If you want prolonged, up-close encounters with the majestic but usually elusive whale shark, the biggest fish in the world, Cenderawasih Bay in remote far eastern Indonesia is the place to go

Indonesia’s Cenderawasih Bay has become increasingly famous as a dive destination over the last couple of years thanks to the possibility of spectacular encounters with whale sharks. Appearing en masse at the floating bagans, or fishing platforms, the whale sharks love to feed on the tiny fish caught in the fishermen’s nets suspended below the bagan.

There are numerous fishing platforms scattered across Kwatisore Bay, in the south west of Cenderawasih’s huge crescent of water, and the fishermen regard the arrival of the whale sharks at their particular bagan as a good omen.

For divers, the platforms provide a jawdropping encounter with the whale sharks. There’s no other word for it. Most divers feel very lucky if they’ve witnessed even a fleeting glimpse of a whale shark fly-by, such is their rarity.

But in Cenderawasih we had not only one or two but five whale sharks endlessly circling the platform to feed in a few metres of crystal clear water, completely unbothered by bubbles and scuba gear and only interested in the next mouthful of fish.

It is frankly hard to take a bad photo in such circumstances – the whale sharks come so close that within a couple of hours a competent photographer can shoot virtually the whole range of classic whale shark poses immortalised by books and magazines for their own collection.

That is, of course, if they can stop giggling with excitement through their regulator that this is really happenng. Exmouth in Western Australia, Baa Atoll in the Maldives and Sogod Bay in the Philippines (along with Donsol and Oslob) provide almost guaranteed chances of seeing whale sharks too, but the proximity and longevity of Cenderawasih’s whale shark encounters is a different level again.

There are a couple of other places to see whale sharks in Indonesia where the fishermen also use bagans which is a similar experience to Cenderawasih Bay. You might also get lucky and see whale sharks in Thailand while diving, but there’s much less chance of doing so.

If you like big stuff, you may find Where To See Manta Rays In Indonesia and Where To See Manta Rays In Thailand useful.

If the whale sharks are the major draw to Cenderawasih, the handful of liveaboards heading to the region has opened up speculation about what else might be in the Bay. Already the other key attraction is the presence of several World War II era wrecks that are remarkably intact. Nearby to Manokwari there is the Japanese wreck Shinwa Maru with its eerie cargo of bottles still scattered in its holds, easily accessible as the wreck lies on its side.

There’s also an unidentified US landing craft in shallow water, upside down and encrusted with coral and home to several curious batfish. The wreck at The Cross, so named for the Christian school located nearby, also has a still discernable hull suffused in soft and hard coral, especially at the gracefully curved stern.

Sadly we couldn’t dive the remains of the Japanese Zero fighter further down the eastern coast due to bad weather, or the wreck in Nabire harbour due to issues with the local bureaucracy. Biak also has several wrecks around its northern most coast that have yet to be extensively documented, although the visibility is meant to be pretty atrocious on that side of the island.

The uncertainity about Biak’s wrecks highlights just how little is known about Cenderawasih in general. Geographically even more remote that Raja Ampat, Cenderawasih Bay lies to the very far east of Indonesia, at the north eastern side of Papua island. The provincial capital Manokwari lies at the western tip of Cenderawasih’s vast U-shaped body of water, and the island town of Biak at the eastern tip.

Burt Jones and Maureen Shimlock have already charted out key dive sites on Cenderawasih’s eastern coast in their indepensable book Diving Indonesia’s Birds Head Seascape – but the western coast of Cenderawasih Bay remains largely a mystery in terms of verified dive sites. The Bay’s Eastern Coast is also a designated National Park, but the west coast currently remains unprotected.

During our 11 day trip on Damai, we followed Cenderawasih’s coastline from Manokwari down to the whale sharks at Kwatisore, along to the port of Nabire and then headed up into the very centre of the Bay to explore some of its scattered atolls before heading to Biak to fly back out. As with all exploratory diving, it was hit and miss, using only a clutch of secondhand GPS points and advice from locals – some sites didn’t exist and some had been dynamite bombed.

