Destinations  /  The Coral Triangle  /  Ambon
Destination

Ambon

Indonesia

Harbour muck, psychedelic frogfish, and rhinopias in season. Shallow and rarely crowded.

Season
Oct–Apr
Water
26–29 °C
Visibility
5–15 m
Typical depth
5–25 m
Species recorded
263 of 1316
Sites
24 named
DE-01
ambon · harbour silt · jetty pilings · wide
16:10 · min 2400px

What the diving is like

Muck diving inside a large harbour, which is exactly what it sounds like. Ambon Bay is a long drowned inlet that almost cuts the island in two, narrowing partway along its length so that the inner bay exchanges its water slowly. That is why the silt stays where it is and why visibility in the bay is rarely good. The Laha sites run along the shore below the airport road on steep grey silt littered with domestic debris. The bottom is soft, and a fin stroke lifts a cloud that takes minutes to settle, so buoyancy matters more here than on the coarser black sand elsewhere. The structure is whatever has been thrown in — bottles, tyres, rope, netting, fallen branches — and it is on and under that structure that the animals are. Most of the productive ground is shallow, the bay is sheltered enough that current is rarely a factor, and dives are correspondingly long. The jetties are dived day and night. The outer coast is a different kind of diving on the same day, weather permitting: walls, arches, caves and pinnacles on harder ground in clearer water, dived when the sea outside the bay is settled.

The shape of a day

Two or three dives, usually all in the bay unless the sea outside is flat. The boat rides are short, and the bay's sites are strung along a few kilometres of the same shore, so a change of plan between dives costs minutes rather than an hour. Ambon is quieter than Lembeh or Anilao and it is normal to have a site to yourself, which changes how long a guide will spend looking. Night diving in the bay is productive and the entries are as sheltered as the day sites.

Getting there

Pattimura airport, on the same side of the bay as the Laha sites, with connections through Jakarta, Makassar and Manado. It is a longer and less frequent route than the Indonesian destinations further west, and flights are worth booking with slack in them.

When to come

October to April is the usual window. Ambon's seasons run against the pattern of much of Indonesia — the wettest months here are June to August — so a trip planned on general Indonesian advice can land in the wrong half of the year.

Fees and what is not included

No park fees inside the bay. The outer-coast and offshore trips are full-day charters and are charged as such.

Named sites

24 sites, described by ground and depth. What is found on each one is not published — naming the exact spot a rare animal sits on is how it gets crowded and moved on. The species recorded at this destination are listed below, and the reasoning is set out in the editorial policy.

The other 24, named and not yet written up

Site names are as the operators and guides here use them. Descriptions are drafted and need correcting by someone who dives them. Tell us what is wrong and it will be corrected.

Recorded here

263 of the 1316 species in the index have a confirmed record at Ambon, ordered by how hard each is to find here.

