Dive Review of Spice Island Divers Ambon in
Indonesia/Ambon

Other Indonesia reports
Subscriber Content Preview
Active subscribers go here

Spice Island Divers Ambon: "Enjoyable Muck Diving in a Comfortable Resort, but...", Feb, 2024, by Judy Orange, CA, US ( Sr. Reviewer 8 reports with 8 Helpful votes). Report 13077 has 2 Helpful votes.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	This is meant as a 5-day side trip before a 10-day liveaboard to Raja Ampat. Originally I thought of a land-based Raja Ampat resort, but finally chose Ambon because it would offer more diversity. For the most part it was the right choice. We traveled as a diving couple. All flights were booked myself. Getting to Ambon is relatively simple, with direct flight from Jakarta on Garuda, and it was booked online with credit card. The resort is also a 10 min. drive from the airport, and the transfer is provided by the resort. From Ambon there is a direct flight on Lion Air to Sorong where we would board the boat for Raja Ampat. I was able to book it through Nusatrip, paying with a credit card with no problem. There were only two other divers during our stay, and they had been diving for 2 days before our arrival. One from Russia hired a private guide, another from Finland was then given a separate guide with no extra charge. We were also provided with a separate guide without extra charge as we were on different package payment plans. Accordingly we went out on the same boat in 3 separate groups with 3 separate DMs! One day the two divers went on a separate boat for a long range 3-dive trip and we had a boat to ourselves. What a treat! Our ocean front villa is roomy and comfortable, although better lighting would help. Air-conditioned camera room is great, and showers and gear storage facilities are very convenient. Food is tasty in general although lunch and dinner tend to be too spicy. This was mentioned to the staff, but nothing lighter was offered. We saw squid and frog fish of all sizes and colors, nudibranchs, flat worms, slugs, flamboyant cuttlefish, and the highlight was a pair of mating cuttle fish. No Ambon scorpion fish. At dinnertime, everyone showed up with a big smile. Well, our smiles were a bit cut short. Knowing Lion Air from experience and reputation, I checked the flight schedule every day. On the fourth morning at breakfast, our flight to Sorong disappeared from the website! A quick phone call by the resort staff confirmed that our flight to Sorong had been canceled. The noon flight that day was still open, however, and instead of gearing up for our morning dive, we packed up as fast as we could to catch this flight. No, we did not want to miss our boat! Instead of 5 nights, therefore, we ended up staying only 4 nights in Ambon with only 3 days of diving instead of 4 as prepaid. We also had to pay for an extra night in Sorong. No refund from Spice Island Resort was offered. Strangely, at the airport, I found out on the bulletin board that our canceled flight at noon was replaced by a 9am flight same day. In other words we could have stayed the 5th night at the resort instead of rushing to Sorong a day early. Mysteriously we were not informed of this new morning flight by the resort or airline. In fact, a Lion Air staff showed up at the resort to deliver our tickets and to collect a penalty fee for the change even though it was Lion Air that canceled our original flight in the first place. This person never mentioned a morning flight on our original departure day that we could have taken so that at least we could have stayed the 5th night at the resort. The Ambon muck diving was enjoyable, the resort was comfortable, the dive guide arrangement was super, and the short ride to the airport much appreciated. Will we go back to Ambon? hard to say given the mysterious flight issue, but I hope this account may be of a little help to a few others considering this destination.
Websites	[same]
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	California, Papua New Guinea, Red Sea, Fiji, Hawaii, Indonesia, Philippines, Mexico, Panama, etc.
Closest Airport	Ambon	Getting There	EVA from LAX to Jakarta. Garuda to Ambon. Lion Air to Sorong. Garuda to Jakarta. Back on EVA.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	calm, no currents
Water Temp	84-°F / 29-°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	50-70 Ft/ 15-21 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	[Unspecified]
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals	N/A	Tropical Fish	N/A
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	excellent air-conditioned camera room with ample desks and outlets

Report currently has 2 Helpful votes

Leave a comment (Subscribers only -- 200 words max)
Subscribers can comment here

Subscribers can post comments, ask the reviewer questions, as well as getting immediate and complete access to ALL 1528 dive reviews of Indonesia and all other dive destinations. Complete access to all issues and Chapbooks is also included.

All Indonesia Dive Reviews and Reports
Diving Guide to Indonesia
Diving Reviews for All Dive Destinations

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

Page computed and displayed in 0.22 seconds

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

Dive Review of Spice Island Divers Ambon in Indonesia/Ambon

Spice Island Divers Ambon: "Enjoyable Muck Diving in a Comfortable Resort, but...", Feb, 2024,

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 Spice Island Divers Ambon in
Indonesia/Ambon