top hammerhead shark diving konjo cruising indonesia cruise Ring of Fire Liveaboard scuba yacht charter

HAMMERHEAD QUEST
BANDA SEA | RAJA AMPAT

From Ambon to Misool, Raja Ampat

This Hammerhead Shark Diving voyage is our favorite cruise in Indonesia. This epic crossing is the best way for Konjo Cruising Indonesia to show you the stunning marine biodiversity of the country. Ambon offers some of the best muck diving in the world. Diving the Banda Sea in October gives you the best chance to spot schooling hammerheads. Ending the cruise in Raja Ampat is the best gift we can make to you. If the visibility is lower at this time of the year, Misool is often under steroids with silversides baitballs attracting numerous predators. Offer you the best hammerhead shark diving cruise in Indonesia. 

KEY INFOS
  • Ambon (AMQ)
  • Sorong (SOQ)
  • 03th October (or 30th September with the option)- 15th October 2022
  • 12 Nights Cruise + 3 optional nights in a diving resort in Ambon
  • 650 Miles Nautiques
  • 33 dives (Cruise) + 6 dives (Resort option)
  • Teman Liveaboard
HIGHLIGHTS
  • Unique and exclusive Voyage
  • Otherworldly feeling, taste of adventure
  • Spice war History (with Fort and colonial houses)
  • Looming rocks and still-active volcanoes
  • Colorful and remote villages
  • Spices plantation (Nutmeg, Cloves, Cinammon...)
  • Iconic Limestone rock lagoon
UNDERWATER
  • Discover 3 ecosytems in 1 travel
  • Highest biodiversity on Earth
  • 5 stars muckdiving in Ambon
  • Schooling Hammerheads and Pelagic
  • Sea snakes and mandarin fish colony
  • Best coral reef of the planet
  • Schooling fish, reef and oceanic manta rays
  • Pygmy sea-horses and rich macro fauna
  • Silverside bait balls and predators action
Cruise From 4200€ + Optional Resort From 755€ ENQUIRE
Cruise Director Indonesia

Your Konjo Cruising Leader

Alexis, CEO and founder of the agency Konjo Cruising will be escorting you on board this Hammerhead Shark Diving cruise. Thanks to the years he spent, working as Cruise Director on Liveaboards in Indonesia, he takes you to this unforgettable voyage. He shares with you his knowledge and offers you the very best of the Banda Sea and Misool. Organising a once in a lifetime encounter with schooling Hammerhead Shark Diving to top it all. He will personnally guide one of the dive groups.

The Boat

private yacht boat try3

TEMAN

Teman is a comfortable and friendly Phinisi, which can host up to 12 guests. Specially built to offer Scuba diving Liveaboard around the archipelago, she is a reliable vessel. Designed through the expert eyes of her owners, and having a skilled and dedicated crew, Teman make the perfect vessel for our Banda Sea crossing. This vessel has the soul of the original indonesian Phinisi.

EXPLORE

BANDA SEA - RAJA AMPAT

12 nights Cruise (650 Nautical miles | 37 dives) + 3 optional nights in a dive Resort (6 dives)

map bandasea rajaampat cruising liveaboard scubadiving crossing hammerheadquest Laha Tulehu Nusa Laut Banda Islands Manuk Karang Hatta Koon Misool

Laha

Hammerhead Shark Diving

Days 1, 2 and 3 | Optional Muck diving in Laha

Arrival at Ambon airport in the morning, 10 minutes transportation to your hotel room. Check in, breakfast and diving gears set up. First dive on one of the Laha Dive site and Lunch. Night dive and diner. 3 dives/day on the following days, included 1 night dive.

Tulehu

Hammerhead Shark Diving Phinisi indonesia

Day 4 | Embarkation Day

Breakfast and 1 hour drive transfer to the boat around 9 am. For those who just arrived, transfer from the airport to the resort, then to the boat with the rest of the group. Welcome drink and installation in your respective cabin. Departure for Molana island. Check dive around its slope. After the dive navigation to reach Nusa Laut.

