PelagianWakatobi

Previously known as the Fantasea II, the world-renowned Pelagian liveaboard is now under Wakatobi management and is mainly based at the Wakatobi Dive Resort in South Sulawesi. This combination brings together the Pelagian's sought-after luxury and spaciousness with the quality and assurance of Wakatobi Dive Resort, one of Indonesia's most reputable dive operations. Pelagian offers excursions from 7 to 14 nights.

For many years, the Pelagian has widely been regarded as one of the premier dive liveaboards in the Southeast Asia/South Pacific region. During this time, it?s earned an unparalleled reputation for quality operations and unique itineraries. Pelagian credits include numerous documentaries, features and stories in National Geographic, diving and travel magazines, and television productions around the world.

The world class M/Y Pelagian offers top class live-aboard diving in great style. Originally built as a 115' world ranging motor yacht, she accommodates twelve guests very comfortably with tremendous range and sea-keeping abilities. With only twelve guests on a vessel of this size, and with between eight and ten crew, there is plenty of room to spread out and plenty of staff on hand to ensure that your holiday goes smoothly.

Pelagian is air-conditioned throughout and offers en-suite accommodation (private bathrooms) for twelve guests in six cabins, ranging from our standard cabin up to the master stateroom. The comfortable salon has stereo and video facilities, as well as a comprehensive library, and there is a separate dining area and a dedicated photo room for underwater photographic equipment. A large sun deck offers both sunny and shaded areas for lounging, and the aft deck serves both as a pleasant place to see the sun down and as the staging area for our diving activities.

Standard Cabins (#4 & 6) Lower deck. Ideal for twin occupancy and single divers sharing. Private bathroom & port hole. The smallest of the cabins on board.
Deluxe Cabins (#3 and 5) Lower deck. One double & one single bed above, iIdeal for double or twin occupancy. Private bathroom. More spacious than the standard cabin with plenty of storage space.
Superlux cabin (#2). Lower Deck. Located at the stern with it's own staircase access from the saloon. One double and one single bed. Large private bathroom. Plenty of floor space, very quiet.
Master Suite (#1). Main Deck. A very large cabin with same level access from saloon. Spacious private bathroom with separate shower cabin, a long vanity with double mirrors and a WC. One king size bed. Sofa, lounge chair entertainment centre with stereo, DVD player and TV. Separate little beauty room in the front of the cabin.

Pelagian sports a convenient platform at the stern, with a large, diver- friendly ladder, though usually it's easier to zip over to the dive site in one of our two custom designed 5.7 meter (18 foot) rigid-bottomed inflatable tenders. These boats have centre consoles with attached tank racks, onboard oxygen, radio communications and terrific rigid ladders. Nitrox fills are available on board for an additional fee as are Nitrox certification courses.

For divers, Pelagian?s new home at Wakatobi means offering new and exciting diving opportunities in the extended Wakatobi region. This much-researched area is home to some of the most prolific coral reefs in all of Indonesia.

Wakatobi Islands: The reefs of the Wakatobi region provide a habitat for the tiniest to the largest and the most beautiful to the weirdest of marine creatures. Many of the sites are remote pinnacles and steep ridges where the currents attract a huge variety of species. There will be opportunity to explore the outer reefs of the Wakatobi islands including the smaller eastern and southern islands of Moromaho and Runuma, the big reefs of Karang Kaledupa, and the fascinating (but so far almost unknown) 'critter diving haven' of Buton island, as well as the best of the reefs around Wakatobi Dive Resort.

The dive sites at Binongko Island are very dramatic with shear walls filled with black coral overhangs populated with schools of fish and coral-covered reef tops with swim-throughs draped in colorful soft corals. Within these soft coral overhangs divers can find some fascinating small critters such as peeping blennies, dottybacks, gobys and some very photogenic sea spiders.

The Eastern Islands are the most remote islands of the Wakatobi islands group and are consequently the least dived. Some of these small, palm-covered, low lying islands still have sea gypsy villages on stilts. Giant overhangs, dramatic canyons and fabulous drop-offs combined with very clear water, superb diversity, profuse and healthy coral and rich fish life make for some wonderful diving.

Karang Koromaha is an atoll of around 6 kilometers in diameter, from where it is possible to see Tomia island (where Wakatobi Dive Resort is located). Deep walls and steep slopes, overhangs with huge cracks, delicate hanging soft corals and cracks and crevices rich in invertebrate life make these dives a delight for photographers and videographers as well as those who dive armed only with a magnifying glass. Reef corners in this area attract huge schools of fish. Searchunder table corals for sweetlips lurking below.

The large island of Buton, southeast of Sulawesi, has some very special dive sites with some amazing inhabitants. Shallow dives of no more than 7 meters hold such marine ?treasures' as flying gurnards (often in pairs), throngs of pipefish, ghost pipefish, frogfish in a variety of colors, juvenile black snappers, marbled snake eels, ?piles' of octopus, crabs in every shape, size and color and anemones galore. Devil scorpionfish, stonefish, cockatoo waspfish, blue-ringed octopus, are also found in this area. If you are a macro photographer and can't find inspiring subjects here, then you maybe should look at another hobby.

Pelagian explores the pristine, unexplored and undisturbed reefs of the Wakatobi diving region. Occassionally, they also schedule specialty cruises to Komodo National Park.

Getting to the Pelagian is easier than ever. For Wakatobi region cruises, you simply book your flight in to the convenient international hub of Bali. Guests booked on cruises departing from Wakatobi can then board the private charter flight that takes them directly to Wakatobi Resort's own airport.

This is one of the most comfortable liveaboard vessels in the world, which offers top service and outstanding diving.