Raja Ampat
Indonesia
Raja Ampat ( Four Kings) area consists from more than 1.500 islands and islets, but generally can be divided in two parts: south area- Misool island and central part- Dampier Strait. Only 150 km apart, those 2 areas arecompletely differed regarding underwater life and diving environment.
South part – Misool area is more influenced by Indian ocean full of plankton and nutrition therefore soft corals grow in abundance as well as all plankton- feeding sea flora and fauna. Above water, hundreds of lime stone islets, carved by ever- flowing currents make unforgeable landscapes forming beautiful lagoons with clear, turquoise water, ideal for kayaking and snorkeling. While diving in this area, we will take you to the most beautiful soft coral gardens in the world full of hundreds species of fish. Oficialy, there are 450 coral species in this area and recently biologist counted 1.800 spices of fish! Really – a world record! We can also see big schools of Bumphead parrot fish, many different kind of Snappers and much, much more. We will visit famous cleaning station for Oceanic Manta rays that can grow up to 6m in width! Macro life is also amazing here: many different species of Pigmy Seahorse, nudibranchs , Ghost pipe fish, are just some of the representatives of the macro world of Misool area. We will choose dive sites and timing for diving that will fit to your diving experience and needs but just to mention some of the most famous dive sites: Shadow Reef ( Magic Mountain), Nudi Rock, Warna Bewarna, Andiamo, Four Kings, Love Potion No.9, No contest etc.
Central part – Dampier strait, is more influenced by warm and clear water from Pacific, therefore hard coral gardens dominate this area. Big schools of fish as well as: Giant trevallies, Big eye jacks, Barracudas, Bumphead parrotfish and again – again Manta rays. Famous and weird looking Wobegong sharks are very common in this area. The most famous dive sites in this area are: Melisa Garden, Cape Kri, Blue Magic, Sawandarek peer, Manta Ridgeetc.
We strongly recommend you that we dive both areas as both of them are much different both under and above water and length of the stay in each area we can adjust during the trip at you wish.
Day 1 – once arrived in Sorong, you will be transfed to MY Kudanil (20 mins drive from the airportby car), crew will be introduced to you, breakfast, Boat safety briefing , resting time. Arround 3pm we will do check dive and after that have a sunset cocktail on near by beach. After dinner we will start sailing towards Misool (about 10 hours)
Day 2 – Misool area, 4 dives maximum ( including night dive)
Day 3 – Misool area, 4 dives maximum (including night dive)
Day 4 – Misool area, 4 dives maximum (including night dive)
Day 5 – Misool area, 3 dives and after dive number 3 we will start sailing toward central part – Dampier (about 12h)
Day 6 – Dampier strait – 4 dives (including night dive)
Day 7 – Dampier strait – 4 dive (including night dive)
Day 8 – Dampier strait – 2 dives only as next day you will be flying
Day 9 – Sorong- in the morning farewell with the crew and you will be transferred to the Sorong airport or hotel at your choice
One typical day onboard: since its equatorial country, day and night in Indonesia last 12h – 12h and we have many activities to offer to you. Therefore we suggest next schedule for activities so you are not in the rush and also to avoid the hottest part of the day. Dives in some places need to be scheduled following ocean conditions as currents can be very strong. If there are snorkelers in the group, they can follow almost every time when we do scuba dive, except diving in pinnacles exposed to currents.
6:00 – 7:00 – wake up and small breakfast
7:00 – 7:30 – dive 1
9:00 – 9:30 – main breakfast
10:30 – 11:00 – dive 2
12:00 – lunch
12:00 – 15:00 – resting hours
15:30 – dive 3
17:00 – tea time and snack the rest of the day is at your choice.
18:30 - Snorkeling, kayaking, water ski, night dive.
19:30 - 20:00 – dinner
NOTE: diving on some dive site has to be at certain time of a day due to ocean conditions. As well, to keep Raja Ampat exclusive place, each group from another liveaboard has 30 minutes to dive alone so once the schedule among the boats is set, it must be strictly followed. As we mentioned, this is exclusively to keep exclusivity of diving so we dive alone on each dive site.
