The tour company is good, well organised, knowledgeable but also flexible. Good guides, interested in getting their charges a good experience. We went early morning (high tide apparently best for seeing mantas we were told later) and saw 3-5, it was hard to count, anywhere from 15 to 1 meter away. A tiny bit irrationally scary (they're filter feeders and move so gracefully in their environment and pay you no attention but they look like a particularly greedy water space-ship). Next stop was coral, many fish and search for a green turtle which we saw deeper in and then the last stop was a drift along pristine coral and as many aquarium fish as you've ever seen in number - amazing!
I think we had a good experience compared to some comments but you can't control the tides or aquatic numbers. What was controllable and good was the guide's care and concern about making it good, looking after poor swimmers and getting great Go-Pro vids (dive deep on sites 2 and 3) of their customers.
This is a well organised and friendly company. The guides are very good, interested in having you have a good experience. The lunch and chill-out facilities are like a beach club post-fatigue and easy going. The lunch is Indonesian food, thus healthy, but you can pay for a Bintang beer to make you relax more. Transport is good but we opted to walk back the 6 km or so back along the road and beach to our hotel because we had time and
The mangrove kayaking is good for some not for others. On our trip many people opted in. Not for everyone. It hurts a bit but is great for your shoulders and back work-out. Also it's a bit like the planet Dagobah where Luke learns from Yoda in Star Wars (Empire strikes back) . See also the benefits of mangroves in managing the intertidal interface.
Thank you dive-master and especially Carlos, you were great. We Australians had a great time.