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The Banda Sea
The Banda Sea surrounds the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. Countless islands, both big and small, many quite remote, dot the Banda Sea. It borders New Guinea to the east, Timor to the south and Sulawesi to the west.
In the center lie the small but historically important Banda Islands. They are the original Spice Islands, once the most coveted destination on earth. They were colonized by the Dutch and the Portuguese who came for the nutmeg and the cloves. One of the Banda Islands, Pulau Run, occupied by the British, was so important to the Dutch at the time that they traded it with the British for Manhattan.
The Diving
The diving is spectacular and very diverse. There is fabulous muck diving with rare creatures as well as diving around offshore reefs with seemingly unlimited visibility and massive coral formations. You dive over lava fields, some still bubbling from below or visit Manuk Island where hundreds of sea snakes share the ocean with you.
The area is most easily visited by liveaboards that pass through the area during March & April and September & October. The islands of the Banda Sea have retained an off the beaten track feel. Nothing better for an exotic ambiance than mooring in a remote harbor having dinner on deck while the wailing voice of the muezzin travels across the water.
