Destinations
Three seasons, three oceans.
White Pearl follows the monsoons — the north-east season in the Maldives, the dry season across eastern Indonesia. Each region is worked for months on end by the same crew, so every anchorage is known intimately.
December – April
Maldives
Twenty-six atolls, a thousand islands, and the largest concentration of manta rays and whale sharks on earth.
White Pearl cruises the length of the archipelago from Malé to the remote southern atolls of Huvadhoo and Addu. Expect glassy channel dives, manta cleaning stations in Hanifaru Bay, hammerheads at Rasdhoo, and empty white-sand islands at every anchorage.
- ◆Hanifaru Bay manta aggregation
- ◆Fuvahmulah tiger sharks
- ◆Addu Atoll wrecks
- ◆Uninhabited southern reefs
October – April
Raja Ampat
The most biodiverse marine ecosystem on the planet — 1,500 karst islands scattered across the Bird's Head Seascape.
From Waisai the Pearl sails north to Wayag's pinnacle islands and south to Misool's soft-coral gardens. Small ship, small anchorages, no crowds — most sites are visited by fewer than a dozen boats a year.
- ◆Misool soft-coral cathedrals
- ◆Wayag lagoon summit hike
- ◆Manta ridge at Dampier Strait
- ◆Cape Kri — world reef-fish record
May – September
Komodo
Volcanic dragons, pink-sand beaches and the nutrient-rich currents of the Indonesian Throughflow.
The Pearl bases from Labuan Bajo and works north through Rinca, Padar and Komodo, then south to Horseshoe Bay and Nusa Kode. Dragons on land, mantas and sharks in the water, savanna sunsets between.
- ◆Batu Bolong pinnacle
- ◆Manta Alley south of Komodo
- ◆Padar Island trek at dawn
- ◆Pink Beach anchorage