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Opposite page: Thehammerhead sharks couldplay hard to get, but theywere often to be found.

Above: The Amira under sail.

Above right: Banded sea-snake at Serua.

Right: Divers move awayfrom Amira in one of theRIBs.

Below: Soft corals at Kekehreef.

islands of Serua and Kekeh. These isolatedsites are generally visited only when theweather is favourable and thehammerhead sharks are in season.

These secret sites were rarely diveduntil around 10 years ago, when they werediscovered to be a hammerhead hotspot.

The 100-mile journey took nine hours.We arrived early in the morning to thebreath-taking sight of these small islandsin the middle of nowhere. Serua has onlya few dozen houses and 100 residents.

The island is inhabited only duringharvest season for nutmeg and cloves, andthe people spend the rest of their timeliving on Seram, a larger island.

Serua is an active volcano, though ithasn’t erupted since 1884, and that’s whypermanent habitation is frowned on, butthe locals harvest their spices regardless.

Our one dive there revealed anabundance of sea snakes, then we movedon to Kekeh. There are several sites therebut we concentrated on a wall-dive on thesouthern side, Papan Biru, where sheercliffs dropped away from the lushlycovered island.

I had seen only one hammerhead in 30years of diving, so I was eager to witnesslarge schools and, I hoped, close up.

The dive-teams were split into twogroups and sent off on two RIBs, one 15minutes after the other. Divemaster Adingcarried out a current-check, then we madea negative descent to the sloping reef.

The reef dropped gently to a beautifulcoral garden covered in huge barrelsponges. We drifted along the slopeamong the whip corals as they fluttered inthe slow current, heading for a cornerknown for large pelagic sightings.

We followed the guides until we lostsight of the reef. It was quite eerie floatingaround in midwater, unable to see eithersurface or seabed.

Seconds later I heard a load of gruntingfrom Ading, who was pointing at faintshadows in the gloom below him. Then herapidly descended into the depths.

A few swift fin-kicks and I had dropped

to 35m, where I could just see a smallgroup of hammerheads cruising throughthe murky waters. I lined the camera up,got two shots – and then they were gone!

When we repeated the dive we reachedthe reef corner, where we had to hold onfor dear life, battling a ferocious current.Within a few minutes the hammerheads

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INDONESIA DIVER

DAN BURTON has knocked around the world a fair bit in his years of diving, but there was a 28-year hiatus in which Indonesia didn’tfeature on his agenda. Now he’s making up forlost time with a vengeance

UNDER THEHAMMER

LAST YEAR I HAD THE CHANCEto visit North Sulawesi and dive the renowned island of Bunaken.

In the January issue I described it asone of the best sites I had visited inmany years.

Suitably enthused by Indonesia, mynext diving adventure there would takeme on to the remote region of RajaAmpat in West Papua.

Getting there from the UK involvesa long-haul flight to Jakarta, withseveral internal flights and anovernight stopover.

I arrived somewhat jet-lagged inSaumlaki on Yamdena island, which is a mere 200 nautical miles fromnorthern Australia. Greeted by smilingdive-guide Andris, I was whiskedthrough the chaos of the city to wherethe liveaboard Amira was moored inthe harbour.

Over the next 10 days I was toembark on the Jewels of Indonesiatour, which claims to be the crème de lacrème of remote Indonesian divesafaris.

The Amira’s design is based on thatof a traditional Indonesian spice-trading ship, with a phinisi rig. Thesevessels were mostly built in Sulawesi.

Amira is 54m long and has a 10mbeam, making her one of the largestliveaboards in the country. She is fittedwith three masts and an impressivecollection of nine sails.

With that huge hull, Amira cancarry up to 19 passengers comfortablyand comes with a friendly crew of 24.

I was struck not only by the sheeroverall size but by the spaciousluxurious cabins above and below decklevel, easily accessible dive-deck andwell-equipped camera-prep room.

WE HEADED NORTH to a smallisland called Nitu, where we

stayed overnight. The followingmorning brought a check-dive on thelocal reefs before heading off on thefirst overnight passage to our firstproper dive-site.

Because the weather conditionswere so good, Swiss owner Brunomade a route change to the charter andoffered us the chance of taking in the

appeared. Here was my chance – I had mycamera in one hand, a rock in the other.

I turned my head to capture the scene,but all I got was a faceful of water as mymask lifted off my face under thebattering water pressure.

I rattled off a few shots blindly, andseconds later the sharks were gone.

ILEFT THE ISLAND feeling disheartenedbut Bruno said there was another site

known for its shark sightings. That night we headed north and

arrived early to a flat-calm sea with apicturesque view of the small island ofHatta – we would be diving a nearby atoll.

We dropped in on the south-easternside of the reef and headed down theslope into the blue, drifting west.

Ading signalled to the group anddescended to where I could faintly see the grey shapes of a few hammerheadspatrolling the reef-line, their tails swayingin synchronisation. Unfortunately, �

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and jack as they swam over the reef.We made our way up the slope and

hovered around the top of the pinnacleamid the brightly coloured array ofmarine life. Just above, it was possible tomake out the limestone island’soverhangs, eroded over countless years.

We spent the last few minutes in theirshade, exploring the shallows and a colourful reef made up of a bewilderingvariety of coral species.

