Spice Island Divers Ambon

There are only two ways to look at the world: either you believe that nothing in the world is a miracle, or that there is nothing but miracles (Albert Einstein)

The Spice Island Dive Resort (SID for short) enchants not only with its wonderland of tiny creatures underwater, but also on land, and so do people give you the feeling of being in Wonderland.

Arrival

If you follow our blog, you already know what's coming… Right, Frankfurt am Main and from, the 12 hours to Singapore. From here as usual to Makassar or Jakarta. Until recently, I personally preferred Makassar. On our return journey, however, I have been taught a better one. After Jakarta has completed the new terminal and has renewed some things (among other things much more modern and significantly shorter routes, which are also better designated), this airport is again high on the agenda for me.

The flight time from Singapore to Makassar or Jakarta, by the way, is hardly different. From Makassar to Ambon it is less than 2 hours. From Jakarta it takes 1.5 hours. Longer

Arriving in Ambon it is less than 10 minutes by car and you are already in the resort.

Facilities

The resort itself has a total of 10 beach bungalows and 5 garden rooms. All rooms have hot water and European toilets as well as European electricity connections with 240V.

All bungalows are equipped with water dispenser, coffee/tea and kettle, ceiling fan, air conditioning, large bathroom with shower and large main room with oversized beds. The beach bungalows also have a spacious terrace and direct sea views. Furthermore, each bungalow has enough space for camera equipment, so there are also enough sockets and storage space. In case of emergency, there is a small UPS system.

For the ladies: I even discovered a hair dryer in one of the numerous drawers in the bathroom. Shower gel and shampoo are available both in the bathroom and at the dive center.

The beach bungalows stand separately and easily offset so the privacy is given. The Garden Rooms are not separated and share a long terrace.

None of the bungalows has a mosquito net over the bed. Incidentally, it is not really necessary either. Somehow there are relatively few mosquitoes on site (compared to some other islands). It is sprayed in the room every day and there are small electronic mosquito repellent plugs. If you still have a burden with mosquitoes, you should take a look at our upcoming article on mosquito repellent.

The air-conditioned camera room for up to 12 people is absolutely ingenious, with plenty of storage space, sockets, towels and compressed air.  

Food / Service

With a lot of love and effort, the food is freshly prepared every day. What is absolutely sympathetic is that you have the opportunity to see the large kitchen from the restaurant. Which, by the way, was a lot of fun watching the guys cook. This is what a normal day of food looked like: the night before, I chose my breakfast for the next morning. No matter what kind of eggs you can imagine, it's possible. Sweet things, such as banana pancakes, toast with jam and or sausage/cheese (please remember the real cheese in Indonesia is not really available. Here it is rather scheibletcheese). But also typical Indonesian things like Bami/Nasi Goreng are offered. Coffee, tea and cocoa are available at the self-service bar. Already here, the well-trained staff makes sure that you really drink enough water. Whether breakfast, lunch or dinner, water is poured until you burst or manage to stop in time.

Usually the staff picks you up before you go to the first dive and asks yourself what you want for lunch. Here you can decide whether you want to eat meat or fish. In addition, there was always soup or salad in advance. As dessert very often fresh fruit or local desserts. 

First of all, I have to say, definitely you should not be deterred by the curious appearance of the typical Indonesian desserts. Try it! In the 3 weeks on site I didn't eat anything that I didn't like. Sometimes strange, sometimes novel but always delicious things.

Don't worry for vegetarians, vegans, people with lactose intolerance or other allergies, special requests are always possible. On arrival, you will be asked directly if you have allergies or special food preferences and on the other hand, if there is really nothing you want, you can always ask for something else.

Dinner: also here, someone catches you before your afternoon dive and asks you about the wishes for dinner. If you shouldn't be in the water in the afternoon, don't worry they'll find you 😉

Please do not misunderstand me at this point. The staff is super attentive and at no time intrusive. rather simply sugar-sweet.

Dinner is also a 3 course menu.

If you are still hungry in between, every afternoon there is a small snack at the self-service bar next to the coffee/tea.

