Trip Reports
Maumere to Ambon 800 Nautical Miles of Navigation, Endless Possibilities
This week, the Mermaid II welcomed a group of familiar faces coming all the way from Poland and set sail for an epic crossing from Maumere to Alor through the vast Banda Sea before concluding in Ambon. 12 days of incredible biodiversity through Indonesia’s most remote areas, characterized by a series of volcanic sceneries, dramatic […]
Award-Winning Liveaboard Diving in Indonesia
Mermaid Liveaboards Honoured in the PADI Readers’ Choice Awards Choosing a liveaboard is a big decision, especially if it’s your first dive trip to Indonesia. That’s why we’re proud that our guests keep recognizing Mermaid Liveaboards in the Readers’ Choice Awards. The votes come from real experiences on board. Once again, we are proud to […]
Ketut Saves the Day
It’s heartbreaking to see such as small beautiful animal like this juvenile hawksbill sea turtle entangled in a discarded piece of fishing net. Luckily there was still time to turn this situation around. While on a surface interval at Castle Rock Ketut noticed a piece of fishing net drifting past the boat and inside was […]
From Sea Snakes And Scorpionfish
From Raja Ampat in West Papua to Maumere in East Flores: over 14 days of diving, over 1,000 nautical miles, 5 different seas. Those are just technicalities about our “Biodiversity Special” or “Crossing Trip” but what does the reality behind that look like? After a few days diving in the Misool Area, it is eventually […]
Delectable Anemones
While on our most epic crossing trip, where Mermaid II sails from the notorious Raja Ampat though the Banda Sea and into Flores’s east coast port Maumere, we had some truly awesome encounters. From a small group of very shy scalloped hammerhead sharks, schooling sea snakes (no joke), to a riot of Indonesia’s best critters. […]
The Right Mix
What I like most about our “special trips” is the diversity of dive sites, marine life and land excursions – it’s just a perfect mix. Ten days of diving and over 500 nautical miles later, we can look back to diving sandy slopes hunting for critters and creatures, an old ship wreck which sank in […]
Mountains Of Fire
Our usual Raja Ampat route never gets boring but guests as well as dive crew are even more excited for this next trip: diving the so called “Ring Of Fire” means starting off with the best of Raja Ampat via Manuk Island and the Bandas with our final destination Ambon, which is famous for muck […]
Special Finds
Indonesia is home to some of the most unusual and rarest marine creatures on earth, but this doesn’t mean they are always easy to find. Creatures like the much sought yet and seldom seen rhinopias have some of the most adapted camouflage in the underwater world. The rhinos that dwell in the smooth rocks have […]
Epic Eclipse
Diving pristine coral reefs in Raja Ampat, exploring pinnacles and encountering Hammerhead Sharks and a gigantic school of Chevron Barracudas in Halmahera, hunt for critters such as Frogfish and Mandarinfish in Lembeh. Sounds like a dream come true? Let’s top it off with a total solar eclipse! Leaving port in Sorong, our GPS coordinates were […]
The Deep Blue
You never know what you are going to encounter as you embark on a twelve day diving safari through one of the most bio-diverse bodies of water in the planet, which is what Mermaid II just did in the beginning of February. In the past we’ve snorkeled with whales, dived with hundreds of sea snakes, […]