OP
Luko
Contributor
4-Molana diving & chilling
Taking the ferry from Ambon to Saparua was a piece of cake, my survival bahasa was more than enough and there’s always a good mind to help you book the tickets.
We indulged into the VIP seats which are in fact recycled business class airplane seats (domestic routes not he full flat bed type) probably from ANA or Japan airlines. Watch out though, you get more aircon than what you pay for… (with the hindsight, I can now assess the accuracy of Wisnu’s statement who warned me about Ambon people tendancy for singing & playing music anytime of the day, including early morning at sunrise, or anywhere, especially in locked places
).
We were welcomed at Saparua port by Pak Agust we contacted a few days before, he’s the owner of two wooden and terraced bungalows on the outrageously beautiful beach of Molana island, 15 minutes speedboat from Saparua. We transferred swiftly got our luggage and diving stuff , the time to meet the local -thankfully harmless- dragon, 1.5m long, living in a hole nearby the bungalow we were assigned.
When I say the beach is outrageously beautiful, I still think these words are an understatement. :shocked2:
There are NO words for Molana island beach, better than the Maldives, the Perhentians and Koh Lipe altogether. You get the picture? I spent three day wondering how Pak Agust could buy this amount of blue toilet water and flush it so regularly into the sea, I thought my eyes were also turning to turquoise blue.
For the diving I first mailed to the well known posh Cape Paperu resort, the diving was so expensive that I immediately scanned the Internet for another option. I luckily discovered Saparua tourism veteran Mahu Lodge had re-opened their resort and its boss Paul Tomasoa, planned to run a dive center again. At the moment, they didn’t have any equipment but were able to fill tanks, provide a guide and a boat.
I contacted then the Tomasoa family travel agency in Ambon (Daya Patal, owned by his brother Tony), but the deal was not easy. Mahu Lodge is north of Saparua, they understandably try to attract patrons to their currently empty resort, but I wanted to stay on a very good beach like Molana which is located in the south of Saparua.
After explaining my concerns that I wanted to stay on Molana and dive from there, I would pay the price for. We dealt on a price for a “9m comfortable dive boat” that would pick me up in Molana to dive Nusa Laut, an island 15miles out at sea which is supposed to host untouched coral fields, 3 dives trip. Everything was good so far.
On the day I was in Molana I discovered that not only Indonesian time was karet (elastic) but arrangements and boats also.
At 1 PM, Tomasoa phoned me to tell me that it was better “due to weather conditions” that I go by myself to his resort (ie. pay the crossing and taxi pickup) if I wanted to dive Nusa Laut. I was a bit perplex with this suggestion since we agreed that he would pick me, since the weather looked radiant to me, but what do I know, and moreover he had to sail the same southern part I was located if we wanted to dive to Nusa Laut, so what was the differnce, except him saving on petrol... After little resistance, he finally agreed on the initial plan.
At 8Pm he phoned to remind me I had to pay the dives to the boatman the day after (something we already agreed three times before)… I am not that picky although I really didn’t appreciate his last call, my scam-o-meter alarm warned me that something was going fishy on his side.
The morning after, the sun was shining in the blue sky, the sea was flat like a lake as I expected : a yellow longboat stopped on the beach, 6 or 7m at best, only 1m wide and one engine, the rear part was covered for 2 meters at most with the odd tarpaulin, all in all it was looking more like a fisherman boat than the usual dive boat.
Nus the divemaster went meeting me, I asked him where was the “9m comfortable” dive boat in my poor bahasa, as he replied that for one customer it was a sufficient boat, I stated that I certainly wouldn’t go out in the open sea for 15miles on a narrow boat with one engine and I started thinking about canceling the whole deal.
I called Tomasoa, and as the discussion was getting hotter, I warned him that in the end the elastic boat would go back to where it belonged without me and my money. He went totally bonkers, he said “it was not good for me”... (his words, call it what you want). I ended the communication.
In this case and in this part of the world, nobody has to lose face, hence I had to go halfway, so I called a young guy at Ambon agency to propose Tomasoa a deal : I would only dive Molana, not Nusa Laut and the price is reduced, but it’s over for the next days. The deal was fair enough to be accepted by everybody, we could go diving, Nus started laughing again, he shook my hands and patted me in the back.
