Calico Jack Itinerary

Sorong - Banda - Ambon

12 days / 11 nights

About Calico Jack

  • Enjoy personal service with just ten guests onboard
  • Explore healthy reefs with macro critters and manta-packed drifts
  • Watersports, tours and inland activities on every itinerary
  • Spacious, customised dive deck with excellent camera facilities

Calico Jack combines the ancient traditions of Sulawesi’s Bugis shipbuilders with the modernity and comfort of a luxury yacht. This traditional wooden Indonesian sailing boat was custom made specifically for diving, with a superb dive deck and camera facilities. The vessel provides effortless first-class liveaboard experiences throughout Komodo, Raja Ampat, Alor and the Banda Sea, with exciting non-diving activities and inland tours as well. Guests enjoy an intimate, personal service with only ten divers on board and an expert crew handpicked for their local experience and unparalleled expertise.

Learn more about Calico Jack

Itinerary details

12 days / 11 nights
Up to 33
Open Water - Minimum 5 dives
Required

Highlights

  • One-way itinerary combining Raja Ampat with the Banda Sea
  • Dive reefs with exceptional biodiversity in the heart of the Coral Triangle
  • Discover dramatic underwater landscapes and stunning reefs in Misool
  • Dive the remote Daram Island group
  • Explore Pulau Koon, Nusa Laut and Suangi
  • Visit a village, museum and 17th century fort on Banda Neira
  • Explore the Banda Sea's swim-throughs and deep walls
  • Dive the world-class muck diving sites of Ambon
  • Night dives included in the itinerary

Day 1: Embarkation in Sorong, Raja Ampat | 1 dive
We will pick you up at Ambon airport and take you to the harbour where our crew will welcome you onboard Calico Jack. Following refreshments and a short tour of the ship, you will be briefed on safety, the diving operations, and life onboard.

You will be served a delicious lunch and have time to get acquainted with the ship, set up your dive gear & cameras and to meet and socialise with the other guests and friendly crew. We will do a check dive in the area later in the afternoon. Early in the morning we will navigate to Misool.

Day 2: Wayilbatan | 4 dives
The Wayilbatan area offers impressive dive sites with a remarkable range of marine diversity as well as topography. At Wedding Cake, schools of bat fish, trevallies, barracuda and pygmy seahorses congregate.

In the afternoon, you will have the opportunity to take in the scenic land- scapes with some kayaking and paddle boarding amongst the most spectacu- lar hidden lagoons in the region.
Four Kings dive site is made up of four underwater pinnacles covered in soft coral and colourful tunicates. You can swim from one rock to the next, enjoy- ing the soft corals, psychedelic colours and abundant fish life. Be sure to look out for turtles here.

Day 3: Balbulol | 3 dives
Schools of platax, snapper and bump head parrot fish can be found at these dive sites, including barracudas and jacks surrounding the pinnacles. You will spend the afternoon in the hidden lagoon; a very special anchorage inside a narrow bay enclosed by towering rocks.

We will take the dinghies to explore another lagoon located further into the rocks and as night falls, you will see and hear the magnificent Palm Cockatoos roosting along the rainforest edges.

Day 4: Daram | 3 dives
Andiamo is a large, stunning reef with a submerged pinnacle covered in sea fans and surrounded by schools of fusiliers and batfish. Black tip reef sharks and napoleon wrasse can also be found here.

Candy Store, named so as the first divers to explore this reef felt like kids in a candy store, is covered in huge sponges, beautiful soft corals and sea fans. In the valleys, schools of fusiliers, butterfly fish and barracuda gather.

Day 5: Yilliet | 3 dives
In the early morning, we will take a short navigation to dive the Fiabacet area where colourful soft corals and beautiful sea fans smother the reefs. A deep underwater ridge connects the islands of Boo in the East, to Kalig in the West. In certain areas, the ridge moves up shallower to form the most unforgettable dive sites of the park.

These include Batu Kecil (also known as Tank Rock), Nudi Rock and Whale Rock. Here you will find one of the most extensive reef systems in all of Raja Ampat, offering an amazing range of marine diversity. You can expect to see abundant and healthy fish life, a galore of pygmy seahorses, nudibranchs, colourful anemones and reef sharks.

Day 6: Warokaraket/Boo Island | 4 dives
Shadow Reef, also known as Magic Mountain is one of the top rated diving sites in Raja Ampat. An offshore pinnacle with a long and narrow ridge, shoals of banner fish, pyramid buttery and yellow snappers can be seen cavorting on top of the ridge, persistently stalked by giant trevallies, orange-spotted jacks & longnose emperors.

The ridge goes progressively down, with yellowtail barracudas patrolling the upper sector and white tip and grey reef sharks found nestled under the large coral tables. At the end of the peninsular is a cleaning station where oceanic manta rays come to be cleaned from parasites by wrasse and other reef fish.

