Hammerheads in Banda ... calendar window?

[charlier]

Help me understand something. Looking at a map, RA is northeast of Ambon, and the Banda Sea is south of Ambon.
Do these boats then go a few hundred kms out into the Banda Sea when they do this crossing?
Is one closer to the hammerhead / oceanic manta ray action by simply stationing oneself at the island of Banda?

Thanks,
- Bill

Hi Bill,
LoB's have numerous itineraries:
r/t Maurmere to Ambom, via the Banda Islands and other remote pinnacles and perhaps visit Alor Lembata Island - Bacatan area.
r/t Ambon to Sorong via Banda Island, Manuk, perhaps Serua, and north toward the Islands east of P. Seram to P. Misool, and southern RA. On this trip you might have a dive day in Ambon. You will get to dive in southern RA, but it's not a full-on RA cruise.
Other crossings might include, r/t Ambon to Saumlaki or r/t via Halmahera.

These trips generally offer three dives day due to the long sailing times between dive sites (with some exceptions of course). In addition, sometimes, you might dive to 30m + for two dives in one day, so three dives might be enough on those days. In this region, little or no advanced medical care is available.

Since I will be sitting in an airport/airline for the most of the day, I might annotate a map of the Banda Sea region. Best from Singapore

 

[billt4sf]

Hi Bill,
LoB's have numerous itineraries:
r/t Maurmere to Ambom, via the Banda Islands and other remote pinnacles and perhaps visit Alor Lembata Island - Bacatan area.
r/t Ambon to Sorong via Banda Island, Manuk, perhaps Serua, and north toward the Islands east of P. Seram to P. Misool, and southern RA. On this trip you might have a dive day in Ambon. You will get to dive in southern RA, but it's not a full-on RA cruise.
Other crossings might include, r/t Ambon to Saumlaki or r/t via Halmahera.

These trips generally offer three dives day due to the long sailing times between dive sites (with some exceptions of course). In addition, sometimes, you might dive to 30m + for two dives in one day, so three dives might be enough on those days. In this region, little or no advanced medical care is available.

Since I will be sitting in an airport/airline for the most of the day, I might annotate a map of the Banda Sea region. Best from Singapore

That would be fun to see.

Which airport?

- Bill

 

[charlier]

My home airport, Singapore and waiting for a flight to Mauritius.

 

[billt4sf]

My home airport, Singapore and waiting for a flight to Mauritius.

We were there last week and were very impressed in many ways. It made us think about using it as a base. We do like the restaurants, we like culture, museums, etc. OTOH it seemed so crowded! And consequently noisy and pushy, esp. compared to our relaxing place in Bali.

Does anyone do anything there besides eating and shopping?

- Bill

 

[acidrush]

October was the best last year (hammers during safety stop). Large schools were still around in november but they were deeper. That being said, last year was an El nino year, so the thermocline in the banda sea came up quite shallow. We had greenish colder water at around 5-10m. Its usually much deeper. I guess the hammers came up shallower because of this.

 

[gilbubblefish]

Only 2 space left for nov 2016....want to see the hammers, many chances during this cruise : Nusa laut, Manuk island, Koon ,Banda at Ai and Run island we will do all these dives...

Ambon Kaimana from 12 to 24 Nov 2016 ...20% discount ( save 770 $$ )

 

[acidrush]

We were there last week and were very impressed in many ways. It made us think about using it as a base. We do like the restaurants, we like culture, museums, etc. OTOH it seemed so crowded! And consequently noisy and pushy, esp. compared to our relaxing place in Bali.

Does anyone do anything there besides eating and shopping?

- Bill

Actually Yes! they work so they can afford to eat, shop and travel! lol! Just a few hours flight brings you to a wide diverse range of countries. Singaporeans travel a lot.

 

[Dan]

Bill,
There is your chance to see the schooling hammerhead sharks in Banda this year, while you are still in Bali, as mentioned by Gilles (gilbubblefish)

 

[charlier]

We were there last week and were very impressed in many ways. It made us think about using it as a base. We do like the restaurants, we like culture, museums, etc. OTOH it seemed so crowded! And consequently noisy and pushy, esp. compared to our relaxing place in Bali.

Does anyone do anything there besides eating and shopping?
- Bill

Finally back from Mauritius! Good point about Singapore, besides eating and shopping, I work, swim for a workout, dive a lot, eat in wonderful small restaurants (not in malls), and travel throughout SE Asia. Since we know the city, we can easily navigate without crowds, avoid malls and overly trendy places. Plus, we are only 2 1/2 hours from Bali! I am thinking about going to Amed for a four day free dive training, but have yet to look at air tickets or if I can leave work. More on this later....

 

[billt4sf]

I was on the Black Manta crossing trip from Ambon to Sorong last early November and we saw them. They also were there in October, from reports of other boats.
We did 3 dives a day there, you swim out into the blue and keep your eyes open waiting for that moment. Then if your me you screw up your video cause your so damn excited. Diving out in the blue is a bit freaky, your only point of refrence is other divers, some can get vertigo. I would focus on small specs of algea to avoid it when i didnt have other divers in view.The first dive of the day we tended to see them in twos and threes, then the second a few more, and sometimes we would see them over the reef. Then the much anticipated 3rd dive right before sundown is when your best chance at big schools comes. Who knows why they come up in large numbers at that time? But at that time we saw them in large numbers. The schools would be about 30-40 in size and it was really amazing.
That crossing trip is really epic, besides the hammerheads, there are some really nice reefs, where I was lucky enough to see some barrel sponges spawning. And Manuk Island in the morning is really spectacular, Manuk means bird and in the morning the seabirds start taking off circling and heading out to sea for the day. Manuk is also is known for the large number of sea snakes there, and yes I can vouch for that fact. I was originally a bit nervous as I'm not a huge fan of snakes, but curious as they are I found myself enamoured with them. Another priceless moment was when the Black Manta was bringing a new outboard for a village and we were greeted with songs, food, and huge smiles and thankyous.
We were blessed with really calm seas, even glassy at times, frequent spotting of whales and dolphins, and some really epic dives.

I'm doing this in December on Mermaid I and I'm really excited (and somewhat nervous about diving in blue water as described above).

Also, no snakes for me, than you very much. the rest of it sounds GREAT !

- Bill