Diving cruise from Irian Jaya (Sorong) - Banda Sea - Sorong with Dive Liveaboard Pelagian
Click here to go to back to cruise and dive report page...
March 30th - April 14th
Most of the group met in Bali with a few others meeting up in Manado airport. All arrangements had been made to ensure our luggage was safely on the plane from both Bali and Makasar. We all arrived at Jefman airport in Sorong to see all baggage safely off the plane, though with no one there to meet us! Fortunately I knew the local systems so I made a quick call to the boat and ending up chartering a local boat to drop us off at Pelagian. This was no big deal really as today was for relaxing and setting up dive gear, the next day was our full dive program.
Batanta Island canopy walk - our first dive day had a little unplanned
change to the itinerary as we had to be in Banda Niera for election day on the 5th. This
gave us the chance to make a short trek under the canopy to try and see the King Bird of
Paradise. Unfortunately we didn't get to see the bird, though it was heard up in the trees nearby.
Everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy being under the canopy of this dense
tropical rainforest, the sounds you can hear are more than enough to make
this short trek very worthwhile. Hornbills, lorikeets, cockatoos and more
unusual bird sounds all make this experience a very memorable one.
Our first dive - this was to be an exploratory dive in an
area of Batanta I hadn't yet dived, though I had word it was a well worthy area. A
quick check revealed what looked like an excellent reef top with great
coral bommies on a reef slope. After a short briefing we all entered and
descended upon a gorgeous reef slope dotted with colourful soft coral
covered bommies with plenty of small reef fish. The shallows were pristine
with the largest giant clam the group had ever seen, me too! it
certainly beats the clams on Cape Kri and other reefs I have dived in the
Raja Ampat before. Not everyone saw the giant clam, so our next dive was planned
for the same area though conditions changed and meant we were limited to a
small section of reef with no current. As the conditions had changed I
checked around for a suitable night dive and came upon what looked like
another similar great reef with bommies and a pristine reef top with good
invertebrate life.... just what I was searching for in the hope of finding
good critters. Immediately on entry I dropped down and found a small and
very rare tiger shrimp, then multitudes of different sea slugs
on hydroids, crustaceans galore, then Pam called me over to show me something,
she looked very pleased and as I looked on I had to grab hold and shake her hand in thanks,
for she had found a gorgeous little blue ringed octopus sitting out proud
atop a coral head for us all to see. Another excellent dive site!
Misool - we had the next 3 days moving around here, every dive here was excellent for the reef scenery and excellent schooling fish life. Conditions really did favour us on this first leg of the cruise. With at least 20m / 65' visibility and virtually no current on most dives here. This made diving here a real treat as I had only seen this area with low visibility in the past. We dived a few excellent caves here, great for the hanging soft coral gardens lining the roofs of one cave, small plateaus varied with fans and soft coral of all colours being surrounded by hundreds of small damsels. I wanted to check new area and quickly snorkeled around a small island, immediately I noticed masses of schooling fish from the surface, what we saw while diving was even better. Two different schools of barracuda together, jacks, fusiliers and the snappers here made what looked from a distance to be dark clouds they were so thick, colourful snappers hung in the small caverns while a little deeper on an outstretching reef filled with huge green coral trees (tubastraea) we came upon a huge Napoleon wrasse and resting turtle. There was more as we moved on to another reef edge we came upon a hole in the reef totally surrounded from the top, bottom and sides by colourful soft corals while different angel and batfish hung in the opening. The reef top here was a mix of pristine hard and leathery corals.
Anear nightmare - during our morning dive I had a really horrible feeling in my ear
and suddenly went all disoriented.... ouch major ear problems! I managed to get through the dive
and in the process found a new dive site as I managed to go the wrong way in my awful disoriented
state. I thought the site itself was actually better the one I had briefed for and the funny thing
is that only one person really realised my big error. The dive we done came to a huge coral filled
canyon with great schooling fish life and a few large groupers in the deeper areas shortly after
this the reef spur ended towards the dark abyss below and we turned around. The shallows on this
dive and throughout this area were stunning with colourful soft coral lining the damsel filled walls.
