Ambon, Banda & Raja Ampat

November 2-14, 2025

Join us in 2025 on the luxurious Coralia liveaboard for a special transition trip from Ambon to the Banda Islands to Raja Ampat, Indonesia. This 12 night voyage takes us through three main regions within Indonesia. Embarking in Ambon, Indonesia, this area is famous for it's muck diving in Ambon Bay. The critter searching is phenomenal, famous for the holy grail of fish, the rhinopias and if we're super lucky, the psychedelic frogfish. We'll see many other muck diving critters including tiny frogfish, harlequin shrimp, coleman shrimp, ghost pipefish, nudibranchs, mimic & wunderpus octopus, and many many more. 

From Ambon we'll travel east to the Banda Islands (also knowns as the Spice Islands). Here we'll venture on land for a tour of the old Dutch fort and nutmeg plantation, exploring the history of these remote islands. The diving here includes deep beautiful walls, sea mounts, drift dives, and keeping our eyes peeled for the famous schooling hammerheads. 

After our diving and exploration days in Banda, we'll being our journey north to Koon for two dives and onward to Misool, one of the "Four Kings" (islands) of Raja Ampat. The diving in Misool including the rest of Raja Ampat, scientists believe the area has the most coral and fish diversity in the world! According to Conservation International marine surveys suggest that the marine life diversity in the Raja Ampat area is the highest recorded on earth. The Raja Ampat area is known for mantas, black tip reef sharks, muck diving (blue ring octopus, bobtail squid, pygmy seahorses, cuttlefish, nudibranchs, pipefish, etc). We'll spend several days in Misool, and then make our way north to Penemu to visit the famous view point, dive a few dives in Dampier Strait before heading to the port in Sorong for our last night on board the Coralia. 

Trip Details:

We had the BEST time on the Coralia in 2023 & 2024, we're doing it again in 2025! 

Hop on board the beautiful Coralia liveaboard. The Coralia is a classic Phinisi. It was built in Bira, Sulawesi by the Konjo tribe, who have been building cargo ships for centuries. Blending ancient techniques and wisdom with modern design and safety features, Coralia is one of the few Phinisi equipped with two engines. 

Coralia’s name comes from the word ‘coral‘ and the Latin ending of ‘-ia’, so ‘Coral-ia‘ means ‘Nation of Corals’. 

The Coralia offers 8 luxurious cabins with a max of 16 guests and ample areas to relax on board. Nothing is too much trouble onboard with 22 crew including two incredible cruise directors. 

The Coralia won first place in 6 categories of the Readers Choice awards in 2023, including "Best Quality of Liveaboard" and previously won the Dive Travel Awards "Best Liveaboard" in 2019 and 2021,  (We now know WHY she & the crew won best liveaboard, because they ARE THE BEST)! 

Our itinerary will take us on a one-way journey through Ambon, the Banda Islands, and Raja Ampat, offering a huge variety and some of the best diving in Indonesia. 

*Photos Above provided by Debbie & Jerry, Our Ocean Images & Coralia Cruise Directors

Our Planned Route: 

Dates:

November 2-14, 2025

Duration:

 12 nights/13 days

Package Cost: 

Upper Deck Master Suites: (double occupancy)

Main Deck Master Suites (double occupancy) 

Lower Deck Double & Twin (double occupancy)

Lower Deck Twin (double occupancy)


How to Secure Your Spot: 

Email: info@designedforscuba.com for room availability & deposit instructions. 

*Note: Two of the master suites have a separator that can be used to separate the bed into two twins for friends sharing. Please ask if interested in this option and we can share more details. 

Makin' a SPLASH in Indonesia

Tentative Itinerary:

Day 1: Arrival into Ambon, board the Coralia, settle into cabins, unpack dive gear/camera gear, boat briefing and dive briefing. TBD afternoon dive in Ambon.

Day 2-3 Diving in Ambon Bay and transit to Banda Islands

Day 4-7 Banda Islands.

Day 8 Koon, two dives and transit to Misool 

Day 9-11 Misool. Day 11 two dives and transit to Penemu 

Day 12 Penemu View Point, one dive at Melissa's Garden and transit to Sorong 

Day 13 Disembark in Sorong

*Itinerary subject to change based on weather, captain and other factors out of our control

Price Includes:


Exclusions: 


Getting There: 

To/From North America:

Travel to Indonesia is typically flown via Tokyo or Hong Kong or other Asian gateway cities (depending on the airline) and connecting onward to Jakarta (CGK). Sometimes you'll find routings from the east coast through the Middle East (Doha/Abu Dhabi, etc)

Arrival into Jakarta by Nov 1, 2025 (late afternoon at the latest).

It is recommended to arrive in Jakarta a day prior to your flight to Ambon. The Anara airport hotel is recommended if arriving a day or two early into Jakarta. 


Flights to Ambon & from Sorong:

Connect onward to Ambon (AMQ). Most of the flights to Ambon are typically red-eyes from Jakarta. To avoid an overnight stay in Ambon the current suggested flights are: 

You will be met by Coralia staff who will bring you directly to the boat. If you'd like to arrive in Ambon a day before, you are more than welcome to. We'll share suggested hotels as the trip gets closer. The Coralia staff will pick you up from the hotel and bring you to the boat on November 2, 2025.

Departure on November 14, 2025 can be at anytime. The Coralia staff will bring you back to the airport for your departing flight. If you are continuing onto another resort or elsewhere in Raja Ampat, just let us know so we can coordinate with the Coralia team for the transfers.

Flights on Garuda still offer 23kg extra per person for dive gear. Be ready to show Scuba certification cards at check in and that your extra baggage is made up of dive equipment. 

Please keep in mind, flying on early morning flights departing from Sorong will restrict the number of dives you will be able to do on the last full day on board. Generally there will be two morning dives on the last day commencing around 12pm. 

More About the Region:

Terms and Conditions 

Current Entry Requirements

The requirements for entering Indonesia for international travelers (foreign citizen) are as follows: 

(as of June 2023)