TRAVEL. EXPLORE. DISCOVER.
Travel with us on our epic mini-expeditions to places few divers get to visit!
ESCAPE TO A WHOLE NEW WORLD
As well as offering day trips and liveaboards in Komodo National Park and Raja Ampat, Mikumba Diving also runs several epic mini expeditions a year. These are for the more experienced divers and will take you off the beaten track to explore Indonesia’s more remote dive locations. Prepare to be amazed when you join our expeditions!
OUR EXPEDITIONS
Our expeditions are amazing trips that take you off to lesser-travelled places for a dive adventure to remember. Below you will see our four mini-expeditions that we currently offer. These trips do not only take you to some of the best dive locations we have to offer, they also immerse you in Indonesia’s rich culture and history that can be found in Banda and Alor. The expeditions are pretty special and amazing to be a part of. To give you an idea of what you may experience please check out some footage from our previous trips below.
Volcanic Spice Tour
Departing from Maumere, we cruise along the far end of Flores into the area of Alor, on to the Forgotten Islands, crossing the Banda sea, ending the trip in the bay of Ambon.
Passing active and inactive volcanoes we’ll have the chance to dive incredible sites, from endless drop-off walls, where we look out into the blue for pelagics, to black sandy patches, which makes the macro heart beat faster than usual.
In Alor, famous for its colourful vibrant reefs, we expect colder water, where the incoming tides bring Thresher Sharks, Mola Mola and Hammerhead Sharks closer to the surface and Rhinopias, Frogfish and mesmerizing Nudibranchs can be found in the calm bays.
Heading northeast, where the water gets warmer again, we dive the endless walls of the Forgotten Islands all the way up to Banda Neira, giving us a hint of what the sailors must have felt when they came here in search for spices and other trade products.
One of the big species we’re looking for on this trip, are the Hammerhead Sharks, which aggregate in the Banda Sea for their mating meetings.
During surface intervals keep an eye out on the open ocean as chances are high to spot pods of dolphins and whales cruising alongside the boat.
Ever dreamt of diving with a dozen sea snakes on a single dive? We know exactly where to drop to see them up close and personal.
After leaving the Banda Sea and reaching the South Maluku Islands, the boat will sail into the bay of Ambon where it’s all about the small and weird… the “Holy Grail” we’re looking for is the Psychedelic Frogfish!
Keep the macro lens on and we go hunting for Fingerprint Shrimps, Boxer Crabs, Wonderpus, Rhinopias, Frogfish, Candy Crabs, and more – all can be found here – our dive guides will show you what it’s all about!
The journey and the diving on this trip is something else – exploring new areas, finding new dive sites, land visits to see old tribes and the Dutch Fort, sharing some of the local Moonshine “Arak” – the list could go on, but we can guarantee something different.
Due to the conditions in the Banda sea, this trip is limited to be between September and November.
Contact Us for more information.
Maluku & West Papua
Ambon, Nusa Laut, Banda Neira, Pulau Hatta, Pulau Koon, Misool and Central Raja Ampat are the areas we’re sailing and diving on this trip.
Ambon is the muck diving paradise where we’ll spend our dives in the sand and corals, looking for all the weird and wonderful critters, often only a few mm in size. Hairy Shrimps, Boxer Crabs, Frogfish, Pipefish, Donald Duck Shrimps to name a few – be sure your camera batteries are fully charged and ready for action.
We then head to The Banda Sea, following the Spice Route of the Portuguese, descending next to never-ending drop-off walls and stunning rock formations and coral covered slopes.
Depending on the conditions, we’ll go as far as the island of Gili Manuk, to see the Banded Sea Krait, bubbles coming out of rocks, amazing sponges and Gorgonian Fans and with some luck, get a glimpse of some Hammerhead Sharks out in the blue.
In South Raja Ampat, in Misool, we’ll indulge ourselves on dive sites like Nudi Rock, Boo Window, Magic Mountain, only to be amazed by all the fish life passing by, Manta Rays getting cleaned on the various cleaning stations and the most colourful corals you could ever wish to see.
We’ll also take a small hike up an island and jump into a lake, to swim with thousands of sting-less Jellyfish before going for a dive at a dive site called Farondi.
Of course, the Fam Islands and the diving in Central are not to be missed out on. Manta Ridge, Mike’s Point, Cape Kri, Blue Magic, My Reef, Melissa’s Garden, Mayhem – the selection of amazing diving spots seems endless, and we’ll make sure to cater to what you want – whether a calm dive or white knuckle current action with grey reef sharks fighting over the feeding area with Giant Trevallies.
