At Manuk, a volcanic island in the Banda Sea, we dropped into a dive where everything was in motion. Chinese sea kraits were hunting – slipping between coral heads, diving into crevices, surfacing for air, then heading straight back down. Bluefin trevally followed close behind, using the snakes like a moving search party. Whenever a krait flushed out a fish, the trevally were ready to strike.
It wasn’t random. This kind of interspecies hunting has been studied before – the krait does the searching, the trevally waits for a chance to ambush whatever escapes.
We spent the whole dive with them. Dozens of snakes, weaving across the reef, sometimes seven or eight in the frame at once. It was the kind of interaction you could film for hours and still come away feeling like you missed something.
A few days later, in Misool, the scale shifted.
That morning, we were focused on sea fans. It took time, but we eventually found what we were looking for – a Bargibanti pygmy seahorse. Less than two centimeters long, locked onto the coral with its tail. Filming something that small takes patience. Even the surge feels magnified through the lens.
Then, on the very next dive, everything changed again.
A 7-meter oceanic manta ray cruised past in the blue – massive, silent, and effortless. It circled once, then disappeared just as quickly. The smallest and largest animals Indonesia has to offer, back to back.
From hunting sea kraits in the Banda Sea to pygmy seahorses and mantas in Raja Ampat, it was a trip full of contrasts, and one that never stopped surprising us.
-John Roney
Mermaid I
Ambon-Banda Sea-Raja Ampat
April 18 to 29, 2025
Check https://www.mermaid-liveaboards.com/destinations/banda-sea-liveaboard/