Muck to Magic: An Indonesia Liveaboard Diving Adventure from Lembeh to Raja Ampat

Despite its popularity, Indonesia without doubt boasts an eclectic and biodiverse mix of diving and photography opportunities. But there are Indonesia liveaboard diving trips, and then there are Indonesian diving adventures. From muck to magic and everything in between, Anita Verde’s trip to the Coral Triangle aboard the Indo Master had the potential to offer up something wildly unique.

Indonesia Liveaboard Diving: From Muck to Magic

While the definition of adventure differs from person to person, largely because it is shaped by personal experience and each individual’s comfort zone; for us, anything that journeys a mammoth 600 nautical miles stopping in lesser known areas holds immense promise.

Our home for the next 13 days would be a traditional Indonesian phinisi, carved from teak and ironwood and powered by the rhythm of the currents. This wasn’t just your garden-variety liveaboard trip, it was one that would take us to wilder and more-unexplored territories. Our journey would take us from the famed Lembeh Strait to the jewel of the island of Halmahera, and all that lay in-between, culminating in the otherworldly islands of Misool in Raja Ampat.

Muck Diving the Lembeh Strait

Beginning in the Lembeh Strait, a magnet for weird things, our first dives of the trip were to search for critters. Every dive revealed a treasure trove of wild and wonderful creatures, but moving slowly and with sharp eyes was a test of patience.

If you usually spend most of your time exploring coral reefs, the underwater world here is extraordinarily different. In contrast to a busy coral reef, the black sandy slopes of the Lembeh Strait, rich with muck and silt, feel almost desertlike. The seabed, entirely exposed, allowed us to observe critter behaviour that would normally be closely guarded or obscured from view on a coral reef. Illusionist camouflage techniques, absurd feeding behaviours, and perplexing mating rituals take centre stage on these rich black sands.

The currents that flow through the Lembeh Strait bring nutrient-dense water to its black sandy slopes. These conditions support an abundance of microscopic food, and combined with the fine sediment and mineral-rich volcanic ash, create a breeding ground for peculiar benthic creatures found nowhere else in such numbers.

Here, beauty is found in the strangest of things. Coconut octopus discerningly inspect new homes, dragging the shells gifted to them by divers across the black sea floor, while tiny painted frogfish (although bright orange) are hidden in plain sight, comically resting on the sand, and pretty seahorses pose for their portraits.

The region here is also incredibly rich with terrestrial life, and the nearby forest hosts some incredible finds.

A short trip off the vessel to the shore, and you find yourself in the wilds of the Tangkoko Nature Reserve. The wildlife here is one of a kind. The reserve is home to the world’s smallest primate, the tarsier, many species of endemic birds, along with macaques and cuscus that can be seen roaming free in the forest. It is usually incredibly rare to see the tarsier, especially in the wild. Small and elusive and the size of a human hand, these tiny primates are declining across Southeast Asia. They are not only nocturnal, making them more difficult to spot, but are also incredibly shy. We’re not sure how we got so lucky – not one tarsier, but two, and together!

Exploring Halmahera: Indonesia’s Hidden Coral Triangle

As we left the Lembeh Strait, the black sands shifted to a vast expanse of blue. Venturing to the Southeast towards the island of Pulau Tifore en route to Halmahera, the promise of a barracuda tornado beckoned us. The area in and around the large island of Halmahera in Indonesia’s North Maluku Province is the lesser-known heart of the Coral Triangle. Here, lush volcanic peaks framed by coconut palms extend downwards to submerged coral gardens. If you’ve only got a vague idea of where Halmahera is, it is enviously located around halfway between the Lembeh Strait and Raja Ampat. Given its location, it’s not surprising that the biodiversity of marine life here is outstanding, yet its remoteness, combined with a lack of marine survey dat,a means the region is literally a ‘black box’, with very little understood.

Isolated and full of life, the diving around Halmahera gifted us both beautiful reefs, along with energetic and unpredictable currents. At the nearby diving areas around Bacan Island and Goraici Island, an endless tapestry of healthy and vibrant corals bloomed. A huge silvery stream of barracuda shimmered against a backdrop of blue, and we had the feeling we were diving where few others had dived before. But dropping in the perfect position to see these elusive hunters was not an exact science, and multiple attempts were made before hundreds of silvery chrome bodies orchestrated in a perfect vortex emerged.

The area here is spellbinding, and you just never know what you might see. We were even surprised to witness a high-stakes dance of predator and prey as striped marlin corralled bait fish at the surface. Although fleeting, having previously photographed this predation in Mexico, we were tempted to jump in. At a dive site aptly named Akiko’s Never Never Land, we were transported to a world of mythical proportions. At a time when the world’s coral reefs are suffering at the hands of human-induced climate change, it was surreal to see that magical places far from reality do still exist.

Raja Ampat and the Misool Marine Reserve

As we crossed to Misool in Southern Raja Ampat, a labyrinth of limestone islands emerged from turquoise lagoons and gifted us some of our planet’s most biodiverse and precious reef diving. Established in the mid-2000s by the Misool Foundation and managed by the Misool Eco Resort, the Misool Marine Reserve is a safe haven of over 300,000 acres and is one of the most pristine reef systems remaining on our planet. The area here is actually one of the very few places where marine biodiversity is improving, not declining, partly due to the establishment of ‘no-take’ zones and strict patrolling of the area. In these zones, all fishing is prohibited. Local rangers working across five dedicated vessels patrol the area 24 hours a day. It is estimated that up to 50 illegal fishing vessels are apprehended each and every year. A testament to the work being undertaken.

At the famous dive site Four Kings, an underwater range of four summit peaks draped in blankets of soft coral provided the stage for hundreds of schooling fish. Due to its unique submarine landscape, lively and energetic currents provide nutrients that fuel a profusion of species and coral growth. The diverse nature of each of the pinnacles makes it an interesting and exhilarating dive with discoveries at every turn.

Beyond the Reefs: Misool’s Jellyfish Lake

Outside of Misool’s incredibly biodiverse coral reefs, a rare and precious ecosystem, the Misool ‘Jelly Fish Lake’ provided beautiful photographic opportunities. Getting to this surreal lake with large camera equipment in hand was a bit of a trek, but certainly worth the effort. Connected to the ocean through underground fissures and tunnels in the limestone, the lake is an isolated environment without predators for thousands of stingless golden jellyfish to evolve, and the perfect end to a great adventure.

Frequently Asked Questions