The 2010 – 2011 Change of Season Report

Sorry that we’ve been away from Twitter and Facebook for the past few weeks. Maluku Divers is enjoying the natural break of the Maluku rainy season inAmbon right now, watching the islands return to a blend of beautiful shades of green. The low season sees us open this year for the first time, with special rates for diving within Ambon Bay. During the past few weeks many divers have enjoyed some of the most peaceful opportunities diving with our critters, a little rain never hurt anyone, right?! (Contact us if you’re interested in finding out more about this opportunity)

As we take stock of the past year, we proudly look back over what has been achieved at the resort in the last 12 months. it’s always fun to enjoy how far we’ve come developing the only dedicated diving resort on the remote island of Ambon.

In the 2010–2011 season, the second full season Maluku Divers has been at home in our new resort in the village of Laha, we have welcomed more amateur and professional muck divers and avid photographers than ever before. We have been delighted to host many familiar faces as repeat guests such as the dashing Tony Wu, Bob and Jayne Bruner, Kathy Carl, David Bierman, Obata san from Japan and many others who made their annual ‘pilgrimage’ to their new Mecca of muck diving. New friends, including the Wetpixel crew, Reef Fish Identification books authors Ned and Anna DeLoach, Diving4Images and Shannon Conway also discovered that there is a lot of diving on offer at Maluku Divers. Other groups included SeaParadise, the first group of critter enthusiasts we’ve hosted from Thailand, along with a huge number of individuals and small groups from the USA, Germany, the UK, Spain, Holland, Italy, Brazil, Cuba, Hong Kong, Australia, Canada to name but a few! Maluku Divers’ Muck Diving has gone global!

In October 2010, the Maluku Divers team readily rose to the challenge of hosting a “Night Safari” dive trip by Team Wetpixel, during which our efforts were warmly appreciated by organizers, Tony Wu and Eric Cheng, with the promise that they would be back soon. There were some incredible images taken during the Night Safari, participants put all of their equipment (and there was a lot of it as you can see above) to very good use.

As for the critters we’ve seen, well, really there are too many to mention in this update (!) so to read more about the assortment of rhinopias, blue ringed octopus, harlequin shrimps, pygmy pipedragons and of course the Maluku Frogfish, you’ll have to look back over the weekly updates, Facebook and Twitter comments and galleries on the website to whet your appetite for more diving in Ambon. While you’re there, you’ll have already noticed the new look of Maluku Divers’ website, created in 2011 to enable more muck enthusiasts to find us. The site has several new features, most interestingly the new weekly update, discussing topics about the resort, the team, but predominantly the variety of marine creatures we have discovered for our divers’ cameras. You’ll often find an image of an interesting subject and a snippet about the photographer who took the shot. The website also provides useful information on dive and accommodation packages, what to bring, FAQ’s and other details to help you prepare for your time inAmbon.

You can also have a look for information and videos about the fascinating freshwater Eels in Larike and King of Larike Mr Hafes, who happens to be the Restaurant Manager at Maluku Divers, as well as other options for land tours that allow guests to know Ambon beyond its intriguing waters.

This season, we have also seen new additions to our dive team: Soleman and Stonner, both of whom, like many of our guests,  left their old stomping grounds of Manado and Lembeh to enjoy a change of scenery and a break from the hoi polloi. Together with guide extraordinaire Semuel Bukasiang—whom many of you would have had the pleasure to dive with since our opening— Soleman and Stonner have been making waves in the hunt for the strangest and most sought after creatures such as rhinopias and blue-ringed octopus in the Ambon bay, much to the delight of visiting photographers.

Divers have also enjoyed more opportunities to interact with our friendly local team as more of them have picked up basic English words and sentences, after private lessons conducted by the lovely Miss Li Li.

On the non-diving front, this season guests have been treated to mouth-watering fusion Indonesian-Western three-course meals presented by our new chefs, Balinese Chef Dewa and Javanese Chef Udin. The starter and dessert menus have come in for special appreciation. Chef Udin’s assortment of European cream soups and Asian soups (Thai Tom Yam Gung and Indonesian Soto Ayam) are so scrumptious that he prepares sufficient for the obligatory second helping, no exiguous entrees at Maluku Divers! Chef Dewa regularly serves up a local specialty, rujak (a fruit salad laced with yummy peanut sauce), that is as good as—if not better than—the famous Natsepa rujak, named after the famed beach where the (previous) best rujak in Ambon can be found. Due to our great service team at the resort, you don’t have to go far to immerse yourself in a gastronomic adventure ofAsia’s best culinary dishes. For those whose taste buds long for something close to home during your stay in the far East, you can be assured that a variety of familiar comfort food such as local steak, grilled tuna, sautéed potatoes, and good-old fish and chips are a regular feature in our menu. 

Facilities-wise, the resort now has a large ocean front patio with a selection of chunky benches enjoying the summer sun, along with fresh ocean breezes. There’s also a common lounge area furnished with huge sofas and cushions for our guests to stretch out on a lazy afternoon ,to read a book or to enjoy a beer while socializing before dinner. We have also added an array of new dive paraphernalia for rental and accessories to meet the occasional emergency with faulty computers, pressure gauges and broken fin straps.

Besides ensuring that our guests are well taken care of during their stay here, we are also exploring new frontiers in the dive scene. In October 2010, dive manager Marcel Hagendijk and a tech-diving buddy, Andreas de Beer (who supplied and installed the Maluku Divers NITROX system) uncovered the true identity of the 137 metre shipwreck resting in 20 metres at thevillageofWayame. The shipwreck, just 20 minutes away by boat from our resort, had been thought to be sunken in World War II by the locals. However, during one of their exploratory dives into the wreck, Marcel and Andreas uncovered an encrusted water heater plaque from her engine room and after consulting the records and measuring the wreck, it was eventually identified to be a cargo ship christened the Duke of Sparta sunken in 1958. Read more about the wreck on our website.

As with every low season, our perspicacious team uses the time for the continuation of planned refurbishments at the resort, regular maintenance and upkeep is continually required for a convenient waterfront location such as ours, in addition we continue to look for ways to improve existing operations to create a more efficacious experience for divers. As a result several projects are underway, some of which are direct suggestions from our divers; A new entrance road, further refinements to the bungalows to bring new levels of comfort and relaxation and we have even extended the restaurant roof in order to improve the run off when it rains. There has also been a focus on enhancing the systems in the dive department, with development in the equipment area facilities,  tiling and demarcating the locker, service  and equipment hanging areas. Improvements to the dive showers and a couple of adjustments to the rinse tanks will further tweak the already impressive facilities. Despite being the only dedicated dive resort on the island, we’re always busy making things better!

After all these new improvements to the Maluku Divers resort, we hope to welcome our repeat guests again, as well as even more new guests throughout the season. Already we are looking forward to Ned and Anna DeLoach’s return with more friends, Alan Markis and his Deja Blue Divers, Don Silcock is leading a Photography Workshop in conjunction with Equator Diving, EJ Im is bringing a photography group, Scott Gietler from Underwater Photography Guide is planning a workshop, Mike Bartick from California Diver Magazine will also be making movies at the resort.

Last but not least, Howard and Michelle Hall will be joining, Doug and Emily Seiffert. Ron and Valerie Taylor to explore the slopes of the region, RED in hand! These are just the confirmed divers visiting Ambon…

Looks like it’s going to be a fun season at Maluku Divers! So if you haven’t already booked your stay with us, don’t wait any longer, drop us an email and arrange your visit,