But there were numerous superb dives too, where the reef was pristine and quite likely had never been dived before. Cenderawasih has an abundance of hard corals which in the richest areas have grown into vast lettuce corals, huge staghorn patches, impressive table corals, and decades of encrusted colour and texture on walls, slopes and bommies.

There are the psychedelic bright colours of soft corals and some gargantuan fans interspersed amongst them too, but in Cenderawasih the hard corals are king.

As Cenderawasih is explored more, new dive sites are bound to become firm favourites and part of established itineraries. Unfortunately dynamite fishing is still active within the western side of the bay and so the health of the dive sites in that area is subject to constant change.

The whale sharks are already within the protected Cenderawasih national park and the remoteness of the fishing bagans means that it will be a while yet before there are too many boats and too many divers in the water. Best to see Cenderawasih Bay now while it still remains one of Indonesia’s last diving frontiers.

Cenderawasih Bay is not the only whale shark hotspot in Indonesia – see Where To See Whale Sharks In Indonesia for other locations.

Thanks to all the crew and staff at Damai liveaboards (www.dive-damai.com) for their help with this trip. You can also read my previous detailed review of the Damai liveaboard itself.

Indonesia’s northern Sulawesi has one of the greatest – and most unlikely – underwater environments in the world. Scores of fantastic-looking marine species – many of which are rarely seen anywhere else on the planet – are regularly spotted on the barren black sand slopes of the Lembeh Strait.

It’s difficult to over-exaggerate just how amazingly strange the creatures of Indonesia’s Lembeh Strait truly are. There are few other places in the world where you can hope to encounter creatures that sound like they come directly out of a Harry Potter novel – the Hairy Frogfish, the Mimic Octopus and the Flamboyant Cuttlefish, for example. And not only do these creatures exist here, but they exist in relative abundance – it’s likely you will see a plethora of otherwise-incredibly hard to find marine creatures during a weeks’s diving in Lembeh. As such, this strip of water near Manado city in northern Sulawesi, home itself to a large deep water port, has become a mecca for scuba divers in the last decade.

I’ve been here twice before, and much of what I wrote up in my previous Lembeh Strait diving trip report in 2008 is still true, so there’s not much point rewriting it again here. Hopefully the photos below give some idea of just a fraction of the creatures you might encounter in Lembeh. Basically, if you want easy diving and love seeing reality-warping critturs in their natural environment, then this is the place to come. If you want reefs and clear visibility, you might want to go somewhere else, like Bali or Komodo. This time round, I stayed at the Kasawari resort in Lembeh. I’ll be writing up a full review shortly, but I would unreservedly recommend Kasawari if you can afford the higher price tag to other Lembeh resorts which tend to be more affordable.

Lembeh is basically the best value destination for underwater photographers of all levels that I can think of. if you’re learning to take photos or simply prefer to use a small compact than a big bulky DSLR, Lembeh’s array of small creatures will provide perfect subjects. If you’re getting started with a DSLR, the lack of currents, shallow diving and easy to deal with terrain to manouevre in lets you focus wholly on taking pictures rather than grappling with the underwater environment. And if you’re an experienced photographer, the sheer richness of marine life will keep turning up something new or old favourites to try capturing in new ways.

The other thing that is not noted often is that Lembeh above water is stunningly pretty – lush green hills rising steeply above the water covered in palm trees beneath the blue sky. While it’s arguable there are too many resorts in Lembeh now (I think it’s up to 10 currently), the area is big enough that it does not feel too built up yet.

Given the amount of divers wanting to go to Lembeh, it’s relatively easy to get there despite it being fairly remote: SilkAir fly from Singapore to Manado and AirAsia fly from Kuala Lumpur to Manado. Check Kayak and Skyscanner to compare prices and timings. It’s then about 90 minutes (or less) drive to your resort, depending on its location. I’m already making plans to go back in 2012.

Hidden in the north-west tip of Bali is Menjangan Island, which boasts some of the most beautiful corals in Indonesia and is accessible to both scuba divers and snorkelers.

Table corals bigger than a man in diameter. Fan corals two metres high clinging to ocean walls. Thousands of fish teeming over reefs so dense with coral it grows on top of one another. And, um, lots of plastic bags floating on the surface. This is Menjangan Island, one of the most beautiful – and most accessible – dive spots in Bali and, indeed, Indonesia. Popular with snorkellers due to the rich coral life easily visible from the surface, Menjangan provides even more riches for divers only a few metres further down.

