Barely larger than a peanut, a pair of bobtail squids are presented to us in the light of the moon during their mating ritual. They float across the sandy seabed like ghostly beings, iridescent like an LSD dream come true. Right in the blue heart of Kusu Island, the two cling to each other with their puny arms to hand over the tiny sperm packets.

It's getting harder and harder for divers like us to discover a blank spot on our all too colorful dive map. Far, far away, somewhere in the middle of nowhere, we have finally discovered a new diving gem. Kusu Island. A dream in blue, green and turquoise, located on the North Moluccas between Halmahera and Bacan.

Deeply impressed and in awe, we enjoyed the view of a starry sky in the dark night. At the right time and in the right place, a spectacle of a very special kind opens up for us. The dormant volcanoes of North Sulawesi, illuminated by a powerful flash of lightning in the shadow of the Milky Way.

Finally! Southeast Asia has us back. Again. Welcome back to North Sulawesi. Around Bangka Island and the Sea Souls Dive Resort we enjoyed a third time endless white beaches and dived down into colorful coral landscapes and sandy underwater deserts full of bizarre creatures and crazy critters. So, no need for Lembeh.

How do you define luxury? The Coralia Liveaboard, voted the world's best liveaboard in 2019, gives us a very clear answer. Family atmosphere, cabins that resemble an oasis of wellbeing, first-class delicacies and excellent diving in Indonesia's most diverse waters.

There is hardly a diving area that is so rich in bizarre and quirky microorganisms that Bangka can hold its own. At the Sea Souls Dive Resort we went for critter hunting again and portrayed freaky skeleton shrimps, cute bobtail squids and glowing flamboyant cuttlefish.