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A large grey pufferfish covered in dark spots rests on a rounded coral head, with small fish in the blue-green water behind — Maumere Bay

Maumere Bay · Indonesia · Channel & pass · Drift

The Channel

Maumere Bay's one fierce current, squeezed between mainland and island

Area photo: Rachel Crane · CC BY 4.0

The Channel, also called Fish Soup, is the passage between the Flores mainland and Pangabatang island, about two kilometres wide. It is the one serious current dive in an otherwise calm bay: water forcing through the gap can be fierce, which makes it an advanced drift between 10 and 30 m.

Also known as Fish Soup.

Where it is and how deep

Depth profile of The Channel: typical dive 10–30 m (33–100 ft) 18 m · Open Water30 m · Advanced40 m · Recreational limit10 m30 mtypical dive
Depths on a shared scale to 40 m (130 ft); dashed lines mark common certification limits.

No published position for this site — the map shows Maumere Bay and its other sites; operators know the mooring.

The dive

The typical dive works between 10 m and 30 m with the flow, past huge gorgonians to a drop where jacks, rays and sharks stack up. Eagle rays, marbled rays and whitetips hold on the drop, which gives the site more of a Komodo feel than a Flores one.

Marine life and season

  • Eagle rays
  • Stingrays
  • Reef sharks
  • Trevally & jacks
Month-by-month season rating for The Channel
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
FairFairFairPrimePrimePrimePrimePrimePrimePrimeGoodGood

Season follows Maumere Bay: April to October is the calmest and clearest window; January to March brings rougher crossings, though the sheltered inner bay still dives.

Know before you go

  • The water forcing through the channel can be fierce; divers uneasy in current should skip it.

Sources

  1. Maumere diving guide — Neptune Liveaboards

More dive sites in Maumere Bay

Reef

Pangabatang South

A drift past huge sea fans and sponges on an island coral slope

to 30 mintermediate

Wreck

Wairterang Wreck

A coral-covered wartime freighter reached from the beach

12–33 mintermediate

Similar dives elsewhere

Channel & pass

Magic Passage

Madang & the North Coast · Papua New Guinea

A wall of big-eye trevally closing around divers on the turning tide

to 30 mintermediate

Channel & pass

The Passage

Raja Ampat · Indonesia

Occasional scalloped hammerheads on the deep edges of a tidal channel

15–35 madvanced

Channel & pass

Albatross Passage

New Ireland & Kavieng · Papua New Guinea

Eagle rays and grey reef sharks crowding the channel as the tide floods in

12–30 mintermediate

Channel & pass

Calalin Channel

Majuro & Mili · Marshall Islands

A fast tidal drift past sharks, eagle rays and trevally

to 25 madvanced