Maluku Divers Resort
Trip Review: Maluku Divers
I recently had the opportunity to dive with Maluku Divers in Ambon, Indonesia. Located on the eastern end of the Indonesian chain, close to the island of New Guinea it is about 16-18 hours flying time from the Pacific Coast; A long time in an airline seat but worth the trip.
Maluku Divers Resort is just a 10-minute ride from the airport, and a Maluku Diver’s car and driver contacted us immediately on deplaning from our Boeing 737-400 Lion Air flight. On arriving at the resort we were greeted by Emily and Joe, the managers for the operation. Emily sat with us as she explained the “Whats” and “Hows” of the resort. In the meantime the staff had moved all of our luggage and gear into our simple, neat airy and very comfortable bungalow, one of just ten in the resort.
Maluku is obviously designed and built for divers. After a quick lunch in the nicely appointed dining area, we wasted no time in grabbing gear and heading down for the afternoon dive. Boarding of the vessels (Maluku Divers has three vessels – two 10-meter craft and one 8-meter boat, all sporting twin outboards and heavy duty dive ladders) requires wading out in shallow water and climbing the dive ladder to board. All SCUBA and photo gear is carried out by dive staff and carefully placed aboard. Your gear (photo & SCUBA) is tagged with your name so there is no confusion or mix-ups as I have experienced in some other dive operations.
Cindy and I were blessed on this trip to have drawn Samuel the resort’s senior Dive Master as our guide. With over 20-years’ experience in local waters and one of the original dive guides at Lembeh, Samuel would show us a wide variety of creatures we had never seen before. Our initial check-out was actually on the east end of the House Reef – probably a one minute boat ride to the site. Once buoyancy was adjusted, Samuel began pointing out some of the myriad critters that call Ambon home. Cuttlefish, shrimp, pipefish, ghost pipefish scorpion fish and a couple varieties of octopus were all seen on the first jump and the numbers, diversity and variety of creatures just got larger and better through the rest of our visit.
On returning to the resort landing area I began to appreciate how well the resort is designed to accommodate underwater photographers. Our cameras were the first items the crew carried ashore from the boat. All cameras are placed in heavily padded, insulated coolers (provided by the resort for the duration of your stay) and carried up to the rinse tank area. Four large, deep tanks are available with frequent changes of water. While our gear soaked, we stepped to the other side of rinse tank area where there are freshwater showers, soap, gear drying facilities and personal gear boxes assigned to each diver. After a freshwater rinse and hanging our wetsuit and booties to dry, we had to decide whether to work on our cameras in the nearby camera room or in our bungalow. The camera room has about a dozen work stations that include high intensity spotlights for close up inspection of O-rings, multiple electrical outlets, work pads and towels along with trays to hold additional batteries and cords. But if we wanted, we could do our camera work in our bungalow as each unit has two large work areas with multiple outlets and lights.
After that first day, we dropped into Maluku’s daily dive schedule: Grab breakfast at 07:00 (limited by very adequate choices – omelets, egg scrambles, cereals, or more local cuisine such as noodles or fried rice with an egg topper and of course delicious local fruit), check cameras and suit up for an 08:30 departure for the two morning dives. Back in around Noon-ish, dunk camera gear, shower off, lunch (wonderful soups and different entrees everyday) change cards and batteries in cameras, suit up and be ready to load on the boats at 15:00 for the afternoon dive. For those who wanted (and we did) it was easy to schedule an additional evening or night dive as well. Dinner was at 19:00-ish and was cheerfully adjusted to accommodate those of us who did the later dives.
For all the positive aspects of the resort I do have a couple of issues. The first has to do with getting on and off the boats. Depending on the tide, sometimes it is a bit harder to access the boats or return to the shore due to the cobble and larger rocks that span along the beach. This isn’t a big deal, but it does, on some tides require a bit of caution. The second issue isn’t specifically a resort issue, but a national issue. It has to do with the amount of trash – particularly plastics – that find their way into Indonesia’s local waters. Though I never saw excessive amounts on the resort’s seafront on some tides, looking across Ambon Bay immense, wide swaths of plastic and debris were plainly evident. On speaking with the resort managers about the issue, they mentioned how Maluku Divers work with the local villages to curtail stream and ocean dumping, but even with local support, it is a problem that will require national muscle to address this issue.
That said, the staff and crews at Maluku from the managers to the cleaning folks are very accommodating and in many cases anticipatory of their visitor’s needs. If you are a diver looking for pristine waters and huge, blooming reefs, Ambon is not really for you. If you are a macro photographer looking to find tons of rare, amazing creatures, Maluku Divers will make you a very happy camper. Like they say in their literature – “Creatures without Crowds.”
Captain Patrick Smith
