Question Banda or Raja Ampat liveaboard in Oct / Nov?

[scubajunky17]

If you want to see hammerheads, I would book the earlier trip. But don't fixate on hammerheads. I've done 5 or 6 Banda trips and been skunked on seeing hammerheads on several of them. But, there's so much great diving in Banda, that these were still great trips.

Is Banda comparable to Raja then ?

 

[reubencahn]

I don't know that I'd say comparable. I would say Banda is more like North RA, but they're still quite different. Life is at least a bit denser in RA. Topography is different as Banda has a lot of very deep water as well as more lengthy transits. Banda has more hard, less soft coral than RA. They seems very different sites, but I don't feel particularly adept at describing the differences.

 

[Abby Jaye]

I have the opportunity to travel in Oct / Nov this year and am keen on doing some bucketlist diving. I have about 75 dives logged and have been on a liveaboard in the red sea before (saw several hammerheads among other things!). I have flexibility in dates during this time except for a couple of restrictions. Need to be home (Dubai) Oct 30 - Nov 2 (don't want to miss Halloween and Diwali with the kiddo) and after Nov 25 (kiddo's birthday). I'll be travelling solo.

I'm torn between Banda Sea and Raja Ampat. Oct seems like the better time in Banda Sea and Nov seems like a better time in Raja Ampat, but it's unclear to me which destination between the two will be more enjoyable for me. Any suggestions / liveaboards suggestions are welcome! I'm not super price sensitive for this trip - I'll get to do a trip like this only once a year or two and want to maximize the experience.

Also, any advice for the best way to go about booking these liveaboards? Liveaboard.com seems to have a pretty good listing and availability. Is booking with them the best way? Is there any advantage (price / discounts / anything else) to contacting multiple agencies / the boat operators directly for booking?

Thank you!

Hi, October is the very start of the Raja Ampat season. I went early in the season last year on La Galigo Liveaboard and took their 12 day Ultimate Raja Ampat trip and it was the best diving of my life. Great boat, purpose built Phinisi with heaps of character, friendly and attentive staff and all the food you can eat! The bonus of being on one of the first trips of the season in RA its sooo quiet as most of the boats are still making their way back from Komodo, we had literally most of the dive sites to ourselves. Check them out, I just completed another trip with them in June on the Jurassic Komodo. Indo diving is wonderful!!!
www.lagaligoliveaboard.com

 

[Doc Harry]

We did a private 11-day LOB in the Banda Sea in Oct 2023. We were with a group of very experienced world divers and dive masters, looking for schools of hammerheads. Every dive was a search for hammerheads.

We saw ONE hammerhead in 11 days.

ONE.

 

[Carlos Diver]

We did a private 11-day LOB in the Banda Sea in Oct 2023. We were with a group of very experienced world divers and dive masters, looking for schools of hammerheads. Every dive was a search for hammerheads.

We saw ONE hammerhead in 11 days.

ONE.

Thats unfortunate. On my trip last November, we spent a full day a Masuk (sp). We saw the schools on every dive. We weren't fortunate enough to be up close and personal (well one group sure did), but we did see them.

 

[scubajunky17]

Apart from the hammerheads is the diving in Banda comparable to Raja Ampat?
I'm into fishy dives with big schools etc

 

[Dan]

Apart from the hammerheads is the diving in Banda comparable to Raja Ampat?
I'm into fishy dives with big schools etc

They both are good diving destinations, lots of schooling fishes. You may see hammerheads, sea kraits & whales in Banda Sea, but may not see Wobbegongs, walking sharks, mantas which are commonly seen in Raja Ampat.

Here are some of my trip videos of Raja Ampat & Banda Sea as comparison:

Banda Sea



Raja Ampat



One trip to Banda we were focusing on muck diving in Bandaneira & swimming with whales, as shown in the 2 short videos, below:

 

[scubajunky17]

They both are good diving destinations, lots of schooling fishes. You may see hammerheads, sea kraits & whales in Banda Sea, but may not see Wobbegongs, walking sharks, mantas which are commonly seen in Raja Ampat.

Here are some of my trip videos of Raja Ampat & Banda Sea as comparison:

Banda Sea



Raja Ampat



One trip to Banda we were focusing on muck diving in Bandaneira & swimming with whales, as shown in the 2 short videos, below:

Thanks for the vids, loved the hammerheads at the end of the Banda vid.
What month was that?
I'm really tempted by Banda, just seems a drag to get to and I can only go first two weeks in September. Many of the ferries are also already sold out. Might go for the MOLA, MOLA and Mantas at Nusa Pedina instead, not a bad second option I suppose.

 

[Dan]

What month was that?

September (9-19 Sep 2019 to be exact).

 

[scubajunky17]

We did a private 11-day LOB in the Banda Sea in Oct 2023. We were with a group of very experienced world divers and dive masters, looking for schools of hammerheads. Every dive was a search for hammerheads.

We saw ONE hammerhead in 11 days.

ONE.

Apart from the hammerheads what was the rest of the diving like?