Bubble-tip anemone
Entacmaea quadricolor
Silty reef and rubble · 2–25 m
1 star of 5, found on most dives
Clark's anemonefish
Amphiprion clarkii
Sea anemones on silty reef and rubble · 1–35 m
1 star of 5, found on most dives
Eightband butterflyfish
Chaetodon octofasciatus
Branching coral on silty reef · 2–20 m
1 star of 5, found on most dives
Red lionfish
Pterois volitans
Silty reef, wrecks and jetty structure · 1–45 m
1 star of 5, found on most dives
Coconut octopus
Amphioctopus marginatus
Harbour silt · 5–25 m
2 stars of 5, usually seen in a week
Common ghost goby
Pleurosicya mossambica
Sponges and soft corals · 3–30 m
2 stars of 5, usually seen in a week
Copperband butterflyfish
Chelmon rostratus
Silty reef and jetty structure · 3–25 m
2 stars of 5, usually seen in a week
Crinoid shrimp
Laomenes amboinensis
Feather stars · 5–30 m
2 stars of 5, usually seen in a week
Leopard flounder
Bothus pantherinus
Open sand and silt · 2–30 m
2 stars of 5, usually seen in a week
Mysid shrimp
Mysida
Wrecks and rubble · 2–30 m
2 stars of 5, usually seen in a week
Saddleback anemonefish
Amphiprion polymnus
Carpet anemones on silty sand · 3–30 m
2 stars of 5, usually seen in a week
Salp
Salpida
Blackwater, open water at night · 0–25 m
2 stars of 5, usually seen in a week
Snapping shrimp
Alpheus spp.
Silt and sand burrows · 1–30 m
2 stars of 5, usually seen in a week
Spine-cheek anemonefish
Premnas biaculeatus
Bubble-tip anemones on silty reef · 2–20 m
2 stars of 5, usually seen in a week
Tiger cardinalfish
Cheilodipterus macrodon
Jetty pilings and overhangs · 2–30 m
2 stars of 5, usually seen in a week
Tomato anemonefish
Amphiprion frenatus
Bubble-tip anemones on silty reef · 2–25 m
2 stars of 5, usually seen in a week
Flamboyant cuttlefish
Ascarosepion pfefferi
Sand · 4–18 m
3 stars of 5, a good week should turn one up
Hairy frogfish
Antennarius striatus
Harbour sand · 5–20 m
3 stars of 5, a good week should turn one up
Larval flounder
Bothidae
Blackwater, open water at night · 0–25 m
3 stars of 5, a good week should turn one up
Larval goby
Gobiidae
Blackwater, open water at night · 0–25 m
3 stars of 5, a good week should turn one up
Larval mantis shrimp
Stomatopoda
Blackwater, open water at night · 0–25 m
3 stars of 5, a good week should turn one up
Longtail seamoth
Pegasus volitans
Harbour sand · 3–25 m
3 stars of 5, a good week should turn one up
Megalopa
Brachyura
Blackwater, open water at night · 0–25 m
3 stars of 5, a good week should turn one up
Metallic shrimpgoby
Amblyeleotris latifasciata
Sand and rubble slopes · 5–30 m
3 stars of 5, a good week should turn one up
Octopus paralarva
Octopoda
Blackwater, open water at night · 0–25 m
3 stars of 5, a good week should turn one up
Soft coral ghost goby
Pleurosicya boldinghi
Harbour soft corals · 5–30 m
3 stars of 5, a good week should turn one up
Stingfish
Minous
Harbour silt · 5–35 m
3 stars of 5, a good week should turn one up
Ambon scorpionfish
Pteroidichthys amboinensis
Silt · 5–25 m
4 stars of 5, two or three a season
Braun's pughead pipefish
Bulbonaricus brauni
Living stony coral heads · 3–20 m
4 stars of 5, two or three a season
Favorinus
Favorinus
Egg ribbons on rubble and hydroids · 3–25 m
4 stars of 5, two or three a season
Fire urchin
Asthenosoma varium
Sand and rubble · 10–40 m
4 stars of 5, two or three a season
Mimic octopus
Thaumoctopus mimicus
Harbour silt and rubble · 5–18 m
4 stars of 5, two or three a season
Snake blenny
Xiphasia setifer
Harbour silt · 5–30 m
4 stars of 5, two or three a season
Wunderpus
Wunderpus photogenicus
Rubble · 5–20 m
4 stars of 5, two or three a season
Dragon shrimp
Miropandalus hardingi
Wire corals on walls and slopes · 10–35 m
5 stars of 5, a handful of records

The other 228, recorded here but not yet photographed

Every one has a page and a record at Ambon. They are listed rather than shown because nothing has been photographed or logged for them yet.

Also in The Coral Triangle

More reef fish and more coral species than anywhere else on earth, and the birthplace of muck diving: volcanic sand and silt in sheltered straits, dived slowly and close to the bottom for animals a few centimetres long. Warm all year, rarely clear, and the reason most of this index exists.

Lembeh Strait Indonesia A narrow channel of black volcanic sand between mainland Sulawesi and Lembeh island. Sheltered water, short boat rides and a high density of cryptic species. Anilao Philippines Nudibranch diversity, and the most photographed muck sites in the Philippines. Two to three hours by road from Manila. Dauin & Dumaguete Philippines Shore-entry muck twenty minutes from the airport. Apo Island is a separate day trip. Bali Indonesia Black sand on four coasts, from the Tulamben shore dives to Secret Bay in the far west. The muck is spread across the island, not gathered in one bay. Papua New Guinea Milne Bay, Tufi, Kimbe Bay, Rabaul and Kavieng. Black sand in sheltered bays, wartime wrecks, and reefs that are among the healthiest in the region.