from: Sorong, to: Bitung
This is a sample itinerary. Itineraries may change without further notice due to weather conditions or other unforeseen circumstances.
Raja Ampat is right in the heart of the Coral Triangle and has over 1,500 islands. Many scientists believe Raja Ampat has the most coral and fish diversity in the world! Raja means King and Ampat means Four – Four Kings. The four kings are the main islands in Raja Ampat – Waigeo, Batanta, Salawati and Misool.
Starting from Sorong in West Papua the boat head to the south of Raja Ampat’s largest island Waigeo to the famous Dampier Strait. The crew will select the best dives sites for the experience of the divers and according to the current and weather conditions. Here guests can expect to dive at some world class, adrenalin packed dive sites such as Cape Kri, Chicken Reef, Sleeping Barracuda, Sardine Reef, Mioskon and Blue Magic. The guides can take guests to places where the current meets the reef head on, where guests can witness predatory fish like for black tip, white tip and grey reef sharks, giant trevally, Spanish mackerel and dog tooth tuna hunting huge schools of smaller fish like fusiliers and big eye jacks. Sea mounts and long reefs offer this hunting action as well as sightings of bumphead parrotfish, napoleon wrasse, turtles and manta rays.
At the other end of the Dampier Strait is Lalosi, a drift dive completely full of fusiliers and with a chance to see wobbegong sharks. The well-known manta aggregation sites of Manta Sandy and Manta Ridge are also in this area. Sawandarek is on the island of Mansuar and the dive on the reef and jetty in front of the village is a fantastic dive. Guests can also visit Papua Explorer’s coral restoration project here. For those interested guests can take a walk around the village at Sawandarek or Arborek.
After a night dive on guests first day of diving the boat will travel to Penemu for two dives. Famous Melissa’s Garden awaits guests with its spectacular, healthy and wide-spread hard coral plateau in the shallows. At Keruo Wall guests can admire large gorgonian sea fans and lovely reef tops, and guests might also explore My Reef and Batu Rufus. A short hike to the viewpoint of Penemu offers a spectacular view of the lagoons and its surrounding islands.
Next stop is Misool where guests will spend one and a half days. Misool’s small surrounding islands are soft coral paradise and another area of Raja Ampat. Misool can be divided into many areas where guests can spend the whole day at a selection of amazing dive sites. Daram is in the very east of these islands and has inviting names such as Candy Store, Andiamo and Warna Berwarna (meaning Colourful Colour!) The sea fans forests here have to be seen to be believed!
In the iconic areas of Boo, Fiabecet and Yuliet guests look through the iconic Boo Windows, with tonnes of fish surrounding the boat. guests explore fabulous dive sites like Shadow Reef (aka Magic Mountain), Nudibranch Rock, Batu Kecil, Whale Rock, Boo West Corner and Yuliet Kecil. And if guests are lucky, they'll see the majestic Giant and Reef Manta rays around here. Admire large coral heads covered in soft corals, maybe spotting the famous Santa Clause Pygmy Seahorse, while schools of Barracudas and Batfish might pass by. The boat's eagle-eyed dive masters will look for a ‘Walking Shark’ (Epaulette Shark) on a night dive at Romeo.
Sagof, Wagmab, Farondi offer us stunning underwater walls, overhangs and cave structures plus amazing macro, such as Nudibranchs, Flatworms, Anemone Crabs and all kinds of shrimps. In this area, guests have the opportunity to visit the wonderful Lagoons, a must- see place, with its iconic bee-hiveshaped karst limestone formations and hard coral colonies at the bases of these amazing geological structures. If the tide is high enough the crew will take you to the secret bay right at the back!
There are also lagoons at Wayilbatan, including the Love Lagoon. The hike up the steep stairs is well worth the view. A drift dive through a channel covered in sea fans at Neptune Fan Sea is the perfect place to cool off after the hot walk. Wedding Cake and Barracuda Rock are other stunning dive sites in this area.
Between Misool and South Halmahera there are two small rocks and two islands. This area is called Pisang Island. Here guests will do two dives before traveling overnight to South Halmahera. If the current is running this area can be very fishy. They are large coral heads in the shallows and pretty soft corals in the deep. A school of bumphead parrotfish live here and guests might see some passing pelagics like tuna or mackerel.
The next two days will be spent around South Halmahera. There are pinnacles, walls and coral gardens to enjoy. The pinnacles are full of schooling fish, the walls covered in stunning soft corals and sea fans and reef sharks swim around the coral gardens. Napoleon wrasse, bumphead parrotfish, turtles, blacktips, whitetips, schools of jacks and barracuda all populate the reefs here. There are black sandy
slopes providing excellent critter filled muck diving, especially for the night dive.
The Goraici Islands with white sandy beaches are our next stop. The people here have been actively protecting their reefs here, keeping them healthy and in good condition. The reefs are packed with fish and there are pristine hard coral gardens. At another dive site there is a wall covered in corals where black tip reef sharks cruise around.
Tifore is home to a huge school of barracuda, said to number over 1,000! Tifore is a small island between Halmahera and Lembeh. Just off the island there is a submerged reef that slopes down to healthy hard and soft corals and huge shoals of schooling fish. Grey reef sharks sometimes pass by here too. Our last two dives are in the famous Lembeh Strait. Some say this area is the Capital of muck diving.
The black sandy slopes here provide habitats for numerous weird and wonderful critters. guests can look for octopus, frogfish, nudibranchs, pipefish – there really are critters galore here!
After the dives the boat will head to Bitung and enjoy the goodbye dinner inside the harbour.