At sea a fellow comes out. Salt water is like wine, in that respect.
– Herman Melville
Tambora is a volcano on Sumbawa Island in Indonesia. The eruption in 1815, at a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 7, made it the most devastating eruption in recorded history. Named after the earth-changing volcano, The Tambora we want to tell you about is a Phinisi, a traditional Indonesian ship built completely of wood and outfitted as a live-aboard for scuba diving. Of the two, the dive boat has had a bigger impact on our lives, as far as we can tell. This was Daniel’s second time aboard the ship and Diana’s first live-aboard dive experience. We flew into Ternate Island, of Spice Island fame, to rendezvous with the ship, arriving a couple days before to meet up with old friends and do a little exploring of the island that had been visited by Lord Alfred Wallace, and not Christopher Columbus, despite his best efforts.
In the port at Ternate, we joined our old friends Kristin Hobson and Peter Fratesi of Symbiosis Diving who put together this charter and met the rest of those aboard the ship; Divers; Joel Albertson & Margot Cameron, Tracey Scott, Scott & Lauri Penwarden (the Mandarin Fish is Scott’s shot) , James Szymankiewicz, Diana Phillips & Daniel Vaughn. Owner – Uwe Guenther, Cruise Director – Sean Atherton, Dive Guides; Cendi, Jeki and Nando; Salon Stewards Alfred and Syahaul; Captains Chief Halut, Kasman and Udin; Speed Boat Pilots Rudi, Joker and Abu; Kitchen Staff Chef Hamid, Lanbang, and Agus; Engineers Atman, Ishmail, Ujang, and Arif. Our humble thanks goes out to all these happy and brave souls who kept the ship in order and the guests safe, happy and well fed.
We left Ternate Harbour and made for Bitung, Manado, and Sulawesi Utara, some of the thousands of islands in the Indonesia archipelago. Oh yeah, along the way we went to; Makian, Kusu Islands, Kasiruta, Lata Lata, Goraici, Tifore, Talisei, Banka and Lembeh diving each and everyone, god bless them all! Here are photos mostly top side, but we’ve snuck in a few underwater shots as well so you will know we’re not hiding anything. As above so below. Along the way we saw remote villages, remote villagers, fishermen, dolphins, black tip sharks, walking sharks, frog fish, jacks, tuna, nudibranchs, hard and soft corals, octopus, eels, schooling barracuda, fish too numerous to list and started what we hope to be lasting friendships with great people from all over this beautiful and diverse world.
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Photo Scott Penwarden 
We can completely recommend this life changing experience to anyone with a sense of adventure and a few bucks. Here’s the site for the the Tambora – book today. What are you waiting for?
https://www.facebook.com/symbiosisdiving/