from: Sorong, to: Ambon
This is a sample itinerary that might change without further notice. The Cruise Directors may adapt the itinerary to guarantee the best possible experience according to weather conditions or other unforeseen circumstances
11 nights: approximately 29-31 dives
12 nights: approximately 33-35 dives
Sorong – Dampier Strait (Raja Ampat)
The crew will welcome guests at Sorong airport. Guests will then proceed to Sorong harbour, where our tenders will take the guests to Coralia. Once all guests are on board, the crew will make the final arrangements with the port authorities and head out towards Waigeo, Raja Ampat. The guests may spend our first night on board around Mioskon, where we can watch the thousands of bats leaving the island at sunset.
Raja Ampat is right in the heart of the Coral Triangle and has over 1,500 islands. Many scientists believe Raja Ampat has the most coral and fish diversity in the world! Raja means King and Ampat means Four – Four Kings. The four kings are the main islands in Raja Ampat – Waigeo, Batanta, Salawati and Misool.
The guests will spend the first day or couple of days exploring the famous Dampier Strait. This area offers a vast selection of world-class and adrenaline-packed dive sites, such as Cape Kri, Chicken Reef, Sardine Reef, Mioskon and Blue Magic, of which The crew will select the best options according to the current and weather conditions. The ship's guides can take the guests to places where the current meets the reef head on, where the guests can witness predatory fish like blacktip, whitetip and grey reef sharks, giant trevally, Spanish mackerel and dogtooth tuna hunting huge schools of smaller fish like fusiliers and bigeye jacks. On top of the abundant fish life, Central Raja Ampat offers fantastic macro dives, with chances to spot different species of pygmy seahorses, common seahorses, cuttlefish and octopuses.
On dive sites around the islands of Kri, Mansuar and Arborek the guests hope to encounter schools of sweetlips, napoleon wrasse, bumphead parrotfish and the endemic tasselled wobbegong shark. Sawandarek village lies on Mansuar Island and offers a spectacular reef and jetty dive. Here we can witness Papua Explorers’ successful coral restoration project and visit the resident turtles. Arborek is a well-known jetty and night dive and boasts impressive marine life such as giant clams, schooling batfish and crocodile fish. The well-known manta aggregation sites of Manta Sandy and Manta Ridge are also in this area.
Fam Islands (Raja Ampat)
The next day will start in Penemu area. Famous Melissa’s Garden awaits us with its spectacular, healthy, and wide-spread hard coral plateau, completely covered in colourful anthias and damsel fish. At Keruo Wall, the guests can admire large gorgonian sea fans and lovely reef tops. A short hike to Penemu viewpoint offers a spectacular view of the lagoons and its surrounding islands. We offer two dives on that day, and after visiting the viewpoint, the ship start cruising down south to Misool.
Misool (Raja Ampat)
Misool’s small surrounding islands are a soft-coral paradise and a famous part of Raja Ampat. With its abundance of stunning dive sites and the natural beauty of karst limestone and jungle-clad islands, this area invites the guests to linger for a couple, or depending on the trip length, even several days. Misool can be divided into many areas, where the guests can spend the whole day at a selection of amazing dive sites. Daram is in the very east of these islands and has inviting names such as Candy Store, Andiamo and Warna Berwarna (meaning Colourful Colour!). The sea fan forests here have to be seen to be believed!
In the iconic areas of Boo, Fiabecet and Yuliet, the guests may look through the iconic Boo Windows, with tonnes of fish surrounding us. the guests might explore fabulous dive sites like Shadow Reef (aka Magic Mountain), Nudibranch Rock, Batu Kecil, Whale Rock, Boo West Corner and Yuliet Kecil. And if the guests are lucky, the guests see the majestic giant and/or reef manta rays around here. Admire large coral heads covered in soft corals, maybe spotting the famous Santa Claus pygmy seahorse, while schools of barracudas and batfish might pass by. The ship's eagle-eyed dive masters will look for the endemic walking shark (epaulette shark) on a night dive at Romeo or Yuliet Besar.
