From Bali to Ambon, 14 days diving across half of Indonesia (part 4/4)….. The End

Wetar Island at the horizon

 

Wetar Island day 11

In the morning we arrived at the Island of Wetar. This big island is located right on the North of Timor Leste.
The first impression I had was how beautiful and untouched the vegetation was. The landscape looked very wild and we could barely see any signs of civilization.  The sea and weather conditions , once again were perfect.

The first dive was on the west side of Wetar coastline. It was an interesting ridge dropping down vertically to more than 40m. The visibility was perfect and fish life was very good. We could see a very big Napoleon Wrasse, it must have been at least 1.5m and the top reef of this dive site was just gorgeous. At about 10m depth we had a vast flat area which was covered entirely with table corals.
The visibility was great , around 30m+ and the table corals garden was as immense as I have ever seen.

We then moved to an island called Reon. This is a satellite island of Wetar.
It was beautiful , like a gem in the sea. A tropical lush with white sand beaches and surrounded by crystal clear water and a turquoise reef.
The current was running strong so Alberto and Jimmy went to look all around the island to decide where we were going to jump.
At the end they opted for the NW side and it turned out to be the right choice as it was an easy but also very pretty dive with a small school of juvenile barracudas, interesting critters ( Jimmy found a ghost pipefish) and very good corals, especially in the shallow area.

 

Just Open Sea and nothing else

For the third and the fourth dive of the day we have moved back to the mainland progressing further east until we arrived to Larry Smith point and made 2 critter dives over there. Something interesting to report was that during the night dive a pigmy octopus swam to Dave and sat on his torch. That for sure was the highlight of the dive.

Overall it has been a very nice day in the region of Wetar.

Gunung Api ( Snake Island ) Day 12

Gunung Api dormant Volcano

In the morning we arrived at Gunung Api in the Banda sea. It is a dormant Volcano that rises in the middle of the ocean at about 60 miles from everywhere.
An outstanding place with many frigate birds. I have never seen so many birds in Indonesia like at Gunung Api.

Right in the middle of the island there is the crater which is collapsed in one of its side.
In the crater there are many new trees growing .  This island is not only home of Many birds but it is also home of a great number of sea snakes.
As a matter of fact, during all three dives we have seen sea snakes pretty much all the time with a pick , during the second dive, of at least 50 of them right in front of us  during the safety stop.
The sea conditions were great and the sun was shining. Visibility underwater has been the best of all trip with 40m on all dives and the water temperature has been between 27 and 29 C.
Dive # 1
It was a ridge in the south east side. We have entered the water in a steep sandy slope, with two huge coral heads at about 20 m .
As we descended, also a sea snake did. When we reached the 20m depth I saw a decorated fire dartfish, but the snake aimed straight for it, so the dartfish went back in his hole.
We then proceeded keeping the reef on our left at about 25m depth and from a slope the profile of the reef change into a vertical wall going down so deep that we could not see the bottom, there where snakes cruising up and down and side ways during the whole dive , along the wall the coral was very healthy with many sponges and black coral bushes. There were also a couple of  dog tooth Tunas swimming back and forward and during a certain moment we where surrounded by the blue and red stripe fusiliers and black surgeonfish.
We then continue until the corner of the ridge where we started to slowly ascend to shallower depth. The top reef was gently slopping down until 10-12m and it was fully cover with fire coral .
We followed the deepest profile of the top reef, still keeping the reef on or left and then we arrived to an other very deep drop off. Here the visibility must have exceeded 40m, as we where at about 14m deep and we could see the bottom slopping down very deep, at least we could see until 70m  depth vertically and 40 m horizontally. In this part the reef was quite damaged, but we could see a lobster , more snakes and an octopus.

Dive # 2

The second dive site was also an underwater ridge formation . This one in particularly , was extending very far out into the sea. The top reef was slopping down until 12-15m .
We started close to the island walls where we could see a couple of big sulfur spots. We descended and we went along its underwater wall, at 24m depth, with the reef on our right.
There where many dog tooth tuna cruising back and forward and we have also seen a big bumped head Parrotfish.
In the outer part of the wall , we could see that there was a second ridge , probably starting at 50 m and stretching further out to very deep water. This part of the wall was very beautiful as we had many sponges and Black coral as well as some nice soft corals. The sea snakes where keeping swimming along us. After a while the reef turned into a small natural bay with a rubble slope. Over there there where a couple of octopus.
After that slope there was an other wall  where the top was at about 5m . The reef was mainly made by fire coral and the place was packed with sea snakes.
I could count for a moment 32 sea snakes in front of me, some of them swimming three together and some of them sleeping on the bottom.
We stayed there with sea snakes all around , below and on top of us. It was a very exceptional and memorable dive, but I also have to admit that , even though I normally do not care about sea snakes, when they were swimming to me and alongside my belly, I felt a bit uncomfortable .

