Dive Review of Maluku Divers in
Indonesia/Ambon

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Maluku Divers, Dec, 2012, by Mona Cousens, CA, US ( Contributor 12 reports). Report 7124.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	The first thing you notice arriving at Maluku Divers is the nice view of the ocean. The staff is very friendly and has you fill out your paperwork while they take your luggage to your room. When you arrive on your porch, you have walked over fairly large rocks. There are no walkways, only rocks. in your room, you can see that it is large and well appointed, but it is very dark inside. The walls and floor are concrete. Once sitting on your porch, you realize that there are eight bungalows one right next to the other in a cookie cutter fashion. You have no privacy as your porch and your neighbors’ is within feet of each other. You can hear every word of their conversation. On closer inspection, you see that the beach is non-existent. There is no sand to be seen, only rocks, so you need to have shoes on to go anywhere off your porch or you will cut your feet on the large unevenly shaped rocks. The resort has no landscaping using native plants although they are surrounded by jungle. The center courtyard is only rocks. The builder was at least smart enough to leave the massive mango trees which provide shade to all the bungalows. There is a great camera room off of the dining area and is kept cool and clean. You are given an assigned spot for your stay which includes charging stations with plug adaptors, so no worries for the camera aspect. The diving is mostly muck and is world class. The boat goes out three times per day and you are welcome to book an additional night dive or mandarin fish dusk dive. To get on the dive boat, you must walk down some uneven stairs with a large step into the water at the end. You step onto rocks. I am fairly short, so I had to sit on the last step to get in the water to avoid a sprained ankle as the rocks go all the way to the steps. You need to then wade into the water to the dive boat and climb up the ladder. The dive sites are within minutes from the resort. We saw many different species of frogfish, ghost pipefish, robust pipes, a hairy octopus, devilfish, stonefish, rhinopias, tons of small shrimp and crab, you are kept very busy underwater and the camera will work overtime here. We found three leaf fish in assorted colors within two feet of each other. You will see most of these things on every dive. Just keep your eyes open. The resort is located in an area where there are no other dive resorts. When you go out in your boat, you will be the only ones on that site. There is a massive amount of trash in the water. The water however is clean. While Lembeh has some serious bacterial problems with the water and every time we go there we get skin rashes or staff infection, here the water is clear. It is just filled with plastic trash. Cups, bottles, bags, yogurt containers, sanitary napkins, diapers, you name it. The bay of Ambon has a circular current and the trash just goes round and round. Never out to sea. It is a shame, because the diving is wonderful for muck lovers. I should mention, there is one wall dive within 10 minutes of the resort, and a really great wreck dive, so ask for that if you enjoy wrecks. It is a world class wreck dive. We had read in past reports that the food was not good, but that has been taken care of and the cook worked very hard to produce very nice meals. If something was not to your liking, they would prepare you another dish with a smile. If you have specific food requests, they ask that at the beginning and accommodate you as you wish. The deal about Maluku is this: It is non-owner operated and is in drastic need of some TLC. It is a great place to spend 3-4-5 days before or after a liveaboard trip. It is only 10 minutes from the Ambon airport, so a good transition hotel. There are a number of boats going out of Ambon, but truly, if you are booked in for 13 nights like we were, it becomes rather tedious. We were repeating dive sites on the third day. The way I look at it is: You dive three dives per day so you spend with the time underwater and on boat etc. maybe 6 hours of your day diving. That leaves 18 hours to relax and if you do not enjoy the surroundings or have any beach to walk or pool etc, it becomes boring. At least they could have some decent chairs on the balconies. Or really, some cushions would be good. The view is rather nice if you can see through all the trash. We actually ended up leaving after 7 days (we were booked for 13) and went over to Cape Paperu Resort on Saparua Island. Please see my report on that property.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	All Caribbean, Fiji, PNG, Borneo, Raja Ampat, etc.
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy	Seas	calm
Water Temp	81-84°F / 27-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	50-150 Ft/ 15-46 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	No restrictions but you were crazy not to stay with the guide. You saw EVERYTHING
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish	N/A
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	Your own dedicated space in a clean air conditioned room.

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Dive Review of Maluku Divers in Indonesia/Ambon

Maluku Divers, Dec, 2012,

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

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

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

Dive Review of Maluku Divers in
Indonesia/Ambon