The areas of Sagof, Wagmab and Farondi offer the guests stunning underwater walls, overhangs and cave structures, plus amazing macro life, such as nudibranchs, flatworms, anemone crabs and all kinds of shrimps. In this area, the guests might visit the wonderful lagoons. These amazing geological structures come in iconic bee-hive-shaped karst limestone formations and hard-coral colonies at their base. If the tide is high enough, the ship's crew will take the guests to the secret bay right at the back!
There are also lagoons at Wayilbatan, one of them is the Love Lagoon. If the ship visits this lagoon, the guests will do three dives on that day. The hike up the steep stairs is well worth the view – a blue heart shape. A drift dive through a channel covered in sea fans at Neptune Fan Sea is the perfect place to cool off after the hot walk. Wedding Cake and Barracuda Rock are other stunning dive sites in this area.
Misool – Pulau Koon – Banda Islands
It is a long crossing to Pulau Koon, off the eastern tip of Seram Island. So on the last day of diving in Misool, we will do two dives before heading south.
The dive site at Pulau Koon is called Too Many Fish, which is all the explanation the guests need! Large groupers hang out on the deep walls, and there are large schools of jacks and snappers. Reef sharks and big schools of batfish have been seen here. The guests will do two dives before we start the long cruise to the Banda Islands.
At the Banda Islands, also known as the Spice Islands, the land excursion is fascinating. Visit the museum, an old Dutch fort and a nutmeg plantation to learn about the incredible history of these remote islands.
The diving here includes the typical deep walls of the Banda Sea, as well as sea mounts and drift dives along fish-packed reefs. At Batu Kapal, the entire pinnacle is covered with schools of pyramid butterfly fish and red-tooth triggerfish, intermingling with countless fusiliers, forming a vibrant spectacle of colours. Lava Flow is the name of the dive site at the foot of the iconic volcano of the Banda Islands. The
pristine hard coral garden has been growing since the last eruption in 1988. Directly in front of the village Banda Neira, the guests will look for the spectacular mandarin fish on a sunset dive. There are also lots of beautiful critters to see, like colourful nudibranchs, different kinds of scorpionfish, and there might even be a frogfish around. Around the islands of Hatta and Ai are many dive sites with beautiful hard
coral gardens, turtles, napoleon wrasses and bumphead parrotfish.
Because of the very deep water around these islands, the guests have good chances to see some bigger pelagics like dogtooth tuna, grey reef shark and maybe even a hammerhead shark. On the last day in the Banda Islands, the guests do two dives on the remote island of Suanggi, where the crew will try their luck to spot some of these amazing sharks
Banda Islands – Nusa Laut – Ambon
After the dives along the reef of Suanggi Island, the ship start crossing through the Banda Sea towards Nusa Laut.
Nusa Laut is a small island close to Ambon, and the village here protects the fantastic dive site of Amet Reef. Eagle rays, a huge school of jacks, hammerhead sharks and even a Dugong have all been seen here. The reef is very healthy, and it is common to see bumphead parrotfish feeding in the shallows.
The afternoon and night dive will be around the neighbouring island of Mamala.
The remainder of the guests adventure will be spent diving in Ambon Bay. Ambon is a world class muck diving destination. Inside the bay, there are numerous dive sites full of critters galore! The holy grail of fish, rhinopias, can be seen here along with frogfish, ghost pipefish, nudibranchs, leaf fish, zebra crabs, cuttlefish, all sorts of pipefish, mandarin fish, ribbon eels, other sorts of eels and cute juveniles like the
barramundi cod, batfish and harlequin sweetlips. the ship's guides will be looking out for different types of shrimps such as bumblebee, harlequin, tiger and coleman shrimps. In the octopus family, the guests might see the very special wunderpus or mimic octopus. At night, coconut, starry night, white-V and long arm octopus come out to hunt. An excellent way to finish a trip!
The guests last diving day will offer two more action-packed dives in Ambon. The guests will spend the last evening in Ambon Bay and enjoy a special farewell dinner. The next morning, the ship's tenders will take the guests back ashore to catch the flights.