The fact that the liveaboard diving in Raja Ampat Komodo are world class is not a secret anymore, the question is: what is really hiding under the surface in-between? Mikumba Diving has organised a diving expedition to the ring of fire - from Flores to Raja Ampat five times now (In October April every year) with different routes, exploring different islands and dive sites along the way across the Banda sea. Raja ampat diving
Every year we do this exploratory expedition where we dive spots that’s never been dived before. This year we started in Maumere, Flores on the 20th of October to start our journey. Ratu Pelangi is the name of the vessel that will take us through the Banda sea. This boat normally operates as a midrange liveaboard in Komodo during the winter season as a budget liveaboard in Raja Ampat. The boat can accommodate 14 guests and is crewed by 10 Indonesian sailors.
The route we set out on can offer you some of the best diving in Indonesia, but since it’s an exploration trip, we also had dives without major luck. Early into the trip due to technical issues which led to a change in the schedule which gave us reasons to dive “Sagu bay”, and according to the fishermen we were the firsts ones to do this. We found lots of fish, sharks frogfish on our dives while our engineers fixed the problems with the help of the local people from the island. Next stop was Alor, know for it’s pristine water, big pelagics cold water. Dive Raja Ampat
Just like our boat trips in Komodo when we head south you can experience temperatures between 20-30 degrees on the same dive!? We got the chance to spot thresher sharks, rhinopias big marble rays during our stay here. We also did an land excursion to witness a ceremony from one of Alors many tribes. Next up on our trip was the island of Wetar. This island lies just north of the border to Timor Leste and in the channel in the middle you’ll find migrating whales of many different species. We did a few exploratory dives here at some stunning atolls of the west side of Wetar. Going further and further away from civilisation also means that the coral reefs are less and less affected by the humans interference, and corals here are absolutely stunning!
