
Take a seat in the sky restaurant on the top deck under the stars, with fellow divers, to discuss the day's highlights, while tucking into the starter laid out at the table. Soup is next, then crew serves up the main course (chosen earlier, at lunchtime, from a menu that changes daily) and everyone toasts to a great day of diving. After a delicious dessert, there's time for a short movie before bedtime.
Raja Ampat sample dive areas
Misool – Boo Area
Boo Windows is the famous dive site in this area. It is best known for the “windows” or rounded openings on the end of the largest rock that completely pierce the reef from the surface down to about five meters/fifteen feet. Although the two rocks appear separate from the surface they are in fact connected underwater by a magnificent reef draped in soft corals and brimming with fish. See photos of the Windows here. Boo Ridge is an underwater ridge coming off the eastern point of Boo Island. Both sides are covered in huge gorgonian sea fans. At these dive sites lookout for turtles, reef sharks, pygmies, nudis, and schooling batfish, fusiliers and snappers. Shadow Reef is a submerged seamount south of Boo. The fish life here is profuse with napoleon wrasses of all sizes, baby white tip reef sharks sleeping under the table corals, schooling barracuda and batfish and for the lucky ones maybe a manta ray circling the cleaning stations. Birthday Cake is a beautiful ridge in the Boo Area. Look for pygmy seahorses, flatworms and nudibranch in the deeper section and beautiful soft corals in the shallows, where we even have seen the famous “walking shark” – epaulette shark. Eagle Nest is a seamount close to the island of Warakaraket. With the right current, we have been lucky to see lots of fish action, including grey reef sharks, giant travellies hunting in clouds of fusiliers and even manta rays.
Misool – Yuliet Area
The tiny islands of Yuliet and Romeo both have surrounding plateaux in the shallows that slope down to reefs or small walls. At Yuliet there is a good chance to see the ‘Santa Claus pygmy’ a red color variation of the Denise pygmy seahorse. In the shallows are large coral heads completely covered in colorful soft corals. Schools of barracuda and batfish, as well as napoleon wrasses, are often seen here. Romeo is a great night dive where we will look for the endemic epaulette shark, the ‘walking’ shark.
Misool – Fiabecet
Fiabecet area has a selection of dives where the colorful soft corals and beautiful sea fans literally smother the reefs. The soft corals here are truly outstanding. There is a deep underwater ridge connecting the island of Boo in the east to the island of Kalig in the west. In parts, this ridge moves up shallower and forms the dive sites of Boo West Corner, Batu Kecil (aka Tank Rock), Nudi Rock, Whale Rock, and Kalig Ridge. Expect healthy fish life, pygmy seahorses galore, nudis, colorful anemones, reef sharks and perhaps a Wobbegong shark. Anti-chovy is a large underwater seamount with some deep pinnacles covered in stunning corals. Mobula rays, golden trevallies, and Napoleon wrasses can be found here. On top of the seamount look for turtles, stonefish and reef octopus.
Misool – Wayilbatan Area
Neptune Fan Sea is a small channel between two islands with a shallow wall completely covered in some of the biggest gorgonian sea fans you will ever see. At the start of the dive explore the beautiful coral heads where huge groupers can be hiding. Then drift along the wall and enjoy the view of the sea fans, stopping once in a while to find the tiny pygmy seahorse. Four Kings is a stunning dive site made up of four underwater pinnacles. Swim from one rock to the next enjoying the soft corals and fish life. Look out for schooling big eye jacks, spadefishes, and grey reef sharks. Wedding Cake, Dunia Kecil, and Wayili Rock offer chances to see schools of batfish, trevallies, barracuda, pygmy seahorses, and reef octopus.
Misool – Daram Area
Daram is the most easterly point of the islands we might visit in Misool. The reef at Andiamo is stunning and is large enough for at least two dives. There is a submerged pinnacle where sea fans are surrounded by schools of fusiliers and batfish. A short swim across a sandy bottom brings you to the main reef lush with soft corals. In between the two islets is a gap thick with sea fans and is excellent for wide-angle photography. Look out for blacktip reef sharks and Napoleon wrasse, if you can see them through all the fish! Candy Store is so named because the first divers to explore this reef felt like kids in a candy store. Huge sponges, beautiful soft corals, and sea fans cover this dive site, especially in the valleys where schools of fusiliers, butterfly fish and sometimes barracuda gather. Warna Berwarna in Bahasa Indonesia means “Vibrant Colors”. Expect to see sea fans in all possible colors and watch out for pygmy seahorses. On the north-western side of the island there is a beautiful ridge coming out where tons of fusiliers and orange spotted trevallies hang out in the blue. The shallows are covered with healthy hard corals and often we get to see schooling bumphead parrotfishes.
