2025 Banda Sea LOB Diving with Solitude

Written By Frances Wu

9 Day 8 Night Live Aboard on the Solitude Adventurer

I first discovered Solitude at the 2025 ADEX convention in Singapore, where hundreds of vendors gathered to showcase everything from dive gear to liveaboard adventures. Solitude’s booth had a strong branding and conveyed a distinctly premium LOB experience, highlighting their three vessels: the Solitude Adventurer (Indonesia routes) , the Solitude Gaia (Palau routes), and the Solitude One (Philippines routes).

Having previously done two LOB trips on traditional wooden boats, I was curious to see what a more upscale vessel could offer.

About the Boat, Solitude Adventurer

The Solitude Adventurer is a 36-metre aluminium catamaran built in 2000 and fully renovated in 2017. Originally designed as a private yacht, it became Indonesia’s only catamaran liveaboard when operations began in late 2018. The vessel accommodates up to 18 guests—more intimate than most LOBs—and offers three cabin types: one quad cabin (bunk-bed style), six deluxe twin cabins, and one stateroom.

The key features that I was excited about and enjoyed on the Solitude Adventurer:

  • The cabin was an easy 10/10 for me—clean, modern, and surprisingly spacious, with beautiful natural light from the wall-length windows. And the bed? Hands-down the most comfortable I’ve ever had on a liveaboard.

  • One of the biggest headaches for divers is never having enough charging ports for dive computers, GoPros, cameras, batteries, tablets, and phones. Solitude completely eliminates this problem with a proper, generously sized charging station. There’s enough space for everyone, so no more scrambling to power your gear between dives.

  • The dive deck is equally well thought out. Each diver gets a personal storage box, and everything—from your tank to your towel—is tagged with your assigned number. It’s simple, organized, and foolproof. No mix-ups, no confusion—just stress-free diving.

The Deluxe Room

  • The room came with two twin beds, each with two pillows, a duvet, and an extra blanket stored in the cabinet if you tend to get cold.

  • Each guest gets one bath towel (color-coded and changed every two days), plus a small desk and chair, a two-door closet—one side per guest—and a shared safety box for valuables. There’s also a full-length mirror and a blowdryer.

  • The bathroom includes a single sink, toilet, and standing shower with curtains to help keep the space dry. Shampoo and body wash are provided.

My thoughts on the deluxe room experience:

The bed was incredibly comfortable—no complaints at all. Each bed comes with its own outlet and nightlight, which is a thoughtful touch. Fresh towels are provided every two days, and I had no issues with dampness or humidity.

Like most LOBs, the blowdryer is on the weaker side. If you have long hair and care about drying it quickly, bring your own. The provided shampoo and body wash are decent but have a strong artificial scent, so I preferred using my own. Sink space is also limited (as expected on a liveaboard), so a hanging toiletry bag is your best friend—it keeps everything organized and off the counter, especially when the boat rocks.

There’s enough room at the end of the bed to store a closed suitcase, but I chose to keep mine near the charging station outside the room, where there was plenty of space.

The Dive Deck

The dive deck is arguably the most important part of any liveaboard, and Solitude Adventurer delivers. The boat accommodates up to 18 guests, but with only 12 on my trip, the deck felt spacious and easy to move around.

Each diver is assigned a number that corresponds to their tank station and storage cubbies. The crew also tags your fins, wetsuit, towel, and other gear with the same number to streamline prep and avoid mix-ups. I appreciate the system, though I did remove the tags from my personal gear—no one wants a yellow tag floating around underwater. If you prefer setting up your own equipment, just let the crew know. If you like help, they’re attentive, careful, and efficient.

The deck is well-equipped: four wall-mounted rinse showers, dedicated camera rinse tanks, baby shampoo for de-fogging masks, and plenty of hangers for wetsuits and towels. Two dinghies handle the dive groups, and after every dive you’re greeted with fresh towels, hot towels, and hot tea.

Overall, the dive deck is clean, organized, spacious, and supported by a thoughtful crew.

The Common Area

The common area—located on the first floor—is where dive briefings, meals, and most downtime happen. The dining space has four tables (three for four people and one for six), with new tables and chairs that offer moderate comfort. There’s also a newer massage chair that everyone enjoyed between dives.

Snacks, fruits, and cold drinks (excluding alcohol) are always available, along with a self-serve coffee and tea station.

I have two minor notes about the space:
• The sofas are quite worn and don’t offer much support.
• The room temperature fluctuates a lot—sometimes very cold, sometimes warm. The crew did flag this on Day 1, so it wasn’t unexpected.

Overall, the common area is functional, social, and well-stocked, with just a couple of small comfort quirks. *I believe there are boardgames available as well, we just ended up playing with our own deck of cards we brought on the trip.

Overall Feedback

Overall, the price point for a Solitude LOB is well reflected in the comfort of the facilities and the attentiveness of the crew. I’ve had mixed experiences with divemasters on past liveaboards, but on this trip—even with different DMs rotating—each one was attentive and made an effort to accommodate our expectations and dive profiles. The on-deck crew was equally thoughtful, making sure we were well-fed, comfortable, and cared for throughout the entire trip.

Frances Wu