Wakatobi

Wakatobi

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Wakatobi was created with the vision to deliver the ultimate dive experience and was established following an extensive search to identify the perfect location for a dive resort in terms of geography, climate, oceanic topography and marine biodiversity.

To ensure its future we then created one of the world’s largest privately protected marine reserves. That gives you some idea of the extent to which we will go and the attention to detail that goes into every aspect of the Wakatobi experience.

Wakatobi National Park is located south-east of Sulawesi, between the Banda Sea to the north-east and the Flores Sea to the south-west.

It is the third largest marine park in Indonesia.

lembeh strait and togian dive trips
Our liveaboards’ cruise coverage mainly support Wakatobi. Be sure to check our trip schedule and availability.

Wakatobi (also called the tukang besi) in Southeast Sulawesi

This archipelago is named after its four main islands: Wangi Wangi, Kaledupa, Tomea, and Binongko. Here you’ll experience great wall diving, unparalleled diversity of marine life and the healthiest reefs in the Sulawesi region.

On any given day look for mimic octopus, devil scorpion fish, stonefish, ribbon eels, “disco clams”, and many other fascinating critters. Night dives are breathtaking. Entire walls burst into vivid colors as nocturnal tubastrea and soft corals “bloom.” And the diversity of invertebrates such as crustaceans, nudibranchs and mollusks is bewildering. Caribbean divers will sit staring at their logbooks after each dive, not knowing where to begin.

Having identified the premier location, we developed a resort that, despite its remote position, offers a plenitude of facilities and comforts to make a dive trip, and all that surrounds it, an experience that you will cherish.

Wakatobi is located at the world’s epicentre of coral reef biodiversity. This means that while diving at Wakatobi you can see the greatest variety and diversity of marine life. New and undocumented species continue to be discovered at Wakatobi.

Banda Sea & Halmahera

Banda Sea & Halmahera

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Placed on the east of Indonesia: Banda and Halmahera the jewel of east Indonesia’s invite you to explore the deep blue sea. Beautiful place to snorkelling and beautiful unspoilt beaches to visit.

The Banda Sea is a sea in the Maluku Islands of Indonesia, connected to the Pacific Ocean but surrounded by hundreds of islands, as well as the Halmahera and Ceram Seas. It is about 1000 km (600 mi) east to west, and about 500 km (300 mi) north to south.

Halmahera, formerly known as Jilolo, Gilolo, or Jailolo, is the largest island in the Maluku Islands. It is part of the North Maluku province of Indonesia and Sofifi, the capital of the province, is located on the west coast of the island.

Both offer spectacular dive experience with wide variety of Marine Life.

lembeh strait and togian dive trips
Our liveaboards’ cruise coverage mainly support Banda Sea & Halmahera. Be sure to check our trip schedule and availability.

Banda: in the Banda sea

Knowledgeable divers seek out this remote location due to a confluence of currents and nutrients there, producing an unusually diverse and brilliant growth of marine life—even for Indonesia. Fishes large and small can be found on any of the dive sites. The diving ranges from the shallow lagoon between Banda Neira and Gunung Api to the vertical walls of Hatta Island.

Halmahera: in North Maluku

These were the original Spice Islands. Until the Dutch planted cloves on Ambon Island, every clove in the world came from the Halmahera islands Ternate and Tidore.

This region features unique reef formations, with visibility 20 – 30 m, and water temperature of 27 – 28 C. Plenty of macro and micro subjects for UW photographers.

Komodo

Komodo

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Welcome to our triangle paradise: Alor, Komodo, and Sangeang. We would like to invite you to enjoy the driest paradise (Komodo), remote paradise (Alor), and volcano paradise (Sangeang).

Komodo is one of the 17,508 islands that compose the Republic of Indonesia. The island is particularly notable as the habitat of the Komodo dragon, the largest lizard on Earth, which is named after the island. Komodo Island has a surface area of 390 square kilometres and a human population of over two thousand.

