Ilike — a traditional phinisi built around serious diving and a close-knit crew

Ilike is for divers who want Indonesia in its full range: current-swept pinnacles, manta cleaning stations, black-sand macro and long passages between remote islands. The boat moves between Komodo, Alor, Maluku, Banda and Raja Ampat, so the right departure matters as much as the vessel. A trip may be built around large pelagics, healthy coral or unusual small life rather than one fixed style of diving. On board, the diving service is organised without making the boat feel clinical: choose a buddy, or dive with a crew member, then return to a deck with room to handle wet gear and cameras properly. The attraction is the combination. Ilike gives serious divers access to hard-to-reach Indonesian routes, while its local crew, open galley and small guest group make the long crossings feel personal rather than anonymous.

Ilike was built in Bira, Sulawesi, using ironwood for the hull and teak for the body, in the traditional phinisi style made for the Indonesian archipelago. From the dock, it looks like a working wooden expedition boat rather than a floating resort dressed in nautical decoration. The wood, the broad forward dive deck and the two tenders tell the story quickly: this vessel is arranged to spend its days moving divers between remote sites. Once aboard, the layout is easy to read. Cabins are concentrated around the middle of the boat, with the social spaces and sun deck above and the diving operation forward. The engines are part of the boat's character, especially for guests in the standard cabins beside the engine room. Those cabins are practical, but light sleepers should choose another category. The crew meets arriving guests at the local airport and takes over the small logistics that come with reaching a boat in Indonesia.

Ilike's atmosphere comes from the way the crew stays involved after the formal work is finished. Four guides serve a maximum of 16 guests, and the crew also handles the airport welcome, tender movements, meals and the small decisions that keep a remote trip moving. Guests can choose their own buddy or dive with a crew member, which gives the week a less rigid shape than a boat where every group is fixed from the first briefing. The crew speaks English, Dutch, German, French, Spanish and Indonesian. In the evening, the saloon and stern seating become shared rooms rather than separate service areas. Celebrations are taken seriously when they are announced before departure, whether the occasion is a birthday, honeymoon or 100th dive. The boat scores lower for the vessel itself than for the crew, food and diving; that is a fair reading of an ageing working boat whose people add much of its warmth.

The listed sites show why Ilike's itineraries are varied rather than interchangeable. At Manta Point, divers look for reef and oceanic mantas at cleaning stations, to a maximum of -40m. Batu Kelebit drops to -60m around huge pinnacles rising from white sand, with tuna, sharks, barracuda and other pelagics in the blue. In Raja Ampat, Manta Sandy is another cleaning-station dive, while Mike's Point combines soft-coral overhangs, sweetlips, a flat plateau and eagle rays, to a maximum of -40m. Bali adds the small-life work: Bias Tugel reaches -30m and is known for pygmy seahorses and Wally's squat lobster; Coral Garden de Tulamben reaches -30m; Tulamben Bay reaches -35m and combines the USS Liberty wreck with calm shore-accessible reef; Tulamben Wall reaches -40m. Gili Mimpang and Gili Biaha reach -40m, with white-tip sharks and mola-mola; Gili Tepekong reaches -40m and includes the current-affected Canyon. Crystal Bay reaches -45m, while Blue Corner and Jangka Point reach -30m. Recorded departures include Bali–Komodo in 10 days/9 nights, Komodo–Alor in 11/10, Alor–Banda–Maluku in 13/12, Maluku–Raja Ampat in 14/13, Raja Ampat in 10/9 or 11/10, and a Komodo loop in 8/7.

Manta Point →

Max. depth · 40 m

Batu Kelebit →

Max. depth · 60 m

Manta Sandy →

Mike's Point →

Max. depth · 40 m

Bias Tugel →

Max. depth · 30 m

Coral Garden de Tulamben →

Max. depth · 30 m

Tulamben Bay →

Max. depth · 35 m

Liberty →

Max. depth · 30 m

Tulamben Wall →

Max. depth · 40 m

Gili Mimpang →

Max. depth · 40 m

Gili Biaha →

Max. depth · 40 m

Gili Tepekong →

Max. depth · 40 m

Crystal Bay →

Max. depth · 45 m

Blue Corner →

Max. depth · 30 m

Jangka Point →

Max. depth · 30 m

The recurring spectacle is large and small at once. Reef sharks, turtles, nudibranchs, mola-mola, barracuda, mantas, tuna, eagle rays, Napoleon wrasse and schooling fish appear across the route, while soft corals, sweetlips, groupers, trevallies and pygmy seahorses keep the reef from becoming only a pelagic hunt. Cleaning stations give the manta sites their purpose: Manta Point and Manta Sandy are places to wait and watch rather than chase. Currents at sites such as Blue Corner and Gili Tepekong can bring the larger animals into view, but they also demand control and a proper exit plan. Certain creatures give a diver a reason to choose one site over another. Crystal Bay is the standout for the green turtle, garden eel, seahorse, mimic octopus, batfish, bannerfish, boxfish and pufferfish listed there. Coral Garden de Tulamben is the place associated with eels and anemones; Gili Tepekong with the big-eyed trevally; Gili Biaha with lobster. Mola-mola sightings are a recurring possibility, not a promise.

