Diving Ambon - just what you would expect - dark sand slopes and piers with algaes and soft corals. Tons of
critters. 11 frogfish at Air Manis, Harlequin shrimp, ribbon eel, seahorses, rhinopias and nudibranchs at Twilight Zone. Lots of debris but the sites we chose were relatively clean due to the currents moving trash away.
Diving Banda - predominantly white sand sloping reefs with large coral heads, sea fans and whips. Great for
wide angle photography with schools of baracuda, bumphead parrotfish, batfish and snappers, plenty of
smaller creatures too. We found leaf fish, octopus, spanish dancer, mandarin fish, hawkfish, xeno crabs and
squat lobsters. My favourite site was Batu Kapal
Diving Ring of Fire - we dived Pulau Manuk, Pulau Bui, Pulau Kerkap and Pulau Momon. The sea snakes at
Manuk were interesting- a touch too interesting for me! They come very close to divers and it was a little bit
freaky so i only made 2 dives but others really enjoyed it and got some amazing close up photos. There were
also loads of fish and lovely corals. At Bui we had a manta ray cruising about for around 20 minutes, also lovelycorals, sponges and fish schools, Batu Cantik at Momon was wonderful - with soft corals whips, small critters
and bumphead parrotfish.
The water temp was warm at 28C so we didn’t see the schools of hammerheads that the area is becoming
known for but the remoteness and having dive sites to ourselves are definitely worth it.
Diving Triton Bay - quite probably my favourite area of both trips. Numerous dive sites in the Adiamo Strait,
most with huge bushes of black coral, soft corals and sea fans. We found many pygmy seahorses, ghost
pipefish, nudibranchs, coral shrimp, crinoid cuttlefish, decorator crabs, cowries and tozuema shrimp. The reefs are also home to sweetlips, wobbegong sharks, turtles, barracuda, batfish, snappers, angel fish and bumpheads plus we saw 20 mobula rays passing by and in the namatote strait the fishing bagans are set up and attract
whale sharks so we got to swim with a couple of a few hours.
Diving Raja Ampat - great dives full of huge seafans, schools of fish and some intense currents. Plenty of
pygmy seahorses but also manta rays, white tip and black tip reef sharks, schools of trevally, snapper, batfish, bumpheads and barracuda. A few more wobbegong sharks too. We also dived at Batanta where i’ve not been in 5 years and the macro was great - we found seahorses and 4 rhinopias at “Algae Patch 2”.
A highlight was also seeing blue whales as we cruised in the open sea. 1 was feeding around the surface for an hour outside of Kaimana which was fabulous to watch.
The boat was fabulous. A few glitches such as no hot water during the second half of our first trip were quickly rectified( a new heater was installed the moment we arrived into Kaimana port) and we were all offered compensation which was a great response from the company. The cabins (we stayed in #1 and #5) were both spacious, had lovely linen and comfy beds. Bathrooms are lovely and toiletries eco friendly and palm oil free - hooray! Ac worked perfectly. Cabin 5 is pretty noisy from the engine but I got used to it and it didn;t interupt my sleep.Dive deck is spacious and has own stations, with fresh towels, and
personal camera rinse tank. The camera room was well thought out with plenty of space, charging points and storage.
The food was fantastic. This is the first boat I’ve been on that offered a la carte for every meal. The chef
provides an option for lunch and dinner but you can order what you like. All meals were individually platted so
you could eat when you were ready and no having to wait for divers who were spending longer underwater.
Dive times were not limited, many were longer than 60 minutes, groups 4 divers to 1 guide. Nitrox fills were always 30-31 %.
With only 12 guestthe sites were never crowded even if we all ended up in the same spot. Our cruise directors were very flexible in changing times to suit us and also allowing us to return to dive sites again, plus the
unscheduled whale watching was a great bonus!
The whole crew (20 of them!) worked really well as a team and were always helpful and friendly. Tanks were
carried to the tenders, cameras also if you wished, wetsuits miraculously appeared at our stations for dive time, drinks and snacks were brought to the shaded sun deck for us. Massage was wonderful and only $10 (i had several).
