Accommodation Type: Liveaboards

The Arenui experience, whether as a family or a couple, is a luxury 5-star experience. We are featuring these trips via Komodo & Raja Ampat and have added the Forgotten Islands. Margo and Tom have also added adult Empty Nester trips to Lembeh and Bangka luxury oceanfront land-based PADI 5-Star resorts with Murex Divers. Please call us to learn more; we will offer BackScatter photo clinics, courses, and diving with their photo pro, as well as a luxury spa and fine dining at Lembeh. The diving at Lembeh, Indonesia, is for lovers of macro life and pristine coral reefs. You will see a Hairy Frogfish, a Mimic Octopus, over 100 species of nudibranchs, ten species of seahorses, a Coconut Octopus, and so many more incredible aliens you will see no other place on Earth.

We know it is a long way off to think about, but it may be one of the last opportunities to make this fantastic trip that books out five years in advance.  So call Margo or Tom if you’re interested in any of our Indonesia Arenui dive trips.  We will experience a class of service, food, fine Italian wines, and great people with whom to dive like no other. Call us today at 803-419-2556.

Margo has published extensively about travel and diving from a liveaboard dive cruise and dive safety. She feels this trip on The Arenui is one of the safest liveaboards in the industry, next to the Explorer Venture fleet, that we also highly recommend and travel with. The Arenui is 143 ft with a total of 16-19 passengers as there are 8 very spacious cabins, 3 are triple rooms, and 2 are master suites with king beds.

We look forward to diving with you and growing with your family. Family Dive Adventures is our year-round travel agency offering dive vacations to individual families to any venue we work with at any time of year.  We are experts in Dive travel and family travel. Why go anyplace else when you have experts like us to talk to?

Kids Sea Camp has booked multiple group dive charters on the Arenui from 2025 to 2030. Limited cabins remain on each charter, so call us for up-to-date information. We provide optional assistance with round-trip air into Bali; pre- or post-hotel add-ons are available, and we offer complete on-the-ground care if needed.  We are ready to meet and greet you and ensure your trip is fully escorted and handheld if you require it. Let us know your desires and needs, and we will be ready to assist.

Destinations	Cabin cost per person
2026 RAJA AMPAT: February 15th – 26th (11 nights)	$9,162 (+$550 per person for master cabin)
2026 Best of Borneo & West Sulawesi (8 nights): July 19th – 27th & July 28th – Aug. 5th	$6,855 (+$400 per person for master)
2026 & 2027 RAJA AMPAT and SORONG: Dec 22nd, 2026 – Jan 3rd, 2027: (12 nights)	$9,946 (+$600 per person for master cabin)
2027 Best of Borneo: (8 nights )July 19th-27th and July 28th – Aug 5th	$6,855 (+$400 per person for master)
NEW! 2028 Dec 1-9, Raja Ampat	$TBA (+$500 per person for master)
2029 Best of Indonesia! “Why Not” 23-day trip. (Dates to come)	$20,000 pp (Wait list)
2029: Dec 23 - Jan 5, 2030 Northern Molucca Passage	$11,500 pp (+$750 per person for master)
2030 Komodo (9-night trip): June 17-26 and June 28th – July 7th	$8,100 includes Park fees, fuel fees, and taxes. Includes VIP meet and greet. (+$600) per person for master cabin).
2031: October 15-23 (10 nights); Molucca Passage	$TBA, includes Park fees, fuel fees, and taxes. Includes VIP meet and greet. (+$750 per person for master cabin).
2031: October 25, 2031 to November 3 (10 nights); Molucca Passage	$TBA includes Park fees, fuel fees, and taxes. Includes VIP meet and greet. (+$750 per person for master cabin).
2031: November 26 to December 6 (10 nights); Tomini Bay, Halmahera	$TBA includes Park fees, fuel fees, and taxes. Includes VIP meet and greet. (+$750 per person for master cabin).

