The eastern part of Indonesia lies in the so-called coral triangle and reveals underwater one of the greatest biodiversity of the world. Every dive offers new, fascinating insights into this still quite unknown world. Even today, new, some times endemic species are still being discovered in the Coral Triangle. Indonesia is the world’s largest island state and consists of over 17,500 islands. The biggest islands are Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Sulawesi and New Guinea.

Indonesia lies on the so-called circumpacific ring of fire. This means that the islands are mostly of volcanic origin. Even today, there are still about 150 active volcanoes throughout Indonesia. Borneo ist the only main island without an active volcano.

Between the island chains lie the Flores Sea, the Banda Sea and the Java Sea. At the northern end of Sulawesi lies the Celebes Sea. In the north lies the South China Sea, in the remaining north and east the Pacific Ocean and in the south and west the Indian Ocean. So it is no wonder that Indonesia has more than 1000 well-known dive sites and new ones are still added. The spectrum of the fauna ranges from small creatures such as pigmy seahorse up to whale sharks. The biodiversity of the flora is reflected on the wonderfully overgrown steep walls. Many of the dive sites are ‘off the beaten track’, far away from mass tourism. This means not only low impact to the dive sites by divers but also that the nearest decompression chamber can be very far away. Also, many of the dive sites are not suitable for beginners, due to often strong currents. So it makes perfect sense to ask the travel agency about the expected conditions before a planned diving holiday in Indonesia.
Many of the regions can be dived and travelled all year round. However, visibility and fauna are strongly influenced by the rainy/dry season. This means that the chance of spotting certain animals is strongly influenced by the season. Thus, the Mola Mola can be found almost exclusively between June and November.
Basically the rainy season is from October to April. However, as Indonesia extends over a huge area, there are exceptions in various regions. Here, too, it makes sense to check with the travel agency about the expected local weather.

For many years Indonesia was regarded as politically stable and a model for the peaceful coexistence of various religions. Indonesia, with 199 million (88% of the population), is home to more Muslims than any other country in the world. Nevertheless, by 2010, there had been little known conflicts between the Muslim majority and the other five equal religions. However, more than 200 people died in a bomb attack by extremists in Bali in 2002. In Jakarta, Attacks on hotels were also carried out in 2005, 2009 and 2016. In May 2018 extremists of the Islamic State blew up three churches in Surabaya. Due to its religious schools, the region around Surabaya used to be considered a meeting place for radical Islamists. For some time now, a radicalization of Islam has been observed throughout Indonesia. It is therefore recommended that you check the current travel warnings.