High Style Diving in Indonesia’s Wakatobi Regency.
The first choice divers face when planning a trip to a “dream destination” often comes down to a choice between a land-based resort with an idyllic setting or a live-aboard cruising some faraway exotic corner of the world. In the case of Wakatobi Dive Resort, there’s no need to choose, as you can have both.
Wakatobi has earned a reputation as one of the world’s premier snorkeling and diving destinations, delivering an unrivaled combination of pristine reefs, relaxed luxury and five-star service. To complement this land-based operation, Wakatobi also operates an equally lavish live-aboard dive yacht named the Pelagian.
Not Your Average Liveaboard
From the moment you step aboard, it’s apparent that Pelagian is a different breed of dive yacht. The most noticeable departure from the usual liveaboard layout is the fact that is that Pelagian is configured like a private luxury yacht, hosting a maximum of ten divers in five spacious cabins.
For those seeking the most lavish yacht-like experience, there’s a master suite that spans the full width of the vessel and occupies the entire forward portion of the main deck. Amenities include a walk-around king-size bed, a spacious lounge with a love seat, and an entertainment center fitted with a huge flat-panel HD TV and Blu-ray DVD player. The bathroom is contemporary and features a spacious dressing area and top-of-the-line rainforest shower and vanity fittings.
Also offering an enhanced level of luxury are the Pelagian’s two below deck Superlux Staterooms, which feature a walk-around, queen-size bed along with a separate day bed and ensuite bathroom and shower. Having stayed in one of these cabins I can attest that they are exceedingly roomy.
The main salon and dining area’ mirror the sort of upscale décor and furnishings you would expect from a high-end private yacht. And as you would expect they offer a full range of creature comforts. Additional social areas on the top deck and near the bow are ideal for reading, quiet relaxation while in the sea air or spectacular star gazing in the evenings.
To ensure five-star service, the Pelagian is staffed by a crew of 12, which includes dedicated stewards and an executive chef who creates fine dining experiences daily, either inside the climate-controlled main salon or out on the spacious aft fantail against a stunning backdrop of sea and sky.
The yacht’s shaded aft decks are also the gathering point for diving activities. Here, the dive team provides detailed briefings of where it is you will be going, along with what you are likely to see there. Getting ready for the dive is as easy as suiting up, as all logistics of gear transfers back and forth between the yacht and its two custom-fabricated dive tenders are handled by the crew. Your job is to dive.
One of the little added personal touches Pelagian’s crew provides is the daily management of your wetsuits and dive skins. They rinse them and hang them to dry on the upper deck between dives. One touch that gave me a bit of a chuckle when it was time for the next dive, we would find our wetsuits neatly laid out on the fantail like evening wear, with dive booties just below.
Once dressed, you proceed to the dive tenders for a comfortable ride to the site. The tenders are 18-foot rigid hull inflatables (RIB) equipped with double 60-HP outboard engines, tank racks and one of the sturdiest deck-mounted stainless steel boarding ladder systems for divers I have ever seen in RIB. Being that maximum passenger count of the Pelagian is 10, the number of divers per rib (not counting the dive guide and driver) is going be either split evenly or 6 in one, 4 in the other (especially if the 4 are photographers).
The Pelagian also features a dedicated, indoor climate-controlled camera room with ample counter space for a large number of different underwater camera systems. For charging strobe and camera batteries, camera work surfaces are powered with standard 2-prong 220v/50Hz electrical outlets which are also outfitted with an ample supply of 110-volt adapters and power rails.
Gas is provided by a trio of Bauer K-14 compressors with a Nitrox Technologies ® NO2 system. While 32 percent is the standard nitrox mix, the Pelagian can accommodate custom charters by providing custom nitrox and trimix blends, as well as oxygen fills and sorb for rebreather divers.
Taking To Sea On The Pelagian
While day one of the Pelagian’s seven-day itinerary (10-day cruises can also be arranged) starts off with a couple of afternoon warm-up dives close to the resort, the rest of the cruise journeys much farther afield in the Wakatobi archipelago.
By day two, divers are exploring sites on the large atolls of Karang Kaledupa and Karang Kapota. Here the reefs feature steep slopes and walls perforated by overhangs, all covered by a broad collection of vibrant-colored soft corals, large gorgonians in red, orange, pink and yellow. With dramatic drops over the edge of the shallow reef crests and underwater visibility that typically exceeds 75 meters, these sites are ideal for taking in the big picture. Adding to the open water visual is the arrival of larger denizens like blackfin barracuda, large green sea turtles and eagle rays.
In addition to providing dramatic seascapes, these reefs hold a wealth of small finds. An excellent place to look for these is among the sea whips that cover the slopes and walls of many dive sites. Though often overlooked by passing divers, these long, sometimes spiraling strands are a haven for whip coral gobies and small shrimp.
A highlight of any Pelagian cruise is the abundant opportunities to find pygmy seahorses, as dives are made in areas home to three of the most prominent species: the Bargibant, Denise and pontoh’s. One of the specialties of the Pelagian’s crew is locating the tiny, white pontoh’s (Hippocampus pontohi), seahorse sheltered among the halimeda algae. Capturing these small creatures can be a challenging exercise in macro photography, but they make for great subjects whether you view them with a camera or an underwater magnifying glass.
Just as at the resort, the Pelagian’s guides work to provide appropriate levels of in-water support as requested, as well as serve as keen experts at locating rare marine subjects. Because many sites feature sun-lit shallows set next to vertical reliefs, it is easy to perform up to four multi-level dives per day with bottom times of 70 minutes or more without enter a deco-obligated profile. The fourth dive of the day may take place in late afternoon or as a night dive.
