A working boat rather than a floating hotel, and where the money actually goes.
People compare us with boats that carry twenty six guests and are surprised that our cabins are smaller and our fare is not lower.
Here is where the money goes. Nine crew for sixteen guests, which is two guides in the water on every dive and two crew on the dhoni. A dhoni that is ours rather than borrowed, carrying the tanks, the compressor and the boards so the safari boat stays quiet. Nitrox blended on board rather than carried, so it does not run out. Tanks with both fittings, and hire sets in small sizes as well as large.
What the money does not go on is cabin space. Our cabins are not large and we say so on every page. The upper deck ones have a window at eye level and more floor in the shower room; the lower deck ones are cheaper and quieter at anchor. Neither is a suite and neither pretends to be.
The other place it goes is maintenance, which nobody photographs. Two compressors rather than one, because a single compressor is a trip cancelled. Two tenders. A generator overhauled every year whether it needs it or not.
Sixteen guests is also why the food works. One cook can cook properly for sixteen and cannot for twenty six, and the snack after the afternoon dive is the thing guests write to us about months later.