Notes

Komodo

The Siren's dive cruises depart from either Bima, on the island of Sumbawa, or from Labuanbajo on the western tip of Flores - both easily reached by flight from the famous tourist destination of Bali.

Raja Ampat

Coming in 2011 the 2 new Siren boats, Indo Siren and Mandarin Siren, will offer the best of Indonesia's far eastern diving amongst the spectacular islands own as the Raja Ampat archipelago.

10 day trips on the SY Indo Siren will take in the very best of Raja Ampat while the SY Mandarin Siren will offer 6 day North or South itineraries offering up something different on each trip.

Raja Ampat is also known for its spectacular above water scenery. Sparsely inhabited, most of Raja Ampat still has pristine rainforests atop dramatic limestone cliffs, uninhabited bays with white sand beaches and all sorts of hidden treasures to greet the intrepid explorer. It’s a kayakers dream, an intricate coastline with caves, bays, gorges, hidden rivers—all buzzing with exotic tropical wildlife.

A birdwatching hike on Gam Island might take you through scenic forests, past fragile orchids growing from cracks in the stone, and finally to the unforgettable experience of witnessing male birds of paradise doing their elaborate courtship dances to attract females.

Caving will bring you an exciting look into an amazing hidden world through a breath-taking underground experience. Also, look out for exotic historical artefacts and interesting remnants from World War II, such as crumbling forts and sunken bomber planes.

The friendly people of Raja Ampat have largely been able to maintain their ancestral ways of life and traditional values, making it an interesting destination as well as an anthropological haven.
 

Sulawesi

The following is a sample itinerary of where you might dive during this Siren cruise.

North Sulawesi: Lembeh Strait – Bunaken – Bangka – Sangihe Islands
11 Nights: Bitung to Bitung
Up to 38 Dives, including 6 night dives

Day 1- Arrive Bitung Meet a member of the Worldwide Dive and Sail crew at the Manado Airport, transfer to the port of Bitung and board the SY Mandarin Siren at around 2pm. After boarding settle into your cabin and assemble your equipment with help from our friendly crew. The boat briefing is followed by a check out dive in Lembeh Strait. Dinner will be served and you are then able to enjoy the rest of the evening at leisure. Depart for Bangka Island.

Day 2- Pulisan and Bangka Island Wake up to your first full days diving. We get you started diving Pulisan House Reef or Batu Mandi nearby on the northeast coast of Sulawesi. It is likely you will enjoy sightings of mackerels, ribbon eels, fire dartfish, jawfish, stonefish, frogfish, leaffish and many nudibranchs.

We then move onto Bangka Island and Gangga Island for the rest of the days diving. We choose from dive sites such as Sahaung made up of a number of underwater pinnacles where large schools of fish such as snappers, surgeon fish and fusiliers can be seen. Lehaga offers an opportunity to observe mandarin fish doing a courtship dance in the late afternoon.

Day 3- Bunaken National Marine Park Enjoy up to 4 dives around Bunaken Island. There are many dive sites, but all are similar in that they are very deep and feature steep walls of coral, pocketed with small caves and everything is nicely covered. In the deeper parts of the walls, one can observe sharks, turtles and Napoleon wrasse. We shall choose dives from sites such as Mandolin, Fukui, Lekuan, Ron’s Point and Timur.

We shall overnight in a sheltered bay.Day 4- Bunaken National Marine Park An early start to be the first in the water and enjoying breakfast by the time the day boats arrive. We will dive sites around Siladen Island, Manado Tua and Montehage.

After the third dive we head north to the Sangihe Islands so plenty of time to sunbathe, relax and enjoy the late afternoon and evening in leisure keeping an eye out for whales and large schools of dolphins.

Day 5- Biaro, Ruang and Tahulandang Islands The island is made up of a steep cliff on the southern side, the western side has a village. It is on this side of the island that we shall anchor for the morning’s diving. Most of the dive sites are on the eastern side and sites include Zaccharias, Bomb Rock, Lamango, Labyrinth and Kalokoki. Most of the diving here has underwater pinnacles with sloping bottoms and some very nice coral coverage. You are likely to observe passing dogtooth tuna, mackerel, snapper and bumphead parrotfish.

