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Welcome to our July 2017 Newsletter
    

Since July 16th WAOW is back cruising in the waters of the Komodo National Park. We will stay until the month of August to allow our divers to discover, or rediscover, all the beauty of this exceptional site. The diving remains beautiful, the landscapes breath-taking and the marine life incredibly dense. Take advantage of our KOMODO specials for both 2017 and 2018. 
The annual maintenance period has now finished and we will consecrate a paragraph in this newsletter to salute the immense and important work undertaken by our crew and contractors. The boat is as new again and ready to attack another season of diving and cruising throughout Indonesia. We will also talk about Alor, West Papua and our current offers. Enjoy the read.


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ALOR - Exceptional Offer ! 

Indonesia is an archipelago that has been largely explored (with merit), however the vocation of WAOW has always been to allow the discovery of other regions off the beaten track. The islands of Alor, Pantar and Wetar overflow with great quality dive sites, acclaimed by numerous photographers. With healthy reefs dense in fish life, rhinopias easy to see, mind blowing night dives like the one at Bang Bang, welcoming traditional fishing villages, all is here for a quality cruise in seldom visited locations. 
 
(Pictures by Julia Deville, Arturo Telle Thiemann et Lee Worrall)

To not miss out on these wonders, here is an offer we hope will entice you to join us onboard WAOW in next September.


Take advantage, from today, of a 
Price reduction of 
1000 CHF / 910 EUR / 1000 USD 
and reserve your "  Gems of Alor" cruise with us 
from 15th to 25th September 2017.



Dry Dock 
Paying Homage

Each year the dry dock is a very particular period, and 2017 was especially ambitious, exciting and demanding.

 
Ambitious because in addition to the normal work: general cleaning, fumigation, inventories, checking and renewing basic equipment (cutlery, furniture, dive gear, bedding, etc.) without going into each nut or bolt, but almost. (There are 40 tons of bolts on WAOW) we also took on important work to ensure and improve service, security and the beautify of the vessel.   

After 5 years of service the two main engines have been given a complete overhaul. Don't forget that we are one of the rare boats with the benefits of two marine engines (500hp each) purchased new providing safety of navigation and punctuality for the logistics of the cruises.

Motor dismantled-being serviced-overhauled

With more experience, last year, we replaced one of our generators and have gone ahead and changed the second one this year. This guarantees the provisioning of electricity and has once and for all fixed our "beginners error" from the construction stage, where we should have done the same as the main engines, and put new ones in.

We rebuilt and improved our cold room to bring more fresh products and still ensure an optimal preservation. Our Chef will so continue to optimize the delicious cuisine which is served to you onboard.

The two shafts and props were removed and serviced to remove a slight vibration susceptible to trouble the tranquillity of the passengers.
Propeller maintenance - Drive shaft - New shaft

Our legendary carpenter Aliman, and he alone, remade the boarding ladder and platform destroyed by a rough wave last April. It was also he who temporarily fixed the problem at the time with what was available onboard, which ended up easily seeing out the season in any case. Admire his work.
New boarding ladder and Alirman, our carpenter

As with every year we have sanded the hull and redone the caulking, new anti-fouling and new paint. At the same time we have sanded, oiled and varnished all the walls both inside and out. This was for the pure aesthetic pleasure, due to the fact that the iron wood of these walls darkens in time and loses its beautiful brown-orange original colour.
 Shells removed - Caulking - Sanding - Painting


For the pleasure of the eyes and also for water tightness, we have changed and sanded the teak deck and planks that needed it.

 
Service of teak decks


Sanding and oiling of interior and exterior

After 5 years being exposed to the elements we are going to change the sails, The old ones will be recycled into bags, hats and other merchandise with the WAOW logo added. 
 
I would like to thank the entire crew that were involved in this massive task because we knew from the beginning it was going to be tough. The crew worked  day and night, due to dock delays, in polluted hot conditions within the port of Madura.
 
In the end, as with all of us, we are sure you will be very happy to re-find yourself onboard WAOW very soon.

Michel Deville

Moluccas to Papua 

From October 13th to 25th this year, WAOW will depart on an exclusive cruise between the Molucca Sea and West Papua. 12 nights of a leisurely cruise between Ambon Bay and Triton Bay, passing thru Banda Neira, Koon, Palau Suanggi, Palau Ai and Tanjung Papisoi. 

This itinerary will permit varied pleasures: muck dives, colourful reefs, hard and soft corals of all sorts, pelagic action, rare and abundant macro fauna. We guarantee lovers of biodiversity a saturated hard drive of memories. But the underwater marvels don't make up all the charm of this itinerary: we will take you on a discovery of Banda Island, Papuan rock paintings and the rain forest of Kaimana...

Dive in Raja Ampat at year end  

The reputation of this part of the archipelago has long been known. We will spare you the chapters on the mantas, the incredible karst landscapes and the amazing biodiverse basin that constitutes Raja Ampat. If you have nothing planned for the end of this year please note there are a few remaining spots on the following cruises:

From 9th to 20th December 2017 
From 23rd December 2017 to 3rd January 2018
From 6th to 17th January 2018
In this Issue




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" Total Komodo" - Last Minute
Bima - Labuan Bajo - 9    days / 8    nights   
from  7th to 15th August 2017
Save 550 
CHF /   500 EUR /   550 USD 
Reduced price from 4038 CHF / EUR & USD rates according to the exchange rate of the day.


" Dragons & Gods" - Last Minute
Labuan Bajo    - Bali - 11 days / 10 nights   
from  17th to 27th August 2017
Save 750 
CHF /   700 EUR /   750 USD 
Reduced price from 4950 CHF / EUR & USD rates according to the exchange rate of the day.


" West meets East" - Last Minute
Bali - Maumere    - 12 days / 11 nights   
from  1st to 12th September 2017
Save 750 
CHF /   700 EUR /   750 USD 
 
Reduced price from 5506 CHF / EUR & USD rates according to the exchange rate of the day.


" Gems of Alor" - Alor Exceptional
Maumere - Maumere    - 11 days / 10 nights   
from  15th to 25th September 2017
Save 1000 
CHF /   910 EUR /  1000 USD 
 
Reduced price from 4700 CHF / EUR & USD rates according to the exchange rate of the day.


Photos Credits : All photos have been taken during cruises onboard WAOW.  
Julia Deville - Arturo Telle Thiemann - Glen Cowans - Franz Hajek - Lorine Grandjean
Didier Brandelet - Jorgen Rasmussen - Nathalie Lasselin - Bernard Radvaner - Reto Schlaepfer