Playing In The Muck
While the wealth of marine diversity found on reefs within the Wakatobi Archipelago is exceptional, that’s just one facet of a Pelagian cruise. The other signature element to Pelagian’s itinerary begins when the yacht reaches the southeastern side of Buton Island, which holds a marine environment not remotely available back at the resort – muck diving!
To a neophyte muck diver the question might be “Why am I here?” – until you start to see what’s there! The first sighting might be the mottled red face of a reptilian snake eel protruding from the sand. Or, perhaps a wonderpus octopus, out for a stroll.
Within the more confined waters of Buton Island’s Pasar Wajo Bay lie a variety of muck environments from grey and brown silt and rubble habitats to white sand bays with small coral gardens. Locations that epitomize the muck diving experience include Cheeky Beach, Banana Beach and In Between. These sites feature gradual slopes from the shoreline down to 100 feet, with a desert-like bottom comprised mostly of sand and gravel, and covered with a bit of light sediment that can be easily stirred up by a misplaced fin.
Yet, as unattractive as this bottom might seem, it holds a menagerie of marine life from the ever so alien-like peacock mantis shrimp to a broad family tree of shrimp gobies keeping house with their alpheid shrimp roommates, who seem to do all the work. Taking a moment to look closer at a fire urchin can produce interesting finds such as a mated pair of Coleman shrimp or a cryptic-looking zebra crab.
Pier Dives
Any self-respecting muck diving destination should include a pier dive, and in Pasar Wajo Bay, the Pelagian has three to sample: Asphalt Pier, New Pier and Magic Pier. Each provides its own character and attractions.
Among the fan favorites is Asphalt Pier. Despite a look of seeming abandonment, Asphalt Pier serves as the island’s primary terminal for loading Bituman, a natural form of asphalt that is quarried on the island and loaded onto waiting cargo vessels. Divers can safely hunt around the front of the pier and among the clusters of pilings at depths from 15 to 45 feet. Here they will find shrimp gobies, frogfish, leaf scorpionfish and robust ghost and banded pipefish. The list can go on and on.
As the name suggests, New Pier is the most recently constructed landing dock in Pasar Wajo Bay. And like Asphalt Pier, it offers depth profiles run from 15 to 35 feet around the base of the pilings down to 45 feet out front in the sand. While the pilings are a great spot for finding blue ribbon eels, ringed pipefish and spiny devil scorpionfish, the adjacent debris field is a good place to hunt for octopus and gobies, which take refuge in shells, cans and bottles.
Saving the best for last, there is Magic Pier. While the site can be productive by day yielding pretty much what the first two aforementioned piers have to offer, it’s the hours between dusk to dawn when the pier is most on fire. It is prime spot tospot a menagerie of invertebrates from cuttlefish and blue-ringed, nudibranchs and flatworms to finny oddities like frogfish and twin-spot lionfish. But what truly what makes this site magical is that it is super loaded with mandarinfish. When starts to set, this highly garish member of the dragonet family emerges from hiding to mate allowing photographers and video shooters to catch the entire sequence of courtship and spawning.
To read more about Magic Pier’s Mandarinfish, Click Here
Back To Reefs, Walls And Pinnacles
The third leg of the Pelagian’s itinerary skirts the southwestern edges of Wangi Wangi and Kaledupa Islands, providing another round of magnificent reefs, dramatic vertical drop-offs and pinnacles.
A favorite among a broad list of sites around Wangi Wangi is Komang Reef. This elongated sea mound is alive with vibrant growths of soft corals and sponges nurtured by the currents and swarmed by plenitudes of fish life that peak when the tide changes. Another site is aptly named Fishmarket, known for the high numbers of schooling fish it attracts, including a rather huge school of blackfin barracuda. Fishmarket features a combination of a steep wall with two deep ravines and a detached pinnacle that rises to within 10 meters of the surface.
On the way to and from its home base at Wakatobi Resort, Pelagian may stop at sites on the outer edge of day-boat range such as the seamounts of Blade. This unusual structure consists of a series of knife-edged pinnacles running in parallel, and connected by a lower ridge that gives the entire structure the appearance of a serrated knife blade set on edge.
These are just some of the many memorable sites that divers will experience aboard Pelagian. And by combining a cruise with a stay at Wakatobi Resort, guests can experience the best that Indonesia has to offer.
A little History on the Pelagian
At 245 metric tons, and measuring 115 feet meters in length, with a copious 24-foot beam, the MV Pelagian is a substantial ocean-capable vessel. Launched from the Batservice Verft A/S Shipyard in Mandal, Norway, the Pelagian began life as an elegant world-ranging motor yacht named Harmony. Some 14 years later, she was purchased and adapted into a liveaboard dive yacht Fantasea II by Red Sea diving pioneer Howard Rosenstein.
Through the 1980s, the Fantasea II was viewed by many serious divers and undersea explorers like Dr. Eugenie Clark, Stan Waterman and National Geographic underwater photographer David Doubilet as a premier liveaboard and the grand lady of the Red Sea.
In the early 1990’s, the Fantasea II was sold and moved to the Seychelles, where she remained somewhat in operation for a few more years before resurfacing in Indonesia in 2005 under a new name Pelagian. It was here Wakatobi Dive Resort stepped into the picture, taking over operations on behalf of its owner Dive Asia Pacific, then purchasing the Pelagian for itself.
Then and Now – A comparisons of the main salon of the Fantasea II during the 1980’s and the Pelagian today. Photos courtesy of Wakatobi Dive Resort
For the Pelagian to be included as a part of the Wakatobi brand it needed to meet the same expectations the resort was already known for. In addition to undergoing a multitude of mechanical overhauls and refits in 2007, the Pelagian’s interior also underwent a comprehensive redesign to her floor plan to once again make her a world-class dive yacht.
