1,250km in 13 days from the southern end of Indonesia northbound through the Banda Sea and all the way up to Raja Ampat is the stuff scuba legends are made of. Scuba Diver Deutschland editor Daniel Brinckmann shares the first of his two-part ‘Pearls of Banda & Misool’ adventure account on exceptional three-master Amira Liveaboard
Manuk is on fire. Despite sulphur fumes still rising from the volcanic island in the middle of the Banda Sea, the real eruptions take place below the surface. In what seems a giant orgasmic feat, more than 15 huge barrel sponges on famed dive site Manuk Ridge eject cascades of eggs and sperm from their very own calderas, covering the bottom, sea snakes and scorpionfish and even us in white goo. Not that the butterflyfish feasting on proteins would be all over our wetsuits, but certainly the visibility around these ‘little’ underwater volcanoes is obstructed to the point that some fellow divers will dip their wetsuits in the rinse tank for some extra minutes…
Later that day, just before sunset, a queue of huge snapper and two Napoleons with a hunting pack of easily 15 sea snakes in tow followed the sandy edge beyond the wall in over 40m depth. As all too often, both the quick pace of events and reasonable range limits in the middle of nowhere kept us all from obtaining a winning shot, but those who witnessed it stared in sheer disbelief at an unlike hunting party that is not even that rare off Manuk at dusk and dawn – timing and depth perfectly coinciding with the occurrence of the Banda Sea’s famed schools of hammerheads.
To quite a few liveaboards operating in the area, it has become a tradition to have groups of divers cling to the thermocline for the duration of the entire dive, hoping for a glimpse of the ghostly grey silhouettes on their way from the deep onto the reef. Truth be told – while hotspots such as Jackpot, Coconut Corner or Pulau Run’s wall are presently the only known sites worldwide where schools of hammerhead sharks can be seen hovering over soft coral beds, such mesmerizing encounters, at least in their full bliss, are rare and even harder to photograph, and then we all know what will happen when four liveaboards all spit out all their (over)excited divers at prime time…
“one can tell a substantial part of Amira liveaboard creators were of Swiss origin as the operation also goes like a Swiss watch, albeit at a relaxed pace. Everything is in place, efficient and cozy”
“In central Europe and beyond, Amira liveaboard has long been the diver’s choice for way more reasons than the ratio of 24 of staff to 18 guests”
Popular for being different
With more than a decade of experience on spot, early morning madness amid diver squadrons desperately hoping for the encounter is not what Amira’s management favours: “After all these years, I can easily say that’s not what our customers want”, Swiss co-owner Nora Nigg vows. “We rather choose an alternative site and avoid other divers altogether. I mean, look at the two biological phenomena we had within one diving day – you just don’t find that hanging in the blue – and eventually this rich area is about sheer marine diversity, and so are we”. To quote good ole Shakespeare… well roared, lion. So guaranteed breathtaking diversity over doubtful, yet possible, superlatives it is. And as the journey would show, the approach indeed pays off: while several other liveaboards frequent Pulau Run’s Hammerhead Point, our “Plan B” choice rewarded two buddy teams with VIP spots in the middle of a massive herd of huge bumphead parrotfish on a pristine reef top, while a lucky group of Aussies got to see the elusive sharks swimming just below them AND a great reef dive, instead of staring into the blue. Well, that was only the third day of an epic 15-day transition cruise, taking us 1,250km from the Arafura Sea throughout the Banda Sea all the way to Raja Ampat’s southern shores of Misool… in other words -Indonesia from South to North!
Built for charm & perfection
These days, not too many slogans in our industry sound as tired and copybook as “Built by scuba divers for scuba divers” – as if professional divers did the woodshedding – but Amira (Arabic for Princess) is both worthy of her name and the label. At 54 metres length and ten metres width, the majestic beauty is not only the largest Phinisi schooner in all of Indonesia and one of only two three-master liveaboards in the country, but a labour of love so meticulously planned one can almost hear the distant echoes of the eight project developer friends debating the pro and cons of each aspect back in 2008.
Unlike any other wooden liveaboard I have ever seen in three decades of diving, Amira boasts an open 180° dive deck just over the waterline, making for short ways for both guests and crew to hop into gear and right onto the three all new and spacious speed boats. Rinse tanks and two showers are located just by the boat docking station, rental equipment and restroom are ten metres away and wetsuits on the hang-ups are being blow-dried in between dives by a powerful fan directing dry warmth straight from the engine room and two compressors.
Guess what’s next door, in between dive deck and the floating hotel department? Not only enough rubber floor to save the clumsiest souls, but a camera room huge enough for the amounts of serious equipment that is to be expected on a luxurious yet down-to-Earth liveaboard covering Indonesia’s ten best itineraries. To put it in a nutshell, one can tell a substantial part of Amira’s creators were of Swiss origin as the operation also goes like a Swiss watch, albeit at a relaxed pace. Everything is in place, efficient and cozy.
On this behemoth of a safari boat with a sundeck large enough for a badminton match, there is also plenty of space for sweet serenity in between the nine sizeable double and stateside cabins, lounge and indoor restaurant on the main deck, the elongated, sunbed-lined bow and chairs-and-bean bag corner on the upper deck.
In central Europe and beyond, Amira has long been the diver’s choice for way more reasons than the ratio of 24 of staff to 18 guests, as repeating guest Marco Keil points out on what is his fifth trip aboard the vessel: “It just feels like coming home and the ship is just as graceful and unique as the staff is dedicated and the cruise directors competent”, he says over a cocktail bathing in the moonlight in his favourite sundeck spot. “I even love falling asleep to the creaking of the wood – the ship feels alive”, he adds just before the bell rings for dinner and briefing for the next day of adventure over the nautical chart spread over one of the two big dinner tables.
“Our ‘Plan B’ choice rewarded two buddy teams with spots in the middle of a herd of bumphead parrotfish, while a lucky group got to see the elusive hammerhead sharks”
Welcome to the underwater jungle
Our point of departure, Saumlaki, is only 300km from Australia’s northern shores and thus actually far enough in the south that the murky green water off the transit hotel’s mangrove literally spells saltwater crocodiles and bull sharks. Of course, the first two dives off Niusnitu island in the Arafura Sea take place in a safe environment, precisely healthy submerged gardens that almost feel overcrowded by a multitude of hard and soft corals competing for the most sunlit spots.
Still the first sightings of whitetip reef sharks in this remarkably different coastal environment are just the overture to what was to come once we reached the steep volcanic cliffs of Pulau Serua on the southern end of Banda Sea – five minutes into the dive alongside a drop-off adorned with colourful soft corals, we found ourselves engulfed in a cloud of easily more than a thousand bigeye jacks that would just not go away. Those who stayed outside the mountain of silver scales spotted loner hammerheads and the resident reeftop guard, an old battle-scarred greater barracuda.
Numerous ‘danger noodles’ – both yellow-lipped sea kraits and olive sea snakes – several hawksbill turtles and plenty of schooling fusiliers in the pristine reefs of neighbouring Kekeh Island on the two consecutive dives proved to be as captivating as Star Wars’ Imperial tractor beam… no diver left the water before the sun was long gone. One hour later, Manuk’s ever-present frigate birds were witnesses to Bintang beer bottles clinking and strangers becoming fast friends over tall tales – nothing helps that more than Mother Nature’s warm welcome to where the 7,000m deep blue ocean meets offshore reefs. And we were just getting started…
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