When to Dive Where in Indonesia

Season by season.

WAOW 2 moves through Indonesia with the seasons, so that each region is visited at its best time. Here is where she sails, month by month, and why.

The calendar

WAOW 2 sails Papua and Raja Ampat from November through March, the Moluccas in March and November, the Banda Sea in April, October and November, Sulawesi in March and April, and the Sunda Islands (Komodo, Flores, Alor) in October, November and from April to June.

Months when WAOW 2 sails in each region
Month	Papua	Moluccas	Banda Sea	Sulawesi	Sunda Islands
January	WAOW 2 sails here
February	WAOW 2 sails here
March	WAOW 2 sails here	WAOW 2 sails here		WAOW 2 sails here
April			WAOW 2 sails here	WAOW 2 sails here	WAOW 2 sails here
May					WAOW 2 sails here
June					WAOW 2 sails here
July
August
September
October			WAOW 2 sails here		WAOW 2 sails here
November	WAOW 2 sails here	WAOW 2 sails here	WAOW 2 sails here		WAOW 2 sails here
December	WAOW 2 sails here

No dates have been published yet for July, August and September.

The first season, route by route

WAOW 2 sets sail in October 2028. These are the dates planned for each itinerary in her first season. Bookings open at the Paris Dive Show in January 2027, with online booking shortly after.

Planned departures, 2028–2029
When	Itinerary	Route	Regions
October 2028	West Meets East	Bali → Maumere · 11 days	Sunda Islands
Late October → early November 2028	Spices and Snakes	Maumere → Ambon · 12 days	Sunda Islands, Banda Sea, Moluccas
November 2028	Forts and Forests	Ambon → Kaimana · 12 days	Moluccas, Banda Sea, Papua
Late November → early December 2028	Tale of Two Papuas	Kaimana → Sorong · 12 days	Papua
December 2028 – March 2029	The Four Kings	Sorong → Sorong · 11 days	Papua
From December to February	The Southern King	Sorong → Sorong · 7 days	Papua
March 2029	Coral and Cloves	Sorong → Ternate · 11 days	Papua, Moluccas
Late March 2029	Sultans and Tarsiers	Ternate → Bitung · 11 days	Moluccas, Sulawesi
April 2029	Sponges and Stilts	Bitung → Baubau · 11 days	Sulawesi
Late April 2029	Nirvana and Lava	Baubau → Maumere · 12 days	Sulawesi, Banda Sea, Sunda Islands
May 2029	Volcanoes & Villages	Maumere → Maumere · 10 or 11 days	Sunda Islands
End of May · one departure a year	East Meets West	Maumere → Bali · 11 days	Sunda Islands

Region by region

Papua

Raja Ampat, Misool, Triton Bay

Seasons we are there: November through March.

Diving: Manta cleaning stations, pinnacles thick with schooling fish, wobbegongs and walking sharks, soft coral reefs in Triton Bay, and protected areas with the fish back.

By November the nutrient-loaded water of Triton Bay has usually cleared enough to show what is growing below. From December to March, WAOW 2 sails round trips from Sorong through Raja Ampat and Misool. The water is warm, often 29 or 30°C (84-86°F).

Typical routes:

Forts and Forests · Ambon → Kaimana · 12 days
Tale of Two Papuas · Kaimana → Sorong · 12 days
The Four Kings · Sorong → Sorong · 11 days
The Southern King · Sorong → Sorong · 7 days
Coral and Cloves · Sorong → Ternate · 11 days

Moluccas

Ternate, Tidore, Halmahera, Ambon

Seasons we are there: March and November.

Diving: Untouched reef with no boat traffic, exceptional macro and mandarinfish, reef sharks, seasonal hammerheads and threshers, and genuine exploratory diving.

WAOW 2 crosses the Moluccas twice in a season: in November, between the Banda Sea and Papua, and in March, between Raja Ampat and Sulawesi, along Halmahera, a coastline still barely represented on dive maps.

Typical routes:

Spices and Snakes · Maumere → Ambon · 12 days
Forts and Forests · Ambon → Kaimana · 12 days
Coral and Cloves · Sorong → Ternate · 11 days
Sultans and Tarsiers · Ternate → Bitung · 11 days

Banda Sea

The historic Spice Islands

Seasons we are there: April, October and November.

Diving: Schooling hammerheads in season, pelagics on isolated seamounts, sea snake islands, intact reefs and giant sponges, and long stretches of blue water.

The monsoons decide everything here. What opens the region are the transitions between the two: roughly April and May, and again from the middle of September into November. Those are the weeks when the sea lies down, the visibility comes up and the isolated sites become reachable. It is also, not coincidentally, when the hammerheads show up.

Typical routes:

Spices and Snakes · Maumere → Ambon · 12 days
Forts and Forests · Ambon → Kaimana · 12 days
Nirvana and Lava · Baubau → Maumere · 12 days

Sulawesi

Lembeh, Gulf of Tomini, Wakatobi

Seasons we are there: March and April.

Diving: A submarine volcano you can dive, Lembeh muck, Gorontalo's sponge wall, Togian atolls and a shallow bomber, Banggai's endemic cardinalfish, and the clear water of Wakatobi.

WAOW 2 sails Sulawesi in March and April, from the black-sand macro diving of Lembeh through the Gulf of Tomini to Wakatobi. Sulawesi is also where she is being built, in the boatyards of Bira: see what a phinisi is.

Typical routes:

Sultans and Tarsiers · Ternate → Bitung · 11 days
Sponges and Stilts · Bitung → Baubau · 11 days
Nirvana and Lava · Baubau → Maumere · 12 days

Sunda Islands

Komodo, Flores, Alor, Bali

Seasons we are there: October, November and April to June.

Diving: Manta stations, whale sharks at the bagans, soft coral walls in the south, clean black sand macro, and night dives people talk about for years.

North coasts tend to be warm and clear, southern coasts richer and greener, and the two trade places through the year. We sail this region in the weeks when both halves are at their most enjoyable at the same time. Around Alor and Solor, the strongest upwelling has eased and the water has warmed by April and May. In Komodo, October marks the end of the dry season.

Typical routes:

West Meets East · Bali → Maumere · 11 days
Spices and Snakes · Maumere → Ambon · 12 days
Nirvana and Lava · Baubau → Maumere · 12 days
Volcanoes & Villages · Maumere → Maumere · 10 or 11 days
East Meets West · Maumere → Bali · 11 days

Dates and routes can still change before bookings open. See all destinations or write to us at info@waow.ch.