In December 2010 I headed to Menjangan Island,which is located near the town of Pemeturan on the north west coast of Bali. I’d previously visited this area in 2007 while writing a Bali Dive Safari story for Sport Diver USA magazine, and only been able to spend a couple of days there.

I’d been so impressed with the spectacular corals at Menjangan and the critter-rich muck diving of Secret Bay and Puri Jati nearby on the mainland that I’d long resolved to return and spend more time there. A mere three years later, I managed it, thanks to a trip organised by my friend Adri and accompanied by Frieda and Brooks. We went with Aquacat who provided an all-in trip including dives, accommodation and transfers to and from Menjangan. This is a typical package most Bali dive operators can provide.

I was a little worried that Menjangan wouldn’t live up to my fond memories second time around. I’d dived in many more places since then, including some of the world’s best like Raja Ampat, Komodo and Palau. However, I soon realised that Menjangan is still spectacular, despite the amount of detritus often seen on the surface (brought in by the tides from the mainland).

Pos Dua is definitely my favourite site at Menjangan, and it’s probably the most famous site here – an abundant shelf of reef in the shallows with abruptly drops into a near vertical wall encrusted with a plethora of corals. Rarely have I seen such a gamut of vivid colour from coral in one concentrated area – it looks like an explosion in a paint factory in some places. The visibiliy was also great, at minimum 20 metres, giving a real sense of the sheer size and complexity of the reef walls.

We dived at Menjangan for two days, returning to Posa Dua twice, and I wished we’d decided to do three days at Menjangan and only one day of muck diving. I was a little addicted to the colour and beauty of the sunlight on Menjangan’s reefs, and the thought of staring at black sand for another couple of days was not particularly appealing.

However, I was excited to arrive at PJs again, the abbrievated form of Pura Jati, the name of a temple that stands within a rice paddie directly behind the dive site. PJs is where I saw my very first mimic octopus, which The site itself is straight off the beach, walking into to gently sloping black sand that besides the ripples left by the tide is featureless.

While the site didn’t yield a mimic this time, we did see plenty including mantis shrimp and pair of somewhat aggressive porcelain crabs.

Secret Bay is the epitomy of muck diving, strewn with trash, cold and murky. We did a ninety minute dive without seeing much and I’d had enough. Sure enough, the second dive of the morning and final dive of the trip saw a discovery of not one but two frogfish and a large school of Banggai cardinal fish rather than the few loners we’d found on the first dive. Rats!

I did feel though that we could have pushed it a little and done two dives at PJ and two dives at Secret Bay in one day if we’d organised it better, leaving a third day at Menjangan. I think I would do the day of muck diving before Menjangan too, saving the best to last, as the colour and corals of Menjangan are just breathtaking.

How To Get To Menjangan
To get direct to Menjangan from central Bali (e.g. Sanur, Kuta or Seminyak) is a three to four hour drive. It’s standard practice for dive shops to organise pick up, minivan transfers, accommodation and diving as one package price. For 14 dives, twin sharing accommodation at the Aneka Bagus 3 star hotel including breakfast, transfers to and from central Bali, the price was 5.6 million Rupiah – around $580 to $600 US. My previous visit to Menjangan had been part of a Bali Dive Safari, exploring Lembongan, Tulamben and Menjangan which lie roughly three hours drive apart from each other. Follow the link for my detailed article about travelling the island to dive all three.

Pemeturan
The town of Pemeturan provides base for travellers to the area, made up essentially of a strip of dive resorts and hotels along the beach. Menjangan Island is a 20 minute drive away and then onto a very basic boat to head over to island’s coastline which is about another 30 minutes or so. 3 dives are punctuated by first surface interval on the boat and then heading to the shore for a packed lunch between the second and third dive.

Flights To Bali
There are numerous international and domestic flights into Bali. Check Skyscanner and Kayak to compare flight times and prices. AirAsia has several budget flights into Bali, but it’s worth checking traditional carriers as they often have special offers.