The people of the island are descendants of former convicts who were exiled to the island and who have mixed with Bugis from Sulawesi. The people are primarily adherents of Islam but there are also Christian and Hindu congregations.

lembeh strait and togian dive trips
Our liveaboards’ cruise coverage mainly support Komodo. Be sure to check our trip schedule and availability.

KOMODO, the Realm of the Dragon

Komodo is one of Indonesia’s driest regions. Be sure to include a land visit to see the huge Komodo dragons when you go there. Underwater, Komodo offers just about every type of diving; from current-swept seamounts patrolled by sharks, tuna and other pelagics to calm reefs with teeming schools of fish.

Diving is good year-round. Because of strong currents and upwelling the water can be cold. We suggest a 5mm suit and hood.

Diving in the NORTH: Best period is during the southeast monsoon, from late March to early May and late September to early November. Currents are often encountered during this time. Water temperature: 24 – 29 C. Visibility: 20 – 25 m.

Diving in the SOUTH: Best period is during the northwest monsoon, mid November to early March. Water temperature: 21 – 27 C. Visibility: 10 – 15 m.

SANGEANG

Sangeang is an active volcano whose steep, conical slopes extend up to a nearly 2,000m peak. Lava flows are occasionally visible on its flanks. This island lies between Komodo and Sumbawa island. Sangeang’s black volcanic sands offer underwater photographers a wonderfully contrasting background for fish and other critters, with streams of bubbles rising from the sands here and there due to the volcanic activity. A wealth of sea life can be found in the coral reefs around Sangeang, including nudibranchs and flatworms.

Kalimantan

Kalimantan

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Located on the heart of Indonesia and it is a one big island size 544,150 km2. There are small islands around the main island with stunning Marine Life:

Derawan islands is a part of Coral Triangle, which contains one of the richest marine biodiversity on earth. Located in a biodiversity hotspot, the Derawan Islands feature 872 species of reef fishes, 507 species of coral, and invertebrates, including protected species (5 giants clam species, 2 sea turtles, coconut crab, etc.). Some of the islands harbor the heavily exploited turtle eggs and yet the largest green turtle nesting site in Indonesia.

Kakaban island is part of the Derawan Islands, and it has an area of 774.2 hectares  and is quite steep. Its limestone cliffs are covered with dense jungle right down to the water’s edge. The wall drops to 180 meters, and currents can be strong with up-welling, down-current and reversing directions.

lembeh strait and togian dive trips
Our liveaboards’ cruise coverage mainly support Kalimantan. Be sure to check our trip schedule and availability.

Derawan and Sangalaki

Derawan is home to numerous critters plus turtles (green turtles and hawksbills) that come to the shore at night during high tide to lay their eggs.

Kakaban

Kakaban features wall diving, with the walls patrolled by schooling barracuda, bluefin tunas, jacks, leopard sharks, gray reef sharks, and sometimes hammerheads. The world’s largest jellyfish lake is here also. Halimeda green algae covers the bottom of the lake, and mangrove roots live side by side with tunicates, sponges, tube worms, crustaceans, anemones, sea cucumber, sea snakes and gobies. Still unidentified species abound.

Sangalaki

Sangalaki is home to squadrons of giant manta rays. They emerge from all directions, undisturbed by your presence. Most are at least 3.5m (12 ft) wide. These have the typical white underside but there are also a few black mantas with 6m (20 ft) wingspans, referred to fondly as Darth Vader fish.

Maratua

Maratua island boasts a massive lagoon. The island only rims apart of the lagoon, with the rest fringed by a reef and wall covered with hard and soft coral.

Alor

Alor

Alor’s friendly inhabitants are the original source of those beautiful Ikat fabrics sold in Bali. Remote and pristine, Alor’s waters offer masses of swirling, schooling fish and a comparable diversity of rare and weird critters on the reefs. Alor is macro photographer’s dream.