Night anchored in Nusa Laut. Total Navigation during the day: 5 hours | 30 miles

Nusa Laut

Hammerhead Shark Diving

Day 5 | Coral and spices

Nusa Laut is a beautiful typical island of the spices islands. It’s reefs are colonized with super nice coral gargen. Mostly Acropora colonies. A steep wall, close from the Ameth village, drops into the depth of the Banda Island. It gives the divers the opportunity to get pelagics and schooling fish encounters. We spend 3 dives there.

Over night navigation to Suanggi Rock. 70 miles | 12 hours.

Banda Islands

Hammerhead Shark Diving cruising diving bandasea mandarin fish

Day 6 | Pelagic and Mandarin fish

Suanggi is surrounded by the Abyss… This rock is the visible part of a large plateau (400 meters below the surface), dropping in the deep ocean of the Banda Sea. Hot spot for Schooling hammerhead shark diving, elusive Oceanic Sunfish, or even thresher sharks have also been spotted here. Bluefin Trevallies and Napoleons are everywhere. We will have 2 dives there. Reaching the mythical harbor of Bandaneira, a spectacular sunset dive will be proposed. In the shallow, hundred of Mandarin fish are giving us their amazing courtship ritual. Probably the best place in Indonesia to observe it.

Over night anchored in Bandaneira. Total Navigation of the day:  3 hours | 20 miles

Hammerhead Shark Diving

Day 7 | Pulau Run and Batu Kapal

Tanjung Nore in the southern part of Pulau Run is also on our Hammerhead Quest list. This long slopping plateau ends by a steep wall with pelagic. Batu Kapal is the most famous dive site of the Banda Islands.This seamount made of three pinnacles hosts a rich marine life. Giant groupers, barracudas and sometimes scalloped hammerheads. Famous for its deep wall and splendid underwater arch, Pohon Miring attracts schools of damsel fish, triggerfish and sumptuous sea fans.

Total Navigation during the day: 2,5 hours| 12 miles. Departure for Manuk. 60 miles | 10 hours. 

Manuk

Hammerhead Shark Diving

Day 8 | The Snakes Island

One of the most famous spots to see schooling Hammerhead, Manuk is an isolated islet that lies 80 miles south of the Banda islands. The warm and sulphuric reefs of this still-active volcano attracts also hundreds of sea snakes, which choose the area for nesting. The coral there is untouched with some huge Barrel sponges and orange soft coral. With pinacles and ridges dropping straight into the abyss, this place is absolutely unique.

Overnight anchored in Manuk. 

Hammerhead Shark Diving schoolinghammerheads cruisingbandasea

Day 9 | Schooling Hammerheads

As Manuk is one of the best spot to see Schooling Hammerhead Shark Diving, we spend the night there and have 2 full hammerhead shark diving days there.

Overnight cruising back to the Banda islands archipelago. 60 miles | 10 hours

Karang Hatta

Hammerhead Shark Diving

Day 10 | An Hectic Submerged reef

Karang Hatta is an extensive underwater reef located 2 miles off Hatta island. It drops vertically to the 300 meters depth Banda islands plateau, and keep going into the abyss. We are looking for more Hammeread sharks encounters, and other pelagics. Dogtooth tunas, schooling jacks, Bumphead Parotfish… Diving Tanjung Button in the south of Hatta island, is a good way to say bye to the Banda sea waters, and Hammerheads.

Total Navigation during the day: 1 hour | 6 miles. Overnight crossing to Koon. 80 miles | 12 hours.

 

Koon

Hammerhead Shark Diving merou koon catherine : Croisière plongée

Day 11 | Too Many Fish

Koon is part of an archipelago which extends from the South East of the large island of Seram. It is the best spot to stop on our way to the Raja Ampat. From all those inhabited islands, Koon eastern corner is the best place for scuba diving. Named Too Many Fish by diving operators, this sandy slope is protected by WWF and famous to be a grouper mating place. It attracts schools of fish in an amazing biodiversity. We’ll dive twice only.

