Day 1: Check-in on board. Once all guests are onboard a safety briefing will be given. If all the guests are on board by 12.00 hours, you have the chance to do two extra dives at Ambon Bay in some fabulous muck dives with critters galore. This area is known for many rare and unusual species including the psychedelic frogfish and Rhinopias.
Day 2 (4 dives): Ambon for some fabulous muck dives with critters galore – this area is known for many rare and unusual species including the psychedelic frogfish and Ambon scorpionfish. Cruising overnight to the Banda Islands, 110 nautical miles.
Day 3-4 (6 dives): The next two days will be spent in the Banda Islands, formerly known as the Spice Islands. Many of the dive sites around the Banda islands are wall dives. The walls are covered in massive gorgonians, soft corals, barrel sponges and have some very interesting swim-throughs. But there are other attractive dive sites such as pinnacles with enormous groups of schooling pyramid butterflyfish, triggerfish, and pelagic fishes such as tunas passing through spectacular hard coral reefs next to the volcano, and great muck dives with lots of mandarin fish at the local jetty.
The Banda Islands are much more than diving. It is also a cultural and historical experience. You will spend one morning walking around the village of Banda Neira the main island, with a local guide, visiting the local museum, the old Dutch fort, the old colonial governor’s house, the local fish market, and a nutmeg plantation, where you will have breakfast. Cruising overnight to Manuk Volcano, 50 nautical miles.
Day 5 (4 dives): Manuk, also known as the Snake Volcano. Don’t need to be afraid! The site also offers a black sand reef dive with loads of fish and pretty hard and soft corals. We will spend the whole day here doing four-day dives. Cruise to Serua Island, 55 nautical miles.
Day 6 (4 dives): Serua Island is probably one of the most emblematic spots in the Banda Sea to see schooling hammerhead sharks. Also, an amazing site to see schooling fish such as big eye trevallies, pinjalo snappers, and others. Cruise to Nila Island, 20 nautical miles.
Day 7 (4 dives): Surrounding Nila Island there are two atolls, Dusborgh and Nil Desperandum. It’s at these two atolls that there is a good chance of seeing hammerhead sharks. Even without the hammerheads, the reefs are fabulous, with healthy walls and 50+ meter visibility. Cruise overnight to Damar, 90 nautical miles.
Day 8 (3 dives): Today, you will dive into several small islands – Neus Leur, Terbang Selatan, and Terbang Utara. The island of Damar and its three surrounding small islands have spectacular diving. Like many dives in the Banda Sea, there is crystal clear water and beautiful walls covered in massive sponges and beautiful soft corals. Cruise to Wetar Island, 150 nautical miles.
Day 9 (4 dives): In Wetar, you will dive at the small island of Reong and at Cape Nunukae.
Pulau Reong is a small island on the northwest coast of Wetar and separated by a small channel only 700 meters wide. More walls, like many of the dive sites in the Banda Sea, are covered in small soft corals but of a great variety of colors, with zillions of triggerfish of every species.
Cape Nunukae, about 6 nautical miles southwest of Pulau Reong, is a large ridge with slopes on both sides, covered with a hard coral reef on the shallow area of the ridge, with soft corals on the slopes in the deeper areas. There can be strong currents at the end of the ridge, where large aggregations of schooling fish can be found. Cruise overnight to Alor, 95 nautical miles.
Day 10 (4 dives): Alor is a favorite dive spot for divers coming to dive Indonesia year after year due to its variety of dive sites. Healthy reefs, pinnacles, walls, great muck dives, cold water, warm water, strong currents, and protected areas. Alor has it all. Cruise overnight to Kawula Island (90nm) or Serbete Island (120 nm).
Day 11 (2 dives): You will do two dives today at Kawula Island (90 nm to Maumere) or Serbete Island (60 nm to Maumere).
Day 12: Disembark at 8.00 am after breakfast. Staff will transfer you to the airport or hotel.
This is a sample itinerary and is subject to changes beyond the operator’s control. The exact itinerary, route, and amount of dives for your cruise may be adapted to best suit the weather conditions, tides and currents, season, and other prevailing events.
Marine Life: Soft corals, gorgonians, pygmy seahorses, turtles, Manta Rays, amazing muck diving, wobbegongs, crocodile-fish, toadfish, dugong, frogfish and so much more!
We recommend all guests to arrive the day before the cruise departure. Guests will disembark at 08:00 having a lot of time to catch the same day flight out of Maumere.
