Route Description - Lembeh/North Sulawesi/Derawan
12 Night Itinerary
Lembeh Island
Divers will experience warm, shallow reefs resplendent with colorful reef fish and exotic invertebrates and, in the deeper waters, current-cooled seamounts, walls, and pinnacles with sharks and tunas.
The remote island of Halmahera is located between the Molucca Sea to the west and the Pacific Ocean to the east and has a unique geography with its four peninsulas enclosing three great bays and three volcanoes. Divers will find exciting dives with plenty of weird and wonderful creatures and pinnacles encircled by massive schools of barracuda and other pelagic fishes.
North Sulawesi
The first 4 – 5 days will be spent diving the northern tip of North Sulawesi then 2 – 3 days exploring new areas before crossing to the Derawan islands.
Lembeh Strait - A Muck Diving Mecca and the Twilight Zone are just a few of the names that have been given to Lembeh over the years due to it’s high density, and diversity, of rare and unusual marine life. Diving in Lembeh is unlike diving anywhere else as every dive reveals countless species of critters which have made their homes here on Lembeh’s famous muck diving slopes. Lembeh isn’t just home to frogfish, it’s home to 8 different species of frogfish, 12 species of octopus, numerous crustacean species that cannot be found anywhere else on earth, 3 species of pygmy seahorse, countless numbers of nudibranch species. Other critters frequently found here include the Hairy Frogfish, Pontohi Pygmy Seahorse, Wunderpus, Mandarin Fish, Mimic Octopus, Rhinopias Scorpionfish, Flamboyant Cuttlefish, Blue Ring Octopus.
Bangka Island area - With more than 30 world-class dive sites, Bangka's archipelago offers several different diving spots, from richly-colonized volcanic pinnacles, beautiful pristine coral reef slopes to sandy slopes, mangroves and walls.
Bunaken National Park - Often simply called Bunaken, the Bunaken Marine Park consists of five islands: Manado Tua, Siladen, Mantehage, Nain and Bunaken itself. The dive sites around the islands are slopes, walls or sloping walls. It features pristine hard corals, abundant reef fish, and larger pelagic species including reef sharks, eagle rays and tuna.
Derawan Islands
Derawan Islands are part of the Coral Triangle, which features 872 species of reef fish, 507 species of coral, and invertebrates, including protected species (5 giants clam species, 2 sea turtles, coconut crab, etc.).
Kakaban: Kakaban is known for the non-stinging jelly fish lake, located in the middle of the island and a brisk 15 minute walk. The non-stinging jellyfish have inhabited the lake for centuries as there are no known predators. The outer ring of Kakaban island offers divers a wide variety of dive sites that includes corals, large pelagic and thrilling caves.
The most famous area is Barracuda Point which has schooling barracuda which are visited by large tuna and sharks.
Sangalaki: This area is famous for the large population of turtles and manta rays year round and guests will frequently see them feeding. The island has a turtle nursery run by the local government which can be visited. Whale sharks are frequently seen off the coast of the island.
Maratua Atoll: The Raja Ampat Aggressors favorite dives are "The Channel" and "Big Fish Country" which has tornadoes of barracuda, grey reef sharks, thresher sharks, loads of turtles and schooling eagle rays schooling. Maratua Island has at least 13 caves with hundreds more that have yet to be explored.
Pulau Panjang & Pulau Derawan: This is an area known for amazing macro life such as satomi pigmys, sea dragons, ghost pipefish, frogfish, blue ring octopus, harlequin shrimp and tiger shrimp. This is a macro haven with the weird and wonderful.
Talisayan: A large population of whale sharks can be found here during the diving season. Similar to Cenderawasih Bay, the whale sharks can be found swimming under the fishing platforms of the local fishermen.