Banda Sea Ring of Fire Hammerheads

[geo88]

Short video taken during my Dive Trip to Banda Sea onboard Raja Manta LOB in October 2018.
Shoot with Sony RX100M5 with Nauticam WWL-1.

 

[moorish8idol]

Whoa. Just whoa. Those schools are no joke - how amazing! [also kudos at the music and editing - had me near tears!]
I am going to be annoying and ask the same question I have asked before - where did you see the schools? I am looking at a number of different LOBs for next year and trying to figure out which route/operator offers the best chances at this type of experience!

 

[geo88]

I can only say it is in the Banda Sea due to fear of commercial fishermen able to get information online. We heard of schools being fished out after someone reviewed the location of their dive sites. To be honest, every LOBs operator know where the Hammerheads are ..but to truly get a high probability of an close encounter, it have to be with white manta diving. I dived with the Raja Manta and the guides know the exact location on the reef to wait for the schooling hammerhead to come when the 'conditions' are right. But generally Rule of thumb is never to chase after the school.

I did the Ambon - Banda Sea Ring of Fire - Ambon Route.

 

[acidrush]

The Manta boats go to a site most other boats don't go to and they actively go out searching for HH, even if they don't come to the reef, they will swim out into the blue to look for them. The guides know the site really well. I have been to the Banda sea with some of the famous high end phinisi boats, however they don't really go out looking for Hammerheads due to their client profiles.
If you want to see large schools of hammerheads in the Banda Sea, go with either the Raja Manta or Blue Manta. When you do, please don't publicise the dive site online! haha
I am in no way connected to white manta diving.

 

[All Star Liveaboards]

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This 14-night itinerary will include some of Indonesia's best diving. Experience the magnificent macro diving in Ambon, the schooling hammerheads in the Banda Sea, the rich biodiversity of Alor, and Manuk aka "Snake Island" known for its dense population of sea snakes. In addition to the world class diving we offer a variety of unique shore excursions. Contact kevin@allstarliveaboards.com or visit our website,Incredible Scuba Dive Liveaboard All Star Indonesia.

 

[moorish8idol]

Thanks for the responses - makes sense why you don't want to advertise the information - I really hadn't considered that angle before. Makes me distraught about the commercial shark fishing industry. Ugh, how can we stop this? Also good to know about the phinisis... White Manta's boats are mostly sold out next year so I will have to consider my options carefully.

 

[Dan]

Short video taken during my Dive Trip to Banda Sea onboard Raja Manta LOB in October 2018.
Shoot with Sony RX100M5 with Nauticam WWL-1.

What a fantastic video! Just out of this world scene. Thanks for sharing it.

I’m soooo looking forward to my 2019 ROF trip with Blue Manta. Hopefully HH schooling would still be there then.

 

[mildlystoic]

Nice vid. That doesn't look too deep.

I have this clip shared across some WhatsApp groups, where the divers chase them all the way down to 60m. On singles.

 

[geo88]

Thanks for the responses - makes sense why you don't want to advertise the information - I really hadn't considered that angle before. Makes me distraught about the commercial shark fishing industry. Ugh, how can we stop this? Also good to know about the phinisis... White Manta's boats are mostly sold out next year so I will have to consider my options carefully.

I doubt we can do anything about it as it is not yet protected like Tubbataha, Komodo or Raja Ampat. White Manta is actually the first few LOBs company that 'discover' hammerhead school during their many exploration dives a few years back. I join out of those expedition crossing trips where we dived at sites which are totally untouched by divers and pristine with healthy marine life. It is during one of those expedition crossings that they found those sites with hammerheads. And of coz after that, more LOBs join in the business.

 

[geo88]

Nice vid. That doesn't look too deep.

I have this clip shared across some WhatsApp groups, where the divers chase them all the way down to 60m. On singles.

The video are taken at 35-38m. Some saw it at 20m when the school swim up the reefs. We are on 29% NItrox thus our MOD is 40m so no way we go to 60m on singlte tank. We need the extra nitrox coz we sometime spent more than 15-20min waiting for them at the reef. Most time it depends on your luck actually.