Laha, a small village on the northern coast of Ambon Bay, is the centre of one of the world's finest muck diving destinations. The black sand slopes and rubble substrate around Laha host an astonishing concentration of cryptic marine life: Rhinopias scorpionfish, mimic octopus, flamboyant cuttlefish, ghostly frogfish in a dozen colour variants, pygmy seahorses, blue-ringed octopus, and nudibranchs in extraordinary variety.
This is specialist diving that requires patience and a good eye — the animals are masters of camouflage and the dive site looks unpromising until you start to notice what is hiding in plain sight. Several small dive operations are based in the Laha area and offer guided dives with knowledgeable local divemasters who know where to find specific species. Non-divers can snorkel parts of the bay shallows for a taste of the underwater environment.