Over night crossing to Misool. 115 miles | 19 hours.

Misool

misool diving liveaboard Hammerhead Shark Diving cruising diving raja ampat misool mobulas hunting baitball

Day 12 | Wayil et Pele

This area of Misool gives us some good probabilities to get some anchovies and mobulas action. Pele’s Playground is located on the most Western part of Waaf island. Kaleïdoscope is an magnificient underwater ridge colonized with colourful soft coral, black coral bushes. Four Kings is one of the best dive site of Misool with its four underwater pinnacles, teeming with life.

Total Navigation during the day: 3 hours | 18 miles. Anchorage in Wayil for the night. 

komodo trip Hammerhead Shark Diving Stingray

Day 13 | Fiabacet and Boo

The Misool Eco-resort protected area is one of the most beautiful place in Indonesia. This place offers to divers a festival of huge sea fans and pygmies seahorses, amazing colourful soft corals, and a massive amount of fish. Like the underwater ridge linking Tank Rock and Nudi Rock dive sites. Wobbegong, groupers and yellow fins barracudas. Named after the tunnels and its swimthrough Boo Windows has a dramatic topography. Following the ridge heading west, you may see grey reef sharks, napoleon wrasse, schools of batfish but also ghost pipefish or leaf fish.

Anchorage in Yiliet for the night. Total Navigation of the day: 3 hours | 18 miles. 

Hammerhead Shark Diving misool colorful soft coral

Day 14 | Warakaraket

Magic Mountain and Eagle Nest, brings together all the best you can expect to see in Raja Ampat. Big eyes schooling jacks, bluefin and Giant trevallies, huge Napolean wrassere, giant grouper, barracuda, all species of sharks, and the gorgeous oceanic manta rays. Puri Pinnacle is an submerged reef which stands at 7 meters below the surface. Its three pinacles attract large schools of fusiliers, surgeon fish and hunting trevallies. Also called Anchovies, it can offer some spectacular mobula rays action.

Over night anchored in Balbulol. Total Navigation of the day: 25 miles | 4 hours. 

Croisière Plongée TritonBay RajaAmpat Liveaboard Indonesia underwater cave Misool

Day 15 | Balbulol

The gorgeous lagoon of Balbulol offers also many worldclass dive sites. No contest, located in the gorgeous Balbulol area, is an underwater ridge is made out of strangely shaped rocky outcrops. Shallow dive site, Balbulol corner has an interesting topography with a canyon, and some nice mini walls. Covered by orange soft coral, it’s an haven for nudibranches. A visit of its underwater cave is a nice way to end the trip.

Navigation back to Sorong after the second dive. 85 miles | 14 hours. 

Optional Combined Tour | Dive Ambon

A muckdiving Mecca

With the Lembeh Strait in Sulawesi, Tulamben in Bali and Alor, Ambon’s Bay offers some of the best muck diving in Indonesia. Muck diving consists in diving on sandy slope, which are fertil ground for critters and ramping wired animals. In Laa, most of the dives are shallow shore dives.

 

What you get to see

Hairy frog fish, Pschychedilic frogfish, nudibranches, seahorses, ghost-pipe fish, scorpion fish, leaf and cockatoo wasp fish, flying Gurnard, seamoth, rhinopias, flamboyant cuttlefish, mimic octopus or blue ringed octopus can be seen.

 

Sign up for our Optionnal Combined Tour

The boat departs from Tulehu, on the eastern side of Ambon island. More than five hours of navigation would be needed to go all around the western peninsula and reach the worldclass muck dive site of Laha. For those who don’t want to miss this Muck diving experience, Konjo Cruising Indonesia organizes an optional 3 nights stay in a dive resort in Laha. The pickup will be organised to get to the boat on the 03th October. It takes an hour by car.

