Walking round Vinca in July 2026: twelve safety and comfort checks, and what I'd fix first

I walked round Vinca in Labuan Bajo in July 2026 with the spec sheet in one hand and a notebook in the other. This post follows that walk in order, twelve checks, and I'll tell you plainly what I didn't measure. I took only a few photos that day, and plain ones at that, so the notes do most of the work.

1. Life jackets

The sheet lists life jackets but gives no number. I saw them stowed on board. What you want is one jacket for each of the 18 berths plus the 7 crew, with some in child sizes. I haven't got a count yet; next time I'll go through them one by one.

2. Life raft

The raft is rated for 25 persons. 18 guests plus 7 crew makes 25, so on a full trip every place is taken and there's none to spare. The sheet doesn't give a service date for it.

3. Fire extinguishers

The sheet mentions "fire extinguisher" just once, in the singular. As I walked, I noted where each unit hangs. I didn't write down the tags or expiry dates, so next time I'll photograph every tag.

4. VHF and GPS

GPS, a compass, a paper map, a VHF radio and a handy talky are all on the list. Nobody tested the radio while I was there, and I don't know how many handsets there are. Out at sea, the habit of checking in matters more than the model of radio, so next time I'll ask the captain how often the boat reports in, and to whom.

5. Tender

The fibreglass tender, with its Yamaha 40 hp outboard, was alongside when I came aboard. The sheet doesn't say how many it seats. With 18 guests on board, a beach landing takes more than one run, and I don't know how many people go each time or whether the life jackets go with them. Both questions are on my list.

6. Water, fuel and power

The tanks hold 6,000 litres of fresh water and 3,000 litres of fuel. The main engine is a Mitsubishi 8DC9 and the generator a Yanmar 4TNV88. Split the water between 18 guests and 7 crew and you get 240 litres each, but that's only arithmetic. The sheet gives no figure for generator hours per day. That's the number that decides how long the cabin air conditioning can run, so I'll ask the engineer.

Here's what I didn't do on the walk, so nobody reads more into it than is really there:

• count the life jackets
• open the raft or look for its service date
• read the extinguisher tags
• measure how much water a guest actually uses

7. Cabins

Each deck has its own style. The Japanese rooms are on the upper deck: two guests, one extra bed and a balcony. The Western rooms are on the main deck: two guests, one extra bed, a balcony and a bathtub. Down on the lower deck, the Balinese rooms have a double and a single for three, one extra bed for a fourth, and portholes instead of windows. Don't picture terraces; the balconies are narrow strips of side deck. The lower deck pays for its calm, too. It moves least, but those rooms sit near the engine and are the noisiest. A daytime walk isn't a night's sleep, so I have no decibel reading.

8. Bathrooms

6 ensuite bathrooms, one per cabin, each with a hot shower, and a bathtub in the Western rooms only. What I can't tell you is how the hot water holds up when 18 guests all shower in the same hour.

9. Stairs and rails

There are three decks, linked by stairs, and no lift. The main deck smelled of warm teak and varnish. I climbed all three levels, and next time I'm bringing a tape measure for the rail height and the depth of the treads. Children under 3 travel free; if you're carrying a small child, ask which stairs you'll be using most.

10. Galley

The galley is open and run by in-house chefs, and the vessel page has photos of the layout. I looked at where the food is prepared. I didn't open the fridge, so I can't tell you its size, and I never asked where the washing water comes from. The crew list shows one chef for 18 guests, which leaves a question: who cooks if the chef is ill?

11. First aid

There's no first aid kit in the safety list or in the equipment rows. I didn't ask to see one on the walk, and that's my miss. A missing line may just be an omission, so I'm counting it as unconfirmed rather than absent. Next time I'll ask for the kit to be opened and read what's inside.

12. Signal and power

The Wi-Fi on board is local, a hotspot off the crew's mobile signal, and there's no satellite internet; it works near Labuan Bajo and in patches between islands. A flare gun is listed, but the sockets aren't described. Once the signal drops, the VHF radio and the handy talky are your only line out.

First, the limit that matters: Vinca has no stabilisers, so on a rough crossing everyone feels the motion, and I treat choosing a cabin as a comfort question that also touches on safety. And her Wi-Fi is only a patchy local hotspot, with no satellite internet. She's a snorkel boat with no dive compressor, and the desk tells you so.

1. A written jacket count. One for each of the 18 berths, one for each of the 7 crew, plus child sizes, all stated in the booking confirmation. It costs nothing and settles check 1.
2. A raft service date. The raft exactly matches a full load, so I want the last service date on paper.
3. A first aid contents list. A kit is easy to add and easy to photograph.

Next come the extinguisher tags, the generator hours, the tender's seat count and the rail height. Every one of those can be answered before you pay a deposit, not after.

A daytime visit isn't a sailing. I saw the boat at rest and checked twelve points with a notebook, and none of that tells you how she handles a swell. Where she anchors for the night depends on the weather and on the captain's call on the day, so I can't promise you a particular bay.

I'm a guide, not a classification surveyor. I didn't see any certificates, and I'm making no claim about them one way or the other. I also didn't:

• ask to see the first aid kit
• measure the rail height or tread depth
• check the socket types or the flare cartridges

Before you pay a deposit, ask the desk for four things in writing: the jacket count, the raft's service date, the first aid contents and the generator hours. They take the operator a few minutes to answer, and asking costs you nothing.