Main Menu
Join Undercurrent on Facebook

The Private, Exclusive Guide for Serious Divers Since 1975 | |
For Divers since 1975
The Private, Exclusive Guide for Serious Divers Since 1975
"Best of the Web: scuba tips no other
source dares to publish" -- Forbes
X
 

Dive Review of Maluku Dive Resort in
Indonesia/Ambon

Maluku Dive Resort: "Maluku Dive Resort", Apr, 2015,

by Lynn Phillips, CA, US (Sr. Reviewer Sr. Reviewer 9 reports with 3 Helpful votes). Report 8204.

No photos available at this time

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Accommodations 3 stars Food 3 stars
Service and Attitude N/A Environmental Sensitivity 1 stars
Dive Operation 4 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 4 stars
Beginners 3 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments Of course, Ambon is famous for its muck diving, some of which is pretty "mucky," but a lot of which is on sandy slopes with little coral outcroppings, and pretty clean. I had been to Ambon before, but on a liveaboard and had only 4 dives there and wanted to go back. This time I spent 10 nights there. This is a place that you can find every weird critter on your list: Wonderpus, Blue Ringed Octopus, Frogfish, Ghostpipefish, Harlequin Shrimp, Tiger Shrimp, Bumblebee Shrimp, lots of weird crabs, cowries, and of course nudibranchs. We saw over 90 different species (and April is not the best month for nudibranchs here). Maluku Dive Resort is only 10 minutes from Ambon airport; and the resort has an airport agent to meet and escort you to and from the airport. It is, for the most part, a very well set up resort. There are about 10 rooms which are large, mostly separate bungalows that look out over the gardens and ocean from a big covered porch. They are really big, with high ceilings, ceiling fan, AC, big bathroom, very good hot water and water pressure, two large desk areas, coffee making facilities, and a fair number of electrical outlets. This is a buggy place; however, it seems that they have the mosquito problem mostly under control from outdoor spraying. Still, there are ants everywhere inside the rooms. The rooms are stocked with insect killing spray, insect repellant, mosquito coils, etc. There is a loud club right behind the resort which sometimes plays music in the the early morning hours. Food is OK and, except for breakfast which is buffet and to-order eggs, other meals are served plated. Sometimes food for the three of us arrived spaced way apart and some of us might be finished eating before the first course was served to another person. They accommodated vegetarian and vegan diet requests. The dive area is well set up with separate bins for gear and lots of covered drying areas for wetsuits, etc. as well as dedicated rinse tanks for different types of equipment. There are showers, but they are cold. The only toilet available for dripping wet divers is inconveniently located up some stairs and through the salon and dining area. This is the same toilet used by dry people when they are in those areas. We heard there used to be toilets in the dive area, but they were removed to put in a bar. The camera room is conveniently located and spacious. There are three scheduled dives a day with optional night dives at an additional cost. There is a dock, ramp and floating dock where the boats are kept. The divemasters help with cameras, each of which is stored in a soft sided, buoyant, storage bin. No rinse tank on the boats. The divemasters are dedicated to finding anything on your list. There were three of us and we had our own boat, two crew and one divemaster. Dives are supposed to be 75 minutes, but most were 80-90 minutes. Nitrox is expensive here and not really necessary as most of the dives are pretty shallow. We just used air. Yes, we had to pay a lot more attention to our computers during the beginning deeper parts of the dive, but we still came up with half a tank of air after 80 minutes or so. Some of the dive sites are actually under big, docked fishing boats with a lot of garbage, but have a lot of strange critters and swirling schools of small fish. All in all, this is an excellent resort. Although, FYI, the managers who had been there for three years were leaving right after our trip and new managers are there now.

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience Over 1000 dives
Where else diving Everywhere with warm water--multiple times.
Closest Airport Ambon Getting There From a variety of locations in Asia where Garuda, Lion Air, or Batik Air fly from

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, windy, rainy, cloudy, dry Seas calm, currents, no currents
Water Temp 83-85°F / 28-29°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 30-60 Ft/ 9-18 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions No restrictions.
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks None Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles None Whales None
Corals 1 stars Tropical Fish 1 stars
Small Critters 5 stars Large Fish N/A
Large Pelagics N/A

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subject Matter 5 stars Boat Facilities 2 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 4 stars Shore Facilities 4 stars
UW Photo Comments Good rinse tanks and camera room. Guides are familiar with elaborate photo equipment and know how to handle it and how to assist photographers above and below water.
Was this report helpful to you?
Leave a comment (Subscribers only -- 200 words max)
Subscribers can comment here
 

Subscribe Now
Subscribers can post comments, ask the reviewer questions, as well as getting immediate and complete access to ALL 1386 dive reviews of Indonesia and all other dive destinations. Complete access to all issues and Chapbooks is also included.

 
Featured Links from Our Sponsors
Interested in becoming a sponsor?
Reef & Rainforest, Let our experience be your guide -- Reef and Rainforest
Reef & Rainforest
is an agency for travelers that scuba dive. Looking for Biodiversity, critters, Komodo, Raja Ampat, temples? We specialize in adventures to Indonesia.

Want to assemble your own collection of Indonesia reports in one place?
Use the Mini Chapbook Facility to create your personalized collection.

Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

Undercurrent Home


Get more dive info like these and other important scuba updates sent monthly to your email.
And a FREE Recent Issue of Undercurrent

Free Undercurrent Issue
Get a free
monthly email and
a sample issue!


Find in  

| Home | Online Members Area | My Account | Login | Join |
| Travel Index | Dive Resort & Liveaboard Reviews | Featured Reports | Recent Issues | Back Issues |
| Dive Gear Index | Health/Safety Index | Environment & Misc. Index | Seasonal Planner | Blogs | Free Articles | Book Picks | News |
| Special Offers | RSS | FAQ | About Us | Contact Us | Links |

Copyright © 1996-2024 Undercurrent (www.undercurrent.org)
3020 Bridgeway, Ste 102, Sausalito, Ca 94965
All rights reserved.

Page computed and displayed in 0.13 seconds