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Newsletter July 2006
Special offer in this newsletterThe Seven Seas will be in Komodo till mid-September before crossing the Eastern Indonesian Seas in search of spicy dives around the Banda Seas. We offer the two last spots on the Komodo cruise from August 12-19 (7 nights) and the available spots on the Komodo cruise from August 19-24 (5 nights) at a special discount rate. Contact [email protected] and [email protected] for details. You need to be fast though!Hello again adventure and dive lovers! Promoting Banda Seas cruisesLate September The Seven Seas will cross to the Banda Seas and offer cruises in this historically spicy area. Please check out your and our schedule via www.thesevenseas.net/schedule.php and see if you can join one of these cruises, perhaps the one from October 9-18, which will have onboard some famous underwater photographers and underwater documentary makers! Ron and Valeri Taylor, famous for their shark movies in the early days, when scuba-diving was only just starting; and Doug Seifert who is a renowned underwater photographer and who has documented so many places in Indonesia through publications.The Banda Islands with their smoking volcano are famous for being the source of nutmeg, the 'gold' of the spice trade, sought by the early circumnavigators. The islands were the center of the spice trade wars of the 1600's; a real interesting read is the book "Nathaniel's Nutmeg". We can visit the crumbling remains of early Portuguese and Dutch forts, replete with rusting cannons. Several days are required to explore both above and beneath the waters of Banda. A visit to the King of Banda is possible. Diving is unique and diverse, clear waters, fresh lava flows, great walls and drop offs and some very secret places for muck diving. Check out more via www.thesevenseas.net/dest_banda.html. Conservation and our most recent cruises in Komodo National Park Check out the Komodo National Park website for its latest project on mooring buoys at www.komodonationalpark.org/mooring/mooring0.htm . The Seven Seas also joins this program and donated US$ 1,000 for this initiative that is set-up by marine biologist Helen Newman and the Putri Naga Komodo management. If you're interested, you should also join support Komodo NP management. On our latest cruise, guests were ecstatic by the sheer amount of wonderful marine life on the reefs. Pairs of Giant Cuttle fish, hovering over the reef at Tatawa Besar, changing color and skin texture to make us leave them alone. Giant frogfish at Cannibal Rock, posing patiently for the camera and the smallest prettiest ghost pipefish you can imagine, perfectly photographed by Robert Delfs (ok, about 20 times!) at Yellow Wall. The mantas have moved south again and our group gladly endured the stingy muck in the water near the German Flag, entering the manta highway with about 20-30 animals passing underneath. One of the guests was dubbed The Manta-Whisperer as he had three close encounters with one animal that kept coming back at touching distance! After all this, AND being chased by dragons on Komodo AND hiking up and down Padars' steep rocks, it was good sipping cold white wine on the beach. Komodo gets better and better every time!
The Seven Seas - Kuta Poleng D7 - Jl. Setiabudi Simpang Siur - Kuta 80361 - Bali - Indonesia
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