Bali Hotels
There is a huge amount of accommodation available in central Bali, from humble guesthouses to super-luxury hotels. Check Agoda’s Bali Hotels page for an extensive range of hotels at all budgets which you can book online.

You may also find How Much Do I Need For Bali useful – a rough guide to the cost of living in Bali over on Divehappy’s sister site Travelhappy.

Diving the island pearls of Indonesian Borneo’s coastline – Nabucco, Kakaban, Sangalaki and Derawan – from the Tambora liveaboard: the full text of my article for EZ Dive magazine.

Cuttlefish and Coral, Diving Kalimantan, Indonesia © Chris Mitchell

Indonesia has a “Big 5” list when it comes to choosing a region to dive – Raja Ampat, Komodo, Lembeh and Bunaken, the Banda Sea and Indonesian Borneo. While the first four are all justifiably famous as some of the best places to dive in the world for their various specialities, Indonesian Borneo has largely remained off the diving map over the last few years.

Territorially divided between Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia, Borneo is the third largest island in the world. Sipadan and Lankayan are the most celebrated of Malaysian Borneo’s dive destinations but just a little further along Borneo’s coastline, across the border within Indonesia, lie four islands looping out from the mainland like a pearl necklace that also deserve a lot more attention.

These islands are Nabucco, Kakaban, Sangalaki and Derawan, and they are the draw for a couple of intrepid liveaboards recently entering the region to explore further.

Tambora Liveaboard © Chris Mitchell

In recent years there have been resorts located on several of the islands, and for good reason – each area has four to five days worth of interesting diving in a peaceful, solitary setting. A big advantage of Indonesian Borneo is that it has flat calm waters during April to June and huge blue skies, with barely another soul around. Beneath the surface at Nabucco island, however, is a real adrenaline dive in the form of Maratua Channel, also aptly named Big Fish Country. Head down to 25 metres and a truly massive battery of barracuda, hundreds strong, appears out of the blue. Reef hooks are definitely a good idea, as beneath the barracuda sizeable whitetip sharks patrol. Once divers unhook, there’s an exhilarating drift dive through the channel itself, where the distinct spotted markings of eagle rays occasionally flash by.

A huge battery of barracuda hundreds strong at Big Fish Country (Maratua Channel) © Chris Mitchell

The big advantage of sailing through this region is not only been able to easily dive at all of the island locations, but also to make exploratory forays into new areas unreachable by the resorts. Armed with GPS marks from local guides and advice from fishermen, we spent a couple of days exploring a submerged atoll which sits just off the island of Palau Sambit. The atoll is so big it doesn’t have its own name – instead it has three names for different sections of its horseshoe shaped reef.

Its undisturbed tranquility makes it a haven for turtles, which are a common sight on virtually all of Borneo’s sites. Some of the atoll dives were spectacular – our first, at Lintang reef, felt like dropping off the edge of the planet as the dark blue of the early morning ocean contrasted against the bright white rim of sand that suddenly fell away vertically into nothing. Other dives were not so great, which is to be expected as part of exploratory dives but still means the dive guides can be continually teased about it.

Palau Balembangan © Chris Mitchell

One nearby island, Palau Balembangan, had the sort of reef you dream about diving on – spectacular hard corals so abundant they’re growing on top of each other, not an inch of the slope to be seen anywhere, lots of plate corals and sponge corals, with years of growth evident in their massive sizes, interspersed with lots of feather stars and fans too. The reef on its own would be enough, but making this aquatic landscape come alive were huge clouds of fish too – butterfly fish, fusiliers, zebra fish – all skittering about and chasing through each other. It gave an electric feel to the reef, a sense of real energy in the water. With the afternoon sunrays filtering through the clear visibility, it was a magically lit up kaliedoscope of movement and colour.

Palau Balembangan © Chris Mitchell

Movement of an even rapid kind characterises Kakaban’s signature dive site, Barracuda Point. A lip at 30 metres that requires reef hooks as standard, the ripping current of this dive site brings in big barracuda – each over a metre long – which slice through the blue whilst divers are hanging on for dear life. Whitetips and grey reef sharks are also known to make regular appearances here. Up in the shallows there are a lot of beautiful top side hard corals, which are definitely worth a couple of dives to explore at a more sedate pace. Kakaban itself is actually a large crater of an island, with a non-stinging jellyfish lake located in its centre.