Deposit required $2,000 per cabin and we highly recommend all clients on liveaboard trips to get trip insurance.

Stunning hard corals and exquisite soft corals, giant clams, sponges, fire urchins, sea cucumbers, barracuda, Humphead parrotfish, napoleon wrasse, frogfish (all colors), scrawled filefish, anemonefish, lionfish, unicornfish, flounder, angelfish, gobies, lizardfish, snapper, trevally, fusiliers, sweetlips, surgeonfish, cardinalfish, triggerfish (titan, clown, red-tooth, etc.), batfish, boxfish, cowfish, pufferfish, anthias, needlefish, glassfish, scorpionfish, jawfish, hawkfish, goatfish, bannerfish, Moorish idols, robust and ornate ghost pipefish, wasp fish (including the photogenic cockatoo wasp fish), dragonet, sea moth, pygmy seahorse, pipe horse, cuttlefish (big ones, small ones, and even the tiny but vibrantly colored flamboyant cuttlefish), bobtail squid, mantis shrimp, squat lobster, zebra crabs, reef octopus, morays, banded sea snakes, turtles, wobbegong sharks, epaulet “walking” shark, reef sharks, manta rays (including some striking all-black mantas).

Diving conditions

• Current – gentle to moderate
• Diving depth – 30-120 ft
• Number of dive sites – 132
• Sea conditions – calm
• Suitable for – beginners-intermediate-advanced
• Visibility – 30-150 mt
• Water temperature – 27-31℃ (80-88°f)

Best Komodo sites

Diving in Komodo National Park is legendary, frequently rated among the absolute best in the world. Because the park sits right between the Pacific and Indian Oceans, massive tidal currents rush through the islands, pumping nutrient-rich water that fuels an explosion of marine life. Here are a few of the many, many great dive sites.

Batu Bolong (Central Zone) — The “Fish Soup” Aquarium

Underwater, this rock is covered with a large number of soft and hard corals and is full of marine life. In the shallows, watch anemone fish and look out for turtles munching on the corals. Giant trevally, white-tip reef sharks, snappers, and emperor fish tend to congregate here. This site presents particularly good opportunities for both macro and wide-angle photography.

Castle Rock & Crystal Rock (North Zone) — The Shark Pinnacles

• These are action-packed dives for current lovers. When the water is pumping, you hook into the reef and watch the show. You will routinely see dozens of whitetip, blacktip, and grey reef sharks hunting alongside massive schools of fusiliers, jacks, barracudas, and giant trevally. Dolphins are even occasionally spotted hunting underwater here. Note: These sites require excellent buoyancy control due to strong downcurrents.

The Cauldron / “Shotgun” (North Zone) — The Adrenaline Drift

This is a high-speed, exhilarating drift dive. You start in a beautiful coral garden, drop into a sandy “cauldron” bowl where reef sharks circle, and then get physically “shotgunned” through a shallow, narrow gap by a thrilling, high-speed current. You end the ride drifting peacefully over a shallow reef looking for macro critters.

Manta Point / Karang Makassar & Mawan (Central Zone) — Manta Magic

Karang Makassar is a drift dive over a massive 3km stretch of reef where reef manta rays congregate by the dozens to feed at the surface or hover effortlessly over cleaning stations. If you want a more intimate, less crowded manta experience, Mawan is a gorgeous, closer island site with pristine hard-coral gardens where mantas often come right up to divers at shallow cleaning stations.

Cannibal Rock & Yellow Wall of Texas (South Zone / Rinca) — The Macro & Invertebrate Wonderland

Cannibal Rock is consistently rated as one of the top ten dive sites in the world for biodiversity. It is a shallow sea mount covered in bizarre, colorful sea apples, massive green tunicate colonies, and an endless array of rare nudibranchs, frogfish, and Coleman shrimps. Nearby, the Yellow Wall of Texas is entirely carpeted in yellow soft corals and home to a multitude of tiny “ladybug” amphipods.

