Dive Review of Maluku Explorer, formerly MV Liburan in
Indonesia/Halmahera

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Maluku Explorer, formerly MV Liburan: "Good Liveaboard, Great Uncrowded Diving", Oct, 2018, by Lisa C. Evans, CO, US ( Sr. Contributor 24 reports with 11 Helpful votes). Report 10563.
No photos available at this time
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	Second time on this boat, with a slightly different itinerary this time. We were the only liveaboard we saw in 8 days of diving. Where the corals are healthy, they are generally great, with huge sponges and sea fans. However, this time we encountered several spots at the end of dives that had been dynamited, which is so sad. But many of the sites were beautiful and amazing! Fish life was great - not a ton of huge fish, but I lots of sweetlips, snappers, fusiliers, trevallies, etc, and actually the biggest grouper I have ever seen - probably literally 7 feet long. Often big schools of medium and small fish. Reef sharks everywhere. Great diversity. Some strong currents, but great action at the split! Lots of sea mounts. Good night diving. The boat is not luxury, but perfectly fine and well set up. Comfortable salon, good dive deck. You do put on your BC/tank at your station and walk down 3 steps to get in the tenders, but if requested they will happily take your BC to the tender for you. Food was tasty, but not as much variety as I would have liked. Cruise Director and DMs were great, though one new DM was still learning the sites, which can be a bit problematic.
Websites	Maluku Explorer, formerly MV Liburan
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	GBR, Philippines x 5, Raja Ampat x 3, Komodo, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Lembeh, Caribbean, Bali, Palau, Yap, Red Sea, Maldives, Ambon, Sulawesi, etc
Closest Airport	Ternate	Getting There	You can fly on domestic airlines from Jakarta to Ternate via Makassar.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, rainy	Seas	calm, surge, currents, no currents
Water Temp	80-82°F / 27-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	30-80 Ft/ 9-24 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Generally stayed with DM/groups, though they let those of us who don't use much air stay down on our own after we showed we were competent. Then we were also able to go off on our own on dive sites that warranted it.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	None	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	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

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Dive Review of Maluku Explorer, formerly MV Liburan in Indonesia/Halmahera

Maluku Explorer, formerly MV Liburan: "Good Liveaboard, Great Uncrowded Diving", Oct, 2018,

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 Maluku Explorer, formerly MV Liburan in
Indonesia/Halmahera