The Neomi liveaboard is one of the newest luxury boats cruising the Indonesian waters.

Read on for my review of the Neomi liveaboard and the hammerhead cruise to Banda in October and discover if the Neomi is the best choice for your next diving holiday in Indonesia.

Check prices

Review of the Neomi boat

As the Neomi liveaboard came into view, it immediately appeared as a big boat. While its length is 47 meters, it seems much wider than most boats cruising Indonesia. It has enough space to carry 22 divers comfortably in 10 cabins.

The Neomi liveaboard is also very stable making it one of the best options for easily seasick people

Review of the common areas on Neomi liveaboard.

The Neomi is a wooden boat with a natural feel through the boat. The decoration is simple with soft tones and natural fabrics. The boat is brand new. It launched just before the coronavirus crisis hit and has therefore done only a handful of trips. It shows the boat is in pristine condition.

The dining area is on the middle deck. It is very spacious and covered with panoramic windows offering uninterrupted views of the landscape while cruising. The high ceiling on this deck increases the impression of spaciousness.

There are 6 small tables indoor for people who like to eat with AC. Near the tables is a buffet table where all the food is served.

There is also a large table outside for those who prefer to dine alfresco. We shared great moments drinking cocktails after diving at this table. There are two brand new jacuzzi on this deck. Great for your sore muscles after a few days of diving

The seating area has a few sofas and is a comfortable place to lounge around. It is also used a Karaoke and for the dive briefings

The sun deck is huge. It covers the whole boat and has plenty of sunbeds and 360 degrees view of the area.

Tip: be aware that there is no shade on the sundeck and the sun in Indonesia is strong. Don’t forget your sunscreen and stay well hydrated. (The Neomi liveaboard is planning to add a shaded area to the sundeck so this will change)

Review of the cabins on the Neomi liveaboard

The cabins are one of the best features of the Neomi liveaboard. The ten cabins are large, comfortable and most cabins have a private balcony. There are no bunk beds on the Neomi.

I stayed in a twin cabin (101)  on the lower deck. It didn’t have a balcony, but 2 portholes were supplying natural light.

The ceiling was higher than on most liveaboards.  There is a small desk with a power plug.

Tip: There was only one power plug in the room so if you have many phones and gadgets to charge, bring a multiplug ( there is also a great camera room near the dive deck for all your underwater photography equipment)

AC is individually adjustable

The beds are wonderfully comfortable. I slept so well while on the Neomi. It was because the cabins are quiet. I could hear no noises from the upstairs restaurant or the nearby cabins. The boat engine is quiet as they use a marine motor instead of a truck motor. The boat was also very stable. It might be due to its larger size, but we felt almost no waves movement during the trip, despite a storm during our last night of navigation. If you have been on a wooden boat before, you know that vibrations, clicking noise, and wood cracking can sometimes drive you crazy. There were few vibrations in my cabin on the Neomi

Tip: storage space is limited and there is no space below the beds to store luggage so pack light.

The bathroom was large for a liveaboard. It had a separate rain shower with hot and cold water and amazing water pressure.

In Indonesia liveaboard, you often need to put toilet paper in a bin to not block the pipes. Not on the Neomi liveaboard. the toilets have also been designed so you can throw toilet paper in.

A hairdryer is provided in the room

Tip: the price difference between a lower deck cabin and an upper deck cabin is small making the upper deck cabins excellent value. The upper deck cabins get booked up quickly so book early to avoid disappointment.

COVID-19 procedures on Neomi

COVID-19 is taken very seriously onboard Neomi liveaboard.

Upon entering the boat, we had to wash our hands in a sink installed near the boat’s entrance.

Our temperature was checked and then we had to walk through sprinkles of disinfectant.

Hand sanitizer bottles have been placed throughout the boat.

They have also installed a sink before the buffet station and encourage guests to wash their hands before using the buffet.

The staff was wearing masks most of the time and gave us masks for our excursion onshore in Banda Neira

They would also take our temperature during the trip.

A medical crew from Ambon came on board before we could disembark and took everyone’s temperature and blood pressure.