Dive # 3

once again we have found a small underwater ridge at one end of the collapsed crater. This was the outer part of a natural bay .
There was a small initial wall covered by hard corals with many fusiliers and surgeonfish swimming around.
As for all day there were few snakes cruising up and down.
Because one of my divers had a little problem with her gear,  I could not enter on the decided entry point.
As a result the current moved us across and we passed the  small ridge.
When we then descended we were at a steep  sandy slope around 14m . We could see a reef formation right at the bottom of the slope at around 30m and the area was covered with big sea fan.
Just after the slope , the reef continued and change into a wall.
At the corner of this wall there was an overhang at 25m depth. Over there it was fantastic as we were surrounded by fusiliers swimming back and forward .
In addition to this we had a couple of juvenile great barracuda, a school of black surgeon fish , a couple of sea snake and a hawksbill turtle swimming into the fusiliers.
The wall was completely covered by yellow soft coral and there where also many barrel sponges, a few black coral bushes and some big sea fan .
Only Denise and I were there. We hanged there for 5-10 minutes  admiring all the fish swimming around us, creating a wonderful display.
After we continued with the reef on our right and for about 70m we had a vertical wall covered by yellow soft corals , sea fan and sponges. The, now usual, sea snakes were keeping cruising every where.
In my opinion, this was the best dive of the day and maybe the most exciting underwater moment of the trip.

Leaving Gunung Api at Sunset

Overall the day at Gunung Api has been fantastic, the thousand snakes we must have seen, the great visibility, the amazing reef formation, the many fish around us and the beautiful scenario made it just perfect.

Day 13 Lucipara Atoll

Kadula Island in the Lucipara Atoll

This for many of us including myself was the last day.
We were in the middle of nowhere in the Banda Sea and all of the sudden at the horizon we could spot three small islands.
The islands were all beautiful with long white sandy beaches around them. No body was living there and we were the only boat in this great place with the sea flat like a mirror.

Bingkudu Island, inhabited island in the Banda Sea

The dives were the most fantastic wall dives of the whole trip, with a very good coral growth, fish life and visibility.

Before the second dive when I went to check the current I could see a baby gray reef shark and before the third dive I could see a manta ray.

Funny enough there were some very very friendly batfish during the second dive. A couple of them have followed us for the entire dive. Sometimes all of the sudden they were quickly appearing in front of our mask . Funny!!

Oudin taking us slowly to Bingkudu Island during low tide

Only a bird's foot prints on the beach of Bingkudu Island

After dive 3, just before sunset, Bert And Dave and Denise and I with the help of Oudin, our very good speed boat captain, went to explore one of this gorgeous islands.
We arrived there and it was amazing. We walked on the beach  and found few Nautilus shells and one of them was very nice. Probably, right now as I am writing, our dearest Dave is having a look at it in his office back in the US and still dream about this great trip .
We walked around a little bit and then we returned to the boat. By then it was sunset and we started cruising to the final destination of our trip which was Ambon.
The sunset was fabulous and perfect to end our last day diving with beautiful touch.
Jimmy, El Toro, Linda and I were there, at the bow of the boat , sipping a cold Bintang beer with a lovely scenery in front of our eyes and all the emotions of this trip, still alive in our thoughts and soul.

Sunset in the Banda Sea

Day 14 Ambon

 

Ambon

On this day most of us did not do much. As we had to fly the next day we could not go diving. However, Mike and Linda , Bob and Janet , could go diving as they were going to stay in Ambon for few more days. For the record they had some great diving and they were very enthusiastic about the many critters they have seen.
The rest of us spend the day packing, reading or simply laying under the sun and just before sunset we have taken our group photos.

The Group

Right now I am here writing the last words of this very long journey and I have a smile on my face as I think back to how great this trip has been.
We had some of the best diving in the world, especially Komodo was amazing, we met amazing people and very friendly locals in Alor. We visited and dived by an erupting volcano and by a Volcano surrounded by Birds and Snakes. We have been the only one in inhabited islands 100 of miles in the middle of nowhere and we have been blessed all the way with some excellent weather conditions and calm sea.
We had a memorable experience and what I have been thinking since, is that I want to go back and share this experience with others again .
The Damai crews were wonderful and they were there all the time for us. Alberto has given us the best we could get from this trip and pampered all of us genuinely .
I would recommend this trip to anyone that wants to experience something complete, as the diving and the journey was a great combinations.
Finally I would like to thank Janet, Bob, Linda, Mike, Mardel, Michele, Denise, Loretta, Bert and Dave to have been such a wonderful people to be together in such a long and wonderful journey.

The End for now ……

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