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No one knows exactly how
many islands there are in Indonesia, but with over 17,000 of them, its
total coast lines sweep a staggering 80,000 kilometres, and its
territorial waters claim kilometres of sea. These are seas that hold
some 15% of the world's coral reefs. They bloom in blue waters,
awaiting a diver's discovery. The waters of Indonesia offer the last
vestiges of untapped tropical diving left on our planet. Here, islands
are still revealed and stolen by the sea, seeded by the geological
activity that cuts a great 5,000 kilometre arc from mainland Southeast
Asia to New Guinea.
Strewn with fractious volcanoes marking the edge of a tectonic plate,
the arc is lyrically dubbed the "Ring of Fire." This arc is traced by
rugged islands blanketed with tropical flora. Emerald canopies where
the jungle still reigns, rice fields of jade and gold where man has
stamped his claim. It is a beauty that spills into the seas,
encircling islands with rainbow-hued coral reefs where a myriad of
marine creatures play.
Depending on aptitude and attitude, there is diving to suit all
desires. Land-based resort diving in gentle waters ideal for novices;
offshore sites for the privilege of depths less known; luxury live
aboards for those after the adrenalin high of waters remote and
pristine. Coral gardens, reef walls, caves, underwater volcanoes,
lagoon channels and wrecks. Indonesia has it all. And still more sites
and depths are awaiting discovery... Come, discover the other side of
Indonesia. And learn a new meaning to the rapture of the deep. Dive
Indonesia!
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