Alor (Indonesian: Pulau Alor) is the largest island in the Alor Archipelago covering an area of 2,800 km2, and is one of the 92 officially listed outlying islands of Indonesia. It is located at the eastern Lesser Sunda Islands that runs through southeastern Indonesia, which from the west include such islands as Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Komodo, and Flores.

Alor Island’s is one of the world class dive site in Indonesia. Home to one of the best coral reef and marine life of diving Indonesia. Alor Divers is an intimate eco dive resort.

lembeh strait and togian dive trips
Our liveaboards’ cruise coverage mainly support Alor. Be sure to check our trip schedule and availability.

Alor

Alor is still pretty much in the middle of nowhere, away from the crowd. Remote and pristine. The masses of swirling, schooling fish and rich concentrations of invertebrates and critters may well make Alor one of the best diving Indonesia has to offer.

Shear drop offs with amazing coral reef scenery and great fish life, giant pinnacles covered in beautiful corals. Shallows are home of anthias and damselfish. Banks and walls reef. At some sites the current is 2 knots or more. Macro sites with all sorts of weirds and rare critters such as rhinopias, leaf scorpion fish, frogfish,and many other cool critters. One famous site here is renowned for large pelagic fish. Night dives usually are rich of interesting surprises.

The diversity and marine life range from beautiful coral reef scenerey and great critters to larger fish.

It is not just the diving that makes Alor special. The fact that the local communities guard their reefs for their future keep all the reef pristine makes Alor even more special. Among the special souvenirs to take home is the handwoeven IKATsarong.

Alor’s friendly inhabitants are the original source of those beautiful Ikat fabrics sold in Bali. Remote and pristine, Alor’s waters offer masses of swirling, schooling fish and a comparable diversity of rare and weird critters on the reefs. Alor is a macro photographer’s dream.

Lembeh Strait & Togian

Lembeh Strait & Togian

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Welcome to Lembeh, a hidden paradise, piece of heaven for every world’s divers.

Lembeh Strait is a strait in Indonesia, separating the islands of Sulawesi and Lembeh. The town of Bitung and Tongkoko volcano are located on the western side of the strait.

The strait is known for its abundant and colorful marine life, in particular sea slugs, and is a popular diving spot.

The Togian (or Togean) Islands are an archipelago of 56 islands and islets, in the Gulf of Tomini, off the coast of Central Sulawesi, in Indonesia. The three largest islands are Batudaka, Togian, and Talatakoh. There are 37 villages on the islands, with one settled by the Bajau people, more commonly known as the sea gypsies.

lembeh strait and togian dive trips
Our liveaboards’ cruise coverage mainly support Lembeh Strait & Togian. Be sure to check our trip schedule and availability.

 Lembeh Strait in North Sulawesi

Critter heaven! Bring your macro lens and shoot flamboyant cuttlefish, harlequin shrimp, skeleton shrimps, innumerable nudibranchs, and amazing fish such as stargazers, snake eels, stonefish, sea robins, devilfish, weedy scorpion fish, pygmy seahorses, Pegasus sea robins, cardinal fish, ghost pipe fish, and the queen of small tropicals, the kaleidoscopic mandarin fish. Moreover, while much of Indonesian diving requires dealing with currents, Lembeh features easy diving in calm lake-like water. This place has earned its reputation as the muck diving capital of the world. And it makes for part of a great combination trip with Togian National Park (see the next listing).

Togian National Park in Central Sulawesi

We know of nowhere else where you can dive on barrier reefs, atolls and fringing reefs all in the same area. Togian’s coral reefs offer beauty and diversity with visibility of 15 – 30 m. Eye-popping density of fish life includes schools of jacks and barracudas, bumphead parrotfish, Napoleon wrasses, snappers, fusiliers and more. The underwater landscape matches the beauty of the fish life. Explore drop offs with crevasse and overheads, canyons, rock formations, pinnacles, steep slopes and walls. You’ll see abundant gorgonians and healthy soft corals. Plus you can see a remarkably intact WWII B-24 Liberator plane wreck at 18m.

