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How to get to Happy Dive

LOCATION

Ankermi / Happy Dive Resort is 29 km away from the Maumere town center on the eastern side of Flores Island. Our resort lies right at the beach surrounded by a rice field, banana trees, coconut trees and a bamboo forest.

HOW TO GET TO ANKERMI/ HAPPY DIVE

With this information you will find us:

ANKERMI/ Happy Dive (Egon Cottage)

29km east of Maumere (on the Trans- Flores Highway to Larantuka) to Watumita village

What to bring?

• Accommodation: Everything necessary is there (for example mosquito nets)
• Money: We only accept cash (Dollars, Euros, Rhupias) - we don't accept any credit cards or traveler checks. Important: the banks (and we also) accept only bills which look new (clean, not ripped, folded a lot, no handwriting on them etc.). With dollars they are specially restrictive!
• Diving: We have all the equipment you need for diving, but we use the international adaptors; we have no DIN for the first stages (please bring along your own adapter!)
• Snorkeling: you can rent masks, snorkels and fins
• Electricity: We have 12 to 14 hours of electricity starting around 17h in the evening until the morning. Time enough to charge your batteries and other equipment. There are lamps in the bungalows and on the balconies good enough to read or to watch your underwater photos on your computer.

FLORES ISLAND- INDONESIA

Ankermi Happy Dive Resort lies east of Maumere towards Larantuka

FROM THE AIRPORT TO OUR RESORT

If you advice us before arrival it is possible to organize a pick up at the airport for you. Otherwise just take a taxi outside the baggage claim area and tell the driver to bring you to Ankermi in Watumita. The taxis cost Rp. 100.000 to Rp. 150.000. Maumere airport has not a very good, friendly reputation as the drivers are shouting around and fighting to get passengers. For the taxi drivers it seems to be some kind of game to be loud to each other and to the customers - to local passengers too! Don’t get upset, just choose a friendly driver, there are many of them.

Don’t let them hassle you. You don’t need to make any arrangements for overland tours or trips in a hurry. We don't do tours, but we can help to organize your trip in peace and comfort.

If you want to reach us by public bus you have to walk out of the airport or hire an ojek (motorbike taxi) to the Lokaria terminal. From there you can take a village bemo straight to WATUMITA, Ankermi. Most of the local mini bus drivers know us. The ojek is Rp. 3000 to the Lokaria terminal and the bemo (mini bus) to Ankermi's is Rp.5000.

ARRIVING BY BUS

If you arrive by bus in the town terminal (west terminal) coming from Ende, you can take a city bemo or ojek to Lokaria terminal (Rp. 3000) and then again the village bemo. If you take the ENDE- LARANTUKA bus instead of the Ende-Maumere bus you don’t need to get off the bus in Maumere, you can stay in the bus until Watumita- Ankermi, as the busses which drive all the way to Larantuka, passing by our Resort.

If you arrive by bus from Larantuka, simply tell the bus driver to stop at Watumita- Ankermi. Coming from the east, we are located nearly 30 km before Maumere town.

FLIGHTS

Merpati airlines and Trans Nusa airlines are serving Maumere with daily flights to and from Surabaya, Denpasar, Sumba and Kupang and some smaller airports in Flores like Ende and Ruteng. Schedules always change and also the prices vary due to the rising prices for fuel in Indonesia.

At the moment there is only Merpati flying to Maumere from Denpasar (via Sumba) and to Kupang on a daily schedule. This information can change anytime, nearly every month schedules change or departure times change. Sometimes additional airlines start operating and then again stop after just a short period of time. Only Merpati so far has always been operating Denpasar-Maumere. Airfares vary often too. The price from flying from Bali to Maumere is approx. Rp. 1.200.000.- (July 2008). For dive luggage exceeding 20 kg you have to pay an overweight charge.

As of 2010 Batavia Air is daily flying the following route: Surabaya- Denpasar- Kupang- Maumere- Kupang- Denpasar- Surabaya. Prices from Rp. 947.000. Perhaps coming June Wing Air will also fly to Maumere.

With the above in mind, plan at least one extra day between local flights and your international departure!!

We are happy to help you to reconfirm or purchase your ticket (domestic flights only).

PELNI BOATS AND FERRIES

The Indonesian passenger line ships PELNI are serving Maumere with the “Awu” and the “Tatamailau” ship. They are coming from Bali and continue to Kupang and Sulawesi or up to Irian Jaya. For detailed schedules please ask in the harbor of departure. From Larantuka there are the “Sirimau” and the “Awu” going eastwards or up to Sulawesi. There are a few ASDP ferries from Kupang to Larantuka and from Kupang to Alor, Rote, Savu, Sumba etc. There are also several smaller ferries traveling between the islands in the eastern part like from Larantuka to Lewoleba, ferries between Ende and Sumba or Aimere to Sumba.

In bad weather conditions like the west monsoon or if there are very strong winds the little ferries may not operate. Please be flexible enough and plan some extra time to travel.

MONEY CHANGING

The exchange rate in Maumere banks (BNI and DANAMON) to US dollars and Euros is not as good as in Bali or Java. There are bank machines (ATM) to get money with your credit card. Cash advances with your credit card at the bank are not possible anymore please be prepared.

WEATHER

Our resort and Dive Center is open all year round. In general there is no problem to dive in the dry season between April until December. November is our hottest month, when winds stop and humidity rises. There is usually a little rain in October and some more in December. The real west monsoon passes through usually in January and February. The waves are too high, the sea too rough so in this time we mostly can’t go out for diving with the boat to the islands.
We have noticed some changes of the weather conditions during the seasons (El Nino, global warming, lots of rain, hardly any rain) and therefore there is no rule without exceptions…

HEALTH

The nearest recompression chambers (deco chamber) are in Bali and Makassar (Ujung Pandang, Sulawesi) and oxygen is only sometimes available here in Maumere. Please keep this in mind and only do non-decompression dives!

All our beds have mosquito nettings, so you are well protected from mosquito bites. There is also always a slight wind, so we generally have only a few mosquitos.

However in Indonesia as in other parts of South East Asia it is possible to get tropical diseases like Malaria and Dengue fever as well as other tropical diseases. Please check with your doctor, whether it is necessary to take precautions. Please note that if you dive some medicaments are not recommended!

Maumere has a government hospital and there are several catholic health care centers and smaller hospitals in the area, a very good catholic hospital is in Lela, a village about 1,5hrs. away from Ankermi Resort. The catholic hospitals are very well equipped and clean and do blood checks (Malaria tests etc.) and cure the simpler diseases. To have an operation done or if special care is needed, it is wise to go to Jakarta, Bali or better abroad, to Singapore or Kuala Lumpur.