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| Newsletter January 2013 |
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HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OUR DIVING AND CRUISING BUDDIES! Celebrate with Mark Heighes in Komodo: Seven Years on the Seven Seas!!!Coming May 5-17 we will celebrate on the Seven Seas in Komodo, where it all began, on a cruise lead by Mark Heighes, Seven Years on the Seven Seas! Happy Hour from 5pm to 7pm on this trip! Seven great years we have had so far, starting April 2006 with itineraries spanning the vast archipelago of Eastern Indonesia, each time returning to Komodo and each time surprised again with what this area has to offer. The favorite destination of the owners since 1995, on this trip we will also visit Banta Islands and the productive critter areas of Bima Bay. Join Mark and the Seven Seas crew on this trip during the beautiful month of May, with both northern and southern sites accessible. We have 3 cabins left available on this cruise, including the 2 larger twin cabins and a nice double cabin with king size bed. This will be a blast, don't miss it!
Seven Successful Seasons with 777 TestimonialsSeven Seasons were successfully concluded in Komodo, Raja Ampat, East of Flores and the Banda Sea. The 777 guest testimonials in our on-line guest book will take you on a time-travel journey through these years and will show how our guests experienced their cruises, without us having to add much to that. But check out also some of the great illustrated trip reports, the photo galleries by our guests as well as some of the fantastic videos that were put together on our cruises.
Itineraries for 2013-2015Years of exploratory diving (starting almost 20 years ago, using many different small boats for our private explorations) in the Deep South of Komodo during the North West Season, in the Eastern part of the Nusa Tenggara island chain throughout the year and in the South Eastern Banda Sea during the inter-monsoon period in November, recently lead us to adjust our schedules for coming seasons to include more cruises in the Deep South of Komodo and Nusa Tenggara Timor, in the incredibly varied island chain East of Flores and into the Forgotten Islands of South Maluku. Click here for an overview of the map of Eastern Indonesia with our main destinations. See the following pages for information on some of our top destinations for 2013-2015: Join us where the rest will Follow
The East of Flores and Forgotten Islands itineraries have been astonishingly successful and many other boats are scrambling to copy our itineraries there. No harm done, the area is HUGE, reefs and dive sites are many and in great condition, dive boats still few and far between. We expect that to remain like this in the coming years, as it is remote and not that easy to operate in. We'll do the Forgotten Islands only in November-December in the coming years, having studied weather patterns carefully and taking into account the characteristics of the islands and their surrounding waters. The Eastern part of the Island chain of East Nusa Tenggara, from Flores up to Wetar, is what we refer to as East of Flores. An incredible itinerary where we can operate year round, choosing northern and/or southern routes based on local conditions, and coming across anything from the smallest critters to the largest whales not just occasionally but pretty much on every trip where we look for them. Check out the crocodiles in Wetar for those interested. All that easily accessible from Maumere, Flores, amidst the most stunning volcanic scenery that the ring of fire has to offer. Cruising the Deep SouthIn December of this year we will be doing some more additional exploration in the Deep South, adding the stunningly beautiful coast of South Flores to a Deep South itinerary that will start in Larantuka, on the East side of Flores, pass via the relatively unknown South East of Flores to some of our recently discovered sites on the South West side of Flores, via Gili Motang and the remote and rarely visited areas of South East Rinca through the rest of South Komodo to end in Labuan Bajo. December 9-21! After that, over Christmas and New Year, we will celebrate the Holidays as well as the start of our first full Deep South Komodo season. A string of charters have been booked for the Deep South all through January, February and March of 2014. Some may still have cabins available so check them out and join them to South Komodo!
New ExplorationsKeep an eye on this one: together with a team of scientists and marine conservationists we will start exploring the Savu Sea in detail beginning late 2014!! We'll be back to you with our findings on East Sumba, Savu, Roti and other sites in that region by the end of next year. If you want to be bold: talk to us about 2015! Schedule and Prices 2013-2015Tentative cruises have been scheduled into early 2015 and we are very happy to report to you that we will be keeping our prices right through 2015 unchanged, with free Nitrox, all port and park fees included and no fuel surcharges! Check it all out in our on-line schedule and on the rates page for the coming years. The Banda School Project and New Community Projects for 2013-2015The Banda School Project is going full steam and will be continued in coming years. Your funding supports transport for kids from outer islands to the school on the main island, currently provides a grants for a female student from Banda to study marine biology and conservation at the University of Makassar. Most recently our Banda project has started to provide English classes to school kids from these Islands. For the coming years we intend to continue the project in Banda and to add one or two small community projects in the Komodo and/or East of Flores areas where we will be spending lots of time in the next 3 years. YOUR IDEAS for small projects are very welcome, especially when funding can be pledged. We will select one or two new projects in the next couple of months, based on what we feel we can contribute at a local level and hopefully supported with your suggestions!
HOPE TO HAVE YOU WITH US FOR THE NEXT SEVEN YEARS! THE SEVEN SEAS TEAM
The Seven Seas - Grahalia Tiying Gading 18, Suite 1 - Jl Tukad Pancoran
Panjer Denpasar 80225 - Bali - Indonesia |