Everything was top notch and i’m looking forward to my full charter on D1 in Alor next year even more now!
critters. 11 frogfish at Air Manis, Harlequin shrimp, ribbon eel, seahorses, rhinopias and nudibranchs at Twilight Zone. Lots of debris but the sites we chose were relatively clean due to the currents moving trash away.
Diving Banda - predominantly white sand sloping reefs with large coral heads, sea fans and whips. Great for
wide angle photography with schools of baracuda, bumphead parrotfish, batfish and snappers, plenty of
smaller creatures too. We found leaf fish, octopus, spanish dancer, mandarin fish, hawkfish, xeno crabs and
squat lobsters. My favourite site was Batu Kapal
Diving Ring of Fire - we dived Pulau Manuk, Pulau Bui, Pulau Kerkap and Pulau Momon. The sea snakes at
Manuk were interesting- a touch too interesting for me! They come very close to divers and it was a little bit
freaky so i only made 2 dives but others really enjoyed it and got some amazing close up photos. There were
also loads of fish and lovely corals. At Bui we had a manta ray cruising about for around 20 minutes, also lovelycorals, sponges and fish schools, Batu Cantik at Momon was wonderful - with soft corals whips, small critters
and bumphead parrotfish.
The water temp was warm at 28C so we didn’t see the schools of hammerheads that the area is becoming
known for but the remoteness and having dive sites to ourselves are definitely worth it.
Diving Triton Bay - quite probably my favourite area of both trips. Numerous dive sites in the Adiamo Strait,
most with huge bushes of black coral, soft corals and sea fans. We found many pygmy seahorses, ghost
pipefish, nudibranchs, coral shrimp, crinoid cuttlefish, decorator crabs, cowries and tozuema shrimp. The reefs are also home to sweetlips, wobbegong sharks, turtles, barracuda, batfish, snappers, angel fish and bumpheads plus we saw 20 mobula rays passing by and in the namatote strait the fishing bagans are set up and attract
whale sharks so we got to swim with a couple of a few hours.
Diving Raja Ampat - great dives full of huge seafans, schools of fish and some intense currents. Plenty of
pygmy seahorses but also manta rays, white tip and black tip reef sharks, schools of trevally, snapper, batfish, bumpheads and barracuda. A few more wobbegong sharks too. We also dived at Batanta where i’ve not been in 5 years and the macro was great - we found seahorses and 4 rhinopias at “Algae Patch 2”.
A highlight was also seeing blue whales as we cruised in the open sea. 1 was feeding around the surface for an hour outside of Kaimana which was fabulous to watch.
The boat was fabulous. A few glitches such as no hot water during the second half of our first trip were quickly rectified( a new heater was installed the moment we arrived into Kaimana port) and we were all offered compensation which was a great response from the company. The cabins (we stayed in #1 and #5) were both spacious, had lovely linen and comfy beds. Bathrooms are lovely and toiletries eco friendly and palm oil free - hooray! Ac worked perfectly. Cabin 5 is pretty noisy from the engine but I got used to it and it didn;t interupt my sleep.Dive deck is spacious and has own stations, with fresh towels, and
personal camera rinse tank. The camera room was well thought out with plenty of space, charging points and storage.
The food was fantastic. This is the first boat I’ve been on that offered a la carte for every meal. The chef
provides an option for lunch and dinner but you can order what you like. All meals were individually platted so
you could eat when you were ready and no having to wait for divers who were spending longer underwater.
Dive times were not limited, many were longer than 60 minutes, groups 4 divers to 1 guide. Nitrox fills were always 30-31 %.
With only 12 guestthe sites were never crowded even if we all ended up in the same spot. Our cruise directors were very flexible in changing times to suit us and also allowing us to return to dive sites again, plus the
unscheduled whale watching was a great bonus!
The whole crew (20 of them!) worked really well as a team and were always helpful and friendly. Tanks were
carried to the tenders, cameras also if you wished, wetsuits miraculously appeared at our stations for dive time, drinks and snacks were brought to the shaded sun deck for us. Massage was wonderful and only $10 (i had several).
Everything was top notch and i’m looking forward to my full charter on D1 in Alor next year even more now!