Moving on towards our destination for a good anchorage we checked out and dived channel with
excellent fish life a huge coral packed spur, looking over to the middle of the channel we saw a
small school of barracuda hanging in the current. We left the calm behind the spur and drifted
along a pristine wall filled with huge fans and soft corals galore, cracks in the wall made it
possible to stop and admire the scenery and fish life before letting go again and gently drifting.
We came to the reef corner where the current stopped so we could admire the pristine shallow reef crest.
Another excellent area in the southern most region of Misool turned out a real big hit with everyone. The Kaleidoscope wasgreat with eagle rays, a group of different Napoleon wrasse, groupers, excellent schooling fish life and thousands of tiny shimmering silversides shifting back and forth as groups of striped jacks were hunting in the midst. Another site "The Net" turned out to be the real showstopper with all round best fish diversity and the best reef scenery, that I have to say was better than The Kaleidoscope which was mine and the groups big favourite last time through here....
Our journey back through Misool was to be a day of exploring, I knew a few great places in this area though the group were more than happy to explore a little and try a few new sites in Boo Island and north of this. As usual I checked out an area that looked good on the charts and what I saw while having a quick check on snorkel proved to be well worthy. It turned out this was a regular spot for other boats as Shakti and Pindito were on their way here too. It worked out well that we had arrived earlier than them. A superb dive with a gorgeous sea fans & invertebrate covered wall, then to a soft coral covered ridge and the most amazingly beautiful soft coral gardens that were in full bloom with the mild current that gradually picked up while we made our safety stop. Another new site was a pair of small islands, both looking equally good, the one I chose originally looked very good for the chance of critters, though it turned out to be more of a scenic fishy dive with excellent soft coral growth on the north and south bommies, it was here we had our best wobbiegong shark, sitting out lazily on a huge lettuce coral formation. We saw a few colourful nudibranchs and a well hidden soft coral crab (Hoplophrys oatsii), with all the soft corals I had checked at last I found one that was large enough for everyone to see and those others to film and photograph. Another area and another new reef, the weather had turned slightly rough with rain and wind so we went to a place unplanned, though still this was excellent diving on more pristine colourful fish packed reefs. Pam lucked out big time and saw a large sailfish as she was making her final safety stop drifting from the main reef. For our night dive we had find an area where the captain could anchor so it was a bit of a hit and hope, though out here it is rare to have a really duff night dive. We had a fully adult comet fish, and plenty of other small critters, with a few small hard coral (porites) spawning made for another great dive.
Koon - on our first day here currents were very mild, it seemed the usual schooling fish life was not as abundant as I had seen this on other cruises. Though we still had huge schools of batfish, jacks though far in the distance, the usual resident giant groupers, both on the north and south sides came up to check us out, lots of different species of snappers and other schooling fish. On our return to Koon the currents were a little stronger though still not quite the amount of fish, I saw no baracudas where as in the past I saw them snorkelling and on every dive here, lots of them too. We did come across an area with a few different leaf fish and a new site I will be diving next time through here. The southern wall has a section with 20 or more huge giant sweetlips that seemed to be following us from behind as we swam over the reef crest. This area of reef seemed as if it had been impacted in the past, lots of coral rocks that had been overturned and broken up years ago maybe, now they seemed to sprout with masses of soft corals, this whole area definitely stands out above the rest of the walled sections on this stretch of reef along Koon. When currents are too strong an alternative dive is always best here. Maybe Koon has now seen better days as we had better fish dives in Banda. I'll be back again soon so we'll see!
Banda Islands - Our first day was election day, we were originally told we couldn't
dive though I am true believer in "anything being possible". The crew made good negotiations,
a local shifty handshake and we were allowed to dive though only from the tenders.... no problem as the
sites nearby are also very good with a reef I hadn't dived before though Didi (Pelagian guide) had,
he briefed us and off we went, we were surprised to see crystal clear water 40m / 130' visibility.