In Ruang we shall dive the ancient lava flow of the last eruption back in 1939. Today the volcanic rocks are completely covered with a large variety of corals and sponges. We shall do our night dive under the pier of Tahulandang where concrete pillars are covered by soft sponges and are home to sponge crabs, decorated crabs and if lucky you may see the elusive mandarin fish.

Day 6- Siau Island and Makalehi The island of Siau is predominantly the active volcano Karangetang. This is one of Indonesia most active volcanoes and at night time you are able to see the red lava glow in the darkness. The diving surrounding the island is wonderful.

Eddy Point on the west coast offers the opportunity to dive on black porous lava rubble and sand. You will at times hear the sound of the volcano underwater. Large schools of fish such as trevallies and sweetlips can be seen.

Batu Lehi south of Eddy Point is a great wall dive with some great corals and visiting fish life. Dependant on weather and tides this is a great night dive. Makalehi Island is often where we start the days diving due to the depths.

On the south side of the island at Needle point, a series of exposed pinnacles with frequent strong currents. The currents however attract schools of jacks, fusiliers and bannerfish.

Day 7- Mahengetang Island and Kahakitang Island This location is most known for Banua Wuhu and underwater volcano. Certain sites offer beautiful corals, sponges until the scenery changes to boulders and some rubble where gas and sulphur is released from the sea floor. The bubbles appear to seep from numerous cracks and these can be warm to the touch.

Kahakitang island has a beautiful sheltered bay where we will spend the night. The night dive here offers up many invertebrates, crabs, nudibranchs and more.

Day 8- Bawondeket, Paphepa and Mahoro Island We spend the whole day diving sites around these fabulous islands. We head back after the last dive of the day toward either Biaro or Bangka Islands (dependant on weather).

Day 9- Bangka Island and Lembeh Strait The morning is spent diving either Biaro Island or Bangka Island. Whilst enjoying lunch we head toward Lembeh Strait. We will do a dusk or night dive on arrival in Lembeh.

There are over 30 dive sites around the Lembeh Strait, most of them are either sandy areas or small reefs. Don't expect spectacular walls or huge reefs, here you are doing so called muck diving - searching for the rare and the special. It is also a good place to see other shy critters such as the mimic octopus, the flamboyant cuttlefish, harlequin shrimps, wonderpus, skeleton shrimps and many nudibranchs. The fish at this place are also a collection of weirdoes: Ambon scorpionfish, stonefish, frogfish, sea robins, stargazers, devil fish and even the weedy scorpionfish. There are also beautiful seahorses, pegasus, ghost pipefish and the endemic Banggai cardinalfish.

Days 10 & 11- Lembeh Strait We shall do as many dives over these next two days as possible and will choose from some of these listed and others: Police Pier: A gradual sandy slope runs from the shallows. The bottom is covered with patches of sponges and rubble that conceal thorny seahorses and frogfish. They blend in well with their habitat but our guides will locate them.

Teluk Kembahu: Named after the village in the bay, it is another gentle sand slope with a great chance of seeing many different types of pipefish, from ornate to robust, also in the sand stargazers and devilfish have been seen.

Makawide: A gradual slope which is a great place to find lots of different kinds of sand dweller's including the shrimp goby and dragonettes. The depths have lots of sea whips where black coral crabs and shrimps make their home. Pygmy seahorses have been spotted around 30m.

Nudi’ Retreat: Is a small-protected cove along the Sulawesi coast. The reef slope starts in only 3m/10' of water and gradually works its way deeper. A colorful wall abuts the slope in the shallows. It has resident cockatoo wasp fish, and a pair of Pegasus sea moths. Frogfish often put in an appearance and on night dives a coral cat shark can be seen. A good place for spotting pygmy seahorses.

