SAMPLE CRUISE ITINERARY "KALEIDOSCOPE"

16 Day/15 Night Labuanbajo-Ambon Cruise

Day 1 Embarkation in Labuanbajo

Day 2 Loh Liang or Loh Buaya (walk with dragons) / Komodo-Flores Channel

Loh Liang or Loh Buaya (walk with dragons)

Your day begins with an exciting visit to Komodo National Park, as you take a stroll with the famous dragons! As you walk along the paths, local guides will point out wild deer, boar and bird life, but keep a careful lookout for the giant lizards which have made this region their home. Don’t forget your camera, as there are usually good opportunities for close-up shots when you get to the ranger station.

Takat Makassar

An exhilarating drift dive along the shallow flat bottom interspersed with patches of coral reef teeming with life. There are chances to see manta rays, turtles, eagle rays and white tip and black tip reef sharks.

Batu Bolong

Underwater this rock is covered in a huge amount of soft and hard corals and full of fish life. In the shallows, watch the busy anemonefish and look out for turtles munching on the corals. Giant trevally, white tip reef sharks, snappers and emperorfish tend to congregate here. This site offers particularly good opportunities for both macro and wide-angle photography.

Tatawa Kecil

The west side of this small rocky outcrop presents a fantastic underwater terrain with enormous slabs of rock that have been worn down to form channels, canyons, caves and swim-throughs. On the north plateau crocodilefish lie on the scenic reef among a whole host of reef fish and schooling fusiliers.

Tatawa Besar

This is a thrilling drift dive, starting at the north-western tip of Tatawa and continuing down the western side, reaching about 15 to 20 meters of depth. The fish life here is abundant and you will see an endless field of stunning orange soft corals as you glide along. Swim past coral heads inhabited by schools of sweetlips and batfish, and look out for turtles feeding on the reef. Mantas have been encountered here as well.

Day 3 Gili Lawa Laut

Two celebrated dive sites await you, just north of Gili Lawa Laut Island. Crystal Rock and Castle Rock are both incredible locations, boasting the key elements for any impressive dive site: a wide variety of healthy corals covering the reef, plus tons of fish - both big and small and all sizes in between! There are two more exhilarating dives in this area, El Toro and Gili Lawa Laut Lighthouse, along with good night dives on healthy hard coral reefs.

Between the dives there is a chance to visit Gili Lawa Laut Island and take a short trek to the top of the hill for a wonderful view over the Komodo-Flores channel.

Crystal Rock

The rock jutting out of the surrounding crystal clear waters explains how this site got its name. What makes this an unforgettable dive, however, are the large swarms of fusiliers and anthias flitting over the gorgeous soft corals and impressive table corals. In the deep blue, look out for large tuna and mackerel, plus fish schooling around a small mound to the northwest.

Castle Rock

Castle Rock is another submerged mound situated a kilometre further north of Crystal Rock. Its exposed location can mean strong currents, but experienced divers will love the thrill of this dive. In fact, the main action comes from watching the staggering amount of fish life whipping past, such as groupers, midnight snappers and impressive schools. Of course, divers aren’t the only ones interested in the huge numbers of fish here, so expect to see giant trevally, whitetips, blacktips and grey reef sharks hunting for their next meal.

El Toro

The channel between Gili Lawa Laut and Gili Darat forms a dive site with interesting topography. The dive starts with a drift along a flat rock plateaux which then drops down into the ‘bull ring’. This is a hollowed out area with a sandy bottom surrounded by walls covered in soft corals. There is a good chance to see reef sharks and sometimes manta rays play in the surface currents.

Gili Lawa Laut Lighthouse

On the north of Gili Lawa Laut there is a lighthouse at the end of a long reef. When the tide is going down the dive starts on the reef with a drift to the corner. At the corner there are big schools of batfish, snappers, surgeons with napoleon wrasse and reef sharks also hanging around.

Day 4 Gili Lawa Laut / Sabolan

One early morning dive at Gili Lawa Laut then our final dive in Komodo at Sabolan Island before travelling to Pamana. At Sabolan we can find big sea fans with pygmies and a resident school of bumphead parrotfish. The shallow coral garden is impressive with huge leather corals and hard corals decorated with anthias.

Day 5 Pamana

Gosong Boni

This dive is off the west part of Pamana Besar. Gosong Boni is a sand bank with an old lighthouse surrounded by walls. The wall is covered with soft corals and big gorgonian sea fans which are home to Denise pygmy seahorses.

Pamana Besar

Most of the dive sites around Pamana Island are characterized by walls and slopes. They have very nice coral growth, sponges, branches of soft corals and fans that act as shelters for little reef fish, as well as tinier critters such as nudibranchs. It is quite common to see reef sharks and eagle rays patrolling here, as well as groupers, sweetlips, scorpionfish, lobsters and much more.