Boo Rock or Jamur Boo is known for the “windows” or rounded openings on the end of the largest rock that completely pierce the reef from the surface down to five metres deep.
Although the two rocks appear separate from the surface, they are in fact connected underwater by a magnificent reef draped in soft corals and brimming with fish. Reef sharks, parrot fish, surgeonfish, schooling bat fish, fusiliers, snappers and moray eels are all found here, as well as a wide variety of nudi- branchs, unicorn fish, octopus and green turtles.
Yellit Kecil’s (whilst sharing all of the attributes of its neighbouring sites) main characteristic is the large number of nembrotha nudibranchs that can be observed on the ridge.

Day 7: Pulau Koon | 3 dives
Pulau Koon is a small island on the southeast of Ceram, half way between Raja Ampat and the Banda Islands. Underwater there are walls covered in soft corals, and sandy slopes with hard coral bommies. But the most interesting feature of this island is the amount of schooling fish and pelagic, barracudas, bigeye trevallies, aggregation of red snappers, pompanos, batfish, and giant groupers. Three great dives in this area before setting sail towards Banda Islands.

Day 8: Banda Islands | 3 dives
Karang Hatta is a reef located South East of Pulau Hatta. The dive sites in this region are closest to the 6,000 metre deep Banda trench, making it an intriguing area as the chances of encountering pig pelagic species are quite high. Schooling trevallies, barracudas, tuna, turtles, as well as hammerhead and grey reef sharks can be spotted close to this underwater mount. You will have two dives in this area, depending upon the conditions, and then sail to the main island of Pulau Hatta where you will dive in front of the West shore beach where a 5 metre hole in the reef opens up to the sea.

You can dive down through the hole and find yourself looking back to what appears to be a bridge in the reef. The bridge is covered with soft corals, and large gorgonian fans underneath are home to various pygmy seahorses Overnight navigation to Pulau Koon.

Day 9: Banda Neira Tour & Banda Islands | 3 dives
Early in the morning, we will head to Banda Neira where you will have the chance to explore the remaining remnants of the former lucrative spice trade as well as take in the historic and cultural legacies of the islands. You will spend the morning walking through the town and be given the chance to observe the Dutch colonial architecture which remains to this day, as well as Fort Belgica with its incredible views overlooking the bay around the island. 

Before lunch, you will dive at Batu Kapal, which when translated means ‘boat rock’. A submerged pinnacle, the site has a rock breaking the surface of the water in the shape of a boat, hence the name. Various types of fish are present here in vast numbers, along with huge gorgoni- an fans and some truly monumental sponges.

Your second dive will be at Pohon Miring. At this site, a large crack in the reef creates a deep swim-through which you can drift through and view the sponge-covered wall on the other side. Moray eels can be spotted at the top of the wall as well as schools of bumphead parrot fish. Late in the afternoon, you will have a sunset dive at Banda’s jetty. In the shallows and amongst the stones from collapsed seawalls and jetties, mandarin fish congregate. This particular spot is one of the best in the world to spot mandarinfish.

Day 10: Pulau Ai & Pulau Run Banda Islands | 3 dives
Early in the morning, we arrived in Pulau Ai. This dive site, on the island of Ai, translates to Umbrella Rock as there are many overhangs along the walls of the island. You will be able to drift along the wall and enjoy the view of thousands of tiny reef fish darting in and out of the cracks and crevices.

For the second dive of the day, we’ll move onto Little Manhattan which is next to the island of Run. In 1667, the English traded the island of Run for Manhattan, giving the Dutch full control of the Banda archipelago. White sandy slopes interspaced with large coral heads and a healthy reef makes this a very beautiful dive site. A res- ident school of bumphead parrot fish may be spotted here, as well as passing eagle rays.

The third dive for the day will be an exploratory dive off Pulau Run. This region is full of unexplored dive sites and the Banda Sea is the perfect location for the discov- ery of new underwater treasures.

Day 11: Nusa Laut & Molana | 3 dives
Early in the morning, we arrive at the beautiful Amet Reef. Whilst situated only a few hours from Ambon, it is a great example of successful grassroots conservation efforts. The locals have instilled sustainable meth- ods to protect their reef and as a result, the corals are outstanding and a favourite amongst dive enthusiasts. White tips and reef sharks patrol the depths and playful turtles can be spotted. For the incredibly lucky, hammerhead sharks and dugongs have also been spotted at this site.

After lunch, we will navigate to Molana Wall. The shallow wall breaks in places and in the sandy slopes, ribbon eels, small pipe fish and moray eels can be found. Above the reef, turtles are seen feeding in the beautiful coral garden. In the afternoon, we will navigate towards Ambon.

Day 12: Disembarkation in Ambon, Maluku
After breakfast and the last exchange of photos and memories, the crew and Calico Jack will say our fondest farewell and transport you either to your hotel or airport.

Sample itineraries are for guidance only. Actual itineraries may differ slightly due to factors such as weather, wildlife, logistics and local regulations.

Transfer details

Departure

11:00am

Sorong

Sorong Airport: SOQ

Return

10:00am

Ambon

Pattimura International Airport: AMQ

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