Hairball: A true "Muck" site that is home to some of the most unusual critters. There are no corals, only black sand, algae and an occasional patch of sponges. Some of the critters found here grow skin filaments to blend in with the algae, often seen are frogfish, Ambon scorpionfish, snake eels, devilfish, dragonettes and even the flamboyant cuttlefish.

Mawali wreck: Named after the near-by village on Lembeh. A Japanese WWII ship that was scuttled lies on its port side in 34m of water; it’s about 76m long, intact and heavily overgrown. The highlight of the dive is its many large lionfish that suspend themselves around the masts. Also seen are many kinds of nudibranchs, huge scorpion fish and a banded sea snake often puts in an appearance. In the evening enjoy a BBQ on the boat and start planning your next adventure aboard the Siren Fleet.

Day 12- Disembark in Bitung After breakfast say your farewells and disembark the SY Mandarin Siren and you make your way to Manado Airport.

*Please note that weather, tides, how busy a site is with other dive vessels all play a part in the Cruise Director’s decision of which route the yacht takes. The Cruise Director is happy to listen to requests from guests to visit or remain at certain sites and, providing it is possible and the schedule allows, guest’s requests will be respected.
 

Flores & Alor

Flores and Alor, and the islands in between, are most easily dived by liveaboard. Nusa Tenggara, alternatively known as the Lesser Sunda Islands, is the name for the stretch of islands running from Sumbawa in the west to Alor in the East. Bounded to the north by the Flores and Banda Seas and the South by the Sawu Sea, these remote islands offer superb diving with an amazing range of reef topogrpahy, including steep fan-covered walls, seamounts, coral rich gardens and the dark volcanic sand slopes all offering a rich diversity of flora and fauna.

About Flores and Alor, Indonesia

Flores is one of the largest islands in the archipelago and the start of this dive safari and, with 14 active volcanoes, it is easy to see why Flores draws the attention. The dark volcanic sand is home to some of the most diverse marine life and famed for muck diving to rival that in the Lembeh strait.

Alor, the furthest east of the island chain, is one of the least visited islands and offers some of the most unspoiled reefs in the region. Between the islands of Pantar and Alor runs the Alor Strait. Strong currents run through the channel bringing with them large pelagics from white tip and grey reef sharks to eagle rays and schooling barracuda, hammerhead sharks and manta rays are also visitors. However, it is the Mola Mola sightings that Alor is most famous for.

Itinerary

During the 10 night itinerary aboard the S/Y Mandarin Siren, you will experience the very best diving of the area, visiting the islands of Flores, Lembata, Pantar and Alor with the option for a land excursion to one of the many volcanoes.

Departing from the port of Maumere, the trip typically begins with a check dive at the Waiterang Wreck, followed by a further 3 dives at Pangabatan and Dambilah Islands where schools of jacks & batfish, eagle rays and white tip sharks can be sighted. Continuing on to the Pantar Strait we find the small pinnacle of Pulau Pura and experience the currents flowing. There are some fantastic muck dive spots in the Kalabari sound which we visit on our way through the strait. The SY Mandarin Siren will spend a further 2 days sailing along the southern coasts of the Lesser Sunda islands before passing through the channel of Adunara and back to Maumere. Disembarkation is in Maumere on the 11th day.
 
Diving Highlights
 
"The Dream" - A site famous for sightings of large pelagics. This submerged pinnacle is covered with corals and bursting with colourful marine life. Strong currents can occur at this site!

Alor Kecil and the Kalabari Sound - The place for numerous macro species and great muck diving. Mimic and blue-ringed octopus, robust and Halmida ghost pipefish, frogfish and seahorses are just a few of the many amazing critters that will be seen in the area.

"Never Land" - Full of colourful soft corals which hide a wide variety of nudibranchs, crabs and shrimps, this site will keep you mesmerised. However we remind you to look into the blue as here is where the Mola Mola are most commonly seen'.

"The Channel" - formed between Flores and Pangabatan Island, is the place to see bumphead parrotfish, eagle rays and the occasional black tip reef shark.
 
There is also the option of joining a 14 night itinerary sailing between Flores and Ambon which incorporates the Flores to Alor itinerary plus the islands in the Banda sea.

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