Overall, those procedures made me feel safe. I did get a rapid test upon my return home and I am happy to report that it came out negative again.

The food on the Neomi liveaboard

All the meals on Neomi were served buffet style. It gave people flexibility about the time they want to eat as the food would remain warm.

There was a light breakfast before diving with croissants, pastries, fruits, and drinks.

The big breakfast after diving also included a choice of hot Indonesian dishes, eggs, and bacon and sausages. The tea and juices sections were impressive. There were 3 sorts of green tea to choose from!! and 4 or 5 fruit juices (bottles) every day

For lunch unch and dinner, the cuisine was mostly Asian. If you like fish, seafood, and spicy food, you will love the food onboard Neomi. Most meals included fresh fishes, chicken, and a beef dish with rice. A dish of vegetables was also on offer. The fishes offered were premium and varied. All the passengers raved about the food.

While in Banda, they got a fresh Tuna that they cut into Sashimi. It was probably the best sashimi I have had in my life!

Cut fruits were provided as dessert after each meal.

Review of the diving organization on the Neomi liveaboard

The dive deck is large and well organized.

Each diver is assigned a station during the cruise with a seating area, a basket, and a few hangers. We were 14 divers and the dive deck never felt crowded but we could often see the other divers underwater despite being the only boat.

 

There is a good camera room with lights, charging points, and air pipes

Group size ranged from 4 to 5 divers per divemaster.

Our divemaster, Tomy, was great and very experienced. He knew the dive sites well and was incredible at finding us hammerheads. He had an instinct for it, and we saw hammerheads every single day of the trip!

We would board the tender directly from the back of the boat. As there are 2 tenders, but we had 3 diving groups, groups of one and two would go first and then the third group would wait for the tender to be back.

The crew would load all our equipment from the Neomi to the tender, so it was easy for us to get on the boat. They would also assist us in getting onto the boat.

Diving safety is important on the Neomi liveaboard. Every diver was issued with an emergency alarm connected to the boat that would send GPS coordinates to the captain if an emergency occurs.  I was also given a Surface markers buoys.

As Banda has a lot of deep dives, Seino, the cruise director would also dive with an extra tank between the groups and be ready to provide extra air underwater should divers run out of air.

The Neomi offers 3 dives a day and a night dive. Amazingly, nobody in the group was into night dives so we skipped those which allowed us to have diner earlier. Dive time would usually be 7 am, 11 am, and 2:30 pm but it fluctuated day by day depending on the navigation time between dive sites and the punctuality of the guests 😊

We did one check dive on the first day. We also did 3 dives on the day before our arrival back to Ambon as all the passengers had booked a 4 pm flight

TIP: don’t book your return flight too early. I had booked a morning flight on the last day of the cruise and had to change it so I could do the 3 dives and have a 24 hours safety interval between diving and flying.

Review of the crew in Neomi liveaboard

Despite being a brand-new boat with a young crew, the service was already very efficient.

From the cleaning team to the waiters or the diving crew, the service was both professional and friendly.

There were 24 crew members during our trip for 17 passengers (the maximum boat capacity is 22 passengers).

Seino, the cruise director was available, attentive, and listening to the preferences of the guests.

Every single member of the crew was helpful and found the right balance between being thoughtful and giving us our privacy.

Our Itinerary on the 6 nights cruise of the Banda islands (Ambon to Ambon)

The Neomi liveaboard is one of the few liveaboards that offers short itineraries. Most of their cruises are 6 or 7 days, allowing busy people with only a week of vacation to discover some of the best dive sites in Indonesia.

Banda is great for big pelagic and has become famous for hammerhead sighting in October. We were lucky to find hammerheads every single day of the trip!

TIP: Those trips to the Banda islands in October are usually incredibly special and the good boats are booked one to 2 years in advance so plan ahead!

Day 1 – Boarding and check dive in Ambon Laha Bay

We boarded the boat in Ambon.

TIP: I chose to arrive one day early to dive in Ambon with Critter Junkies. If you have the time and like small critters, I highly recommend you do it. You can read about my experience here.

