East Kalimantan Manta rays and a salt-water inland lake are the top drawing cards here. World-famous Borneo Divers , the folks who pioneered Sipadan diving, started operations in Sangalaki. After a period of suspended operations, they have reopened their dive business with a new Indonesian partner. A dive business, locally run, also offers diving on Sangalaki, but not nearly on the same level as Borneo Divers. Ambon Dive operations in Ambon and the Lease Islands are smoothing out.
Operators now have adequate boats, with all the essentials.
The diving here is very good and there will be no crowds at all. But the quality of dive personnel varies greatly. New sites here are still waiting to be discovered. Our favourite live-aboard, the wooden Pindito, operates out of Ambon. Most of the year, it covers the Banda Sea.