Andreni
Contributor
Having read all the information about diving in Indonesia on this board before, I now try to share some of my experiences from our second trip to Ambon and Raja Ampat in September / October 2014.
After the delayed international flight we rested a few hours in Hotel Orchardz near the airport before taking the direct flight with Garuda Airlines to Ambon. I had all my photo equipment in a camera bag, carried an additional handbag and had no problems with excess baggage, so no fees.
First we spent some days with Maluku Divers. We were curios to see what they had to offer, as it was much more expensive than Dive Bluemotion, where I spent a week in 2013. To be honest I was not overimpressed with MD. The underwater sights were good - we saw a lot of critters and so was the hotel (though Im not keen on eating a lot of western food in Indonesia and sleeping without mosquito net). But the dives were a bit chaotic. In theory there where two groups with two dive guides but in reality we more often dived as one big group. Our boat always left late and as Swiss people tend to be punctual we always had to wait for other guests. Em & Joe were nice and the staff is really friendly. But in the end for us it was too expensive compared to what you get in other resorts in similar price range. On our last non-diving day Michael organized a trip around Ambon, which was the highlight of our stopover.
After 4 days we flew with Wings Air from Sorong to Ambon. They allow 10 kilogram per person so we had to pay excess baggage fees. I think it was 22000 IDR per kilo so we had to pay around 40 USD for both of us. Not too bad
From Sorong we went by ferry to Waisai, which took us around 2 3 hours. As there are not that much Bulehs on the ship, it is an authentic experience ;-).
In Waisai we were picked up by the staff of Raja Ampat Biodiversity, where we spent another two weeks. It felt like coming home, as only 10 month earlier I left from the last visit.
Accomodation / Food
We booked the superior cottage with private bathroom and shower, which I really liked. Its not luxury like AC, TV, WiFi but the luxury to live close to the nature: hear the waves when you fall asleep, wake up to the sound of the birds... After the dives, we enjoyed to relax in the hammock, did some bird watching or took a walk at the beach. They also provide canoes free of charge, but we were too lazy. The food was Indonesian style, very good and varied a lot. Beer and soft drinks cost extra but at reasonable prices.
But now the most important thing: diving!
Maximum of divers in the resort during our visit: 8. There where two dive guides, so we dived in a group of 4 people (sometimes less).
The dives where great! Big schools of fish, hunting sharks and Spanish mackerels, turtles, Napoleon wrasses, wonderful intact corals everything you might want to see. I still get some goose bumps when I think of the sound of the fish schools when they try to escape from the hungry predators. One word: spectacular! Dives at Blue Magic, Sardines, Cape Kri, Chicken Reef and Mikes Point provided the necessary adrenalin. We also enjoyed the other dive sites as Batu Lima, Francescos place, Mioskon and the underrated house reef of Raja Ampat Biodiversity. We saw a lot of frogfish, countless nudibranch, small crabs, wobbegongs, walking shark, an amazing coral diversity, etc.
The only thing that I missed was the facilities for underwater photographer. But at the moment they are building a new reception area with additional rooms for classes, equipment and cameras, so this will change soon. The experience levels of the divers are mixed. As they have two dive guides they usually try to pair the experienced divers so they can enjoy long dives. Also the inexperienced divers always felt safe, even when we had really strong currents. For some people the dives might be "too safe" and not be deep enough but for us it was fine as we always let them know what we wanted to do/see.
After 35 dives it was time to say goodbye. Again speedboat to Waisai, ferry to Sorong (where we had to spend a night) and direct flight with Xpress Air (no excess baggage fees) back to Jakarta.
If you want to see what we saw: https://www.flickr.com/photos/129373933@N02/sets
The german trip report from 2013 from our 5-month-trip in Indonesia you can find here: https://andblogt.wordpress.com .
After the delayed international flight we rested a few hours in Hotel Orchardz near the airport before taking the direct flight with Garuda Airlines to Ambon. I had all my photo equipment in a camera bag, carried an additional handbag and had no problems with excess baggage, so no fees.
First we spent some days with Maluku Divers. We were curios to see what they had to offer, as it was much more expensive than Dive Bluemotion, where I spent a week in 2013. To be honest I was not overimpressed with MD. The underwater sights were good - we saw a lot of critters and so was the hotel (though Im not keen on eating a lot of western food in Indonesia and sleeping without mosquito net). But the dives were a bit chaotic. In theory there where two groups with two dive guides but in reality we more often dived as one big group. Our boat always left late and as Swiss people tend to be punctual we always had to wait for other guests. Em & Joe were nice and the staff is really friendly. But in the end for us it was too expensive compared to what you get in other resorts in similar price range. On our last non-diving day Michael organized a trip around Ambon, which was the highlight of our stopover.
After 4 days we flew with Wings Air from Sorong to Ambon. They allow 10 kilogram per person so we had to pay excess baggage fees. I think it was 22000 IDR per kilo so we had to pay around 40 USD for both of us. Not too bad
From Sorong we went by ferry to Waisai, which took us around 2 3 hours. As there are not that much Bulehs on the ship, it is an authentic experience ;-).
In Waisai we were picked up by the staff of Raja Ampat Biodiversity, where we spent another two weeks. It felt like coming home, as only 10 month earlier I left from the last visit.
Accomodation / Food
We booked the superior cottage with private bathroom and shower, which I really liked. Its not luxury like AC, TV, WiFi but the luxury to live close to the nature: hear the waves when you fall asleep, wake up to the sound of the birds... After the dives, we enjoyed to relax in the hammock, did some bird watching or took a walk at the beach. They also provide canoes free of charge, but we were too lazy. The food was Indonesian style, very good and varied a lot. Beer and soft drinks cost extra but at reasonable prices.
But now the most important thing: diving!
Maximum of divers in the resort during our visit: 8. There where two dive guides, so we dived in a group of 4 people (sometimes less).
The dives where great! Big schools of fish, hunting sharks and Spanish mackerels, turtles, Napoleon wrasses, wonderful intact corals everything you might want to see. I still get some goose bumps when I think of the sound of the fish schools when they try to escape from the hungry predators. One word: spectacular! Dives at Blue Magic, Sardines, Cape Kri, Chicken Reef and Mikes Point provided the necessary adrenalin. We also enjoyed the other dive sites as Batu Lima, Francescos place, Mioskon and the underrated house reef of Raja Ampat Biodiversity. We saw a lot of frogfish, countless nudibranch, small crabs, wobbegongs, walking shark, an amazing coral diversity, etc.
The only thing that I missed was the facilities for underwater photographer. But at the moment they are building a new reception area with additional rooms for classes, equipment and cameras, so this will change soon. The experience levels of the divers are mixed. As they have two dive guides they usually try to pair the experienced divers so they can enjoy long dives. Also the inexperienced divers always felt safe, even when we had really strong currents. For some people the dives might be "too safe" and not be deep enough but for us it was fine as we always let them know what we wanted to do/see.
After 35 dives it was time to say goodbye. Again speedboat to Waisai, ferry to Sorong (where we had to spend a night) and direct flight with Xpress Air (no excess baggage fees) back to Jakarta.
If you want to see what we saw: https://www.flickr.com/photos/129373933@N02/sets
The german trip report from 2013 from our 5-month-trip in Indonesia you can find here: https://andblogt.wordpress.com .