Great fish life and a dew excellent coral covered bommies on a white sand slope. We came to a ridge
where we found many different large morays and then to a shallow sloping area with what looked
like an aggregation of large coral groupers, 10 or more in one small area.
Next dive was Kraka a regular dive site great for huge morays and leaf scorpion fish with the coral formation
that dotted the sandy slope here. A total of 5 different leaf fish were seen and 2 giant moray eels
with huge schools of surgeons and sergeant majors in the shallows near a walled section.
The Jetty, this is a huge highlight of the diving in Banda at the moment, it seems now
everyone is wanting to go here to dive what could very well be "The Best Mandarin Fish Site In
The World"? It certainly made us very happy and along with a whole load of mating
Mandarinfish we came across lots of juvenile pinnate batfish, a very well camouflaged frogfish
(possibly A. coccineus) a whole pile of pipefish together resting on one rock, a few disco clams,
a huge colourful stonefish (that I failed to find on a second dive) and a whole range of cool
nudibranchs made this one of the highlights of the trip for the everyone.
I was looking forward to Batu Kapal as it had always been a difficult site before with low visibility
and very strong currents, this time we had low current and excellent 40m / 130' visibility. I
made a quick check and saw just what I wanted.... the guests saw it all too on our dive. I
briefed the group and off we went on descent I started to make a sign like a manta and sure
enough it was still cruising around in the place just about everyone saw it fairly close up and the
rest of the dive went even better with huge schools of long nose unicorns, pyramid butterfly fish,
schooling bannerfish and different species of fusiliers were covering the pinnacles here that go from
over 50m to within 10m / 30' of the surface. Moving over to the reef we were surrounded by endless
amounts of red tooth triggerfish, a huge sea snake made for decent entertainment as it went up and
down a few times while the group looked on. In the shallows here I love to watch the zebra dart gobies,
these fish I find so unique with their colourful little pouches though pout out when signalling to
other fish, maybe this is a mating ritual or a warning sign to other fish? Whatever it was it certainly
makes for and excellent safety, the reef scenery and different species of butterfly fish were also a
treat here especially with crystal clear water, I had never see it so good!
Our next dive on Ai was in a different area I thought maybe better than the other dives I have
had here, today was the best chance to see it, with this visibility any dive would excellent.
Water clarity was over 40m / 130' as we drifted over a steep reef slope, it was not so well covered
though with huge barrel sponges, we came a few different turtles, both green and hawksbill. We came
to a great shallow area with daisy coral (tubastraea) covered overhangs and with the sun directly
above it made for such incredible scenery.
Banda land tour - a must for every visitor coming here. We made our trip in the late afternoon so it wasn't too hot, the fort here has great views of the village and the old fort below. After this we went into one of the gardens where nutmeg is still harvested as it was centuries ago. The very welcoming farm owner took us to his seating place and sent his boy off climbing for fresh coconuts, here we all drank fresh coconut juice straight from the nut itself, he then brought us his own special cinnamon tea.... I love ginger tea and this was much tastier, I wish I could get this in Bali! He then proceeded to bring us some gifts of nutmeg and gave us tasters of the mace (outer coating of nutmeg), locals dry it and pickle it, it makes great snack food. Then we had the chance to buy his last few jars of fresh nutmeg jam, I was first in there as I wanted to take of this home for Dwi to try.... It's yummy! We were a little late so we missed out on the museum, though I did get to do my usual becak (trishaw) ride back, with a very worried Mary in the passenger seat and even more worried looking becak owner running behind helping me stop this thing, brakes were not like those on my mountian bike at home I'll tell ya!
For our final day we left the best harbour in Indonesia and dived Batu Kapal one more time, it
was just as good as the day before though our manta never made an appearance again, still the
schooling fish life here was incredible and a few divers saw a few eagle rays while others had sighting
of giant Napoleon wrasse which we saw on most dives here, be it huge or lots of juveniles.
