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The Siren Fleet | Palau - Philippines - Fiji

DIVING LIVEABOARD REVIEW

Over the past few years we have been fortunate to sail on three of the Siren Fleet vessels. In October 2011, we toured the Visayas; May 2013 was Palau and in September 2016, the islands of Fiji.

I guess you could say we have become quite fond of these boats, having taken a group on each one plus we will be returning to the Philippines in 2017.

The following review says much the same as our original one. The big plus of these boats is that the owners have taken a simple premise, expanded and refined it but have always remained true to their original concept – to create a good quality, good value fleet built by divers for divers.

Worldwide Dive and Sail:
Originating in Thailand, Worldwide Dive and Sail was created by an English and Dutch partnership. Each of their boats come from the same mould, and are based on Indonesian Phinisi schooners. Each one is slighty different as the owners tinker with cabin layouts and deck plans to get the best out of the vessels.

The boats have eight air-conditioned guest cabins, all located beneath the main deck but they do have portholes. Some have a double bed and some have 2 single beds all at floor level – no bunks to contend with. They are all ensuite with a shower, sink and toilet. The cabins are neatly designed with wooden furniture in the traditional Indonesian fashion including a few cupboards for clothes and a desk in each.

On the main deck, there is a casual, open-air area at the stern with dining tables and chairs where meals are taken. Directly in front is the salon with sofas for relaxing, some cute little storage drawers for sunglasses, books and so on plus a couple of small camera work tables with batttery chargers. Beneath these are another set of good-sized storage drawers for cameras, enough for each cabin to have a personal drawer and they are numbered so there are no mix-ups over kit.

The dive deck is located on the bow and the upper deck has sunloungers for those who wish to roast. There are also shade canopies, which are opened when the weather and winds permit. It's a great place to watch the sun go down and admire the stars at night.

The dive deck has kitting up areas laid out along the gangways on either side of the boat. These are well-planned with spacious tank areas and more little drawers for each diver to safely stow bits and pieces between dives. There is a camera rack with shade cover between the two kitting up areas and, towards the bow, four rinse tanks including specific ones for cameras. The crews are always extremely helpful with rinsing and hanging suits (useful for short people). Diving is generally done from two rubber RIBs, which are reached via a pontoon on one side of the boat. The dive schedules run efficiently with up to 4 dives a day including a pre-dinner night dive.

Meals are mostly buffet style with a mixture of international foods and local specialities. On all three vessels, there was a variety of meals throughout the cruises with no two meals were ever repeated. Special requests for allergy and dietary requirements are well noted with no glitches and the run of celebration cakes are fabulously sweet and sticky!

The crews on all trips have been genuinelly excellent. The Filippinos were funny, the Palauns friendly and the Fijian crew were the most affectionate group you could imagine. Divemasters are professional, efficient and great animal spotters. In fact, all the crew on all the boats were helpful, charming and friendly. There is always a western cruise director to keep things running smoothly.

THE SIREN FLEET boats are extremely comfortable and well run. Some items (like marine park fees) are not included in the cruise price but others like beer, soft drinks and Nitrox are, which ensures the trips iare great value for money.

The company has also expanded to included some newer, more challenging areas with MASTER LIVEABOARDS. These are mostly metal-hulled boats and are already in The Galapagos, Truk Lagoon and the Maldives with more regions coming online soon.

More about diving with the Siren Fleet
Diving reports for
FIJI PALAU PHILIPPINES

SeaFocus resort reports are 100% personal opinion: things change and you may not agree with us if you go. We can only tell you what we thought about it when we went!

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