MAGIC MOUNTAIN is an underwaterknoll rising from 50m to just 3m,

with another such mount nearby, and is a favourite site, but dive-vessels must firstobtain permission from the local Misoolresort, which runs the MisoolFoundation. Its mission is to safeguardthese biodiverse reefs through theempowerment of local communities.

The resort told us that manta rays wereabout, boosting excitement levels as wekitted up. Ading led the group down a sloping saddle and across to the otherpinnacle at 20m.

Almost on cue and from out ofnowhere a giant oceanic manta appeared,followed seconds later by two othersswooping in over our heads.

The divers from the boat hovered in a semi-circle around the reef and togetherwe watched a jaw-dropping performanceas the mantas looped around us.

We slowly moved back up from thedeeper reef to spend the last 20 minutesinvestigating the shallows, but the mantafollowed us, performing more gyrations.

Divers are not allowed to swim towardsmantas, one of the rules strictly

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they were just too far away to photograph.Disappointed, I swam back to the reef

and back to the shallows. Then, as Ilooked up to the top of the reef, I spotteda lone young hammerhead.

I needed to intercept it, so headed off atan angle. It was now or never!

I changed my camera setting, preset theshutter-speed, turned the autofocus offand swam as fast as I could. It might havebeen young but it was still big. I hadreached to within 2m when it turned, butlooked at me with no trace of concern.

Swimming as fast I could, I motored off a few shots before the oceanic cruiserheaded effortlessly back over the ledge,leaving me out of breath.

SIX DAYS INTO the tour, we had onemore long crossing to reach the

highlight of the trip, the island of Misool.

Raja Ampat is home to the world'srichest reefs and dive-sites. Located at the heart of the Coral Triangle, thearchipelago sprawls over 17,000sq milesand comprises more than 1500 smallislands, cays and shoals surrounding the

Above, from left:Spectacular corals andsponges under reefoverhangs; barracuda atMagic Mountain.

Left: Sting ray.

Below: Banded shrimp.

Bottom, from left: Jack offHatta reef; limestone islandin Raja Ampat.

four main islands of Misool, Salawati,Batanta, and Waigeo, and the smallerKofiau.

Some 1320 coral-reef fish and morethan 550 species of hard corals arereckoned to exist here – that’s a mind-blowing 70% of all the known coralspecies on the planet.

There are seven marine parks withMisool being one, about the size ofSingapore. It was protected in 2005, andmarine life is said to have increased thereby 250% between 2013-2017 alone, withcertain sites showing increases of morethan 600%.

We were taken to Boo West, a favouritespot with the guides. A coral island nobigger than a tennis court and a few treeswas what we saw. From shore the seabeddropped a few metres, then we rapidlydescended a steep slope to 50m.

The visibility wasn’t that good, but onthe other hand that’s because the waterwas enriched with superfood for all thespecies around.

First we saw the schools of silversides.The tiny fish came rushing past, swayingto and fro in huge baitballs and leavingme confused as to which way was up andwhich down!

Andris headed down the sloping reefand crossed to a pinnacle about 25maway. As we followed, he signalled andpointed up. Near the surface a smallschool of devilfish glided, twisting,turning and looping as they gorged on theabundance of food there.

The pinnacle started to appear and wewere met by two huge shoals of barracuda

Above: Oceanic manta rayat the Magic Mountaincleaning station.

Right: Walking shark seenon a night-dive.

Below: Well-camouflagedwobbegong carpet shark.

�

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enforced by the marine park authorities,so we waited patiently as they came to us.

The whole cleaning process isfascinating. The mantas come in likegliders and, at the last second, they stall,hovering just over the reef-top whiletwisting and turning their cephalic lobesand pectoral fins and becoming almoststatic for 30 seconds or so.

Next, an army of parasitic copepodsand a variety of small cleaner wrassecome in and remove any unwantedtravellers from the rays’ skin.

If the first clean is not enough themantas go off and circle the reef beforereturning minutes later. If you’re really

lucky you can watch them lining up to getcleaned, like vehicles at a car wash.

Diving doesn’t get much better thanthis, offering spectacular reefs and eye-popping marine life.

On this trip, I saw many new speciesincluding the elusive walking shark,wobbegongs and a multitude ofpreviously unseen macro critters – as wellas those mighty hammerheads.

I have been fortunate to visit someamazing sites over the past 30 years but this trip topped them all. All the sites werepristine and the marine-life abundant.

I look forward to discovering more ofthis region’s hidden secrets.

FACTFILEGETTING THERE8 International flights from UK via Jakartawith Singapore Airlines, internal flights with Lion Air.

DIVING & ACCOMMODATION 8Amira, amira-indonesia.com

WHEN TO GO8Year round.

MONEY8Indonesian rupiah.

PRICES8The 11-night Jewels of Indonesia trip costs fromUS $5863pp, and there is also a 14-night version. Amira alsooffers a number of other itineraries. Return flights from UKto Saumlaki from £1350.

VISITOR INFORMATION8 indonesia.travel

Tel: 01428 620012

OCEAN GIANT EXPEDITIONSRESEARCH & PHOTOGRAPHY

Blue Whales – Humpbacks –Leopard Seals – Penguins – Sharks

Expert-led Research & Photography

Committed to Nature

Manta Ray Research, Coral Reefs & Dragons of Komodo(27 Oct-3 Nov, 2020 – £1,990)

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