Seahorse →

Hippocampus

Nudibranch →

Nudibranchia

Napoleon Wrasse →

Cheilinus undulatus

Pufferfish →

Tetraodontidae

Four dive guides work with a maximum ratio of four divers to one guide. Divers may select their own buddy or join a crew member, while the guides organise groups around the site's conditions rather than promising one fixed format for every dive. Briefings prepare divers for the entry, current, route and exit from the tender, and the guides remain there to guide and assist rather than replace independent diving skills. Ilike requires at least 75 logged dives and an Advanced certification such as PADI Advanced or CMAS**, because Indonesian sites can have strong currents and help may be hours or days away. Divers with 50 to 75 logged dives may request a private guide as an extra, subject to availability, but the itinerary is not changed to suit limited experience. Diving stays within recreational no-decompression limits. Emergency oxygen, first-aid kits, life rafts, life jackets, fire equipment, smoke detectors and radio contact between ship and tenders are carried on board. A Nitrox course may be arranged for certified divers by specific request.

The diving operation is built around a spacious, shaded forward deck with camera space, charging stations and a separate rinse area for cameras. Ilike provides 12-litre tanks with DIN/INT adaptable valves, weight belts and weights. Fifteen-litre tanks can be requested as an extra, subject to availability. Nitrox comes from a membrane compressor and is available as an optional fill; sidemount is also possible for certified divers, with 12-litre tanks only and advance arrangement. Rental equipment includes regulators, BCDs, wetsuits, masks, fins, dive computers, torches and SMBs, but no brands are identified. Every diver must carry a dive computer. All dives are made from two dive tenders: guests board the tender, travel to the site and kit up there before entering the water. The tenders return divers to the boat after the dive, where fresh-water showers are available on the deck. DIN and yoke users are covered by the adaptable valves.

Between dives, Ilike gives divers two useful choices: shade on the dive deck or sun on the upper deck. The forward working area has enough space to leave cameras, dry equipment and bodies out of the way of the next group. After a tender drop-off, a fresh-water shower on the dive deck removes salt before the diver settles back into the boat. Sailing time belongs on the sun deck, in the interior saloon or at the stern, where the outdoor seating is protected from the wind. The observation area and bar make the longer crossings easier to inhabit, but the boat's best pause is often the simple one: a towel, a drink and a view of volcanic islands sliding past after the gear has been rinsed.

The day starts with the first dive briefing, usually before the boat has fully warmed to its daytime pace. Divers move from cabin to deck, check the assigned gear, board one of the tenders and kit up at the site rather than carrying a fully assembled set across the whole boat. Depending on the itinerary, three or four dives fit into the day, with meals and surface intervals separating them. Breakfast follows the first part of the morning, lunch arrives as a buffet between dives, and dinner closes the working part of the day. Some days include a night dive; others leave the evening for a shower, a camera check and the saloon. Sailing may take place between sites or after the last dive, with the boat's steady passage connecting one remote island to the next. The rhythm is active but not mysterious: briefing, tender, dive, rinse, eat, rest, then do it again.

Food is one of Ilike's strongest points, and it is treated as part of the diving day rather than decoration around it. Breakfast brings fresh fruit, hot food, cereals and juice; lunch is served buffet-style, with local dishes that can be eaten without turning the midday break into a long formal meal. Dinner is chef-prepared and may include salads, vegetables, seafood, beef or chicken, followed by homemade dessert. Indonesian cooking shares the table with Western dishes, so nasi goreng and pasta can both make sense on the same trip. Meals are served in the spacious saloon, where the open kitchen keeps the galley close to the room, or in the sheltered stern seating area while the boat is underway. Vegetarian and vegan options are available when requested in advance.

The eight cabins are air-conditioned and have private bathrooms with a toilet, sink and hot-water shower, which matters after several dives in a day. The Seaview Suite sits on the upper deck behind large windows looking over the ocean; its double bed can be changed to two singles. The Suite, Superior and Standard categories are more sheltered below. Superior cabins have a double bed with a single bunk above, while Standard cabins use the same arrangement and sit next to the engine room. That is the cabin choice with the clearest trade-off: it keeps the budget-minded diver aboard, but engine noise is part of the night. The upper-deck cabin gives more daylight and a wider view; the lower cabins offer a darker, more enclosed place to sleep between dives. Daily cabin cleaning and towels keep the practical side simple. The boat also has an interior saloon for nights when the sea or weather sends everyone inside.

Departures and returns depend on the itinerary: recorded routes run from Bali to Labuan Bajo, from Labuan Bajo back to Labuan Bajo, from Labuan Bajo to Alor, from Alor to Ambon, from Ambon to Sorong, and from Sorong back to Sorong. Airport and hotel transfers in the embarkation or disembarkation city are included, and the crew meets arriving guests at the local airport. Arriving the night before is the sensible choice, especially when a domestic flight is needed to reach the port.