Pamana Kecil

This site is home to a wonderful drop-off, with caves and caverns sheltering baby sharks at the bottom. Lots of trevally, rays, groupers, sweetlips, batfish, nudibranchs and the usual reef inhabitants also swarm over this site.

Day 6 Kawula Island

In the south-west of Kawula Island there is a bay with a world class muck diving site.

Tanjung Waiwowan

This dive site is a mixture of reef and white sandy slope, and it’s teeming with amazing critters. Here we have another chance to see the allusive rhinopias camouflaged in the coral slope. This is a perfect environment for all different kinds of ghost pipefish, including the very rare halemeda ghost pipefish. Even the elusive wonderpuss and blue ring octopus have been spotted at this site. During the night dive, brown banded bamboo sharks, helmut flying gurnards and frogfish are seen crawling around the darkened site. We can easily spend a full day here, investigating the hiding spots of all these wonderful creatures.

Days 7, 8 Pantar Island and Alor / Pantar Strait

The first dive is in front of a tiny village nestled inside a calm bay called Beang Abang on the south of Pantar Island. In the Alor Pantar Strait the diving promises a variety of thrills, as the sites present a wide array of exciting possibilities. The Strait can also be a good place to see passing whales or Mola Molas sunbathing at the surface. Therefore we will combine the diving with some tender rides to try to snorkel with these pelagics.

Beang Abang

The whole beachfront here is great muck diving. The black sand hides a whole host of critters including rhinopias, frogfish, ghost pipefish, seahorses and a variety of nudibranchs. You can also see many different types of octopus here, including wonderpuss, coconut, starry night and white V.

Pura Island

The topography ranges from dramatic drop-offs, to spurs jutting out from the shore, to giant pinnacles and shallow reefs where the light brings out the full colour of the dazzling corals. The most famous dive site here is Anemone City where there is the largest field of sea anemones in the oceans anywhere. The rocks are no longer visible because all of them, as far as one can see in the usually crystal clear water, are covered with anemones.

Everywhere there is an abundance of fish life, bursting with colourful anthias and damselfish, but this is also famous as a great spot to encounter the many sharks and other pelagics that pass through. However, fans of macro will also get their fill, with several sites offering rare, weird and wonderful critters. Some examples are mandarin fish, all sorts of nudibranchs, snake eels, yellow, blue and black ribbon eels, groups of seamoths and many other remarkable creatures. The only way you are likely to see stranger creatures, is if you night dive here to witness even more unusual critters emerging from their holes.

Also see the famous Pura Island villagers splash out of their wooden dugout canoes and dive underwater with home-made goggles fashioned from wood and glass bottles.

Day 9 Pulau Wetar

This is your chance to be a true explorer! Not many people can say that they have dived Wetar Island but now you can. This area shows much promise and is ideal for exploring virgin sites. There are several calm bays, where interesting critters have been spotted, but there’s also an exhilarating drift dive between Wetar and Reong that takes you past a spectacularly coloured wall.

Pulau Reong

The small island of Reong, which lies off the north-west coast of Wetar, presents a change in scenery as it is made of limestone. Sharks, barracuda and schools of other large pelagics frequently visit these waters. The diving here includes some impressive walls and sites teeming with highly diverse marine life.

Tanjung Nunukae

Divers have encountered both mobula and manta rays in this area. The topography is characterised by shallows that form plateaus, which generally narrow as you go deeper and then drop off abruptly to create dramatic walls, which are swathed in gigantic sea fans, cup corals and impressive sponges. Currents here are generally moderate to strong, which is probably why the rays linger in the vicinity.

Day 10 Gunung Api

Gunung Api is an impressive volcano, its summit reaching 245m (800 feet) above sea level while its base hits the seabed at some 4,000m (13,000 feet). The island that has been formed by this volcano is around 200km (120 miles) from the nearest landfall, attracting all the surrounding fish life that have made their home on the steep drop-offs and walls

Diving here offers repeated visits by hungry pelagics and for some inexplicable reason an extraordinarily high number of banded and olive sea snakes. It is a truly unique spot that never ceases to amaze divers. Even above water it’s a real highlight of the trip, as immediately upon arrival the boat is surrounded by thousands of frigate and brown breasted boobie birds.

Day 11 Lucipara

Lucipara is the collective name of a group of islands which rise up out of the depths of the open sea, south of Manipa Strait (and 50km west of Penyu Islands), and are also part of the larger Maluku/Molucca Islands (or Spice Islands).