Best Raja Ampat sites

Widely considered the epicenter of global marine biodiversity, Raja Ampat sits in the heart of the Coral Triangle and boasts the richest reefs on the planet. The diving here is typically split into two main regions: the Dampier Strait (Central/North, famous for jaw-dropping fish biomass and manta rays) and Misool (South, famous for dramatic limestone seamounts and neon soft coral walls). Here are a few great sites of many, many great dive sites.

Cape Kri (Pulau Kri) — The World Record Holder

This is arguably the most famous reef dive in the world. It holds the official scientific record for the most fish species counted on a single dive (374 species by Dr. Gerry Allen). When the current hits the point, you are completely enveloped in a swirling vortex of dogtooth tuna, giant trevally, barracudas, and massive schools of fusiliers, with wobbegong sharks resting on the bottom

Blue Magic — Pelagic Playground

A submerged pinnacle rising out of the deep blue. This site can experience intense currents, but that is exactly what brings the magic. It serves as a major cleaning station where massive, majestic oceanic manta rays (including the completely ink-black variants) hover effortlessly over the reef while grey reef sharks patrol the perimeter.

Melissa’s Garden (Jet Fam Islands) — The Ultimate Coral Field

A shallower, calmer site that is a favorite for photographers and intermediate divers. It features an incredibly vast, untouched meadow of vibrant Acropora staghorn corals. The reef top is absolutely buzzing with thousands of colorful anthias, damselfish, and hidden pygmy seahorses.

Manta Sandy — The Manta Ballet

A shallow, sandy bottom with several large coral bommies that serve as highly active reef manta cleaning stations. Divers clip in with reef hooks on a designated rocky ridge and watch the mantas loop and glide right overhead in a beautifully choreographed underwater ballet.

After the second dive, we visit one of the most incredible beaches in the Komodo National Park. A short walk brings us to the pink sandy beach. During this walk, we also have the opportunity to enjoy incredible sunset views of the National Park.

Best of Borneo sites

However, to truly experience the best of Borneo, a diver should ideally balance Sipadan’s plunging walls with the world-class macro and “muck diving” found at its neighboring islands, Mabul and Kapalai. Here are a few great sites of many, many great dive sites.

Barracuda Point (Sipadan Island) — The Legendary Fish Vortex

This site is famous for its massive, swirling “barracuda tornadoes”—thousands of chevron barracudas that form a spinning vortex right in front of you. Alongside the barracudas, you will drift past dozens of giant green sea turtles, white-tip reef sharks patrolling the channel, schooling jackfish, and giant bumphead parrotfish.

The Drop-Off / Sipadan Jetty (Sipadan Island) — The Vertigo Wall

The reef shelf suddenly and dramatically plunges straight down into a 600-meter (2,000-foot) abyss. Drifting along this sheer vertical wall feels like underwater flight. The wall is entirely carpeted in massive gorgonian sea fans, soft corals, and sponges. It is a fantastic spot to look out into the deep blue for passing hammerhead sharks, thresher sharks, or massive schools of bigeye trevally pouring over the shelf.

Turtle Cavern / Turtle Tomb (Sipadan Island) — The Eerie Cave System

This site is famous for housing the skeletal remains of sea turtles that swam into the labyrinth-like cave system over the centuries, became disoriented in the pitch black, and unfortunately drowned. Diving inside requires an experienced guide, excellent buoyancy, and a torch. It is an incredibly unique, quiet, and hauntingly beautiful dive.

Paradise 1 or Seaventures House Reef (Mabul Island) — The Macro Wonderland

Mabul is world-renowned as one of the premier macro and “muck diving” destinations on earth. Sites like Paradise 1 (or the reef underneath the famous Seaventures converted oil rig platform) are teeming with incredibly rare, bizarre creatures. Photographers come here to hunt for flamboyant cuttlefish, blue-ringed octopuses, mimic octopuses, frogfish, robust ghost pipefish, and tiny pygmy seahorses hiding in the reef structures.