Don’t forget to try to challenge your dive guide to show you as many Pygmy Seahorses as possible -there are 5 different species hiding in the soft corals of Raja Ampat.
We’ll also be climbing up to the viewpoint at Piaynemo – it’s so rewarding, with a view from a postcard that you can enjoy while sipping an icy cold beer.
These are not just diving trips – they are exploratory journeys, many of the dive sites are not named, or even on the maps! Over the past years we’ve swum with Orcas in the open sea, found and dived a seamount with an undocumented number of hammerhead sharks. We have found underwater caverns, explored 16th century Dutch East India forts, sailed by an erupting volcano, dived an island saturated with sea snakes and had super-pods of dolphins surround the boat.
Contact Us for more information.
Mini Expedition Schedules
Please note, these trips are only available for experienced divers, to join us you will need at least 75 dives and be certified AOW. We can teach Deep and Nitrox specialities on the boat so let us know if you’re interested.
As safety is our primary concern for our guests and staff we have strict guidelines that need to be followed. Before your booking can be accepted you will need to complete a medical statement and get clearance from your Doctor stating you are fit to dive if you answer YES to any of the questions on the form.
If it turns our that this is incomplete, or you do not have medical clearance from your Doctor we will have to cancel your booking without refund. We aren’t doctors, and medical staff in remote places are not the same as qualified diving doctors in the West. It is not fair for anybody – neither our guests nor our staff – for you to put your safety at risk, even if it IS the trip of a lifetime.
While we aim to have as much fun and excitement on the expeditions as possible, the health and safety our all our guests is of the upmost importance to us at Mikumba Diving, and we are serious about ensuring you are well looked after on our liveaboards.
– Bed / Room
– All meals
– 2 sheets, pillow and towel – but unfortunately no laundry machine, so please bring your own sleeping bag/liner if required
– Soft drinks are included, but not alcohol however we will have beers and wine for sale
– Amazing diving
Not included in the price of the expedition:
– Flights – but we can recommend who to fly with
– Park Fees
– Alcohol
– Land based accommodation
– Tips (for crew and guides)
– Any other expenses
Mikumba Diving will always do everything we can to ensure your safety, but accidents can still happen.
Guests must have their own travel insurance, personal dive insurance and trip cancellation insurance with no exclusions for Acts of God and Force Majeure events. You will not be permitted to join our liveaboard trips without presenting insurance information when you check in.
For diver insurance please make sure that it covers you for the depth of your certification and for dive accident cover including recompression treatment.
We can provide DAN Short Term Dive Accident Coverage at an additional cost. Please ask at time of booking if you would like this.
We recommend using DAN for diving, and Nomads for the rest, as they provide good cover.
Although we may be in remote places, we do have continual contact with our office via satellite phone, and can help with arranging any assistance that may be needed.
Before booking please have a look at our Terms & Conditions.
Please note that due to the nature of the trips, there is a level of uncertainty with regards to the weather and the dive conditions so there is no strict itinerary to these trips and you must be comfortable with this!
Before booking please have a look at our Terms & Conditions.
Diving
We’re going out there to explore the unexplored! These are expeditions of discovery, we could find anything and everything – and we have done previously – from new dive sites to spectacular scenery above the surface too. We plan for a certain number of dives on each expedition, but if we come across something unusual such as an erupting volcano or watching a traditional fire dance in a remote village, we think you’d agree that’s worth stopping for. We schedule a few stops along the way for topping up our fuel and food supplies, but apart from that we have nothing holding us back from just finding what else this beautiful world of ours keeps secret from the unadventurous. Join any of our expedition trips and get ready for an experience you won’t forget.
Marine Life
We will be diving within the famous Coral Triangle – there are pristine coral reefs, amazing hard and soft corals of every colour of the rainbow. You have the big stuff, schools of more than 100 hammerheads, masses of dancing mobula rays, curious manta rays coming in close to check you out, and there’s always the possibility of seeing pods of dolphins or pilot whales while you’re chilling on deck. If you’ve had enough of the big stuff, you can get your fill of macro with tiny shrimps, colourful nudibranchs, and pygmy seahorses. And if that’s still not enough, we have the weird and the wonderful, from seeing a whole other galaxy in the eye of a crocodilefish, to the fantastic face of a stargazer peering up at you from the sand. We can be sure you’ll have the trip of a lifetime.
EXPLORE WITH US
If the thought of escaping ‘normality’ and exploring amazing places off the beaten track sounds like fun then get in touch with us. If you have any questions regarding any of our mini-expeditions please contact us.
If you have any urgent questions then please send us a WhatsApp message using the button below.
Opening hours are 8am-8pm Bali time (GMT+8). If you message us outside these times we will respond as soon as possible the next day.