My favourite island within Banda is Hatta, this has what I have seen to be the best wall diving in
this area, regardless of what guide books say. Here steep drop offs with huge overhanging reefs,
caverns, swimthroughs and greta fish life too. Our first dive on and earlier cruise we named one
walled section Snakes & Ladders because of all of the ups and downs, with caverns and crevices
that urge you down into them then up and into others. Here we had a lots of turtles, midnight snappers,
a shark, elegant dart gobies, sailfin gobies, huge and small Napoleon wrasse and lots of fun going
into the caverns and crevices looking out to the blue.
Next dive was at Kampung Lama, here we dropped down to great reef scenes of huge cherry blossom
coral trees, fans and large table corals. In one area we were buzzed a few times by what seemed
to be a large school of schizophrenic big eye jacks which kept buzzing in to us very close and
speeding away as if they never knew what to do with us in what was probably there territory No
one managed to film this as it was all to fast and furious as they came in rushing us, next up
we came to a few large overhanging reefs with hanging soft corals. It was here, just towards the end
of our dive we came across a new area which will be the start of a new dive site. An opening
on a reef top that drops into a gorgeous coral filled cavern and out into the deep blue. We decided to
name this after the guest that joined me in finding it "Great-Aunt Pam's Window". Can't wait
now to get back and dive this again!
Another Land Tour - I love to make a village tour on Hatta as the local people are so welcoming and friendly, they make the visit another cruise highlight, I mean why come all this way and have no local interaction. A few guests had brought some gifts of books, coloured pencils and the likes, we gave this to the village leaders wife who would distribute them between the school children here. We had a nurse on board who helped one of the local boys who had a huge infected wound on his arm, then we had the farewells from the whole village who seemed to come out to wave us on.
Our night dive was on Snakes & Ladders, on entry large reef shark, then before we had time get into critter searching a huge giant reef ray slowly and graciously flew close by along the wall and then again shortly after.... always great to see some big surprises on night dives I say! We found some good critters including saron shrimps, a marionia sp. sea slug well camouflaged in the soft corals and a mid sized Spanish dancer along the usual masses of decorators and other night time crustaceans.
Back to Koon - see above!
Fam - Melissa's Garden, I hadn't dived this site much so it was a little like exploring
a new site, though I knew lots about it. The current wasn't on our side for the first dive though
we managed to avoid the worst of it by exploring a ridge on the north, here the coral growth,
as all over this site was very dense with vast amounts of hard corals. We had plenty of schooling fish
including a few large wahoo, a few divers saw the odd shark For the smaller marine life we did manage
to encounter quite a few different sea slugs and a huge giant clam. Our next dive conditions were in
our favour and we could fully explore the great shallow reef top and around these tiny little islets.
octopus, juvenile rockmover wrasse, plenty of different sea slugs and very unusual invertebrate life
here made for a great second dive. Moving over to a better anchorage, I wanted to see if I could locate
a site they call Fam wall. Searching in the general area, the only wall I could find that looked OK in
the near area of where it should be was a very average wall. We dived this regardless and on descent
found it to be rich in nudibranchs, with about 5 different species in the first 10 minutes of the dive.
A few small orangutan crabs, mushroom coral shrimps and sail fin shrimp gobies made this dive much
better than expected.
Determined to find a better dive for our night dive I went on search again, I prefer sandy
slopes though most of the bays I have encountered in Irian have been impacted and left only with rubble.
It had been nearly and hour of searching when I finally said OK let's just try over there to a small
island. This was it, another perfect, pristine dive site logged. This must be a regular dive site, for
me it is much better than Melissa's Garden.
I briefed everyone about the general area of the site, what they could see and probable conditions. Though to impact the start of the dive even more I asked the group to follow me closely for a surprise start to the dive. Tender boats entered a shallow coral lagoon, we rolled back into less than 3m / 10' of water where we slowly swam over beds of leathery corals towards a soft coral garden into the mouth of an opening this dramatic opening led us down through beds of sea fans all very shallow and surrounded by soft corals with the most colourful invertebrate life covering the whole wall and slope. We also found pristine gardens of hard corals and a few large pristine lettuce coral formations. For small marine life this was great for macro lovers as most of the crustaceans were in colourful soft coral or sea fans making for the most beautiful backgrounds. In the crevices we saw a few different and unusual coloured Saron (marbled) shrimps quite a few different sea slugs including an unusual pair of platydoris nose to tail traveling very slowly over the sand. This site is definitely one the best sites north of Misool, to me it is only comparable to a site I believe Max Ammer named Mikes Point!