We dived Molana East and Northwest shores. The topography is quite simple on Molana a coral plateau fringes the island, from 6-8m, the walls drop off vertically down to 40-50m. The water is incredibly clear, slightly indigo-violet, we could always see the bottom.
On the first dive, Molana East, coral life was good but somehow chaotic, loads of anthias, schools of bannerfish and small coral fish. While I was looking for photo ops along the wall at 30m depth, Nus pointed his arm towards the blue, two majestic spotted eagle rays slowly passed, they nearly stopped 20m from us. They were too far away to get a good shot. It was the only occasion to spot a big fish otherwise.
At least Mahu dive centre wasn’t greedy on air, the tanks were filled nearby the 230bars (3500PSI) mark and the dive finished 60 minutes afterwards on the plateau. Going back on the boat proved the boat wasn’t appropriate for diving, it was vey unstable, the 2 boatmen had to stand each on the opposite side while I was going up the ladder fully equipped, otherwise it would have capsized.
The second dive was much better, Northwest Molana had much more fishlife, schools of fusiliers, of emperors, as well as the redtooth triggerfish soup. It was a very good dive, combined with nice seafans and photogenic coral formations, I would have been happy doing it again the next day if I weren’t at guns with the dive operation.
In the end, I cut the stay short since I had no diving though I wasn’ too pissed off to enjoy Molana gorgeous beach for two days, but we didn’t make it to Saparua where we expected to spend a night and a couple of dives. I regret to not dive Nusa Laut which is supposed to be the jewel of the crown in terms of coral. I will do it next year probably.
Since I had one day left, I phoned again to Robert asking him for a day of diving when I was be back. I arranged too with my usual driver to pick me up at the ferry landing and to drive me to BRD’s boat in Laha who was unexpectedly out with three divers (I had the chance to meet and dive with Kathy from Korea, Teo from Johor Bahru and Zita from Jakarta… raise your hand if you read this board.).
5- Conclusion
Central Maluku exceeded my expectation not only for diving but also for landside attractions and sandy beaches.
Ambon is undoubtedly a diving challenger for Lembeh, strictly speaking critters are denser in Lembeh, you may see more, but Ambon offers the diver a choice between high quality coral dives and muck. I would state Ambon is matching Bangka in this respect, with even more spectacular coral sites.
For a party of travelers with non diving members like we are, Maluku offers more than North Sulawesi. Ambon idoesn’t display very attractive landsights and the hotels choice is quite limited. Only Aston Natsepa would match although they aren’t very professional, you must check two or three times that things are done, sometimes a little shout helps…
Blue Rose divers is a good bet as there aren’t many customers and they can provide either muck or coral dives with the same boatride time. The main problem is that there are not many English speaking staff.
For organizing your trip, Daya Patal agency is a good bet, Zepho the young guy in charge was swift at booking my tickets to Bandanaira, arranging pickups, booking bungalows out in the islands and getting me a driver for my trip. spicetr@gmail.com
In Ambon, eating is a favorite pastime, personally I liked very much the ikan bakar (grilled fish) at Istana restaurant. Joas coffee shop provides live music in the day and a vary very good kopi susu, coffee with milk accompanied with various snacks like coconut/sago crepes.
In Bandanaira, Mutiara with friendly Abba is the guesthouse I would recommend anytime, especially for gourmets. Going to Pulau Ai is a matter of preferences, personally I wouldn’t spend the night anymore.
Diving is possible in the Bandas but NBA only allows 10kg luggage per person, hence you can’t really bring a full equipment from Ambon, especially if you’re a photographer, beware there are only 18 seats available.
In Saparua area, you can’t beat Molana island, speaking of a beach. No you really can’t.
In terms of diving it's your choice to dive with Mahu Lodge, you've been warned. You should also note that you need your full equipment, they will only provide tanks and weights.
Fnally the best season to go should be October to mid-december. february to april is also OK although it can become high seas around Saparua, I have been told.
As for me, I am just disappointed I can’t return those incredible islands in august !!!!!!
