If you're contemplating a dive adventure later this year, there are still a couple of spaces open for my trip to Ambon.
The trip, which I'm running jointly with Wetpixel and Eric Cheng, is scheduled for 7 to 16 November. We'll be staying at the new Maluku Divers resort, situated right on the best muck sites in Ambon.
There are lots of Coleman shrimp on fire urchins in Ambon!
If you're a fan of muck diving and observing amazing critter life in shallow water at close quarters without any other divers around(!), Ambon is worth considering.
Ambon hit the news recently because of the unusual new frogfish discovered there, but from personal experience, I can say that there's a lot more to see than just the frogfish (sightings of which are unpredictable).
Tiny cuttlefish hunting in shallow water
With so few divers around + relatively easy diving conditions, it's not difficult to spend quality time with animals that are considered rare or difficult-to-approach elsewhere.
In short...the conditions are ideal for observing and documenting marine life behaviour.
Our plan is to do a lot of night diving, which means that the chances of seeing predation, mating and other fun stuff increases significantly. Up to this point, it has been difficult to do extensive night diving in Ambon, because there was no dive resort near the muck sites!
Some sort of cardinalfish with a clutch of eggs
Take a look at my 2010 trip announcement and the trip summary on Wetpixel for more trip information.
Here's a multimedia collage I put together after my first trip to Ambon a couple years back.
Contact Dan Baldocchi to join the adventure!