Ankermi Happy Dive Center

Dive Sites Maumere Bay, Flores

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The Diving

Maumere Bay is an extensive, beautiful bay surrounded by volcanoes and gentle hills and rimmed by islands. Maumere Bay encompasses the whole area around Maumere town, all the way to the East until Tanjung Darat and including the islands of Besar, Dambilah, Pangabatang, Babi and Pamana. Diving here is very good, mostly coral reefs around the islands but also excellent muck diving in Ankermi's Bay.

Dive Sites

There are over 30 dive sites (see our main website for a description of all and a map). Here an example of a few:

THE CHANNEL (PANGABATANG ISLAND)

A slope down to 30m depth, a continuous white sand bottom channel, framed by beautiful coral gardens and a steep wall continuing deep down, covered with big Gorgonian fans, sponges, hydrozoans and hard corals.
Most times there is a strong current here, so there is a good chance to see big fish. Eagle rays glide in the current, reef sharks and big dog tooth tunas are spinning around, hammerhead sharks and turtles show up to hunt and hide. In shallower waters we often find crocodile flatheads, ghostpipe fishes, ribbon eels, frogfishes, many kinds of scorpionfishes, cuttlefish, nudibranchs and flatworms etc. etc. Bumphead parrotfish often accompany the divers on their safety stop.

THE CRACK (BABI ISLAND)

The crack is the most visible remain of the earthquake of 1992. The reef has been ripped apart here, a crack of about 50cm width has been formed and you can follow it all the way towards the beach. As a diver you can see, that the crack widens deeper down and forms a small cave from where you can see all the way to the surface. Corals grow in it and a lot of reef fish find shelter here. After a close look at this testimony of earths forces we continue the dive on a steep wall, full with coral growth, mostly hard corals, large sea fans and many fishes darting around. As we look down into the depths we can spot reef sharks and rays. The wall also hosts many kinds of smaller life like nudiranchs, leaf scorpionfishes, eels and morays, octopus, lobsters and the resident frogfish or two.

MARAGAJONG (PULAU BESAR)

This dive sites starts with a slope, then a platform on about 14m and continues to an endless wall (40m down or more). Giant sea fans, soft corals in all shapes and sizes, anemones, black coral, hydrozoans, a wide selection of sponges and different species of hard coral. Butterfly fishes, emperor fishes, ghostpipe fishes, different nudibranchs, turtles, bumphead parrotfishes etc. This is the place for big schools of mackerels and tunas, spinning around you but it is also nice to enjoy the lush coral growth in the shallow parts.

PONDOK TANJUNG DARAT (MAIN LAND)

We descend from a mini wall and pass a big bommie situated on a platform on 18m and continue down to a steep wall which “floor” you can't see. You will find big groupers and sweetlips, several species of bannerfishes and butterfly fishes. The wall is covered with black corals, hydrozoans and sponges as well as many species of hard corals. Octopus, blue spotted stingrays, eels, morays, nudibranch, shrimps and many more animals find shelter here. Back on 18m- 14m there is a platform with large coral formations, bommies, sponges and table corals with baby sharks sleeping underneath. A good place to drift with the current and search for scorpionfishes, leaf scorpionfishes, barramundi cods, mandarin fishes, pygmy seahorses and cuttlefish, just to name a few.

MUCK DIVING IN ANKERMI'S BAY

In the mid 90’s we started exploring around Ankermi’s river beds, mudflows, sand, rocky areas, algae fields and sea grass fields. What we found there was incredible - Ambon scorpionfishes, mimic octopus, wonderpus, bobtail squids, frogfishes, skeleton shrimps, wasp fishes, ghost pipe fishes, pipe horses, seahorses, special scorpionfishes, flying gurnards, several species of dragonets, bobbit worms and many more critteres were living in the muck just on our doorstep!

NIGHT DIVES

This place is not only famous for the great muck but also for night diving. Bobtail squids, all sorts of octopus, squids, cuttlefish, crocodile flathead juveniles, nudibranchs, slugs, flatworms, shells, arrowhead crabs, shrimps etc. can be spotted here at night. Night dives are so interesting, that you want to prolong it for as long as possible!

WAIRTERANG WRECK (ANKERMI'S BAY)

The Wairterang wreck is located close to the Ankermi Resort. This is a Japanese ship-wreck from the World War II, we don’t know exactly if it was a freighter or a controller. The wreck lies on its side from 12m–32m depth, it is twisted and iron spruces and doors are clearly visible, some overgrown with hard and soft corals. Schools of trevallys, mackerels, groupers and batfish swim around its surface and the wreck is a perfect hiding place for all kinds of marine animals: Mantis shrimps, octopus, scorpionfish, stonefish, lionfish, twin-spot lionfish, different nudibranchs, pipefishes, morays, ghostpipefishes, frogfishes and a large variety of shrimps.

Gallery on our main webpage

Address:
Ankermi - Happy Dive
Watumita, Flores, Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia

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