Manta close up, Sangalaki © Chris Mitchell

Sangalaki is famed for its resident manta ray population, although it’s not guaranteed they will put in an appearance. Apparently best spotted between 10 am and 2pm, we had two dives with tantalising glimpses of mantas at the surface and a brief encounter below before our third dive hit the jackpot before we even got in the water. Besides wheeling around cleaning stations, Sangalaki’s mantas like to skim just under the water’s surface to feed on plankton. Hurriedly getting out of our bulky BCDs and grabbing snorkels, we gently eased into the water and were greeted with the sight of two mantas, both three to four metres wide, looping around each other and around us. The sunlight rippled off their jet black bodies as they passed a hand touch away beneath us and disappeared into the greenish gloom before suddenly reappearing a few minutes later on another feeding run. It was an unforgettable encounter which more than made up for seeing little of the mantas whilst down below. Once regarded as one of Borneo’s best dive destinations, it has to be said that Sangalaki’s corals are currently in a poor state and it’s to be hoped that a new resort can be established and full government support given to the operators to enforce and restore the island’s no take zone and allow its reefs to flourish again.

Crocodile Fish, Derawan © Chris Mitchell

While most of our Indonesian Borneo liveaboard had been about big underwater vistas and big creatures – mantas, sharks, barracudas and more – our final few days at Derawan island were a macro enthusiast’s delight. In contrast to the corals of Sambit or Nabucco, Derawan’s coral is quite scrubby and the viz murky on most occasions. However, patience and a magnifying glass yield a lot of surprises, especially with dive guides who know the territory. One particular site, Shipwreck, is so rich in small stuff like nudibranches, flatworms and squat lobsters that there is rarely a quiet moment.

Sunlight on a plate coral bommie © Chris Mitchell

However, the stars of the show at Derawan are undoubtedly the resident jawfish population, who every month release new eggs into the water. The jawfish incubate the eggs within their own mouths which cannot fully shut, presenting divers with what looks like a mouthful of eyeballs as the eggs reach the point where they’re ready to be released. The jawfish release the eggs at full moon each month, and if you do a very early morning dive at 5am you might just get lucky enough to be there when it happens. The jawfish belches the eggs out in a couple of clouds (what a way to be born!) and so begins a new cycle of life on the reef – a tremendous way of ending our Indonesian Borneo trip.

Jawfish with eggs © Chris Mitchell

Jawfish releasing eggs © Chris Mitchell

This part of Borneo is perhaps more subtle in its diving charms than its counterparts elsewhere in Indonesia, but for underwater serenity away from the crowds and the excitement of exploring somewhere that still has yet to give up many of its underwater secrets, it’s a great choice. Here’s hoping the pearls of Borneo get more recognition and protection in the future.

You can see more of my photos from this dive trip on the Scuba Diving In Indonesian Borneo page

Practicalities:
Getting there:
Liveaboards currently depart from and return to Tarakan. Tarakan is a one hour flight from Balikpapan which itself is a two hour flight from Singapore or Jakarta. Silk Air and Mandala Air fly from Singapore to Balikpapan, and Mandala flies from Balikpapan to Tarakan. Booking domestic Indonesian flights from outside the country can be difficult – ask your liveaboard to arrange flights for you.

Entry/ Visa Requirements:
Most nationalities can get a 30 day visa on arrival at Balikpapan Airport. The visa costs $25 US Dollars, which is payable in Rupiah, Dollars or by credit card. You cannot currently get a visa on arrival at Tarakan Airport.

Language:
Bahasa Indonesia is the official language of Indonesia. English is spoken widely, especially on liveaboard boats.

Best time to dive:
Conditions for liveaboards are best from April to June when seas are calm and there is little rain

Currency:
Indonesian Rupiah. US Dollars and credit cards are widely accepted, although check ahead with your dive operator to ensure you take acceptable payment.

Additional information:
Water temperature can be 27 to 30 degrees – a three millimetre suit should be fine, but a additional vest, hood and gloves are worthwhile items to bring too if you feel the cold