Ambon

Date: 24 Nov 2012 – 2 Dec 2012
Location: Ambon, Maluku, Indonesia
Camera: Canon G10 + Canon Casing
Strobe: Fantasea Single Nano Strobe Set
Filter: NIL
Post editing: PS CS3
No. of dives: 20


Ambon Island lies off the south-west coast of the much larger Seram island. It is on the north side of the Banda Sea, part of a chain of volcanic islands that encircle the sea. It is 51 kilometres (32 miles) long and is of very irregular shape, being almost divided in two. The south-eastern and smaller portion, a peninsula (called Leitimor) is united to the northern (Hitoe) by a narrow neck of land. Ambon city is on the north-west of Leitimor, facing Hitoe, and has a safe harbor on Amboina Bay. That's where I dive, in the bay .... diving is mainly muck, fantastic muck diving.

http://www.muckdivingindonesia.com/

The Maluku Divers Resort in Laha is one of the must visit locations in any diver’s Indonesian dive list. The only dedicated dive resort in Ambon, the facility was built specifically with divers in mind and boasts the most unique and comfortable accommodations in the whole of Maluku. Each individual bungalow is over 60 square meters, with private bathroom, hot water, air conditioning and a large covered private wooden terrace. Each bungalow also has the unique feature of individual editing desks for each diver. The ten bungalows look out over Ambon Bay and the incredible muck diving and critter sites to be found there, the ultimate location for diving Ambon.

Ambon is undoubtedly famous for the world class muck diving, with a huge array of critters that can be observed and photographed during long dives at the shallow sites close to the resort. Diving in Ambon includes regular sightings of resident marine life such as rhinopias, many assorted frogfish, mandarin fish, ghost pipefish, harlequin shrimp, flamboyant cuttlefish, blue ring and hairy octopus, thorny and pygmy seahorse, stonefish, inimicus, to name but a few, along with literally hundreds of different species of nudibranch. As the Maluku Divers Resort is the only dedicated dive resort within Ambon Bay, it is “Critters Without Crowds” when diving in Ambon.

My reason to go there:
Well definitely for muck diving. Ambon has been in my muck diving list for sometime, so I thought that it was time to pay this place a visit.


Thoughts:
- Visibility was pretty good ranging from 7m to 15m, depending on the dive site
- Loads of frogfish and loads of unusual nudibranches
- Almost no coral reefs, as this is a muck diving place
- The dive operator was really good, I enjoy diving with them. Great hospitality, great food, great rooms, exceptional F&B crew and dive operation crew .. highly recommended.
- Very happy to see a lot nudibranches, I have photographed over 55 species .. if you are a nudibranch lover, this is a must visit place.
- Water temperature 27c-28c, with my hood on, no prob.
- Great dive gang, although they were all strangers to me
- The last day at a homestay was nice ...and a detour round Ambon city was an eye opening experience, a lot of rubbish everywhere..

Dive Log

Dive	Date	Dive Site	Time In	Bottom Time (mins)	Max Depth(M)	Visibility(M)	Temp	Highlights
1	25-Nov-12	Jetty Air Manis	3:11	78	27.4	7	27	Jawfish with eggs in mouth, Pegasus
2	26-Nov-12	Amahusu	8:51	81	19.1	7	27	First frogfish of the trip
3	26-Nov-12	Jetty Dark Blue	11:14	74	21.7	5	27
4	26-Nov-12	Rhino City	3:14	80	16.4	7	27	Tiny little clown frogfish
5	27-Nov-12	Laha 3	8:50	74	26.4	10	27	Rhinopias pink paddleflap and purple weedy at 24m, yellow weedy at 16m
6	27-Nov-12	Rhino City	11:01	72	15.5	9	27	Harlequin shrimps, Weedy Rhinopias-brown
7	27-Nov-12	Kampung Baru	3:13	74	21.9	8	28	Pygmy seahorse, seahorse, cuttlefish, etc
8	28-Nov-12	Tirta Point	9:01	66	20.9	8	27	Horse pipefish, Ambon scorpionfish, Black Pegasus
9	28-Nov-12	Pantee Nama Slope	11:22	61	18.8	9	27
10	28-Nov-12	Resort Middle Point	3:09	82	17.2	9	27
11	29-Nov-12	Pantai Perigi	8:56	81	27.2	8	28
12	29-Nov-12	Latu Kolam	11:09	61	22.7	8	28
13	29-Nov-12	Tower	3:19	87	12.4	9	28	Solar powered nudibranch !
14	29-Nov-12	Air Manis	6:52	66	16.8	n/a	28	Night dive - very good, but with current
15	30-Nov-12	Laha 1 - Laha 2	8:48	83	19.6	12	28	Pass thru Twilight zone, very good !!
16	30-Nov-12	Tawiri	11:11	75	21.4	12	28	Nudi heaven, many nudibranch
17	30-Nov-12	Resort Middle Point	3:06	98	14.5	12	28	A lot of nudibranch !
18	30-Nov-12	House reef	9:18	58	8.8	n/a	28	Night dive - current
19	1-Dec-12	Laha 3	8:50	78	26.2	15	28	Rhinopias x 2
20	1-Dec-12	Air Manis	11:06	77	18.1	15	28