Dive Review of Amira Dive and Travel in
Indonesia/Banda Sea, Raja Ampat

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Amira Dive and Travel: "Once in a livetime diving trip in eastern Indonesia", Oct, 2023, by Michael Bode, Braunschweig, DE ( Sr. Reviewer 11 reports with 1 Helpful vote). Report 12859.
Photos Submitted with this Report Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Few people will have ever heard of Saumlaki. The small Indonesian town in the southeastern Moluccas is located on the island of Yamdena, which in turn lies on the eastern edge of the over 6000 m deep Banda Sea between Australia to the south and New Guinea to the north. The journey to Saumlaki itself is an adventure: After an overnight stay in Jakarta, we continued to Saumlaki via Ambon. Although our dive ship, the Amira, was already in the harbor, it had to be polished to perfection for the new guests, so we could only check in the next morning after a night in a simple hotel. We used the day on Yamdena to visit a stone boat in the village of Sangliat Dol, a relic from the ancient boat culture on these islands. According to the inhabitants of these islands, their ancestors once arrived on the islands by ship. The stone boats in the villages served as ritual places to commemorate the ancestors. The next morning, we finally boarded a proper ship. We were picked up by the crew at our hotel and taken to the Amira. With a total length of 52 m, the ship is one of the largest and most luxurious dive ships in Indonesia, built in classic wooden construction. It can accommodate 20 guests in 10 spacious cabins with private shower and toilet. Thanks to its size, there are many different places for guests and their various needs. At the stern of the ship is the dive deck with individual spaces for divers. From there, fully equipped, we boarded the waiting Speedboats and were taken to the dive sites. There were 15 guests on our trip. We were attended to by a total of 24 crew members - not bad! Due to the presence of saltwater crocodiles in the bay of Saumlaki, there is a diving ban here. Therefore, the initially planned check dive on the first day had to be canceled. So, we leisurely cruised along the west coast of Yamdena, taking the time to get to know the daily routines on board. In a detailed briefing, we were also informed about the safety measures on board (location of fire extinguishers, fire alarm indicators, muster stations, and emergency exits). During our 13-day journey, a fire drill was even conducted with the crew. Each diver also receives an ENOS tracking system, a small cylinder that, when activated above water, sends precise GPS data to the ship, allowing the diver to be accurately located in the water. A diving day on the Amira starts at 6 a.m. with waking up the guests. After a light breakfast (coffee/tea, toast), the briefing for the first dive soon follows. Our group of 15 divers was divided into 4 groups, which then went to the dive platform at staggered times to get ready for the dive. Each group of 4 or 5 divers was assigned a dive guide, which changed every day. After the first dive, a large a la carte breakfast followed, and around 10:30 a.m., the second dive. After the second dive, the diverse lunch buffet was soon ready, served on the covered foredeck at two large tables, just like breakfast and dinner. After lunch, there was a longer break before the third dive in the afternoon. The fourth dive was offered either as a sunset dive at 5 p.m. or as a night dive at 6:30 p.m. Afterward, dinner was served on the foredeck as a 3-course menu. Only when longer distances between dive sites had to be covered – after all, we covered 650 nautical miles during our trip – the fourth dive had to be skipped. In principle, our diving journey covered two different diving areas: In the first half of the tour, we visited the exposed dive sites at the edge of the Banda Sea with long night voyages from volcanic island to volcanic island. In the second part, we explored the best dive sites in the south and southeast of Misool, belonging to the Raja Ampat area, with only short distances to the various dive sites. Banda Sea Many small volcanic islands line up like links of a chain in a large arc at the edge of the Banda Sea. Some of these volcanic islands were our destinations in the Banda Sea. Many of these islands are uninhabited and difficult to reach due to their exposed location. The dive sites on the steep slopes or walls of the volcanoes are densely covered with diverse stone corals. Particularly striking are huge tube sponges that rise like oversized chimneys from the coral growth. During many dives, we saw schools of jacks, very large giant trevallies, and schools of fusiliers. However, the hope of encountering a large school of hammerhead sharks did not materialize. We had several brief encounters with individual hammerhead sharks, but as often happens, these were brief and too deep for photographers and videographers. Instead, encounters with olive-green sea snakes, about two to two and a half meters long, at the dive sites off the islands of Serua and Manuk were more frequent. Although extremely venomous, these curious yet non-aggressive creatures often came quite close to us