* Ring of Fire - Raja Ampat

This 12 days / 11 nights multi destination trip combines some of the most iconic dive spots of the Banda Sea and Raja Ampat. It offers outstanding diving and is a perfect itinerary for encounters with the Schooling hammerhead sharks that roam the Banda Sea during this season.

A minimum of 33 dives (3 dives per day) is offered during the trip, including at least 5 night dives.

Our adventure begins in Ambon and ends in Sorong.

We organize your pick and drop off at the airport or at your hotel in those cities.

THE DIVING

The Banda Sea is one of the best Indonesian dive destinations. It offers a great variety of dive sites among beautiful tiny islands and large reefs. Many of the dive sites are steep drop off with impressive hard corals, huge sponges of all kinds, pastel black corals bushes and an intense fish life. Tunas, Spanish mackerel, giant trevallies schools of trevallies and barracudas and other pelagic fish are part of the show, together with the occurrence of the hammerheads, either in small groups or in big shoals.

Other type of dive sites includes great critters dives -especially in the bay of Ambon- and beautiful fringing reefs.

The hammerheads are in the Banda Sea from September to end November. Their presence is related to the upwellings that cool the upper layers of the Banda sea. Those upwellings themselves depends on the SE winds that occur in Indonesia from June to September. Therefore the best chances to see the Hammerheads is when the water is the coolest, Mid-September to Mid-October. But the September rich nutrients cold waters also means more turbid waters due to plankton, and eventually remaining winds for the S.E. monsoon creating a choppy sea. The more we get off September, the more chances to get a flat sea and good visibility is high, but also the chances to see the schooling hammerheads diminishes.

Misool in the south of Raja Ampat is among the hottest spot of Indonesian diving. The abundance of sea life, both fixed fauna such as corals and gorgonians along the lush reef, as well as the stunning quantity and diversity of fish swimming above is just astonishing. It is also heaven for macro lovers! The dive sites underwater topographies are also varied and interesting, filled with dramatic pinnacles, long ridges, walls, hidden caves, rock formations, azure lagoons and much more.

SNORKELING

Our trips are open to snorkelers. Most of the dive sites offer great snorkeling opportunities with a lot to see in shallow waters, and we offer specific guidance for snorkelers.

ACTIVITIES

Banda islands were at the centre of the spices trades during the XVI century. They were the original Spice Islands and the most coveted destination on earth, particularly by the Dutch and Portuguese who colonized the islands and exported the indigenous nutmeg and cloves. We will stop on the island of Banda Neira and visit the village, the fort and the museum for a glimpse of the Banda history. We will also visit some other small villages on the islands.

In Misool, we will visit the ranger’s station and snorkel in front of their beach in a natural shark nursery where small black tips are swimming around in one meter of crystal clear water. A short trek to the view point of the “love lagoon” (a lagoon in shape of a hearth!) will be offered.

The guests are always welcome to use the dinghies (with a boatman) to go on shore at any time, as long as the schedule allows it.

Our complementary kayaks are also available to go on shore or in the lagoons whenever the boat is anchored

WEATHER

End September marks the end of the South east monsoon, but we may experience some remaining SE winds. As we are very close to the equator, a few showers are always probable.

VISIBILITY

Banda Sea: Good to excellent
Misool: Average to good

TEMPERATURE

The sea temperature will be 26° to 28°C (80 to 84°F)

CURRENTS

On this itinerary the currents are generally moderate on most of the dive sites, but yes there will be some consistent currents in some occasions.

Wallacea Dive Cruises has a long experience diving these dive sites and
always pays attention to dive in the right places at the right time to avoid
difficult or dangerous currents.

Before each dive, our guides conduct current checks so that our briefings will always inform you about the up-to-the-minute diving conditions.

ITINERARY & NAVIGATION 

After a night of navigation, we will start the cruise at nusa laut for the first day. We will navigate again overnight to reach Suanggi, a hot spot for Hammerheads sharks and following our dives we navigate to The Banda Islands.

The diving around those islands is very rewarding. One of the highlight is a dive along the lava flow of the “Gunung Api” (the fire mountain); the last eruption was in 1988 and we can see how the corals and huge sponges did grow back since then. We will stop in Banda Neira for a land visit.

Overnight navigation to Manuk island, a small volcanic island, where a lot of seabirds comes for nesting. Underwater the sulphur traces of volcanic activity can be seen. The diving signature is the abundance of sea snakes, both Aipysurus sp and Laticauda. Hammerheads are also roaming around, but generally only individuals or small groups. We then navigate back up north towards Hatta.

Hatta is also a place known for the hammerheads and much more. After the third dive, we start our crossing navigation to Koon. 

Koon is part of a small group of islands between the Banda Sea and The south of Raja Ampat, it is a fantastic spot to transit towards Misool. 2 rewarding dives on a spectacular dive site called “too many fishes wall” and a full night of navigation to reach Misool.

Misool is among the hottest spot of Indonesian diving. The abundance of sea life, both fixed fauna such as corals and gorgonians along the lush reef, as well as the stunning quantity and diversity of fish swimming above is just astonishing. The dive sites underwater topographies are also varied and interesting, filled with dramatic pinna-
cles, long ridges, walls, hidden caves, rock formations, azure lagoons and much more. We Spend the last four days in the area then navigate during the night to Sorong.