RECCE
Blue Whales of the Banda Sea
DATES: 12-22 NOVEMBER, 2025
Full program (11 days): $5490
Alor Island add-on: 12-16 November, 2025 ($1950)
Timor-Leste main program: 16-22 November, 2025 ($3950)
EXPEDITION BRIEF
Over 11 days, we traverse two critical marine corridors—Alor and the north coast of Timor-Leste—documenting traditional fishing knowledge, human-pelagic relationships, and seasonal whale migrations. The trip blends on-water field activity with land-based community immersion, photography, and ecological inquiry.
Our group operates in the spirit of reconnaissance: we are here to observe, record, and participate responsibly in fragile marine and cultural ecosystems. Days are structured around early starts, extended time in the field or on the water, and late afternoon sessions for debriefing, storytelling, and visual documentation.
This is an ideal expedition for those interested in oceanic research, documentary storytelling, applied ecotourism, or the frontline realities of conservation in lesser-known archipelagic regions.
This program is strictly limited to just 5 guests.
ALOR PROGRAM (Indonesia)
Add-on Program: Nov 12–16, 2025
Our time in Alor focuses on community-based fisheries, intergenerational marine knowledge, macro diving, and traditional freediving practices across the Pantar Strait. Each day offers a distinct encounter—with indigenous Abui culture in the highlands, with off-grid island fishers in Pura, or with elder spearfishers maintaining pre-industrial gear and rhythms.
We begin with dugong tracking and a village stay in Takpala, engaging with oral histories and customary dance as evening falls. From there, we shift toward the sea— joining subsistence fishers on canoe-assisted bubu trap checks, and sitting with elder freedivers to understand how handmade wooden goggles and reef intuition once defined survival.
One morning, we visit a shark landing site at dawn, a powerful (and confronting) moment to witness the complexity of shifting ecological baselines. Later that day, we enter the Pantar Strait on scuba, where strong currents reveal dramatic reef systems and possible pelagic encounters. Across the week, we’ll also interview village elders, photograph tools and techniques, and begin assembling an archive of human-ocean interaction at the edge of change.
The Alor portion ends with a private boat transfer to the village of Atapupu in Timor, continuing the expedition into Timor-Leste by land.
DILI PROGRAM (Timor-Leste)
Main Program: Nov 16–22, 2025
From November 16 to 21, we base ourselves in Dili and work daily on the water in the productive corridors off the north coast—an area where blue whales, beaked whales, melon-headed whales, and sperm whales transit during austral spring. We spend approximately six hours per day at sea, launching early and returning mid-afternoon, with boat operations guided by local pilots. Our goal is to find large pelagics for in-water documentation, mainly blue whales and sperm whales.
Afternoons are structured around visual review, photo editing, whale behavior discussions, and knowledge-sharing across the group. We’ll also conduct informal evening workshops on field documentation, pelagic behavior, and storytelling approaches, inviting group members to contribute perspectives and material.
Where possible, we incorporate brief late-afternoon visits to land-based sites—such as artisanal fish markets, cultural institutions, or nearshore ecosystems—in Dili and its outskirts. These remain flexible depending on light, weather, and group energy.
This segment emphasizes visual documentation, long-lens observation, and a light ecological footprint. It is not a commercial whale swim trip. We observe all national and regional regulations regarding marine mammals and work with a local captain and team committed to responsible operations.
PRICING
Full program (11 days): $5490
Alor Island add-on: 12-16 November, 2025 ($1950)
Timor-Leste main program: 16-22 November, 2025 ($3950)
Strictly limited to 5 guests.
Pricing is based on shared accommodation (twin rooms). Single supplement accommodation is available for an extra $750 for the full trip ($200 for Alor, $550 for Timor Leste). Guests may sign up for the full trip or either component. A pricing discount is available for those signing up for the full 11-day trip (included).
Open Water scuba certification is not needed to participate in the Timor-Leste program, but is required to participate in the Alor program.
INCLUDES
Guides, coordinators, and local fixers.
Accommodation (shared rooms).
Breakfast and lunch daily.
Workshops and photography lessons.
Local transportation.
Private boat transfers in Alor and between Alor Island and Atapupu, Timor (Indonesia).
Border crossing permits.
Private whale boat for 5 days in Timor.
3 tank dives and 2 days of free diving activities in Alor.
EXCLUDES
Flights.
Dinners.
Insurance and personal spending.
Gear (scuba gear is included in Alor).
Upgrades and single supplement rooms.
Gratuities for local staff.