This trip visits the West and South West parts of Halmahera, the south part of Raja Ampat (Misool), and the Banda Sea / Ring of Fire before ending in Ambon.

Halmahera is one of the best Indonesian dive destinations. It offers a great variety of dive sites among beautiful islands still largely covered with tropical forests.

Misool is among the hottest spot of Indonesian diving; it best soft corals and intense fish life. A lot of baitfish balls with Mobula rays and predators at this time of the year.

The Banda Sea is at its best during the end of September. The upwellings have driven a lot of nutrients and it is the best time for encounters with the schools of hammerhead sharks. Drop-offs, walls, seamounts, and a few great spots for critters.

Starting from Ternate, we first reach the group of Goraici islands where many seamounts offer gorgeous dive sites: bommies covered with colorful soft corals, blacktip sharks, tunas, and other pelagics.

Going more South came another group of islands (Kusu island, Sale island.), at the very North of the Patientie strait. The strait currents forced around the islands bring an intense life to those dive sites which are definitely among the most beautiful in Indonesia. We still go further south into the Pantientie strait to the island of Pigajara for a wooden shipwreck and beautiful dives.

The next stop is at Pisang islands, between Halmahera and Misool. This isolated island with a few satellite rocks is home to intense underwater life: millions of triggerfish, schools of surgeonfish, bump head parrotfish, Spanish mackerel, and tunas passing by.

We then reach the island of Misool in the Southern part of Raja Ampat. We stay there for three days and dive into the best sites. Gorgonian forests have a lot of soft corals and intense fish life.

From Misool, we head to Koon, at the eastern tip of Seram islands. The dive site there has been named “too many fish”. A drop-off with schools of trevallies, surgeonfish, barracudas, and hopefully hammerhead sharks. On the upper part, there is a sandy slope with boomers, huge groupers, and schools of spadefish.

Our next step is the Banda Islands. In the center of the Banda Sea, those islands have been at the center of the spices trade and war in the 16^th century. The diving around those islands is very good. One of the highlights 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 do a land visit to Banda Neira in the afternoon, visiting the village, the museum, and the fort.

If the weather forecast and sea conditions are good enough the trip will go down south until Serua island, the best place for encounters with schooling hammerheads. Two days of fabulous diving around this tiny island lost in the middle of the Banda Sea. From Serua we will be back to Suanggi island, a few miles away from the Banda islands it is also a great spot for hammerhead sharks and other pelagics. Our last day of diving is on the island of Nusa Laut or in the bay of Ambon for some muck diving. 

LAND EXCURSIONS:

Halmahera: short visits to villages and beaches.

Misool: Short hike to the top of a small mountain to admire the panorama and a beautiful lagoon that has a heart shape.

Banda Sea: Visit the village, fort, and museum of Banda Neira.

The last dive will be on the penultimate day of the trip at around 10 am. Divers are recommended to wait for 24 hours before flying after the last dive.

Sample itineraries and maps are for illustrative purposes only. The exact route and sites visited are subject to change based on local regulations, guest experience, weather, and logistics and are at the Captain's discretion.