Route Description - Raja Ampat - Banda Sea - Ring of fire (Sorong-Ambon)
11 Days / 10 nights
The trip begins in Sorong and ends in Ambon
The closest airport to the departure harbour is Sorong/Dominique Edward Osok (SOQ) and the closest airport to the arrival harbour is Pattimura (AMQ)
Pickup time at the airport is according to your flights. Give yourself enough time to go through immigration and pickup your bags
You will be welcomed by Ambai staff holding an Ambai sign
Check in on the boat is between 06:00 and 12:00.
The boat departs Sorong in the afternoon on the same day
An interesting alternative for the divers who have already experienced Raja Ampat.
Snorkle and dive with whale sharks barracudas, surgeonfishes, bumphead parrot fishes, trevallies and giant trevallies, spadefishes, Napoleon wrasse, wobbegons, tunas, bonitos, manta rays, marble rays eagle rays, mobulas, walking sharks, zebra sharks.
Vertical walls, seamounts, pinnacles, slopes, caves, lagoons, some more covered with hard corals and other displaying colorful soft corals.
Gorgonians with their resident pygmy seahorses.
In Ambon amazing diving. Macro, muck, critter, wide angle, walls, beautiful coral and pristine reefs.
The visibility is generally good to excellent in these areas, except in Ambon bay and in other bays for critter dives.
Expert dive guides on board
Land excursion, snorkeling
DAY 1
Safety Briefing, Crew Introduction, Necessary Dive Paperwork, Cabin allocation and ship orientation will take place before departing the Harbour.
During the journey to our first dive site for a check dive, please take this opportunity to familiarize yourselves with the vessel and make yourself comfortable.
Sample itinerary, order of dive areas visited may change driven by local regulation, e.g. Waisai area might be visited first
Please Note: This is a sample itinerary and nº of dives, dive sites, etc. may be subject to change due to weather conditions and other unforseeable factors
DAY 2 - 9
Our cruises will bring you across the Banda Sea & the Ring of Fire, steeped in history and blessed with some of the finest diving in the country, with an immense variety and volumes of both large and small species.
We visit many different islands and a great variety of dive sites.
The very clear and nutrient rich upwelling waters brings in pelagics: sun fish (mola-mola), dogtooth tunas, reef sharks and sometime hammerhead sharks, sailfishes. Whales also frequently pass through the strait.
Walls, drop offs, boomies and pinnacles so colorful and so healthy! One of the dive site has the bottom literally covered with anemones
In Alor critters can be encountered in colorful reef environment
Then the cruise will cross the all banda sea up to Banda Neira, down to Babar before reaching the large Tanimbar island.
Banda Sea is characterised by a generally very good visibility. Warm waters. Some exceptional dive sites as “Too Many fish” in Koon, a great wall with incredible fish life, Manuk with so many sea snakes, Walls on the islands around Banda Neira.
Divers in the Ambon Bay will discover unique and bizarre marine life such as frogfish, mandarinfish, ghost pipefish, harlequin shrimp, flamboyant cuttlefish, octopus, pygmy seahorse, stonefish, scorpionfish, and hundreds of different species of nudibranch.
Banda Neira and surrounding islands have an important history due to the key role they played in the spice trade during the 16th and 17th century.
Expeditions, wars, and massacres took place on theses islands. Historical remains as fortifications and Dutch colonial houses are still visible, and thus, beside the beauty nature of these islands, are a great highlight if the cruise.
A visit of the fort and museum is included in all our Banda trips.
DAY 10
2 dives in the morning depending on guest flight schedules
DAY 11
Unfortunately our trip has come to an end and we have to say goodbye, but we hope to see you again soon!