A trip of a lifetime leaving sailing all the way from Komodo (Labuan Bajo) to Raja Ampat (Sorong) - the whole trip took 19 days and we visited some incredible places along the way. Some absolute tiny remote islands in the middle of the Banda Sea.
This trip known as the "Banda crossing" goes along a chain of islands called the "forgotten islands" - After leaving Labuan Bajo we head into the Komodo National Park and then sail across the north coast of Flores where we dive some locations near maumere and Babi island.
Then we sail to Komba. Which is an active volcano in the middle of the Flores sea.
The very next day we wake up in Alor which has amazing diving with deep, open ocean currents flowing through the straights. It makes this place abundant with marine life and a photographers dream with all the wicker fishing baskets.
Also in Alor we visit a traditional local tribe and village where they perform an ritual dance around a sacred stone.
After this we sail across what’s known as the forgotten islands . A chain stretching across the Banda sea, from Wetar to Serua there are many islands with no trace of civilisation. The diving was also great and we saw whales breaching in the distance.
We dived at karang nil desperandum but failed to see any schooling hammerheads.
Then we move to Gili Manuk which is a tiny island covered in sea birds and below the water are 1000s of sea snakes and sea crates patrolling the waters. It really is not for faint hearted! Pretty much impossible not to see any sea snakes on each dive.
After this we head to Banda Niera. Also known as the spice islands, where for hundreds of years the European colonial superpowers were fighting over control of these little islands to control the spices. Namely nutmeg, which was worth more than gold!
