Scuba Diving in the Banda Islands

Karang Hatta

Karang Hatta, or Sekaru meaning 'shallow area', is a 500 metre wide atoll a couple of kilometres off the south coast of Hatta Island, named after the first vice president of Indonesia and 1 of the 2 prime intellectuals behind its campaign for independence, Mohammad Hatta.

The southeast corner of the atoll is a good place to begin your dive as it generally has a southerly current, which attracts fish in their thousands. The sloping reef here allows you to dive at pretty much any depth, but 25 metres is where most of the action seems to take place; and what action it can be.

Endless cascades of neon fusiliers interspersed with blue and yellow fusiliers seem to roll down the reef slope like mercury, so thick in places that it is impossible to see beyond them. This is a great shame because if you do manage to get a clear sight of the blue the there's a great chance you'll see some of the large pelagic fish like dogtooth tuna, eagle rays, great barracudas and even great and scalloped hammerhead sharks, coming in to play their part in this oceanic feeding festival.

Your bottom time will be up seemingly within minutes, as time will fly by, so you'll be forced up the slope into shallower water. The action doesn't stop there. Large numbers of bigeye trevally, and whitemargin unicornfish prowl across the fields of golden brown soft corals in search of bluedash fusiliers, redtooth triggerfish, pyramid butterflyfish and juvenile yellow snappers. Green turtles frequent the atoll too, and feed on the sponges here. Mobula rays come in search of planktonic sustenance, and white tip reef sharks are often seen snoozing on the slope bed.

At the end of the dive, you'll just make your way up to the atoll crown to complete your safety stop or to use up more air. There's lots of different species of hawkfish, soldierfish, groupers, and tubelip wrasse. Titan triggerfish are also common residents here, and the Bandanese version is little different in temperament from elsewhere, so beware the titan triggerfish when it's nesting.

On the west side of the atoll the scenery is a little different. The slope is replaced by a vertical wall at around 14 metres, which hosts some of the largest sponges you're ever likely to see, and soldierfish peer out at you from every overhang. In the depths, black tip sharks and red snappers circle. The shallow sloping reef here is in even better shape than the other side, with magnificent brown soft corals and leather corals. Surgeonfish and solor wrasse add vivid dashes of colour and life to the spectacle.

Sekaru Reef Basics: Schooling fish and pelagics
Depth: 5 - >40m
Visibility: 20 - 30m
Currents: Can be strong
Surface conditions: Generally calm
Water temperature: 26 - 29°C
Experience level: Intermediate - advanced
Number of dive sites: 5
Diving season: March, April, and mid-September to mid-December
Distance: ~27 km (2 hours) southeast of Banda Neira
Access: Banda Islands liveaboards

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