Raja Ampat – Banda Sea – Ambon (16 Days)

Itinerary

Day 1
Check-in on board MV Mermaid I. As our guest arrivals take place all through the day depending on flights, you are welcome to board when you arrive and spend some time unpacking and setting up your equipment, etc. Following the boat and safety briefing, Mermaid I will cruise for 5 to 6 hours to the Dampier Strait, 40 nautical miles.
Dives – 0

Day 2-4
The next 3 days will be spent around the Dampier Strait, the strait between the island of Waigeo, the Bird’s Head peninsula and the northern side of Batanta island. The Dampier Strait is known for the variety of diving, from giant mantas, to mangroves, beautiful reefs, many pinnacles and sea mounts covered in schooling fish, aggregations of sweetlips, schooling barracudas, bumphead parrotfish, fusiliers, and lots of wobbegong sharks. It is also a great location for critters and macro subjects, with several species of pygmy seahorses, and a large variety of nudibranchs. There are also several jetties to do some great night dives, where we can see raja epaulette sharks, toadfish, frogfish and crocodilefish. Cruise overnight to Misool, 90 nautical miles.
Dives – 11

Day 5-7
The next 3 days will be around the island of Misool, where there literally hundreds of dive sites. Misool is a heaven for wide angle photographers. The prettiest soft corals reefs in the world are located in Misool, as well as having multiple pinnacles surrounded by masses of schooling fish, barracudas, jacks and snappers. There will be some excursions with the tenders through some amazing inner lagoons, fantastic scenery and wild life sightings. Cruise overnight to Pulau Koon, 100 nautical miles.
Dives – 11

Day 8
Pulau Koon is a small island on the southeast of Ceram, half way between Raja Ampat and the Banda Islands. Walls covered in soft corals, and sandy slopes with hard coral bommies. But the most interesting feature of this island is the amount of schooling fish and pelagic, barracudas, bigeye trevallies, aggregation of red snappers, pompanos, batfish, and giant groupers. Cruise overnight to Manuk, 108 nautical miles.
Dives – 3

Day 9
Manuk, an active volcano about 55 nm south of the Banda Islands, is one of 2 places in Indonesia where there are huge aggregations of sea snakes, Chinese sea snakes and banded sea kraits. It is an incredible experience to dive surrounded on all sides by sea snakes. The island is surrounded by black sandy slopes with hard coral reefs, volcanic ridges covered in gorgonians with zillions of fusiliers and pelagic fishes such as spanish mackerels and dogtooth tunas passing through. Cruise overnight to Nila Island, 75 nautical miles.
Dives – 4

Day 10
Surrounding Nila Island there are two atolls, Dusborgh and Nil Desperandum. It’s at these two atolls that there is a good chance of seeing hammerhead sharks. Even without the hammerheads, the reefs are fabulous, with healthy walls and big schools of fish. Cruise to Serua Island, 20 nautical miles.
Dives – 4

Day 11
Serua Island is probably one of the most emblematic spots in the Banda Sea to see schooling hammerhead sharks. Also, an amazing side to see schooling fish such as big eye trevallies, pinjalo snappers and others. Cruise to Banda Islands, 97 nautical miles
Dives – 3

Day 12-13
The next two days will be spent in the Banda Islands, also known in the old days as the Spice Islands. Many of the dive sites around the Bandas are wall dives. Walls covered in massive gorgonians, soft corals, barrel sponges and some very interesting swim throughs. But there are other attractive dive sites such as pinnacles with enormous groups of schooling pyramid butterflyfish, triggerfish and pelagic fishes such as tunas passing through, spectacular hard coral reefs next to the volcano, and great muck dives with lots of mandarinfish in the local jetty.
The Banda Islands are much more than diving. It is also a cultural and historical experience. We will spend one morning walking around the village of Banda Naira with a local guide, and visit the local museum, the Old Dutch fort, the old colonial governor’s house, the local fish market, and we will have breakfast at a nutmeg plantation. Cruise overnight to Nusa Laut (77 nautical miles) or to Ambon (110 nautical miles).
Dives – 6

Day 14
We will be diving around either the island of Nusa Laut or in Ambon Bay. Nusa Laut is a small island, next to the island of Saparua, which has some beautiful hard coral fringing reefs as well as walls similar to those of the Banda Islands.
Or, Ambon, where there are several options such as wrecks, caves or some really interesting muck dives looking for Rhinopias, frogfish (including the psychedelic frogfish), harlequin shrimps and many other critters
Dives – 4

Day 15
The last diving day of the trip will in Ambon Bay where we have some really interesting muck dives looking for many critters as Rhinopias, frogfish and nudibranchs.
Dives – 2

Day 16
Disembark at 8am. Mermaid I staff will transfer you to the airport or local hotel in Ambon.

Total Dives – 48

*This is a sample itinerary and is subject to changes beyond the operator’s control. The exact itinerary, route and number of dives for your cruise may be adapted to best suit the weather conditions, tides and currents, season and other prevailing events.