For my part, I am the typical crumb monster, which means: I love cakes and biscuits. One afternoon, when I wasn't diving, which was definitely due to laziness, there was unfortunately no cake at the bar. So I'm back to the bungalow unfinished business to keep my laziness crumbling. Obviously someone saw this and stood 20 min later with warm extremely tasty cake on my terrace.

Oh and before I forget it, between the dives in the morning, there are of course also fruit and cakes 😉

So all in all, if you don't do 3 dives a day, you definitely come back as a ball.

to dive

Why Ambon? 

Anyone who follows our blog knows that we are absolute macro fans. Of course, I'm not averse to a pretty shark or a few pretty fish, but the smaller the wow!

Now that we have visited some destinations that are designated as A muck paradise, such as Lembeh, I have to say quite clearly: For us, Ambon is the better Lembeh! There is nothing you can't find here that the Muck Lover's Heart doesn't want.

My first dive was like this: pure and then: Harlequin Shrimp, Boxer Crab, Blue ringed Octopus, Hairy Octopus, Rhinopias….

But back to how such a typical diving day happens. The first exit (2-tank) starts at 8:30 a.m. with the finish, then off on the boat so that you are in the water at 9 o'clock at the latest. 

Depending on which dive spot you go to, you are already in the water between 5 and 15 min later. I am now describing the official briefing: maximum depth 25 meters (true), maximum dive time 1 hour (not true – but rather to, for us divers, positive).

After the first dive you spend an hour of surface break on the boat with coffee/tea, fruit/cake and then off to the next dive.

After lunch and the obligatory midday sleep, from the afternoon dive, start at 2pm. If you still feel like it, from the night dive or Blackwater Dive from 7 pm. Both are highly recommended!

The most beautiful dive sites for us muck lovers are really hard to spot, because there are many special things to find at each dive site. It's just all the places awesome. If you want Lembeh Feeling, you should definitely dive laha 2/3 and the Twilight Zone.  Coral diving is of course also possible, but you should definitely get out of the bay and join the 3-tank Dive. Absolutely beautiful reefs with a huge 3-sided open cave (so no real cave, but due to these gigantic dimensions it comes quite close to the character of a cave)

Also the house reef (which is also very easy to dive without guide) is a great combination of first Muck and then after approx. 100m beautiful intact corals (here we also found the Psychodelic Frogfish) 

Also recommended Jetty Airport (don't let the name fool you, just near the airport, no real jetty dive). Here's a great mix of everything. One of my absolute favorites. Beautiful sandy, with many blocks on which beautiful little creatures can be found. The whole thing is crowned by a lot of Seagarden Worms and a tiny cave on one of the blocks, where you can basically find either small sharks or blue-spotted rays.

If you want to have Jetty Feeling, you should definitely visit Jetty Air Manis. Here you will find in the typical Jetty Habitat, many small and large critters, as well as large schools of fish between the pillars.

Current can of course also occur, especially at full moon time… you know that. The guides are well trained and if there is any current at the desired dive site, the next one is changed spontaneously within 5-10 minutes and the desired dive site is dived just one hour later.

The Pychodelic Frogfish, what can I say… yes we had him. After all, it is also the highlight that attracts many divers. But what should be clear to everyone is 1. there is no guarantee, because these magic creatures also have their season (approx. October and November) and 2. they are not easy to find even then. We were there completely out of season for this little companion (December/January), nevertheless we had found a juvenile, recognizable by the still green little fins. The guides were really great, everyone did their best to make it possible for us. 

In general, no matter what you want, everyone is doing their best to make your personal wonder world possible.

General conclusion: many ask if you can recommend certain resorts even if the partner does not dive. A very clear yes here! In addition to excursions to Ambon city and great massages, you can simply relax here. Snorkeling is also possible here. The only thing is that you should not take part in the boat tours as snorkelers sometimes, because the Ambon Bay is just the absolute muck paradise and not necessarily every dive site can be snorkeled well. Troztdem you can absolutely relax in the resort. 

Conclusion

For us an all-round perfect holiday that has not left a wish open.