Some of the Lucipara islands are no more than sand spits, while others form magnificent walls and drop-offs. The wreck of a naval ship even lies on the top of one reef. There are so many areas to be explored here that great dive sites are continually being discovered. The wall diving is exceptional, offering caverns, swim-throughs, grottos, large colourful sea fans, bushes of whip corals and giant sponges scattered everywhere. This is also a great opportunity for turtle sightings, as well as small reef sharks, lots of tuna, jacks, napoleon wrasse and schools of unicorns, fusiliers and snappers.

Days 12, 13 Banda Islands

Most widely known as one of the main stops along the old spice route, the Banda Islands are rapidly gaining a reputation for having some of the best diving in the country. The remoteness of these islands in the midst of the wide expanses of the Banda Sea has given it a fascinating, colourful history, including the fact that it was once a home to exiles of all sorts.

Unlike other areas, with high populations and subsequent pressure from fishing, this Bandas’ relatively small human population has been a blessing for divers – offering a vibrant, healthy reef system rich in biodiversity. Fish are present here in incredible numbers along with huge gorgonians and sponges and some truly monumental hard corals.

The islands themselves are volcanic, but with climbable mountains covered in lush green vegetation. Intriguing remnants of the old lucrative spice trade are still present in Banda Neira and offer a taste of colonial times. Explore Pulau Naira and spend the morning walking through its historic little town. The town is full of interesting houses dating back to the Dutch and English periods. It’s also well worth a trip to the well-preserved Fort Belgica, with its fantastic views overlooking the waters that surround the island.

However, the real hidden attraction of the Banda Islands is the immense variety and quantity of both large and small fish species. At most sites, you will see enormous schools of fusiliers, thousands of redtooth triggerfish and hundreds of schooling pyramid butterflyfish. Many more species are worthy of a mention, but listing them all still wouldn’t do justice to the experience of diving such a colourful and packed reef. The sunset dive in the harbour is one of the best sites in the world to see the photogenic mandarinfish. Plus, throughout the Banda Islands there are sightings of spinner dolphins, orcas, and other whales such as pilots, blues and humpbacks. Whatever your preference, from the tiny critters to the giant pelagics, this area offers unbeatable opportunities to see creatures both big and small.

The currents here are usually moderate, with good visibility and calm waters, but there are certain spots with stronger currents. Of course, our experienced dive guides will thoroughly brief you on the conditions and plan according to divers’ experiences.

Day 14 Nusa Laut

Even though it is located only a few hours away from Ambon, Nusa Laut presents quite different scenery and showcases the positive effects of a village taking care of its reef. In fact, the reef remains as unspoiled as it was hundreds of years ago. The locals have taken steps to protect it and the result is an outstanding site that is the favourite of many dive enthusiasts.

The hard corals covering the slope must be seen to be believed and the sandy floor is home to rays of all types and sizes. There are white tips and grey reef sharks patrolling the depths and playful turtles can be spotted as well. Look out for the big group of bumphead parrotfish munching on the reef.

Day 15 Ambon Bay

Diving in Ambon bay is at the top of most people’s to-dive list. Ambon is a perennial favourite destination simply for the staggering array of creatures that can be found here. The dive sites are a hidden treasure of amazing critters, including the recently discovered species of frogfish (the psychedelic frogfish) but also Rhinopias, mimic octopus, zebra crabs and dozens of different nudibranch species.

A very popular find and photographic subject is the eponymous Ambon Scorpionfish in differing hues of red, pink, green, yellow and orange, but keep an eye out for many other members of the scorpionfish family too, including the spiny devilfish, stonefish, zebra lionfish, ragged-finned lionfish and leafy scorpionfish – all venomous but gorgeous! For those who want a change from nosing around after tiny creatures, a shipwreck covered in deep pink and purple soft corals offers a great alternative and is an irresistible lure for the profuse amount of fish in the area.

Another family group well-represented here are moray eels and you can generally find snowflake, fimbriated and curious white eyed morays residing in crevices or even gliding among the reefs. A close look in the sand reveals camoflauged crocodilefish, while a careful study of the gorgonians might offer a nice surprise sighting of a pygmy seahorse.

This area is also a good spot for catching a glimpse of ornate ghost pipefish and the extremely rare halimeda ghost pipefish, which is similar in shape to a robust ghost pipefish and whose name comes from its resemblance to the green halimeda algae.

Even the end of the day here seems magical, as dusk arrives and you observe the enchanting mating dance of mandarinfish coupling just above the reef. Plus, night time is when the truly bizarre creatures venture out, such as stargazers, along with the majestic, such as Spanish dancers.

Day 16 Disembarkation in Ambon