Other photos : click on the Ambon and Maluku link in my signature.
Taking the ferry from Ambon to Saparua was a piece of cake, my survival bahasa was more than enough and there’s always a good mind to help you book the tickets.
We indulged into the VIP seats which are in fact recycled business class airplane seats (domestic routes not he full flat bed type) probably from ANA or Japan airlines. Watch out though, you get more aircon than what you pay for… (with the hindsight, I can now assess the accuracy of Wisnu’s statement who warned me about Ambon people tendancy for singing & playing music anytime of the day, including early morning at sunrise, or anywhere, especially in locked places
). We were welcomed at Saparua port by Pak Agust we contacted a few days before, he’s the owner of two wooden and terraced bungalows on the outrageously beautiful beach of Molana island, 15 minutes speedboat from Saparua. We transferred swiftly got our luggage and diving stuff , the time to meet the local -thankfully harmless- dragon, 1.5m long, living in a hole nearby the bungalow we were assigned.
When I say the beach is outrageously beautiful, I still think these words are an understatement. :shocked2:
There are NO words for Molana island beach, better than the Maldives, the Perhentians and Koh Lipe altogether. You get the picture? I spent three day wondering how Pak Agust could buy this amount of blue toilet water and flush it so regularly into the sea, I thought my eyes were also turning to turquoise blue.
For the diving I first mailed to the well known posh Cape Paperu resort, the diving was so expensive that I immediately scanned the Internet for another option. I luckily discovered Saparua tourism veteran Mahu Lodge had re-opened their resort and its boss Paul Tomasoa, planned to run a dive center again. At the moment, they didn’t have any equipment but were able to fill tanks, provide a guide and a boat.
I contacted then the Tomasoa family travel agency in Ambon (Daya Patal, owned by his brother Tony), but the deal was not easy. Mahu Lodge is north of Saparua, they understandably try to attract patrons to their currently empty resort, but I wanted to stay on a very good beach like Molana which is located in the south of Saparua.
After explaining my concerns that I wanted to stay on Molana and dive from there, I would pay the price for. We dealt on a price for a “9m comfortable dive boat” that would pick me up in Molana to dive Nusa Laut, an island 15miles out at sea which is supposed to host untouched coral fields, 3 dives trip. Everything was good so far.
On the day I was in Molana I discovered that not only Indonesian time was karet (elastic) but arrangements and boats also.
At 1 PM, Tomasoa phoned me to tell me that it was better “due to weather conditions” that I go by myself to his resort (ie. pay the crossing and taxi pickup) if I wanted to dive Nusa Laut. I was a bit perplex with this suggestion since we agreed that he would pick me, since the weather looked radiant to me, but what do I know, and moreover he had to sail the same southern part I was located if we wanted to dive to Nusa Laut, so what was the differnce, except him saving on petrol... After little resistance, he finally agreed on the initial plan.
At 8Pm he phoned to remind me I had to pay the dives to the boatman the day after (something we already agreed three times before)… I am not that picky although I really didn’t appreciate his last call, my scam-o-meter alarm warned me that something was going fishy on his side.
The morning after, the sun was shining in the blue sky, the sea was flat like a lake as I expected : a yellow longboat stopped on the beach, 6 or 7m at best, only 1m wide and one engine, the rear part was covered for 2 meters at most with the odd tarpaulin, all in all it was looking more like a fisherman boat than the usual dive boat.
Nus the divemaster went meeting me, I asked him where was the “9m comfortable” dive boat in my poor bahasa, as he replied that for one customer it was a sufficient boat, I stated that I certainly wouldn’t go out in the open sea for 15miles on a narrow boat with one engine and I started thinking about canceling the whole deal.
I called Tomasoa, and as the discussion was getting hotter, I warned him that in the end the elastic boat would go back to where it belonged without me and my money. He went totally bonkers, he said “it was not good for me”... (his words, call it what you want). I ended the communication.
In this case and in this part of the world, nobody has to lose face, hence I had to go halfway, so I called a young guy at Ambon agency to propose Tomasoa a deal : I would only dive Molana, not Nusa Laut and the price is reduced, but it’s over for the next days. The deal was fair enough to be accepted by everybody, we could go diving, Nus started laughing again, he shook my hands and patted me in the back.