In the same afternoon, we dove Laha Bay, one of the best macro dive sites in the world, and saw many small and weird creatures like the purple rhinopia, mini cuttlefishes, harlequin shrimp, …

We started cruising a bit before sunset and watched the magnificent landscape with the sun coming down

Day 2 – looking for hammerhead in Suanggi

After cruising all night, we arrived in Suanggi around 8 am.

We did 3 dives at Suanggi dive site. It is an incredible dive site and didn’t disappoint.

It is a small island in the middle of nowhere. the island is surrounded by 5 or 6 underwater peninsulas starting at about 15 meters. the peninsulas slope gently and become a steep wall.

Corals are colorful and you might even find nudibranchs, but this is not the main reason to dive here.

The place is full of schools of fishes and attracts big fishes. We saw 2 schools of great barracudas, dog teeth tuna, giant trevallies hunting hundreds of fusiliers. The stars of the show were the hammerheads cruising the area at 33 meters!

We also saw a large marble ray and a manta came to join us during our safety stop to make it the perfect dive.

On the dinghy back to the boat, we saw a few sperm whales breaching!

TIP: you must stay deep to see the hammerheads so watch your deco time as we were close to the no-deco limit on every dive

What a wonderful day of diving! We cruised towards Banda Neira and were treated to a beautiful sunset accompanied by more sperm whales.

Day 3 – Hatta island

Hatta island is near the 6000-meter-deep Banda trench, making it a wonderful place to spot large pelagics.

Our first dive was in Tanjung Buton dive site.

Tanjung Buton is a wall dive that slopes gently until 10 meters and then becomes a steep wall. It has a nice coral garden at 5 meters great for safety stops.

We spent most of the dive looking for hammerheads as they cruise the area in October. I saw 2 hammerheads. one at 30 meters, one at 17 meters. As we started our ascent, a school of 100 bumphead parrotfishes was spending time together. There were also baby parrotfishes. A few turtles and yellow snappers came to complete the scene. It was magical.

The second dive was Karang Hatta dive site.

It is an atoll off Hatta island, and it looks pretty from above.

My group saw 5 hammerheads but this time I didn’t see them.

An eagle ray swam in the blue

 

After the second dive, it was time to try one of the jacuzzies.

The third dive was Batu Kapal dive site near Banda Neira. It is a group of submerged pinnacles that look like a ship. Kapal means ships in Indonesia.

The dive site is mostly created by steep walls.

 

We then came back to Banda Neira, the main island of the archipelago, and had the chance to explore the old town and Fort Belgica. It is impressive to stroll through the colonial street and learn about the historical significance of those islands.

Tip: the water temperature ranged between 27 and 29 degrees, so a 3 mm wetsuit is enough

Day 4: looking for more hammerheads in Run island

The first dive site is Tunjung Nori dive site, which is near Run island. It is the corner of the small island of Run. It starts with a beautiful coral garden at about five meters and then drops in a steep wall until reaching about 50 meters.

We did most of the dive out in the blue. We saw a hammerhead being chased by a blue marlin at about 30 meters!! it was my first sighting of a blue marlin underwater, so I was happy. They are so big and graceful!

We found another hammerhead at about 25 meters deep.

We finished the dive on the reef. As it was a full moon day, the corals were spawning, attracting millions of little fishes. A turtle came to say hi, while a school of about 20 bumphead parrotfishes kept us company during the safety stop.

What a dive!!

Nalaika reef is a dive site off the sandy Nalaika island. The island is surrounded by a coral garden that falls into a deep wall.

The wall is covered by corals and soft corals. Sponges and sea fans are huge.

The site becomes very fishy after just 12 meters; the number of small fishes was delightful. Many turtles were active in the shallow reef.

I skipped the third dive due to ear problems

We went to a picture-perfect small island for sunset. Imagine a wide sandy beach, coconut trees, gently rolling turquoise blue water, the full moon, and the sunset. One of the guests started a small fire which added to the atmosphere.

