Page 99 - Diving Indonesia 21 November 2019
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The Banda Islands and Banda Sea





                                                                                                      Conditions                       Dive Site and
                                                                                                                                       Marine Life
                                                                                                   The amazing dive
                                                                                                   sites of the Banda                  Highlights of the
                                                                                                   Islands are best visited            Banda Islands and
                                                                                        in March and April and during the              Banda Sea
                                                                                        September to December period. These
                                                                                        two periods offer more consistently
                                                                                        calm conditions.                   Due to the vast area covered by the
                                                                                                                           Banda Islands and the Banda Sea there
       THE BANDA ISLANDS                                                                Visibility begins to clear up from   are a phenomenal range of dive sites,
                                                                                                                           topographies, marine life and reef
                                                                                        August and then during the best
                                                                                                                           formations to discover. Here are just a
                                                                                        months it can reach the higher end
       and BANDA SEA                                                                    of the range (15m to 30m). Water   few of some of the highlights of both
                                                                                                                           the islands and the Banda Sea.
                                                                                        temperatures do not vary much during
                                                                                        the diving seasons and hold steady
                                                                                        between 26 to 29°C
             he Banda Sea is      Limited human impact has left the reefs in great     Diving the Banda Islands          Batu Wali is located on the western side
             located in the central   health, and the rich waters that they lie in are                                   of the northern tip of Banda Besar and
       Tregion of Indonesia       home to an unbelievable array of life. You will      Pulau Ai is an isolated low lying island   it is the core zone of the islands’ marine
                                  see big numbers of pelagic fish, most notably
        and was once known for    impressive numbers of Napoleon wrasse, dog-          to the west of Banda Neira. Due to the   protected area that encompasses the
        its lucrative spice trade   toothed tuna and squadrons of mobula rays at       island’s location and surrounding deep   islands of Pisang, Banda Besar, Banda
                                                                                                                         Neira and Gunung Api. It achieved
        where foreigners came     sites throughout the Banda Islands area. And the     waters and drop offs, Pulau Ai is one of   this status primarily due to it having
        from all over the world to   schools of fish in the Banda Sea need to be seen to   the top dive sites in the Banda Islands   an astounding coral reef and it being a
                                                                                       for shark encounters – particularly when
        trade in that most valuable   be believed – including schooling hammerheads    the currents are running. Hammerhead   spawning area for an important fishery
                                  and frequent cetacean sightings!
        of commodities, nutmeg.                                                        sharks are not unusual here and thresher   species, the pelagic plectropomus
        The Spice islands are full   Banda Islands highlights include sites like Batu   and silvertip sharks are occasionally   grouper.
        of historical significance   Kapal, Gunung Api and Batu Belanda. Further out   sighted too. Wahoo and giant trevally visit   Batu Kapal (Ship Rock) takes its name
        and you can visit old     into the Banda Sea you will dive in spots such as    the island, and chevron barracuda and   from its large central pinnacle that breaks
                                                                                       bluefin trevally hunt here in large schools.
        Dutch forts and learn     Koon Island, Nusa Laut, and the critter haven of     Look out for groups of mobula rays   the Banda Sea’s surface and looks not
        about the history of this   Ambon (see Ambon section in this chapter)          “flying” overhead!                surprisingly like a ship. It lies to the north
        once great trading route.                                                                                        west of Pulau Pisang. The main features
                                                                                                                         that make this site such a favourite are
        Nowadays the region is    Because the Banda Sea is located centrally in        Batu Udang literally translates from   its interesting topography, and enormous
                                  Indonesia’s vast diving area, it borders many
        attracting overseas visitors   other wonderful diving regions. The Banda Islands   Indonesian to English as “Shrimp Rock”.   gorgonian fans and barrel sponges.
                                                                                       This sloping reef site is packed with fish
        for very different reasons.   and the Banda Sea are most commonly dived by     – look out for whitetip reef sharks, eagle
        The waters of Banda and   liveaboard and due to the location, liveaboard       rays, large schools of bluetail unicornfish   If you are hoping to dive with immense
        Ambon promise riches      trips often combine other regions into their Banda   and Hawksbill turtles. Maori wrasse,   numbers of fish then Karnobol is a must-
                                                                                                                         dive site. The abundance and density of
        beyond the wildest        Itineraries – popular combinations include Alor, the   pinnate batfish and black and white   marine life here is breathtaking.
                                  Spice Islands and the Forgotten Islands to name
        dreams of many ‘big       but a few.                                           snappers are some of the prevalent larger
                                                                                       fish species.
        name’ dive destinations
        worldwide.

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