Indonesia Liveaboard Diving
Choose where you sleep
- Paisubatu
- Tambora
North Sulawesi abounds with The area around Manado, North Sulawesi, is already well known as one of Indonesia’s top diving locations, most famously the Bunaken Marine Park on the west of the peninsular, and the Lembeh Strait on the east, renowned as the world’s top muck diving spot. Both are easily dived from a base on land.
However, to explore more remotely while still enjoying these top dive spots, a liveaboard could be the way to go… in particular to be able to visit the string of islands leading northwards from Sulawesi’s tip, the Sangihe Talaud archipelago. Add the lesser known but still spectacular dive spots around the Bangka Island on the northern tip of the mainland, and you can take in all of the best that North Sulawesi has to offer.
The topside scenery is dramatic with jungle clad mountains and volcanoes dominating the landscape. Unlike much of Indonesia, Northern Sulawesi’s inhabitants are devout Protestant Christians and a pleasant sense of calm and peacefulness prevails.
Lembeh Strait
The channel separating Lembeh Island from the mainland offers an immense variety of marine life and has become the destination of choice for underwater photographers in search of unique macro subjects: wasp fish, weedy/lacy scorpion fish, pygmy seahorses, mimic octopus, frog fish and nudibranchs to name but a few.
Bunaken & Bangka
Divers joining a dive cruise will also spend time enjoying the world-class diving around Bunaken National Marine Park as well as Bangka Island. Here divers will encounter spectacular walls and reefs of hard and soft corals, an underwater environment that has enchanted divers from all over the globe.
Sangihe Talaud
Then journey further north to a chain of volcanic islands, the Sangihe Talaud Archipelago: dozens of islands, some of which are over fifteen hundred metres high and densely covered by coconut palms. This area has some of the deepest and clearest water on the planet. Some of the highlights include an underwater lava flow, a natural hot spring jacuzzi and a dive at Mahangatang, an underwater volcano which releases silver bubbles into the sea, an unforgettable sight.
Starting from the renowned strait of Lembeh, true macrophotography heaven, the route explores the lesser known parts of Sulawesi, including the Sangihe-Talaud archipelago where underwater underwater volcanos give rise to unique underwater terrain. Here it is possible to observe the different stages of colonisation on the lava boulders along an important boundary area separating the Celebes and Moluccas seas.
The MV Paisubatu is a strong and comfortable 77 feet wooden boat, conceived for dive cruise purpose. She receives 10 guests in 5 double cabins, all opening directly on the main deck and equipped with private bathroom. Traditionally built from Iron wood and launched on 2006, the Paisubatu II offers comfort and charm, with large living open space. The nights are quiet and silent due to special electrical design that allows crew to shut down the generators until the morning. She cruises together with a spacious 50 feet diving boat that brings you to the dive sites in a few minutes ride in absolute comfort.
SPECIFICATION:
Generator: Yanmar 5kw, Isuzu 10kw
Tambora was built by traditional boat builders on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, in the centuries-old tradition of a wooden Phinisi. The design and materials used guarantee immense strength and resilience of all key structural elements, especially the keel, hull and decks. Slight adjustments have been made to the original design, which was geared rather for cargo ships ferrying goods and commodities across the Indonesian archipelago, as compared to a modern liveaboard carrying passengers. Among others, they include a double keel and relatively smaller beam, to minimize rolling of the vessel in heavy seas.
Tambora has been entirely constructed out of iron wood and chosen Javanese teak. While her hull has been painted white, the superstructure, decks and roofs have all been finished with a view towards preserving the natural beauty of the teak wood. All decks and the salon rooftop feature teak parquet flooring. This way, the rustic charm and warmth of a traditional wooden vessel has been preserved. All guest suites and rooms on board have been designed by a renowned Indonesian interior designer, and built-to-design by an experienced interior architect. 
Guest suites are well appointed and tastefully designed in a perfect blend of traditional Indonesian motifs and modern functionality.
Great care has been taken to optimally combine the space and atmosphere on deck with the activities of liveaboard diving. Dinghies are equipped with customised racks to store diver’s gear in between dives; tanks do not need to be carried back and forth but can be re-filled directly on the dinghies. At night and during longer periods of sailing, all gear is stored away from the elements in the dive station. No dive gear is left sitting around on deck.
Spacious ...
All beds longitudinally aligned with the vessel, so our guests sleep in the direction of the vessel movement
Ample storage space for clothes, bags, books, magazines, etc.
Showers in all en-suite guest bathrooms come with individually adjustable hot and cold water
The large salon is well ventilated at most times, but also has its own air conditioning for those rainy days
Noise – as such, or as a consequence of excessive vibration – can seriously spoil life on board. Noise has also been proved to contribute to fatigue and seasickness. Tambora has been designed and built to keep excessive noise under control:
Engine room bulkheads are extra thick to absorb engine noise
Cool ...
All ceilings and decks have been thermally insulated, to prevent the rooms underneath from heating up under the intense tropical sun
Snack prior to the first dive of the day: coffee, tea, fruit juice, milk, toast, selection of biscuits
Dinner: buffet-style, with a different theme every evening
For the time being, there is no way to operate a ship like Tambora without burning fossil fuels – by the ships’ main engine, to thrust the ship forward when there is not enough wind, and by its auxiliary engines to generate the electric power required to illuminate rooms and cabins, keep food fresh, prepare meals, fill dive tanks, and many others. While the usage of diesel cannot (yet) be avoided, Tambora's crew go to length to keep it as low as possible. This means lower carbon emissions into the atmosphere. It also means no need for fuel surcharges.