We dived Molana East and Northwest shores. The topography is quite simple on Molana a coral plateau fringes the island, from 6-8m, the walls drop off vertically down to 40-50m. The water is incredibly clear, slightly indigo-violet, we could always see the bottom.
On the first dive, Molana East, coral life was good but somehow chaotic, loads of anthias, schools of bannerfish and small coral fish. While I was looking for photo ops along the wall at 30m depth, Nus pointed his arm towards the blue, two majestic spotted eagle rays slowly passed, they nearly stopped 20m from us. They were too far away to get a good shot. It was the only occasion to spot a big fish otherwise.
At least Mahu dive centre wasn’t greedy on air, the tanks were filled nearby the 230bars (3500PSI) mark and the dive finished 60 minutes afterwards on the plateau. Going back on the boat proved the boat wasn’t appropriate for diving, it was vey unstable, the 2 boatmen had to stand each on the opposite side while I was going up the ladder fully equipped, otherwise it would have capsized.
The second dive was much better, Northwest Molana had much more fishlife, schools of fusiliers, of emperors, as well as the redtooth triggerfish soup. It was a very good dive, combined with nice seafans and photogenic coral formations, I would have been happy doing it again the next day if I weren’t at guns with the dive operation.
In the end, I cut the stay short since I had no diving though I wasn’ too pissed off to enjoy Molana gorgeous beach for two days, but we didn’t make it to Saparua where we expected to spend a night and a couple of dives. I regret to not dive Nusa Laut which is supposed to be the jewel of the crown in terms of coral. I will do it next year probably.
Since I had one day left, I phoned again to Robert asking him for a day of diving when I was be back. I arranged too with my usual driver to pick me up at the ferry landing and to drive me to BRD’s boat in Laha who was unexpectedly out with three divers (I had the chance to meet and dive with Kathy from Korea, Teo from Johor Bahru and Zita from Jakarta… raise your hand if you read this board.).
5- Conclusion
Central Maluku exceeded my expectation not only for diving but also for landside attractions and sandy beaches.
Ambon is undoubtedly a diving challenger for Lembeh, strictly speaking critters are denser in Lembeh, you may see more, but Ambon offers the diver a choice between high quality coral dives and muck. I would state Ambon is matching Bangka in this respect, with even more spectacular coral sites.
For a party of travelers with non diving members like we are, Maluku offers more than North Sulawesi. Ambon idoesn’t display very attractive landsights and the hotels choice is quite limited. Only Aston Natsepa would match although they aren’t very professional, you must check two or three times that things are done, sometimes a little shout helps…
Blue Rose divers is a good bet as there aren’t many customers and they can provide either muck or coral dives with the same boatride time. The main problem is that there are not many English speaking staff.
For organizing your trip, Daya Patal agency is a good bet, Zepho the young guy in charge was swift at booking my tickets to Bandanaira, arranging pickups, booking bungalows out in the islands and getting me a driver for my trip. spicetr@gmail.com
In Ambon, eating is a favorite pastime, personally I liked very much the ikan bakar (grilled fish) at Istana restaurant. Joas coffee shop provides live music in the day and a vary very good kopi susu, coffee with milk accompanied with various snacks like coconut/sago crepes.
In Bandanaira, Mutiara with friendly Abba is the guesthouse I would recommend anytime, especially for gourmets. Going to Pulau Ai is a matter of preferences, personally I wouldn’t spend the night anymore.
Diving is possible in the Bandas but NBA only allows 10kg luggage per person, hence you can’t really bring a full equipment from Ambon, especially if you’re a photographer, beware there are only 18 seats available.
In Saparua area, you can’t beat Molana island, speaking of a beach. No you really can’t.
In terms of diving it's your choice to dive with Mahu Lodge, you've been warned. You should also note that you need your full equipment, they will only provide tanks and weights.
Fnally the best season to go should be October to mid-december. february to april is also OK although it can become high seas around Saparua, I have been told.
As for me, I am just disappointed I can’t return those incredible islands in august !!!!!!
Other photos : click on the Ambon and Maluku link in my signature.
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