Misool – Pele Area
Kaleidoscope is so called because of the profusion of colors produced by the huge soft corals draping the shallow rocks and coral heads. A ridge extends out west from the island which can full of fish when the current is running. Back at the island finish the dive under the overhangs.
Misool – Sagof
The little islets of Baby Rock and Two Tree Island create amazing dive sites with abundant fish life. There is a resident school of batfish at Baby Rock and Two Tree Island is often full of thousands baitfish. The Watch Towers is a massive seamount with tons of black coral in the deeper section. Schools of yellow snappers, barracudas and giant trevallies can be found in the up-current side. On the hard coral plateau lookout for Wobbegong sharks and crocodile fish.
Misool – Tomolol Cave
There is a possibility on this day to visit Tomolol Cave that has a river-sized waterway running through it. We take a 20-minute tender ride through a pearl farm and into the rugged interior. Once at the cave, we float and paddle our way inside to enjoy the amazing rock formations. There is a large opening at the other end and also a ‘secret’ cave to explore. This tour is dependent on receiving permission from the pearl farm and local village. Check our Tomolol Cave photo album.
Penemu Area
Penemu is an island west of Waigeo with a selection of dives sites. Melissa’s Garden is the most well known. Here there are very healthy hard coral reefs in the shallows and a beautiful coral garden sloping to the sides where schooling fish hang out in the current. Wobbegong sharks like to sleep under the coral heads and inside the large cup corals here. Hundreds of anthias dance in and out of the corals where you might also see a sea snake. Penemu Wall and My Reef are also great dives in this area. After the two morning dives, we will visit the viewpoint in Penemu where you can appreciate the iconic Raja Ampat view of the groups of islands nestled inside beautiful blue lagoons. Check out our Beaches & Islands album. At sunset, we will dive at Batu Rufus. There is a shallow swim through framed beautifully by soft corals and sea fans. Below this is a sloping reef where hard corals shelter cardinalfish in the shallows and in the deep, Pontohi seahorses and nudibranch can be found on the coral heads.
Dampier Strait
The strait that flows between Waigeo and Batanta is rapidly becoming known as having really good diving in Raja Ampat as a result of the nutrient-rich ocean currents passing through. Everything that makes for a wonderful dive can be found here. But even beyond the usual delights and the satisfaction of spotting prized macro subjects such as the newly discovered Pontohi pygmy seahorse on the coral heads, there are surprises to be found in every dive.
The fish life in this area is as plentiful as can be expected at sites with a great deal of healthy hard and soft coral. Wobbegong sharks can also be found at any of these dive sites, especially at Mioskon. Cape Kri holds the impressive record of 374 fish species identified during one 90-minute dive. Blue Magic is a submerged seamount where there is a chance to encounter Giant manta rays.
Ironically, sardines are about the only reef fish not found at the site of Sardine Reef, but you won’t even notice as you see swarms of fusiliers, surgeonfish, trevallies, rainbow runners, sweetlips and bannerfish practically blocking out the sky swarming over a reef decorated with sea fans, soft corals and huge orange elephant ear sponges encrusted with pastel colonies of tunicates. One of the more unique thrills of this site is being able to hear “fish thunder” – the loud booming sound made when a large number of fish move rapidly through open water.
There is also a small village with Sawandarek Jetty. In the shallows, the jetty posts are covered in soft corals and below look for sweetlips, big eyed jacks, and massive green turtles. On the reef see huge giant clams nestled among pulsing soft corals. At night look for huge lobsters and maybe even catch a glimpse of the endemic epaulette shark, the ‘walking’ shark. The reef also provides shelter for many interesting small animals like hermit crabs, flatworms and the very cute pughead pipefish.
Between the dives, there is an opportunity to visit the village on Sawandarek Island to see the traditional way of life for these island people. Be ready to be greeted by many children who are more than willing to pose for photographs. Anyone joining our cruise is more than welcome to bring along some goodies for the children at Sawandarek. Obviously the children love sweets but we encourage people to bring pencils, pens, notebooks or coloring books – all of which don’t rot their teeth! The school always needs more materials and the girls love hair clips and bands. Please try to limit the amount of plastic packaging, leave this at home where it can be correctly recycled.
Arenui Gallery
