RECCE
Blue Whales of the Banda Sea
2025 DATES: 12-22 November, 2025
Full program (11 days): $5490
Alor Island add-on: 12-16 November, 2025 ($1950)
Timor-Leste main program: 16-22 November, 2025 ($3950)
EXPEDITION BRIEF
Over 11 days, we traverse two critical marine corridors—Alor and the north coast of Timor-Leste—documenting traditional fishing knowledge, human-pelagic relationships, and seasonal whale migrations. The trip blends on-water field activity with land-based community immersion, photography, and ecological inquiry.
Our group operates in the spirit of reconnaissance: we are here to observe, record, and participate responsibly in fragile marine and cultural ecosystems. Days are structured around early starts, extended time in the field or on the water, and late afternoon sessions for debriefing, storytelling, and visual documentation.
This is an ideal expedition for those interested in oceanic research, documentary storytelling, applied ecotourism, or the frontline realities of conservation in lesser-known archipelagic regions.
EXPEDITION LEADER
Matt Reichel is a co-founder of One Xpeditions and has a long history of organizing and undertaking challenging wildlife and pelagic expeditions from the High Arctic to the Congolese rainforests. An award-winning documentary photographer, his work has been featured in Nat Geo, NYT, WashPo, BBC, AJE and more. He has been leading oceanic expeditions and documenting great pelagic wildlife for the last 10 years.
R E C C E
RECONNAISSANCE EXPEDITION This is a first-time experimental trip we’ve carefully designed through extensive research and local contacts. While we’ve done everything possible to maximize success, nature is unpredictable, and outcomes can’t be guaranteed.
Insular Southeast Asia
ALOR PROGRAM (Indonesia)
Nov 12–16, 2025
Our time in Alor focuses on community-based fisheries, intergenerational marine knowledge, macro diving, and traditional freediving practices across the Pantar Strait. Each day offers a distinct encounter—with indigenous Abui culture in the highlands, with off-grid island fishers in Pura, and with elder spearfishers using handmade gear.
We begin with dugong tracking and a village stay in Takpala, engaging with oral histories and customary dance as evening falls. From there, we shift toward the sea— joining subsistence fishers on canoe-assisted bubu trap checks, and sitting with elder freedivers to understand how handmade wooden goggles and reef intuition once defined survival.
We dedicate one day to tank diving in the Pantar Strait, where strong currents reveal dramatic reef systems and possible pelagic encounters. Across the week, we’ll also talk with village elders, photograph tools and techniques, and begin assembling an archive of human-ocean interaction at the edge of change.
DILI PROGRAM (Timor-Leste)
Nov 16–22, 2025
We base ourselves in Dili and work daily on the water in the productive corridors off the north coast—an area where blue whales, beaked whales, melon-headed whales, and sperm whales transit during austral spring. We spend approximately six hours per day at sea, launching early and returning mid-afternoon.
Afternoons are structured around visual review, photo editing, whale behavior discussions, and knowledge-sharing across the group. Where possible, we incorporate brief late-afternoon visits to land-based sites—such as artisanal fish markets, cultural institutions, or nearshore ecosystems—in Dili and its outskirts. These remain flexible depending on light, weather, and group energy.
This segment emphasizes in water encounters with blue whales during the westward migration season between the Banda Sea feeding grounds and Australia. We observe all national and regional regulations regarding marine mammals and work with a local captain committed to responsible operations.
Insular Southeast Asia
PRICING
Full program (11 days): $5490
Alor Island add-on: 12-16 November, 2025 ($1950)
Timor-Leste main program: 16-22 November, 2025 ($3950)
Pricing is based on shared accommodation (twin rooms). Single supplement accommodation is available for an extra $750 for the full trip ($200 for Alor, $550 for Timor Leste). Guests may sign up for the full trip or either component. A pricing discount is available for those signing up for the full 11-day trip (included).
Open Water scuba certification is not needed to participate in the Timor-Leste program, but is required to participate in the Alor program.
INCLUDES
Guides, coordinators, and local fixers.
Accommodation (shared rooms).
Breakfast and lunch daily.
Workshops and photography lessons.
Local transportation.
Private boat transfers in Alor and between Alor Island and Atapupu, Timor (Indonesia).
Border crossing permits.
Private whale boat for 5 days in Timor.
3 tank dives and 2 days of free diving activities in Alor.
EXCLUDES
Flights.
Dinners.
Insurance and personal spending.
Gear (scuba gear is included in Alor).
Upgrades and single supplement rooms.
Gratuities for local staff.