The island of Ambon is located south of Seram Island in Central Maluku. The size is about 761 sq.km, which makes it an extreme by dot in the world map. The island is shaped like 2 horseshoes clinging together creating 2 peninsulas only tied by a small passage at only one mile wide between the Inner and the Baguala bays. The north-Western part is called the Leihitu Peninsula is larger then the south-eastern which is the Leitimor Peninsula though much of the population is centered in the latter. The original inhabitants of the Maluku archipelago are descended from the Austropolynesian race - a mixture of Austronesians and Polynesians (There you go John! Your theory is in fact true!). Around 43, 5% of the total population Christian, 55, 8% Moslem, and the rest are Hindu and Buddhist.
Zombie night
Almost midnight flight from Jakarta. Transit in Surabaya for an hour filled with glasses of Chivas. Flight to Ambon takes 2hr n 30min. The plane was bloody cold! It was freezing down to the bone! Couldn't sleep at all. Arrived in Ambon at 7 in the morning. Quickly got off from the plane, can’t wait to feel the sun. Freshly new and modern airport. The aquarium glass wall and parquet ceiling. You could see the beach from the runway with coconut trees on the side. Bus picked us up to the Maluku Divers in Latuhalat village near Namalatu beach.
Took the ferry ride. Slept right through! Greeted with cold wet towel and breakfast which was really nice. Decided not to go on the 11am dive, I’m just not a morning person! Especially with the considerably poor amount of sleep. Quickly dozed off and woke up around 1.30. The thought of more sleep tempted me, but then went diving instead. The underwater world in Ambon is so amazing. Colorful sea squirts, healthy corals, lots of fishes and nudis. The night dive is EXCELLENT! Listed one of the best! So many things to see yet so little time. Surfaced and greeted by beautiful twinkling starry sky. Place to crash is very homy. Foods are great with yummy snacks. Full tummy and off to bed. Darn no signal!
Village visit
Started early in the morning. 3 dives for the day. Visited Kilang and Natu beach for surface interval. Bubbly children made the afternoon quite merry. They happily climbed the coconut trees for us. Spotted the wobbly young manta ray jumping in and out the sea. Quite a performance! Were clapping frantically. Decided not to do a night dive at all. After shower, four of us walked up the hill to the nearest village. Quite hard to keep up with 3 ‘bule’ guys. No matter how fast I walked, I couldn’t keep up with them and their long legs. Some fancy ‘becak’ with full on sound system and disco lights. Turn the volume up and start pumping. Apparently this full entertainment becak is Latuhalat village’s specialty. Stopped for drinks at a small ‘warung’. We quickly became the centre of attention. Chatted a little bit, then walked back to the resort for dinner.
Brief city tour
Another full on day dive. Shipwreck dive at Wayame. Huge supply ship during the WW II. 2 frog fishes at the site. The big red grayish and tiny white clown frogfish. Scorpion and crocodile fishes plus one overly fat white nudi. Spotted 2 big b ump heads on the second five. They were in action moshing their forehead to the corals. Awesome!
Awfully dirty sea with rubbish from Ambon city. Spotted a copycat HOLYWOOD signage in one of the beach.
Skipped the third dive and went off to buy some Ice cream (successfully invoking the others for a need of an ice cream. God I’m GOOD! ;p) The ride to Ambon city took around 30 mins. Checked out local supermarket, the bules needed to get some caps to protect their already burned nose. We can already feel the Christmas ambience. Starting with our driver in keep on playing the Christmas tunes and the boogying Santa Claus in the supermarket. Visited Pattimura statue in the city centre and Martha Christina Tijahahu statue up the hill. Such a nice view of the bay and the buildings from up the hill. Fransiscus Xavier Catholic Church is truly a piece of art. White tall building with the Saints statues lining up as decoration and hanging crystal lights, almost like the Davinci building in Jakarta. Back to the resort and another night dive. My flashlight died on me under water, bummer! Luckily someone got backup. Dinner at Pak Agus’ ‘informal bar’ with some beers and entertainments from the dive crew. Boy they can sing! Magical performance from Yanes. Claimed to be the Seram island specialty. Seram literal Bahasa translation is “scary”.
Last day dive
3 last dives for the trip. Did only 2. Took some nap after the second dive. Another trip to the Ambon city. The road wiggles next to the sea. Breathtaking view seeing the transformation from the clear blue sky to the orangey sun set. Stopped to see some children playing the Tarzan style swing, jumping off to the water by the beach. Oleksy took up the challenge and got wet. In fact he was also climbing the coconut tree in one of the beach during our surface interval. Did not manage to get to the top though but still salute for him!
Saturday nite at Ambon city was merry. Everyone was out on the street. Nice drive, unfortunately couldn’t find pisang ambon liquor that we were looking for. Bought some martabak instead. The last night feast. Fresh tuna sashimi and colo-colo (probably from the giant tuna we saw this afternoon). Wrapping the night off with singing and dancing. Maluku divers crews are clearly offering world class service. They took extra effort in making sure our stay is a pleasant one. The attention to details such as clean dry towel on the boat is excellent.
Limbo journey to Jakarta
Checked out local church in the morning. Cute children choir and trumpets performance from the old men. Finalizing the pack up and off we go to the airport for 3pm flight. The route for the day was Ambon – Makassar – Jakarta. Couldn’t land in Makassar due to the heavy rain. The plane was flying in circle motion for almost 20 minutes which was quite worrying. We were re-routed to Denpasar instead. Waiting anxiously inside the plane, we tried to get a new direct flight to Jakarta from Denpasar. We did not take it in the end since we couldn’t refund our current ticket. Landed in Makassar at about 7pm. Run off to the nearest restaurant and had our dinner in fast mode since our flight will be boarding in 15 minutes time. It turned out to be a false alarm. Killed time by playing Uno. At 8 we boarded the plane once again only to wait for almost an hour inside the plane. Airport was closed due to Indonesian VVIP leaving the city then followed by the engine breakdown from our plane. We then hushed back to the airport and waited there endlessly without any clear explanation. Situation was almost chaotic. Lots of flights were being delayed with no clear reasons. People were complaining and shouting. Finally we left Makassar at almost midnight and landed in Jakarta at 2 am in the morning! A tiring and stressful journey back home. But the trip was worthy, for me to ponder when dullness strikes me.
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