UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY: 2017 Forgotten Islands to Raja Ampat

Availability on what is arguably the most adventurous, diverse and remote cruise on the menu. Kris-crossing the Forgotten Islands, hopping from one island to the next through the eastern Banda Sea, visiting the Spice Islands, stopping over at Koon with “Too Many Fish”, and ending up in the already legendary Raja Ampat archipelago off South Eastern Misool. We are offering this cruise only once a year during the best possible season. From Saumlaki to Sorong, next year, in 2017, is your chance. This trip is sold out of course for 2016, was sold out already for 2017, and it is sold out even for 2018. If you think that’s a long way out to book a trip, we have a hold on this same charter even for 2019! But now we have it available again for 2017! From November 22 to December 7, this 15 nights cruise is the most demanded and rarest trip we have on offer. NOW is a good time to consider it...

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Ambon to Flores. Banda Sea with Seven Seas, April 27 - May 13 2016

By Wendy Morris. Photos by Wendy Morris & Hayley Baillie.

An eclectic group from all over the world converged aboard Seven Seas in Ambon to join underwater pioneer and still elegant explorer, Valerie Taylor on a 16 day voyage through the rarely visited inner arc of the tiny islands of the Banda Sea. Valerie and her husband Ron were made honorary citizens of Banda 25 years ago when they spent several weeks in the area. Since then Valerie has returned more times than she can remember, bringing again some old friends and making some new ones, on one of the most spectacular underwater adventures on the planet.

The reason this itinerary is so special is that the Banda Sea is close to the Wallace Line (named after Alfred Russell Wallace who is revered by many as the original "thinker" on evolution and the mechanisms by which it occurs (survival of the fittest). Here is where the Indian Ocean meets the Pacific in a swirling mass of life - a cauldron of genetic diversity that is a key refuge for much of our coral reef fauna for both oceans. Rich in every form of tropical marine life through its varied habitats, it's deep trenches and reef arcs have been a haven during previous climate and sea level changes for millennia.

For an extraordinary 16 days our voyage crossed sapphire expanses of ocean, "Banda Blue", to spend each day exploring the grand in scale, the minute and the everything in between - of the marine world.

» CLICK HERE FOR WENDY'S FULL TRIP REPORT & MORE PHOTOS

Testimonials

LAST CHANCE for a 2016 RAJA AMPAT CRUISE with the Seven Seas!

This year, December 12-24, Sorong to Sorong. And Seven Seas can help you with a great plan for Christmas in Bali after that!

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Raja Ampat & Banda Sea, 10-25 April 2016

By Seven Seas Guest. Photos by Jeff LaFrenz & Ronnie Heng.

My travels with the Seven Seas have taken me to some of the most spectacular places on the planet - Komodo, the deep South, Raja Ampat, Banda and the myriad islands South of Flores. Aboard her, I have watched volcanoes spew blood and guts into the night sky, have witnessed age old ceremonies by almost forgotten tribes, and walked amongst dragons. The Seven Seas brought me back to diving, but has also brought me back to life. I have returned to her after the particularly challenging events in my life - a miscarriage, a death, a failing marriage, and each time, I have left with my wounds healed, my sadness alleviated, my heart alive once more.

This trip, I came to the Seven Seas in recovery from decades of addiction, the battle mostly won but a long journey ahead. I have been taught me that in my recovery, I should seek out the corollary of everything that gave me the most pain during my addiction. Instead of fear, I should seek faith, instead of emptiness, connection, instead of anxiety about the future, an ability to stay present. I came to the Seven Seas seeking a new perspective, a refill for my soul, and the company of friends and strangers. I had no idea that the Seven Seas journey itself would assist me in my recovery journey in ways I could never previously have anticipated.

We dive one afternoon amongst a ball of scads, a boiling, rolling, twisting and turning vortex of fish, a swirling mass of synchronicity. I am caught amongst them and find myself eyeball to eyeball with a teeming horde. I suddenly experience a stillness within the maelstrom, an ability to find strength even amongst the chaos. Later, during another dive, I am mesmerized by a confetti of anthias, and revel in the sheer joy and happiness and strange feeling of almost belonging. I feel connected for the first time in a long time, as if somehow in the almost belonging, I have found my true home. That night, drunk on fish - anthias and scads, crocodile fish and woebbegongs, we too whirl like dervishes under the night sky, dancing on deck like crazy wild things until our heart feels like bursting. I realize that this is the happiest I have been in decades, and that the last time I danced this hard, it too was on the Seven Seas. It seems appropriate that on this day, of all days, I saw my first disco clam.

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Good news for Indonesia's manta rays - A New Day in Lamakera

Manta rays are safe inside Misool Eco Resort's No-Take Zone, but oceanic mantas roam far. That's why Misool Eco Resort's charitable foundation, Misool Baseftin, has started a manta conservation project in Lamakera, a small village in central Indonesia. It's estimated that this tiny village could be responsible for up to one-third of the global manta kill. It's now illegal to hunt or trade in Manta Rays in Indonesia. Together with WildAid, Reef Check Indonesia, and the Indonesian Manta Project, the Lamakera manta conservation project is working hard to transition this community to sustainable fisheries, tourism, and manta research.

For more information about Misool Baseftin's project, their recent successes and current focuses please read A New Day in Lamakera (PDF), and watch the video below.

Misool Baseftin's Manta Conservation Project in Lamakera