Hammerheads in Ambon - is it real or false?

[Mike_Kiev]

Hello!
Starting to plan autumn diving in Indonesia and saw video on YouTube with hammerheads running on Ambon in October or November. I read about macro diving here only, never about this guys!
Who knows - is it real to see hammerheads in Ambon? In what period? On which dive sites?
Thank you in advance for any information.
Mike

 

[WetPup]

rofl...Yes, technically they're there. I saw photos when I was staying at Maluku Divers a couple of weeks ago. Don't count on seeing them on a muck dive - by all accounts it is a very random (and rare) occurrence at one of the far more distant dive sites.

 

[Indah]

Why not? Probably there are Hammerheads at many dive area's with deep water nearby. But most of the divers are busy with their cameras and guides are so focused on the reefs and bottom to find this one more critter that they simply miss them; also because these sharks are just far enough away from the reefs to become invisible. Personally I do not believe that firing big strobes/flashlights helps to get the sharks closer to you.
Further, it seems to me that the shark population in East Indonesia is increasing again, after years of declining. The last months we spotted Hammerheads at several of our dive sites. Last week a group of eight sharks. We see more Grey Reef sharks than before too.

 

[pughio83]

Yes there are hammerheads around Ambon. Much like many of the islands in the maluccas, if you dive enough blue water sites you will probably see a few. The dive op I have used and hopefully will use again this year (DIA) dive the blue water sites as well as the macro and they last week saw a whale shark , hammerheads and tuna on one dive. I must say I don't think it's common place but in their dive briefs for that side often include bigger stuff. If you get your head out of the corals and look in the blue then you never know. I also know quite a few hammers around Banda Neira.

 

[dirtfarmer]

I did a crossing trip from Ambon thru the Band Sea in Nov and we saw large schools in the Band Sea.
It was an epic trip. I can see how the blue water sites off Ambon could likely produce them.
October and November would be the time to go.
Also without the massive finning going on in Indonesia the reefs shark population is likely to start recovering.
In Raja I saw the encouraging sign of the baby grey reefs and a pregnant black tip reef shark.
The frustration thing is the possibility of back sliding, yesterday divers in Komodo other divers on the boat I'm on saw a finned whitetip and the wing of a Manta.

 

[highdesert]

Also without the massive finning going on in Indonesia the reefs shark population is likely to start recovering.

Bear in mind that, regardless of falling demand for shark fins, Indonesia is still the largest taker of sharks in the world.

 

[matts1w]

I had a super-close, amazing, twenty minute interaction with a massive whale shark diving Deep Turbo off Gili Terwangon not all that long ago. I have the pictures to prove it. Still, going to the Gili Islands off Lombok with the hope/idea of just maybe seeing a whale shark is pretty silly. Same said with HHSs in Ambon. That being said, I LOVE Ambon.

 

[scorpiofish]

HH sharks like their water cooler, ergo deeper water. The great thing about diving is that no matter how much or where you dive, you can still see something you've never seen before. I have a lot of one time photos. Photos of things I've only seen once in that locale. I keep thinking I will see them again and take a better shot, but it never happens.

A friend stayed at Wakatobi the first year they decided to stay open year round. Not many people there. She and Lorenz, the owner, were the only ones diving. They plopped in on a pilot whale and something else almost never seen there. I was doing a shore dive in Cozumel shooting jawfish in the shallows. I turned toward the blue and a huge Manta Ray swam by in about 25 ft. of water, which isn't too common in Coz.

Back before the internet you would see ads for dive ops and they would have these great photos. We would arrive at the destination and ask where the whalesharks are. "You mean the one we saw 5 years ago that's in the ad? Man, I wish we'd see that again!"

 

[Mike_Kiev]

Thank you all for your replies!
I wrote to DIA and Maluku and they told me that in theory it is possible to see hummerheads in Ambon, but it is a question of big luck)))

 

[AlMitch]

Supposedly the guys from Alor Eco Resort have a spot where the hammers are seen fairly regularly.
Seem to remember Luko saying something about it.