Jelajahi Laut Itinerary

West Papua to Maluku

Our meeting point is at the Misool Filling Station at 07:30, just opposite the airport, where we’ll have a coffee or tea and wait for all our guests to arrive. Once everyone is ready we’ll then board Jelajahi Laut. While enjoying a fresh juice or coconut, we’ll hold a welcome briefing, followed by a general safety briefing and explanation of the boat, and all crew and guests will introduce themselves, so everyone starts to get to know each other.

As the boat sets off towards Waisai you’ll put your belongings in your cabins, and we’ll set up the diving area, followed by a light lunch and soon after, at around 3pm we’ll do a dive check on the slopes of Mioskon Island. The rest of the afternoon will be spent on the boat, and we’ll have plenty of time to really get to know our fellow travellers and enjoy a beautiful sunset, while the captain navigates to the northern parts of Kri Island.

Today it’s an early wake up, with fresh brewed coffee or a cup of tea for the first dive briefing of the day while the crew is busy in the diving area making sure everything is ready before we gear up. We’re going for the first dive of the day at Cape Kri. – named as the most biodiverse dive site in the world with over 300 different fish species counted on a single dive! This will then be followed by Yenbubba Jetty and Sawandarek Village which are close by – you’ll already fall in love with the beauty Raja Ampat has to offer. The 3-hour sunset cruise after our dives will bring us over to the Fam Islands and with some luck, dolphins will escort the boat and show us the route.

The group of Islands that lay in front of us, are in the western part of Raja Ampat. We’re going to dive on My Reef for some current action and sharks then have breakfast and afterwards we’ll enjoy Melissa’s Garden. This is a reef that lays in between 3 Rocks with amazing slopes and one of the biggest staghorn coral fields that you will ever find in your diving history. After 2 dives we will pack some water and beers and get ready for a little land excursion. The Piaynemo Viewpoint is something spectacular and calls for lots of pictures and drone shots. When we’re back on the boat a little snack awaits us and the captain will set direction towards the South of Raja Ampat, the Misool Area.

Dive sites here in Misool and the Misool Eco Reserve lay in a labyrinth of little Islands and are spread out over a massive area. The plan is to spend the next few days cruising and diving the North, East, South and West of Misool and only dive the best. The whole area hosts some of the most beautiful soft coral gardens we can dream of, with some slopes, walls, a little cave, submerged reefs, and pinnacles waiting for us to explore them. Pygmy seahorses, vibrant coloured nudibranchs, octopuses, sharks and manta rays can be found here, just never forget to have one eye on the reef and one in the blue – we can guarantee you don’t want to miss out on anything passing by.

We cruised through the night and arrived in Madorang - a small island east of Mainland Maluku. We’ll do an exploratory dive here and then move 2 hours south to enjoy the depths of Pulau Koon, a steep drop-off wall, with pelagics cruising next to us and endless coral bommies - something that will never disappoint us. Depending on the forecast, we’ll either do a third dive, or head off to our next destination. The weather can change quickly here, so we always keep an eye on the tide tables and use our satellite connected devices for unexpected changes.

Gunung Api, the volcano, and Banda Neira with its little islands await us in the morning. Lying in the middle of literally nowhere, this area was once a destination for many sailing adventures in search of nutmeg, cinnamon and other spices. The dives are amazing, the landscape breathtaking and the people living here heartwarming. We’ll be diving the East of the island group for the day, before heading into harbour for a special sunset/night dive in search of mating mandarinfish.

Today it’s time to explore some land! After a big breakfast, we’ll let the crew have a little break, while they also take care of restocking the boat with fuel for both the engines and us. Fresh food, drinks and everything else needed for the next part of the cruise will be loaded up while we’re on dry land – you might feel a little weird for the first few minutes, with nothing rocking and moving anymore, but don’t worry, you’ll recover quickly! Old forts, a museum and the market are to be explored on foot and the tasty sweets offered all over the place will fill our bellies. The afternoon is everyone’s choice of what they would like to do, before we meet up in the evening for dinner in a small local restaurant and maybe have a drink or two.

Around the Banda Islands, there is plenty to be explored, with Pulau Hatta, Ai, Run and Suanggi - these areas are also known to host some bigger pelagics which we’ll try to track down. With information that we get from local patrols and fishermen, we’ll try to find hammerhead sharks and some of their friends - Whales are also often seen in this area, which would make a cool opportunity to grab snorkel gear and GoPros for some epic footage.

The walls and slopes are covered with big barrel sponges, gorgonian fans and awesome corals - in old documentaries from the 60s, the Banda Sea was described to host more fish species than the whole of the Mediterranean Sea.

An overnight cruise has brought us further North, to the South side of the Malukus. Pulau Nusa Laut hosts some pretty reefs in the shallows and then drops down to 40-metres, the further we swim along, the drop increases to greater depths. Our third dive will be on the old, partially intact Pelni Jetty which became home to many smaller creatures that seek shelter from predators, crabs, shrimps, frogfish and leaf scorpionfish climb up and down the concrete pillars and will hopefully strike a pose for your camera.

Cruising around the small islands, we find our way into Ambon Bay where we’ll be spending the next day and a half, and it will be all about macro. There is an abundance of frogfish, candy crabs, seahorses, fingerprint shrimp, Ntuzuma Shrimp, Rhinopia - you name it, we can find it! Dive time here doesn’t exist anymore, it will depend on your air consumption - the dives are shallow, and the marine life is to be found everywhere, sometimes hiding, sometimes showing off.

On the last day of the trip, we’ll do one last, long morning dive before we have to say goodbye and you go off to your hotels.

Sample itineraries are for guidance only. Actual itineraries may differ slightly due to factors such as weather, wildlife, logistics, and local regulations.