Why travel with us instead of booking direct? Group travel is not for everyone but we’ll tell you why so many people travel with us.

Lots of our guests have friends that ask why they travel with a group and us specifically. Well, we will attempt to answer that below.

I can book direct and it’s cheaper, why would I pay more to travel with you?

1. We add value by being there for you. We are not on the boat just to have a free holiday or pad our portfolio. We have spent the last 15 years diving professionally and the last nine in Indonesia. We’ve been diving Raja Ampat, Komodo, the Banda Sea, Lembeh Strait and more for the last 9 years and honestly we can dive them all again for free whenever we want. We are not on these trips for us, we are there for you! We want to share the magic of these amazing destinations and want to be your advocate on the boats by controlling the itineraries and helping you get the most out of each dive site. We also liase with the staff of the boat to minimize any issues and quickly resolve any problems that may arise.

2. We handle the annoying stuff. We offer an end-to-end service by taking care of the domestic logistics. Especially in Indonesia, where it is still possible, we check everyone and all the luggage in. We also own a travel company in Indonesia that can handle all your domestic bookings including flights, hotels, transfers and tours. By traveling with our group you won’t have to worry about a thing, just show up, we’ll pick you up and handle the rest.

3. We are not just along as professional photographers, we love to teach photography! Lots of professional photographers that lead trips are there to generate content for their portfolios. Our portfolio is pretty well stocked and we have no need to pad it more. That’s not to say we won’t be photographing but our priority is to help you get the best shots possible. We don’t follow the standard workshop format. We prefer one-on-one help with the occasional presentation if there’s interest. There’s no competition, just helping you get what you want! In addition we are pretty handy at fixing housings, strobes, lights, etc.  We are sponsored by Nauticam USA so we can help you get the most out of your new Nauticam system!

4. We control who is on the trip. How many trips have you been on where there is that one person whose mission it seems is to ruin everyone’s holiday? Well, we control who comes on our trips and do our best to make sure we are putting cohesive and likeminded guests on our trips. That’s not to say everyone will get along all the time but we are also on-board to help sort out any interpersonal issues as they arise.

So how are you making money, this is a business right?

Yes it is. This is our primary livelihood. We take a large risk by chartering the entire vessel making us responsible for paying the entire cost of the trip which can be upwards of $170,000 USD for a back-to-back charter. We are responsible for selling the spaces to our clients. If we don’t fill the boat we still have to pay the operator. As travel agents, we are able to purchase the charter at a better rate. The difference between what we pay for the charter and what we generate by selling the spaces is our income. We keep our trips full by providing the highest standard of customer service and making sure our guests have the best dive holiday possible. We also charge a minimal additional amount for the value we add to being on the trip.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions you might have or to speak with us about if one of our trips is right for you!