Ilike, Indonesia

Beautiful boat and best crew ever

The friendly and highly capable crew is what makes the stay on this beautiful wooden Penisi boat special! I love the way everything was taken care of, be it offering great food for everyone at all times, arranging diving and making sure all we had to do was hopping onto the tender as well as providing a perfect back-up plan when the weather didn't make it easy for us. Cabins are comfortable and the suites very spacious. Please note that it is a wooden boat, meaning it can be a bit noisy with all the creaking and cracking during sailing. But that is part of the experience and didn't affect our sleep at all. The common areas are spacious and well taken care of and food was tasty with plenty of choice of local and international dishes including nice options for guests with special dietry requirements. Best part for me was making the joint decision amongst crew dircetor and our group to do some exploration dive where it seemed interesting and we had exceptional dives.

Recommended for

The lovely crew made this trip truly special!. Planning, setting up and doing extraordinary dives. Exploration diving at uninhabited islands.

Enjoyable trip off the regular dive circuit

I went on a very enjoyable trip to Derawan with Ilike in June 2024 with a mix of European, American and Asian guests. The service of the crew was outstanding- from helping you get into wetsuits to having a hot towel and hot chocolate after night dives, they really went the extra mile. Lots of nice small things like having towels (washed and changed throughout the trip) ready for you after each dive, a change of linen during the trip and daily cleaning made for extra comforts. Cabins were comfortable although showing a bit of wear (eg AC isn't so cold) as the boat is about to be renovated. I enjoyed the diving although it wasn't Indonesia's best- I appreciated visiting a new location and a dive with hammerheads and whale sharks made the trip. Dive guides were great and diving safe and well organized. Dive deck is huge and heaps of space for everyone. Unfortunately the main meals were not on par with the service in other areas, the menu lacked diversity and was often quite lacklustre. I understand it is difficult to source ingredients in some parts of Indonesia but perhaps more local ingredients would work instead of a quite European meat and veg type menu. Snacks were good however! One key annoyance was the lack of a credit card machine- you have to pay cash for a sizable amount of fees/expenses not included in the initial liveaboard cost. I also found the optional extras quite expensive (eg soft drinks 3 euro) and everything is set in euro.

Recommended for

Crew service was outstanding. Dive guides and dive system very well run. Unique dive itinerary off the regular circuit.

Good trip, could be great with some improvements

The trip was great and I highly recommend the route from Sorong to Bitung. We got the chance to dive in remote places that the usual Raja Ampat routes do not cover. The boat is ok and comfortable enough but we got the feeling that can be much more appealing with a few improvements: Smell: there was a gas smell in the cabin sometime, we where told that it was due to the AC. We know that it other cabins had the same smell as well. Thankfully it wasn´t all the time but it was very uncomfortable. AC: you can only switch it on or off on the cabins and it broke for a whole night. Thankfully they were able to fix it but it leaves you wondering how often are they servicing the AC or the boat itself. Dive Guides: they didn´t interact mush with us, so it wasn´t easy to ask them about the dives, what we have seen, why the dive didn´t follow the plan etc. Most of the time we can only chat with the cruise director which we weren´t diving with so we can´t discuss specifics about our dives. Also, they touch and disturb marine life a lot, sometimes sacring the critters away or even kicking coral. Sun deck: there is no permanent shade in the sun deck, they have to put some shades when the boat was not moving. They didn´t do this all the time so most of the time there was only one open area of the boat with shade on the back.

Recommended for

Amazing diving locations, helpful staff, full tanks and proper nitrox mix every time

Good arrangement and efficiency

Sea turtle hatching is wonderful; hammer head sharks, Merlin, and a friendly traditional songs performance ending.

Recommended for

Comfortable cabin, nice and friendly crew, Merlin

Amazing trip

The crew systematically goes the extra mile to offer a service that is above what other liveaboards offers. The director and dive masters are very knowledgeable about local dive sites and are able to guide us to amazing sites while avoiding the crowd and adapting to the weather. Also special mention to the chef as the food was great the whole week, everything homemade on board.

Recommended for

Amazing service, great food, very experienced director.

Excellent all-around service, especially on dive planning

The manager made a huge effort to make sure we beat the crowds to the more popular dive sites. Dive briefings were highly detailed

Recommended for

Food, dive planning, cleanliness