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.

Misool’s small surrounding islands are a soft-coral paradise and a famous part of Raja Ampat. With its abundance of stunning dive sites and the natural beauty of karst limestone and jungle-clad islands, this area invites us to linger for a couple, or depending on the trip length, even several days.

Misool can be divided into many areas, where we 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 fan forests here have to be seen to be believed!

In the iconic areas of Boo, Fiabecet and Yuliet, we may look through the iconic Boo Windows, with tonnes of fish surrounding us. We might explore fabulous dive sites like Shadow Reef (aka Magic Mountain), Nudibranch Rock, Batu Kecil, Whale Rock, Boo West Corner and Yuliet Kecil. And if we are lucky, we see the majestic giant and/or reef manta rays around here. Admire large coral heads covered in soft corals, maybe spotting the famous Santa Claus pygmy seahorse, while schools of barracudas and batfish might pass by. Our eagle-eyed dive masters will look for the endemic walking shark (epaulette shark) on a night dive at Romeo or Yuliet Besar.

The areas of Sagof, Wagmab and Farondi offer us stunning underwater walls, overhangs and cave structures, plus amazing macro life, such as nudibranchs, flatworms, anemone crabs and all kinds of shrimps. In this area, we have the opportunity to visit the wonderful lagoons – a must-see in Misool. These amazing geological structures come in iconic bee-hive-shaped karst limestone formations and hard-coral colonies at their base. If the tide is high enough, our crew will take you to the secret bay right at the back!

There are also lagoons at Wayilbatan, one of them is the Love Lagoon. If we visit this lagoon, we will do three dives on that day. The hike up the steep stairs is well worth the view – a blue heart shape. 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.

Misool – Dayang – Fam Islands

It is a long crossing up to Dayang, so on the last day of diving in Misool, we will do two dives before heading north.

Dayang on the northwest of Batanta is at the entrance of a bay and a perfect place to split up the journey. Here, we might come across wobbegong sharks and get to see great macro life, including ribbon eels, ghost pipefish and unusual nudibranchs. Dayang Island also offers another great chance to encounter manta rays, the gentle giants, at their cleaning stations.

Famous Melissa’s Garden awaits us with its spectacular, healthy, and wide-spread hard coral plateau, completely covered in colourful anthias and damsel fish. At Keruo Wall, we can admire large gorgonian sea fans and lovely reef tops. A short hike to Penemu viewpoint offers a spectacular view of the lagoons and its surrounding islands. On the day we visit the viewpoint, we will do three dives. To cool off, we might do a late afternoon dive at Batu Rufus, followed by a relaxed evening drinking cocktails and watching the sunset on deck.

Yeben & Yangeffo

We may then visit Yeben area. Expect beautiful coral bommies dotted around a white-sand bottom, which creates a unique scenery. These healthy, shallow reefs attract an enormous amount of reef fish and give shelter to cuttlefish blending in, with blacktip reef sharks patrolling around.

Next, we will head to Yangeffo area. Yangeffo Island is situated on the western tip of Gam Island and creates a sheltered bay. This small area has multiple top-notch dive sites. Famous ones like Citrus Ridge and Mayhem always amaze divers with their vibrancy and biodiversity. The area here is probably so abundant due to the surrounding mangroves. Beautiful hard and soft corals grow under and among the roots of the trees. They create a distinctive environment and are home for species like archer fish, cardinal fish and different types of juvenile reef fish. If the tides are right, we may visit this fragile ecosystem, which provides special photo opportunities. Our crew will be happy to take you out in the tender to snorkel in the mangroves in between dives.

Dampier Strait - Sorong

The remainder of our adventure will be spent diving in the famous Dampier Strait. Moving west to east in the Dampier Strait, we may visit dive sites around the islands of Arborek, Mansuar and Kri, where we hope to encounter schools of sweetlips, napoleon wrasse, bumphead parrotfish and the endemic tasselled wobbegong shark. Sawandarek village lies on Mansuar Island and offers a spectacular reef and jetty dive. Here we can witness Papua Explorers’ successful coral restoration project and visit the resident turtles. Arborek is a well-known jetty and night dive and boasts impressive marine life such as giant clams, schooling batfish and crocodile fish. The well-known manta aggregation sites of Manta Sandy and Manta Ridge are also in this area. For those interested, there might be an opportunity to walk around the village at Sawandarek or Arborek.

The central and eastern part of Dampier Strait offer a vast selection of world-class and adrenalinepacked dive sites, such as Cape Kri, Chicken Reef, Sardine Reef, Mioskon and Blue Magic, of which we will select the best options according to the current and weather conditions. Our guides can take you to places where the current meets the reef head on, where you can witness predatory fish like blacktip, whitetip and grey reef sharks, giant trevally, Spanish mackerel and dogtooth tuna hunting huge schools of smaller fish like fusiliers and bigeye jacks. On top of the abundant fish life, Central Raja Ampat offers fantastic macro dives, with chances to spot different species of pygmy seahorses, common seahorses, cuttlefish and octopuses.

Our last diving day will offer two more action-packed dives in the Dampier Strait, before we start travelling back to Sorong harbour, where we will spend the last evening and enjoy a special farewell dinner. The next morning, our tenders will take you back ashore to catch your flights.

Twin Lower Deck

1 cabin (1 spot) available

$5,625

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