article

Nusa Laut

This small island is the most easterly of the Lease group and about 80 km from Ambon, so in reality it’s probably only possible to dive the sites there from a live aboard, but if you get the chance to do so – take it!

Nusa Laut was apparently discovered by Eddie Frommenweiler and the late Larrie Smith, who together pioneered a lot of the diving in Easterm Indonesia. Larry Smith is reputed to have stated that Nusa Laut was his favorite reef in the entire eastern half of the Indonesian archipelago.

The diving in Indonesia is some of the best in the world, but there is no doubt that there has been an impact from unregulated over-fishing by Taiwanese & Chinese boats and the twin scourges of dynamite & cyanide fishing by local fishermen.

If you talk to people who were diving Indonesia 20 years or so ago they will tell you stories of multiple untouched reefs teeming with marine life and it was clearly a different place underwater back then.

Of course it’s very easy to tell villagers living in these remote areas that they should not do these things, but people need to eat and the urge of quick profits from fish that just float to the surface after the dynamite has gone off is very tempting.

The villages of Ameth & Akoon on the east coast of Nusa Laut, are two of only seven villages on the Island, but are shining examples of what can happen when people realize that the local reef is more valuable in good condition than when ravaged by dynamite or cyanide fishing.

Both villages refused to allow such practices and have protected their reefs with a combination of sasis (a kind of spell to protect property & stop any trespassing) and more physical methods.

Urban myth has it that the Ameth village chief carries an ancient hand gun in his sarong which he produces with a flourish at the first opportunity!

The quality of their local reef means that the villages have a sustainable supply of fish plus they are able to charge dive operators to bring people there - something that I was more than willing to do twice over after diving there!

I was quite stunned by just how good these reefs were, the profusion of fish life and the health & vibrancy of the coral. Ameth’s house reef in particular was stunning & amongst the best I have ever dived on and I surfaced thinking that this was what it must have been like 20 odd years ago!

Ambon Image Gallery

Download SportDiving Ambon Article - 1.7MB