It was a perfect way to end a momentous day.

Day 5 – Back to Hatta island

We went back to Hatta island, still looking for hammerheads.

Our first dive was the Tunjung Button dive site which we had already dived on day 3. We did most of the dive out in the blue and we encountered a small hammerhead and 3 baby mantas.

The second dive site was the Art Hatta dive site. This is a wall by the beach of Hatta island. The sponges and soft corals were utterly beautiful to behold. My favorite part was around 15 meters. When you see the colors and patterns down there, it is easy to see why this site was called art.

There is a scenic hole in the rock at the beginning and a few cliffs and swim through along the wall. We also saw a few nudibranchs and turtles but no big pelagics.

Pohon Miring dive site is a wall near Banda Neira. There is a swim through with nice colors.

We started the dive too late, so the sun was already shadowing the reef. This dive was a disappointment compared to the other fantastic dives we have had since the beginning of the trip

Day 6 – Back in Suanggi

Suanggi is the crown jewel of diving in the Banda islands. We went back for 3 dives in Suanggi. The goal was clearly to find more Hammerheads.

We stayed mostly around the pinnacle that begins at 20 meters.

Our first dive started well as we saw 2 big hammerheads within 5 minutes of commencing the dive.

We then saw a school of 10 hammerheads. Besides those, we also saw turtles, barracudas, giant trevally, and tunas.

On our second dive, we only met a small hammerhead.

For the third dive, visibility became poor and so our chances of seeing big pelagics greatly reduced. Some people in my group saw 2 hammerheads but I didn’t see them. A turtle came straight at me and tried to eat my GoPro!

Suanggi is a terrific way to end an amazing week of diving. It is an impressive dive site, and I am glad we went back there for a second day of diving.

Tip: most dives in Banda are deep as that is where you have the most chance to find hammerhead. Make sure you are at least advanced certified so you can go 30 meters and below.

We started cruising back to Ambon around sunset. On the left side of the boat, hundreds of dolphins were jumping around and on the right side of the boat was a whale!

What a great send-off for an amazing trip!

Should you use Nitrox or Air during a hammerhead trip to Banda island?

It is a question of preference and diving style. Given the depth of the dives, some people prefer to use Air so they can go to 40 or 50 meters if necessary.

I preferred using Nitrox as it gave me more no-deco bottom time. With nitrox 30, I had a maximum authorized depth of 36 meters which seemed sufficient for all the dives we did. We saw plenty of hammerheads and other pelagics between 20 and 30 meters of depth.

Internet and phone signal on the cruise from Ambon to Banda

If you want internet access during your cruise, buy a Telekomcel card with a data package upon arrival. Some places now ask a copy of your passport to register the card, so you might want to bring a photocopy.

Ambon has excellent 4 G coverage allowing you to even stream video.

TIP: Sometimes, the 3G connection works better than 4G, so check the settings on your phone and try them both.

There is no internet near the Suanggi seamount or around Run

Banda Neira had excellent internet. Enough for WhatsApp video calls

Banda Hatta had fluctuating coverage. At some places, we could get a signal. At other places no

TIP: The signal gets better, the higher you get on the boat. It would often not work in my cabin below deck but would work on the top deck.

Conclusion of my review of the Neomi Liveaboard

Neomi is one of the newest and biggest wooden liveaboards in Indonesia. It is well designed and offers extremely comfortable cabins. People who get seasick will appreciate the boat stability. Neomi offers shorter 6 nights itinerary to some of the best diving destinations in Indonesia (Misool, Banda,…), making it a great option for busy people who can only take a week of holiday at a time and still want to dive amazing destinations like Misool or Banda.

The banda cruise in November was awesome and we saw hammerheads every day!

I thoroughly enjoyed the Neomi liveaboard and would love to be back.

For more information and to book your trip, check out the Neomi liveaboard website here

Check prices

For more information about diving in Indonesia, check out This is luxury travel’s diving section. I have dived in places from Komodo to Raja Ampat to Kalimantan or Sulawesi and share all my trips experiences