Dive Review of Blue Manta in
Indonesia/Banda Sea

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Blue Manta: "Blue Manta from Ambon to the Forgotten Islands and back.", Nov, 2022, by carol risdall, SD, US ( 2 reports with 4 Helpful votes). Report 12184 has 2 Helpful votes.
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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	This was a trip originally scheduled through Marin Dive Center California for November 2020 and was rebooked once travel to Indonesia opening up. I flew to Jakarta from Rapid City, South Dakota and spent 2 days touring Jakarta before taking off to Ambon on a Garuda midnight flight to land around 7AM in Ambon. I had a very pleasant stay at Spice Island Resort and dived with them for 3 days before getting onto the Blue Manta October 29. As we got on the ship we had to show a photo of the results of a home covid test taken within 12 hours of getting aboard. We were all negative. After we settled in, fire safety and emergency escape options were thoroughly explained by Egoi, our cruise director. We had a group of 15 divers- 4 couples and 7 singles. There were 21 crew members including Egoi Benitez the cruise director who greeted us each morning on the intercom with soft music and a wakey wakey call, and PJ Widestrand the boat's videographer. There had been some last minute cancellations in our group which allowed all the singles to have their own rooms. As it were the cabins were a spacious with two beds, its own bathroom with shower and a desk and plenty of storage space. Our check out dive was the Laha dive area in Ambon. It was a preview of some of the unpredictable currents experienced diving around the Indonsian Ring of Fire.. It was muck diving but full of crazy critters including the rare Rhinopias Scorpionfish. After the dive we started our journey south. Travel was usually at night. The seas were calm for the most part except for some nightly thunderstorms. The boat seemed very steady, with little rocking even on choppier days. Day 2 we dived 3 dives in the Soangii area, and day 3 dived 3 dives at the Banda Islands and snorkeled and walked about a lovely white sand beach. By day 4 we were at Manuk and did 4 dives with an extra effort to spot hammerheads near dawn and dusk. Manuk is known for an abundance of sea snakes and bubbling waters due to volcanic activity. The odor of sulfur was obvious as we came close to the uninhabited island's volcano. We then headed further south to Serua where we did 3 dives and also visited a small village which was celebrating the opening of their church after 10 years in the making. We ventured further down the Ring of Fire and on day 6 we did 3 dives on an atoll. Even as remote as the area was there was evidence of blast fishing, which is apparently still done around Indonesia. (I also witnessed it in the Philippines a few years back). On day 7 we did 3 dives on another atoll. Day 8 we were back at Manuk for 3 dives and day 9 we returned to the Banda Islands where 4 dives were offered including a Mandarin fish love night. The dive called Lava was down a lava flow from 34 years ago. On the hillside the land was black and barren where the lava had once run down the volcano. However once underwater the terrain along the submerged lava flow was lush with acres of healthy coral, mostly cabbage coral, and a wide array of fish. Some of us skipped the Mandarin dive in order to visit the old Portuguese/Dutch fort and to stop to taste some nutmeg and cinnamin goodies and learn about the spice plantation. Day 10 we had 3 more dives around the Banda Islands. Day 11 was 1 or 2 dives at Nusa Laut at Ambon, depending on flight arrangements. On day 12 people started to depart early as some of us had an 815AM flight to Jakarta. Each dive team had 3 divers and a dive guide. My team was lead by Vickli, a relaxed and very competent diver who let you do your own thing but also kept an eye on you. He often sang and played drums on a plastic bottle while underwater. The drumming was supposed to attract the sharks but it also kept me aware of where he was. We rarely ran into the other dive teams except on one wall dive where we were a bit crowded. Every dive seemed different and special. Visibility varied but according to PJ it was better than usual, and hence possibility the reason for less hammerhead spotting. Most of us never saw much in the way of sharks during our 11 days of diving, but there was plenty of other things to see each dive. Currents were to be expected, including some down currents. At times currents changed 180 degrees. We often rode the currents and sometimes hooked our reef hooks to wait and watch for the big creatures. It wasn't all current diving- we had many times diving with little or no currents. We saw a huge variety of small and medium fish such fusiliers, wrasses, surgeon fish, trigger fish, sweetlips, file fish, an endless array of butterfly fish, hawkfish, groupers, angelfish, unicorn fish and sea snakes of various lengths and colors. There were also plenty of bigger fish such as bumphead parrot fish, napoelon wrasses,bluefin trevaly jacks , barracuda, rainbow runners, and dog tooth tuna. Huge healthy basket sponges, soft corals, and a plentitude of hard corals were a pleasure to observe especially after witnessing some of the coral losses in some parts of the oceans. Meals were buffet for breakfast and lunch and sit down style for dinner with a choice of meat or fish or vegetarian on request. The crew was hard working and always seemed to have a smile for us. Not once did we have to carry our tanks, even when getting onto the dive boats from the water or from the main ship. Our wetsuits were washed and hung after each dive and placed by our stations before the next dive. It was an effortless 11 days of diving but I would not recommend this trip for a beginning diver due to unpredictable strong currents, nor for someone not very steady on their feet because getting on and off the zodiacs or other dive boat required some balance and leg strength. There were fish and other creature ID books to help figure what we saw on our dives. There was soap and shampoo in the showers, and a bunch of “what if” supplies such as ear drops, acetaminophen, sudafed, and imodium. Snacks and soda water were free and liquor and beer was available for a price. Check out online PJ's beautiful videos of past White and Blue Manta's trips. We were very privileged to have this very talented videographer on board with us to record our journey this trip. Pros: Hard working crew and smoothly run operation, good food choices, fantastic diving, safety seemed a priority Cons: There was some black tank odors coming from up some of the rooms' bathrooms. Closing the bathroom door and covering the floor drains in the bathroom when not in use helped. I noticed some extra scented sticks were placed in my room after a few days in an effort to help with the odor. It is a place hard to get to from the US (especially from Rapid City, SD!) Overall this is an A plus operation and I highly recommend it. In summary: wonderful diving, a great crew, and a fun group of guests with which to share the experience.
Websites	Blue Manta
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Cayman Islands, Bonaire, Cozumel, Socorros, Cocos Island, St Lucia, Komodo, Raja Ampat, PNG, Fiji, Philippines, Palau, Hawaii, Texas Oil Rigs, Minnesota and South Dakota lakes, California coast, Florida springs, Solomons, Vanuatu, Virgin Islands, Key Largo
Closest Airport	Ambon	Getting There	Jakarta to Ambon with stop over Makassar, Sulawesi. I flew Rapid City to Denver to Newark to Narita to Jakarta. Most of the in my group flew from California or Seattle to Singapore.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm, currents
Water Temp	78-88°F / 26-31°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	50-100 Ft/ 15-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	60 minute dives, monitor your depths, no decompression dives, 3 minute safety stops
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
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	The camera room was roomy with at least 10 individual stations equipped with ample charging, a light and storage under counter. of each station. Only four of us used the camera room, in addition to PJ , the ship’s very talented videographer, who spent hours each day editing the videos he recently shot of our dives as well as land tours. There was a rinse tank outside on tank for cameras. There was also area outside to plant your camera outfits to dry , and air spray to help dry off your equipment. The dive boats had a box or protected area to put your cameras to and from the dives. The crew seemed very careful when handling camera gear.

Report currently has 2 Helpful votes

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Dive Review of Blue Manta in Indonesia/Banda Sea

Blue Manta: "Blue Manta from Ambon to the Forgotten Islands and back.", Nov, 2022,

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 Blue Manta in
Indonesia/Banda Sea