Indonesia Yacht Charter Information

Indonesia is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia comprises 17 000 islands, about 6,000 of which are inhabited and 80,000 km of coastline to explore. Many of the islands are remote and uninhabited and have an amazing variety of volcanic scenery, marine life, enticing cultures and yacht chartering and diving adventures can be experienced. The capital city is Jakarta. The country borders with Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Malaysia. Other neighboring countries include Singapore, Philippines, Australia and the Indian territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Some of the sailing destinations of Indonesia include Bali, Lambok, Flores, Banda Islands and Raja Ampat among others.

Bali is by far the most well-known tourist destination in the country and the areas of Kuta and Legian, around the capital Denpasar, have a well-developed tourist infrastructure. Many sailing yachts start their long charters from Bali and use Bali as their main base in Indonesia. The rugged coastlines and volcanic interior of the island provide a picturesque backdrop to start a yacht charter trip and with some superb local dive sites to explore as well. Sailing east from Bali, and into the Lombok Straits, there is the imaginary `Wallace Line`, where the natural habitat changes from that of subtropical Asia to that of Australasia. The area around the Komodo National Park, just to the west of the larger island of Flores, must be one of the most bio diverse in the world, both on land and underwater.

Heading northeast from Flores into the Banda Sea, there is an area for a true sailing experience and diving. There is a small group of islands in the middle of nowhere and its remoteness has left a vibrant, healthy reef system with huge volumes and variety of large and small fish species and well as numerous sea fans, sponges and hard corals. And watch out for the whales. Further northeast, there is the Raja Ampat Islands, just off the coast of West Papua. This area of ocean has the highest marine diversity on earth, with underwater topography to take your breath away. This is real frontier sailing and diving, since so few yachts visit the area.

Indonesia is a warm place. It has no spring, summer, fall, or winter, just two seasons: rainy and dry, both of which are relative (it still rains during the dry season, it just rains less). While there is significant regional variation, in most of the country (including Java and Bali) the dry season is April to October, while the wet season is November to March.

Indonesia has some of the best scuba diving in the world and this is a major draw for tourists with places like Bunaken (North Sulawesi) and Wakatobi (Southeastern Sulawesi) known worldwide. While diving off Bali itself is a little mediocre, Nusa Penida and the Gili Islands offer excellent diving. It also has extreme rivers for an example you can experience one of your greatest paddling at Pekalen River. Scuba diving is popular in Komodo National Park because of its high marine biodiversity. Indonesia is the premier destination for traveling surfers. The Mentawai Archipelago west of Sumatra features dozens of world class surf spots. Chartering a private boat for up to two weeks is the most popular way to access the island chain, however there is a public ferry from Padang.