divers, sometimes even in formations of two or three, causing startled reactions, especially when approaching from behind. For divers with a fear of snakes, these dives are definitely not recommended. A highlight of every Banda Sea crossing is the visit to the Banda Islands. History was written on this small island group on the edge of the Banda Sea. Since the 16th century, the colonial powers of Portugal, Holland, and England fought for a monopoly over this island group. Only here did they find nutmeg, whose weight in Europe was equated with gold. The Dutch proved to be the most brutal and ruthless in this battle for the spice monopoly: They practically killed the entire male population of the island group, sold the rest as slaves, and resettled the island with slaves from other countries with whom the Dutch traded. A genocide that is still deeply rooted in the historical consciousness of Indonesians today. We anchored with the Amira in the natural harbor off the capital of the Banda Islands, Banda Neira, at the foot of the active volcano Gunung Api on the neighboring island. Here, you can watch mandarin fish mating directly at the harbor before sunset. Banda, with its outlying islands, offers a large number of dive sites. During our short stay, we could only dive a few of them. Noteworthy is the dive site New Lava Flow. In 1988, Banda's volcano erupted for the last time. At that time, molten lava flowed into the sea and destroyed all corals. Large hard corals formed quickly on the solidified lava flow. It is amazing how quickly these corals grew in the relatively short time. On our way to the island of Koon at the eastern tip of Seram, we visited the dive site Batu Kapal. Here, there were tuna and a hammerhead shark in the open water, along with large schools of fish. The next day, off Pulau Koon, two more hammerhead sharks appeared, along with huge schools of barracudas in the current. Palau Koon lies on the border of the Banda Sea. On one side, there are sea depths of up to 6000 m, on the other side, the rather shallow but current-rich sea in front of the Bird's Head Peninsula of New Guinea. Raja Ampat - Misool The Raja Ampat Islands off the western tip of New Guinea are rightly considered the center of marine biodiversity. During a single dive here, you see more marine species than in the entire Caribbean. We reached the southernmost island of the Raja Ampat Archipelago - Misool - after a long night journey through the Seram Sea. In the southeast of Misool, thanks to the pioneering work of the Misool Eco Resort in recent years, an extensive marine protected area has been established. No fishing is allowed in this no-take zone. The consequences are evident: both biomass and biodiversity in this area are exceptional. While hard corals dominated in the Banda Sea, dive sites off Misool feature a colorful mix of soft corals, gorgonians, and hard corals. There is no place on the reefs that is not inhabited by a variety of coral species. During our visit, large schools of sardines were also present, forming ever-changing formations in open water and sometimes being hunted by jacks and mobulas. An unforgettable spectacle! Sharks (gray reef sharks, whitetip reef sharks) are also more common here than in the Banda Sea. We encountered large (oceanic) mantas and wobbegongs, wobbegongs lurking on the seabed, several times. In total, we spent 6 exciting diving days in the southeast of Misool. Our hard core divers got their money's worth and made the most of the four offered dives. Nights remained calm because the distances between dive sites were short. On the last day before our return to Sorong, the guests were treated to a special show. The sails of the Amira were hoisted, and everyone had the opportunity to photograph the large dive ship in all its glory. After 12 days and over 1200 km of travel through the Banda Sea, we finally reached the port city of Sorong at the western tip of the Indonesian part of New Guinea. From here, it was back to autumnal Germany with a stopover in Jakarta.
Websites	Amira Dive and Travel
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Thailand, Red Sea, Mediterranean, Indonesia, Phillipines, PNG, Solomon Islands, Malaysia, Seychelles, French Polynesia
Closest Airport	Saumlaki	Getting There	Flight to Jakarta, then to Ambon and Saumlaki
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	choppy
Water Temp	25-27°C / 77-81°F	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	15-30 M / 49-98 Ft
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	No deco dives
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	Squadrons
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	1 or 2
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	There ar fresh water tanks asiigned only for cameras on the dive deck and a large (dry) camera area behind the dive deck with individual well-lit places for each UWP.

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Dive Review of Amira Dive and Travel in Indonesia/Banda Sea, Raja Ampat

Amira Dive and Travel: "Once in a livetime diving trip in eastern Indonesia", Oct, 2023,

Photos Submitted with this Report

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Amira Dive and Travel in
Indonesia/Banda Sea, Raja Ampat