If you are visiting Indonesia, and in particular if you are going scuba diving whilst you’re there, you might be asking what whales and marine mammals are found in Indonesia?
There are whales and mammals in Indonesia including blue whales, Bryde’s whales, dolphins, melon-headed whales, orca (killer whales), pigmy blue whales, pilot whales sperm whales and humpback whales. But there are also dugongs in Indonesia, which are mammals but not whales.
Whale sharks are also found in Indonesia which are not whales nor mammals.
The best way to dive Indonesia, whether that’s to Komodo or Raja Ampat, is by a scuba diving liveaboard. You can check the latest and best deals on Indonesian liveaboards using the following window:
The following article includes at least one video of each of the whales encountered in Indonesia, as per the following list of whales and mammals:
Blue whales
Bryde’s whales.
Dolphins.
Melon-headed whales.
Orca (killer whales).
Pigmy blue whales.
Pilot whales.
Sperm whales.
Dugongs.
Humpback whales.
Either before or after reading about whales and marine mammals found in Indonesia, you might like to take a look at these Indonesian liveaboards.
Alternatively, take a look at the following table of Indonesia liveaboards:
This list of Indonesia liveaboards is in descending customer rating order, followed by Scuba Diving Luxury Rating (SDE Lux Rating, see below), so the liveaboards with the highest customer rating and the best SDE lux rating will be at the top of the list. If you want to change the list order, use the “Sort by” dropdown below.
The Scuba Diving Earth Luxury Rating (SDE Lux Rating) is explained on each liveaboard review when you click the “Discover Liveaboard” link, and is my own Liveaboard Luxury Rating I’ve assigned to all liveaboards. Choosing between liveaboards is helped by customer scores, and if you get stuck choosing between two or three liveaboards, where each one has a high customer score out of 10, you can use the SDE Luxury Rating to help narrow down your choice.
Think about it like using Booking.com when searching for the best hotel. Booking.com also use a customer score where each customer rates hotels out of 10. This is similar to the liveaboard customer rating, which is also rated out of 10. But let’s say you only like to stay in hotels rated 8 and above on Booking.com, but you also want the hotel to have WIFI or parking, or to have a swimming pool etc. The features each hotel has is usually secondary to the score out of 10.
Types of whales and marine mammals found in Indonesia
Blue whales in Indonesia
The blue whale (Balaenoptera Musculus) is the largest marine mammal you’ll find in Indonesia and is a baleen whale. The blue whale can grow to just under 30 meters (100 feet) in length.
How exciting would this be when you spot blue whales on your way back to your resort. But what if you are on a diving liveaboard and spot blue whales in Indonesia too.
The Bryde’s whale is a baleen whale and belongs to the same group of whales as blue whales and humpback whales. The Bryde’s whale can been found in Indonesia.
Donovan’s Alor Diving – Dolphins during surface interval #2 – Indonesia (super pod of dolphin
https://youtu.be/6TPxoVd_Do8
Dolphins in indonesia Banda sea ( Banda neira )
Melon-headed whales in Indonesia
The melon-headed whale (Peponocephala Electra), which is also known as the electra dolphin or little killer whale. The melon headed whale is a medium sized toothed whale can be found in Indonesia.
Slow motion aerial shot of a pygmy blue whale blowing at the surface before diving, Indonesia.
Pilot Whales in Indonesia
Pilot whales are medium sized cetaceans, and there are two extant species of pilot whale, which are the long-finned pilot whale and the short-finned pilot. It is the short-finned pilot whale that is mostly found in Indonesian waters.
Pilot Whales at Bunaken National Park, North Sulawesi, Indonesia
Sperm whales in Indonesia
Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) are found off the coast of Indonesia and are the largest of the toothed whales, but also the largest toothed predator on the planet.
If you are lucky, you might spot a friendly dugong when snorkeling or diving in Indonesia. The dugong mostly eats seagrass around the coastline of Indonesia.
CETACEANS in Indonesia | Dolphins and Whales by drone 4K
Humpback whales in Indonesia
If you are very lucky, you may even get to see a humpback whale when you visit Indonesia. Humpback whale sightings are rare in Indonesia, but they do migrate to the area.
Whale watching Nyaman Boat, Lombok – Indonesia – a rare sighting of a breaching humpback whale
The whale that’s not a whale in Indonesia – the whale shark
When you search for whales in Indonesia, the whale shark pops up in the search results. But of course a whale shark is actually not a whale nor is it a mammal, it’s a fish, but a very large fish…hence its name.
The following video is of a whale shark encounter in Indonesia.
I hope you enjoyed this article about whales and marine mammals found in Indonesia
I’d love to hear from you. Tell us about your adventures of diving and snorkelling. Please use the comments section below. Please also share your photos. Either from your underwater cameras or videos from your waterproof go-pro’s!
If this article hasn’t answered all of your questions. If you have more questions either about snorkelling or scuba diving (or specifically about whales and marine mammals found in Indonesia), please comment below with your questions.
There will also be many more articles about scuba and scuba diving safety tips (and on snorkelling too) for you to read and learn about this fabulous sport.
Have fun and be safe!
Whales and Marine Mammals Found in Indonesia
Related Posts:
Are There Whales In Belize? There are whales in Belize in the Caribbean, which include pilot whales, false killer whales, dolphins, sperm whales, orcas or killer whales and very rare sightings of humpback whales. But…
Marine life found in Indonesia The marine life found in Indonesia is incredible and includes sharks, whales, dugongs, rays, fish, octopus, barrel sponges, hard and soft coral, crabs and lobsters, crocodiles, cuttlefish and squid, sea…
What Is The Best Time Of Year To Scuba Dive Komodo? April is the best time to scuba dive Komodo, as you get 30+m (100f) visibility, still good for mantas, a good time to dive north and central Komodo dive sites,…
Article written by Russell Bowyer who has been a scuba diver since diving on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia in 1989. After his first dive he trained as a BSAC diver in the UK. He attained his Diver Leader certification with BSAC. He then went on to become a scuba diving instructor, teaching others how to dive and was voted as Diving Officer and Treasurer for the Saffron Walden BSAC club too. Russell has dived all over the world, including the UK, on liveaboards in the Red Sea, the Caribbean, South Africa and the USA. Russell is experienced in all dive types, including drift diving, deep dives that involved decompression stops and recreational dives too.
