Samambaia 12D11N

Arrival with plane to Maumere. You will be picked up by crew members at the airport. Embarkation in the port of Maumere. A general orientation follows.

After an initial general dive briefing, check dive in the morning at a pretty, easygoing and protected dive site. A wall south of the tiny island of Serbete. We will offer two more macro-focused dives this day, at two of our secret spots south of the island of Adonara.

Sandy critter diving par excellence. One spot is at a pier, the other one a bit further to the east. Critter hunting at its best: Seahorses, different species of Rhinopias, sometimes even side by side, frogfish, all sorts of cephalopods. Truly a world-class dive spot.

Time for some action-packed diving in the morning. We have two great dive sites here. One of them is a secret cavern that is home to several White Tip Reef Sharks. The other one, ‘Pulau Suangi’ is a rock, exposed to the open ocean. Stunning coral growth on the reef, very good fish life, but don’t forget to look out in the blue as we’ve often got pelagic fish passing by.
In the afternoon we offer a visit to the traditional whaling village of Lamalera. The people of this village are fundamental animists and are living their ancient traditions until today in our modern world. Alternatively, we offer a dive for you, of course.
We finish this day with a night dive at an excellent secret spot of ours, ‘The Corner Shop’ – we named it like that because it has a little something of everything.

Facing the Savu Sea the southern coast of Pantar and Pulau Kambing are exposed to strong upwellings and swells full of nutrition from the deep. Hence the marine life here is mind-boggling with potential for large pelagics. Besides the known sites around Pulau Kambing our favourites here are our secret spots.

A protected bay which is said to have a better macro life than the famous Lembeh Strait. Be prepared for some cold water upwellings which will not stop you from having extended bottom times if you are a critter lover. No time limit here on the night dive.
An excerpt of the spotting list from 1 (one!) dive we recently did there: Wonderpus, Blue Ring Octopus, Coconut Octopus, Pegasus, Frogfish, Rhinopias, Ambon Scorpionfish, Robust Ghostpipefish, Roughsnout Ghostpipefish, Thorny Seahorse, Melibe.

Time for some action-packed current drift dives with potential for big stuff. All our dives are going to be either slope or wall dives. We have spotted here in the past: Oceanic Sunfish, Big Dogtooth Tuna and Thresher Sharks.
Popular dive sites here: School’s Out, Anemone City, The Great Wall of Pantar

Today we spent all day hunting critters in the protected bay of Alors capital Kalabahi.
With a little bit of luck our dive guides might show you the ‘Holy Grail of Critter Hunters’, the Rhinopias. Other than that you can expect: Frogfish, Ghostpipefish, all sorts of cephalopods and Crustaceans as well as colourful Nudibranchs.
Popular dive sites here: Mucky Mosque, Black Rhino, Pertamina Pier

Before we leave the area around Alor to head back west again, we will offer you three more dives here. Either wide-angle wall and slope dives or some more macro dives. Maybe a blend of both. We make this depending on the preferences of our guests.

We will do three dives in daytime. Either at a spot we call ‘The Shark Wall’ or alternatively at a fantastic critter spot. This depends on the preferences of the group. In the afternoon we will head north towards the active volcano of Komba, which erupts every 15 to 20 minutes. A spectacular display of nature’s power and free fireworks for us.

Our last day before disembarkation we will spend at a beautifully quiet and protected anchorage in the bay of Maumere. In the morning we offer you a wreck dive (‘Wodong Wreck’) that turns in the shallows into critter heaven: Pipehorses, Ghostpipefish, Nudibranchs. A beautiful dive with no time limit to finish this cruise. If your flight schedule permits our guides will happy to take you on a second dive as well.
The afternoon we spend at this anchorage, filled with some in-water fun such as wakeboarding and waterskiing and the famous Floating Bar.

Depending on your flight schedule, our crew will check your luggage in for you in advance so you can rest on board and let us shuttle you to the airport when your plane is ready to leave.