Biodiversity Super Special
A 16 day journey. 1200 Nautical miles. One great crossing with extraordinary destinations from Maumere to Raja Ampat through the hottest spots of Alor and Banda Sea. The most anticipated and my favourite trip of the year!
Mermaid’s very first sighting of a Dugong in the Banda Islands. It really made one of the best and unexpected dives of the trip. Imagine one majestic animal peacefully swimming amongst us during our safety stop, with the bright morning lights, perfect conditions to capture some great images.
Not far from the Dugong’s spot Banda Neira Jetty literately blanketed with Mandarin fish! They seem to be multiplying every time we go diving there. These beautiful fish mate every single day during sunset and luckily they don’t mind when divers are watching them doing their business! Again an awesome spot to get the perfect Mandarin portrait with the macro lenses.
Speaking of macro lenses, Alor had some sweet surprises again such as Paddle flap and Weedy Rynopias at Mucky Mosque, a muck site that no matter how many dives you may have done there you will find something special every single time!
Of course we had the Hammerheads! They are still around and some of them came face to face to some of the divers! Even though the water was warmer and not much current it didn’t stop us seeing them. We had a total of 5 days on the trot of Hammerhead encounters! Hard to beat that…
Manuk volcano with the Chinese Sea snakes and incredible Barrel sponges spawning everywhere…. Koon Island with the famous dive site named “Too Many fish”, Too many fish indeed plus 2 more Dugongs and a few dolphins that joined the show as well 
Finally reaching Raja Ampat and its blissful sceneries under and above the water! 29 degrees on every singe dive, stunning and untouched corals, more sharks, more pygmy seahorses and great fish action! Yes… feels good to be back in Raja!
Stay tuned for the upcoming & warm season in Raja Ampat, a lot more to come!
Mermaid I Biodiversity Maumere-Alor-Banda Sea-Raja Ampat Cruise
November 14-29, 2017
Marcelo Johan Ogata