From my first experiences I had remembered much more colour on the reef top and around the sides of the islets I remembered more sea fans.
Waigeo - the group had wanted critters so here we were in what had always been the best site in Irian for critters. Just about every operator knows this spot and it was unanimous that we dived this site the whole day. It never failed us with 2 different species of pigmy sea horse and what did surprise me was to see the H. denise in a very unusual sea fan, what looked to be a form of Acabaria sp.. As usual the fire urchins were in the same place, one had a pair of Coleman shrimps and another a large zebra crab loaded with bright red eggs, plenty of sea slugs and lots of small flat worms.
Mansuar area - anchoring near the base camp of Papua Diving, our first dive I had chosen
Cape Kri to show the group the abundant fish life here. It was so good the group wanted
to keep going back for more. The site was on form on most dives, with huge amounts of schooling fish
life, ranging from the small sweepers covering the coral bommies to huge Spanish mackerel in large
groups cruising by. We had a dive with a few large white tip sharks and eagle rays, there were more
pigmy sea horses as usual on this site and leaf scorpion fish, though for me it was a shear joy just
to hang there and watch the fish going about there daily business. For some fish here it's just
shear survival, with many pelagic fish busily hunting for food. A lot of sex of the reef here too
with different species of butterfly fish pairing up together and swimming around each other. Large
jacks paired up with one turning a very dark colour, they went off in pairs along the outer edges
of this incredibly busy reef. The group came up from the first dive and said "now that should
be called Too Many Fish".
Another favourite site for me in this area is Mikes Point, more great fish life and large
coral rocks filled with glassy sweepers and soft corals in bloom for us. A little deeper on this site
lay a few large overhanging soft coral filled rocks, a few make narrow swimthroughs or just great
photographic scenery looking out from inside. Though the real heart of this site is in the shallows
with beds of sea fans and soft corals mixed with hard corals surrounding this very small island. Even
very shallow we were surrounded by huge schools of fusiliers and blue fin trevallies hunting in
between them. A truly excellent dive area!
We had more of Cape Kri Slope for our night dive which turned out to be a little awkward with
the choice of a shallow surge or deeper current, we still managed to see a few great things like
an Epaulette shark, saron shrimps and a huge bobtail squid which fitted quiet well into the framer
of Mary's Nikonus 5.
Our last day was meant to be the bird of paradise walk though we had heavy rain so it was cancelled. Instead we made another dive on Cape Kri, masses of schooling fish all over the place made for a great last dive. We moved over to Wai island and made a visit to see Pak Jafid and his family. We took a short walk to see the thousands of fruit bats which live in the trees on this island. The local people here as usual ever so friendly and welcoming and a group of fishermen were quite happy to us the tools with which they fish. I was hoping to have our last meal on the beach though our anchorage was just too far away so we settled for a meal on the upper deck of Pelagian....
Conclusion
A truly amazing cruise for the conditions we had went in our favour throughout. Fish diversity
and amounts of fish was incredible on many dives. The itinerary.... went very well after much arm
bending with the skipper. Even with the changes to help the captain and crew get to their anchorages
we had awesome diving. For general reef scenery it just doesn't get much better than this, Misool
being one of the best as we hit this area with outstanding conditions, which made it all the more
enjoyable. Misool often has very green water with strong currents, so this made me very happy as
I could dive all the sites I had planned in this area including a day of very successful exploring
too! It was a big shame to miss the bird of paradise walk I wanted to take though it seemed even
the forces of nature had it in for us with lots of rain when we did eventually get to plan the
day.... next time! And of course a great group made the cruise so much fun - Thank you all once
more and see you later in the year!
Interested? Click here to inquire for more information on this area.
top