Raja Ampat Trip Report December 2024

Bluewater Travel's December Photo Workshop Aboard the MV Ambai

Words and Images by Dan Bishop

Indonesia is well known as one of the most biodiverse diving locations in the world, and the Raja Ampat archipelago is perhaps the crown jewel of Indonesia.  Consisting of more than 1,500 islands, Raja Ampat has a stunning array of marine life.  In December of 2024, 16 Bluewater Travel guests set sail aboard the MV Ambai for an unforgettable 12-day voyage to explore the best that Raja Ampat has to offer.  We would end up doing 36 dives across the southern, central, and northern dive sites of Raja Ampat.  This trip was also photo workshop, and guests came equipped with their underwater camera gear to capture the underwater magic of Raja Ampat. 

Want to learn more? Check out the Best Diving in Indonesia.

After being picked up from hotels in Sorong, we boarded the MV Ambai, which would be our home for the next 12 days.  Guests received a warm welcome from the crew, as well as a diving orientation from cruise director Marco.  We then headed south to a site called Matan in the Warir area for a checkout dive.  This provided an opportunity to get acquainted with the excellent diving operation aboard the MV Ambai, as well as a chance to sort out weighting.  This also gave us a taste of what we could expect on future dives: healthy coral and dense marine life.

Following our checkout dive, we headed further south to the renowned Misool area, where we spent four days exploring amazing sites such as Vibrant Color, Juliet, Puri Pinnacle, Eagle’s Nest, Four Kings, Kaleidoscope, and Boo Window.  These sites offered spectacular diving and treated us to massive schools of glass fish and silversides, as well as mantas, mobula rays, wobbegong sharks (a first for most guests), batfish, octopus, angelfish, triggerfish, jacks, bumphead wrasse, and barracuda.  On most days, we also did a night dive which was macro-oriented, where the dive guides did an excellent job of finding a range of small critters, include nudibranchs, blennies, and gobies.  On one of the night dives, we were treated to our first sighting of an epaulette (aka the ‘walking’) shark.

In addition to diving, there were opportunities for afternoon shore excursions to a deserted beach and for those willing to climb some steep stairs, a view Love Lagoon. 

On day 6, we headed north to Penemu Island in central Raja, where we were able to dive sites such as Melissa’s Garden, My Reef, and Keruo Channel, which are famous for their beautiful corals.  Again, we were treated to schooling fish, angelfish, barracuda, anemone fish, parrot fish, and sweet lips.  We did a night dive at Batu Rufas, where we photographed nudibranchs, flatworms, cuttlefish, and blennies.  There was another shore excursion to climb more stairs for a breathtaking view of the islands.

Days 7-8 were spent exploring the northern atolls, where we were able to dive sites such as Eagle Rock, Black Rock, and Figure 8.  Currents were a bit stronger on some of these dives, which brought more marine action to enjoy.  Schooling sweet lips and glass fish were often sighted, along with bumphead wrasse, parrotfish, and triggerfish.

On day 9, we headed back to central Raja for 3 final days of diving some of this area’s best sites, including Edi’s Black Forest, Mayhem, Sardine Reef, and Blue Magic, where we encountered lush coral and dense marine life, including  giant clams and more wobbegong sharks.  The night dives at Aborek Jetty and Saporken offered more amazing macro opportunities, including bobtail squid, cuttlefish, octopus, and nudibranchs, as well as another walking shark and a crocodile fish.  For our last dive, we dived Sawandarek Jetty, where friendly schooling sweet lips and angel fish hung out under the local jetty.  We also encountered 4 huge green turtles which were napping in shallow water.  On the evening of day 11, we enjoyed a fantastic beach barbeque, complete with live music and dancing by the crew.

Our last shore excursion opportunity was to see the birds of paradise, where guests were treated to some amazing exotic bird courtship displays.   To top it off, two of the guests got engaged on the beach - congrats to John and Kristin!  

On our last evening, we enjoyed a slideshow of everyone’s best images from the week, as well as a photo contest. 

Since this trip was a photo workshop, there were daily classroom sessions designed to hone everyone’s underwater photography and editing skills.  Curriculum included photography fundamentals as well as some more advanced topics, covering everything from manual exposure control and focusing techniques to lighting and composition for both wide angle and macro photography.  We also did a deep dive into editing in Lightroom.  In addition to the curriculum, daily image review sessions were held to discuss guest’s images, and it was gratifying to see the progress everyone made throughout the trip. 

The MV Ambai is a great boat with a truly amazing crew.  Marco, Franck, and the entire team worked incredibly hard and went out of their way to ensure every guest had a great experience.  The food, service, and diving operation were all top notch.

Want to learn more about diving in Raja Ampat? Read our earlier 2024 Trip Report.