The Resort

Frequently Asked Questions

Departure: Tulehu Harbour | Airport: Ambon (AMQ) | Morning of the 30th September or the 03th October depending on the chosen option.

We highly recommand to land in Indonesia the day before you are planning to arrive in Ambon. There is direct flight to Ambon from Jakarta. Coming from Bali a transit in Makassar (UPG). The local Airlines deserving Ambon are LION AIR, CITILINK, BATIK AIR, GARUDA, NAM AIR, SRIWIJAYA. We can arrange all the domestic flights for you and help you to find  the suited international flights.

Arrival: SorongHarbour | Airport: Sorong (SOQ) | On the 15th of October. Don’t forget to think about your 24 hours no flight recommandations before booking your flight back. We recommand you to spend a night in Sorong before.

 

 

We recommand you to stay in one of those hotel, as they are following the international standarts in terms of cleanliness and service.  We can help you with your reservation and organize evrerything for you.

MAMBERAMO MARINA: The closest from any supermarket and restaurants. Provides a good bar and restaurant considering the city of Sorong.

SWISS BEL HOTEL : The more comfortable hotel in town. Close form the ferry terminal for Waisai, but far from any restaurant. Correct breackfast, but avoid the dining. An extra charge will be added for early bookings.

VEGA HOTEL. The closer from the airport, and the more recently built. The best thing is that you can checkin anytime withour extra charge.

KASUARI BEACH RESORT: The fursthest from Town, but good to avoid the hectic harbour of Sorong. Free shuttle can be organized from the airport.

We highly recommand the SUNSHINE BEACH RESTO for a sunset drink on their terrasse, and a followed diner. They are specialize in seafood and fish barbecue, but offer many vegetarian option too. Their Chap-Chay is delicious. Come a bit early if you want to avoid the cheezy and loudy local band, or late to blend in with the local color.

For a coffee and some good snaks before your flight, we do recommand the MISOOL FILLING STATION handle by the Misool Eco resort. Go upstairs to be comfortably  seatted, and have a look to their sustainably-made souvenirs.

An average of 27 degree celsius in the Banda sea, a bit less in case of thermocline. An average of 28 degrees celsius in Misool. We recommand you a 3 mm full lenght websuit.

Visibility can reach to 40 degrees in the Banda Sea. But at this time of the year, a 30 meters visibility can be expected. It can drop down with thermoclines bringing greenish and colder waters from the abyss. In Misool, visibility is lower at this moment of the year, with an average of 20 meters. But lot of action…

 

This expedition is for experienced divers with at least 100 logged dives. Few dive sites can be challenging, and following schooling hammerheads may bring us between 30 and 40 meters. This cruise is not made for beginners, but neither for technical divers. We follow the recreationnal Hammerhead Shark Diving procedures. An Advanced diver certification is mandatory to sign up.

Yes there is a NITROX membrane system onboard which allow us to stay longer at certain depth if you air consomption allows it. Enriched air is pushing back your decompresion limit, and is less tiring for your organism. Having a NITROX certification is mandatory for this cruise. We can certified you onboard if needed. Please let us know before the departure to arrange materials and logistics.

Diving 3 times a day during 12 days is not the best for experimenting decompression dives. Also, the Banda Sea is an remote area, with the closest decompression chamber is in Waisai, Raja Ampat. We respect the recreationnal diving basic rules for having a safe and enjoyable journey.

Other Konjo Liveaboard Expeditions

whaleshark croisière Tritonbay Raja Ampat Liveaboard THE WHALE SHARKS EXPERIENCE RAJA AMPAT | TRITON BAY 01th April to 13th April 2024 | LAST MINUTE DISCOUNT 4395 Euros/Pers pygmy seahorse misool RAJA AMPAT to NORTH MALUKU RAJA AMPAT | HALMAHERA 19th May to 31 May 2024 | From 5400 Euros
ENQUIRE