photo credit: jon hanson

Diving at Flores Island in Indonesia

Flores Island is Right Place For Adventurous Travelers and Real Paradise For All Divers

The word Flores is firstly given by Portuguese who reached the island about 15 th century ago. The word itself means Flowers. Actually it is to describe for beautiful coral formations that shimmer in crystal sea. The Flores archipelago itself is endless in diversity.

Starting in the west lies Komodo Island where the biggest Lizard in the world can be seen. It is also known as Komodo Dragon.

photo credit: Eric Kilby

The sea around also offers excellent coral reefs to explore, where home for reef sharks and tropical fish. The highlight island’s attraction are the three colored lakes (blue, green and black) of Kelimutu volcano at east of Komodo island, marine life and Komodo Dragons.

Labuan Bajo is perfect location to explore untouched coral in Komodo National Park. Maumere offers the opportunity to explore great marine life and have around forty different diving sites in the Marine Garden of the Bay of Maumere.

Maumere Bay has black sand and inhabit at least at least 1200 species of fishes. After the earthquake in 1992 reefs were impacted. Nowadays the reefs have regenerated nicely and still world class dive sites. Outstanding walls covered in sea fans, soft corals and invertebrate covered overhangs along with some pristine hard coral gardens.

The corals of Flores sea are amongst the oldest in the world and are still in pristine condition. The coral Flowers preserved in stone. In Wai Terang, just off the coast of Flores Mainland. Here you will find Japanese world war 2 freighter wrecks, which now is covered with soft and hard corals and harbouring small fish life.

Author: Anto Kasan – EzineArticles Expert Author

Find more information before your travel to Indonesia here

photo credit: jon hanson

photo credit: Georg Wittberger

Untouched Paradise – Thousand Islands

Nestled in the Bay of Jakarta, The Thousand Islands or Pulau Seribu are an archipelago of nearly 130 islands dazzling and bewitching the Java Sea. Beautiful as well as bountiful, the islands are tropical with sandy beaches and at times possess scenic coral atolls strewn in a display of size and shapes.

The Thousand Islands are a true gift to earth by Mother Nature. Encompassed of beautiful reefs, this archipelago is home to an amazing marine wonderland. With colourful fishes and underwater adventures, the islands are the ideal location for diving, snorkeling, fishing and underwater discoveries.

The shimmering turquoise waters tempt divers to indulge in exploring the land beneath. With fascinating marine creatures and their aquatic wonderland, there is much to see and do at the Pulau Seribu. Some of the islands in Pulau Seribu are still undeveloped for habitation, but a couple have been developed for tourism purpose.

Those islands include Pulau Bidadari, Pulau Ayer, Sepa, Coconut, Pelangi, Bira, Pantara, Kul-kul and Pulau Putri. Within these islands, tourists and visitors alike can bask in rest and relaxation on the sandy beaches of a paradise on earth. Some of the golden palm fringed exotic locations were once home to the likes of formers kings of Indonesia as well as dignitaries such as the first President of Indonesia.

The islands can be reached within 1-2 hours by ferry or chartered boat from the Marina Ancol. Look forward to rest and relaxation mingled with tranquility and serenity at these islands when in Jakarta. With serviced apartments in the main land, such as the Somerset Grand Citra, indulge in this wondrous attraction and return to the comforts and warmth of this serviced residence in Jakarta.

Naveen Marasinghe is an e-marketing executive at eMarketingEye(Private) Ltd. eMarketingeEye is an search engine marketing company offering integrated Internet marketing solutions, specializing in serving the online travel and hospitality industry.

More information about Island vacation in Indonesia.

photo credit: mohd fahmi

photo credit: robertpaulyoung

Pacific Islands

The Pacific Ocean consists of more than 25,000 islands. Those lying south of the tropic of Cancer but excluding Australia are traditionally grouped into three divisions: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Inhabitants of these islands are referred to as Pacific Islanders.

Micronesia means small islands. These include the Islands of Marianas, Guam, Palau, the Marshall, Kiribati, Nauru, and the Federated States of Micronesia. Most of these lie north of the equator.

Polynesia means many islands. These include the islands of New Zealand, the Hawaii, the Midway, Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, the Cook, French Polynesia, and Easter. It is the largest of the three zones.

Some of the famous islands in this region are:

1. Cook Islands
2. Tahitian
3. Samoa
4. Tonga
5. Ile des pins
6. Fiji
7. Vanuatu
8. Solomon
9. Papua New Guinea

There are also many other islands located within the boundaries of the Pacific Ocean, but these are not considered part of Oceania. These include the Galápagos of Ecuador; the Aleutian in Alaska; the Russian islands of Sakhalin and Kuril Islands; Taiwan; the Philippines; those in the South China Sea; most of them in Indonesia; The inhabitants of these places are not considered to be Pacific Islanders and are usually identified with their nearest continent.

There are so many to mention but this page is not enough to explain them all.

So, get ready for one good, once in a life time experience in these islands. Remember you have more than 20000 islands to discover and spend your valuable time with the nature and with your loved one.

Hope you have a nice time!

Author Praveen Nata

More inspiration for travelling to Pacific Islands

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photo credit: NeilsPhotography

Selayar Island is Maybe One of the Few Remaining Exotic Diving Paradises in the World

Selayar Island lies in the flores sea between Sulawesi Island and Flores Island. A mountain range runs along the eastern side of the island rising to about 600 meter and dropping to over 2500 meter below the surface. There is a chance to see everything that the tropical under water world has to offer at Selayar Island. The Selayar Island is a narrow Island which is rising 4000 meter from the Banda sea. The interesting highlight diving site is about 3,000 meter long house reef consist of pristine coral slopes and walls are thickly covered with hard and soft corals,where drift diving can be done.

Marine Life can be sighted here include reef fish, turtles, barracudas, reef shark, pelagic fish, etc. Just southeast of the Island is largest coral atoll/Taka Bonerate Atoll in this area. The atolls rise abruptly from a deep oceanic trench and offer an amazing wall diving. Here has variety of coral growth and sea grass on this atolls, fringing and barrier reef. The reefs that surround east side of Selayar Island are mostly steep walls that are full of overhangs and small caves.

Since 2000 this area has been put under protection by Indonesia Government as marine park to preserve island’s natural resources on land and in the surrounding sea. Selayar Island can be reached either by boat from Bira cape, which lies at the southeastern tip of South Sulawesi Province and about 5 hour drive from Makassar/ capital of South Sulawesi Province or by plane. Interesting. So Come here and discover it yourself.

Author: Anto Kasan – EzineArticles Expert Author

More inspiration about diving during island vacation here.

photo credit: NeilsPhotography