Lava Flow (Gunung Api Banda)

The 1988 eruption of Banda Api sent lava down the flanks into the sea and wiped out the reef under it. What grew back on the bare rock did so unusually fast, and the site is now a slope of plate coral on volcanic substrate a few hundred metres off Banda Neira. Easy conditions; the interest is the geology and the coral, not big animals.

Depth

5–30m

Current

Mild

Diver level

Open water

Entry

Boat

Unique features

Reef grown on the andesitic flow from the 1988 eruption — 124 coral species and 61.6% cover recorded five years afterwards
Plate corals in near-continuous cover from about 5m to 30m, usually with little current
Pygmy seahorses on the sea fans at the deeper end

Sources & last checked

Checked August 2026

This is a researched draft, not yet human-verified. The seasonality and logistics are drawn from the sources below — confirm specifics (permits, fees, closures) with an operator before you book.

Rapid coral colonization of a recent lava flow following a volcanic eruption, Banda Islands, Indonesia — Coral Reefs 15: 169-175
Report on Banda Api (Indonesia) — June 1988 — Smithsonian Institution Global Volcanism Program

Note on the data: Coordinates are approximate; not surveyed dive-site GPS.