Raja Ampat

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This is the final frontier at the eastern end of Indonesia. Raja Ampat offers amazing diving and the most stunning topside scenery of any dive destination on Earth. This is where Dr. Gerald Allen counted 273 fish species on a single dive. If you’re looking for unusual sea life like the elusive wobbegong shark, or looking for Birds of Paradise, then our liveaboard cruise is for you.

Raja Ampat is one of the world wonder of underwater world, and well known as one of the best diving site in the world with wide diversity of Marine habitat.

Raja Ampat is also known for its beaches and coral reefs rich with marine life. Ancient rock paintings and caves are on Misool Island, while the crimson bird of paradise lives on Waigeo Island. Batanta and Salawati are the archipelago’s other main islands.

Our liveaboards’ cruise coverage mainly support Raja Ampat. Be sure to check our trip schedule and availability.

The Essence Of Raja Ampat

Raja Ampat is not really about rare critters or seeing sharks, there are generally not as many of what one would call – classic critters or big marine life. What is so special about this area is the scenery and in places the abundance of fish life.

Dive Raja Ampat

Dives where you are inundated with vast schools of fish, on the best of dives fish seem to block out the sun there are so many. Mellow drift dives across the most beautiful coral slopes and channels, unique dives with heavily undercut mushroom shaped islands with gorgeous coral growth virtually to the surface.

Some of the best coral gardens we have seen are in this area. Taking a live-aboard will allow you to see not just these great fish dives but also the topside highlights of this area too.

The real “essence of Raja Ampat” is the incredible mix of wonderful topside scenery with great reefs to dive on.

Another highlight of this area is taking rides on the tender boat through the most outstanding island scenery of any dive destination anywhere.

Birds of Paradise

Bird of Paradise

A short trek through a village and small plantation at Yapmanbaba village on Mansuar island, takes us under the canopy of prime forest where we can see these rare and mythical birds.

If you don’t do this it’s like going to Komodo and not seeing the dragons. The sounds alone are worth the effort.

Mansuar Area

This is also the place where Dr. Gerald Allen found those 273 different species —see how many you can count! A great range of dive sites here makes this area stand out as being probably the best dive area in the whole of Indonesia for fish life. And not just for the species diversity; the schooling fish life is also incredible. Most reefs here are vibrant with vast amounts of soft corals covering huge coral outcrops that in turn are surrounded by thousands of small sweepers. There are critters as well, but not as many as in other areas, though for sure there are some great areas with rare and unusual marine life.

Waigeo (Aljui Bay)

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A great area to anchor amongst the many small islands that make this area like a huge maze. There is also an interesting pearl farm here. The welcoming staff can show divers some of the processes that go into farming high-end pearls.

Dive sites vary; many feature brilliantly colorful invertebrate-covered walls that are dotted with caverns. These all seem to just fall from the rock faces that rise up above the water, being topped off with incredible tropical scenery. There are dive sites here that are great critter dives, with many kinds nudibranches and crustaceans to keep the macro lovers content. This area probably has the best macro site in the northern Raja Ampat we have come across up to now!

Kawe Area

More small islands here that are home to some incredible dive sites. Amongst these we encounter groups of small islands. Here pelagic fish and many different schooling fish can be seen.

Right on the edge of the Equator there are more impressive islands, some looking like Bonsai trees sitting on a rock base. One very small island has what can only be described as being one the best topographical sites in the area. Walls surround most of the island, which can be circumnavigated easily on one dive.

But there is much more, including a coral-covered seamount with hundreds of schooling fish swimming around it, small plateaus, a small cavern, giant sea fans, and many black coral bushes surrounding a tall pinnacle. Some sites here are open to the seas and often experience strong currents. Swells frequently make safety stops near the reef a little awkward.

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