Imagine yourself diving in the area where, according to Conservation International, marine life is more abundant than at any other place on earth, and you’ve just envisioned a trip to Raja Ampat. Located in Indonesia’s West Papua province, the “Four Kings” comprises more than 1,500 small islands, shoals, and cays that surround the small island of Kofiau and the four larger islands of Misool, Batanta, Salawati, and Waigeo. The area in total encompasses over forty thousand square kilometers of land and sea mass and is part of the Coral Triangle, which is where the world’s greatest known concentration of healthy coral reef growth is located.
Raja Ampat’s coral has escaped the coral bleaching epidemic that occurred in 1998’s El Nino completely unscathed and it is absolutely pristine. Here, 537 coral species and more than 1,300 species of fish have been catalogued. The biodiversity picture is rounded out by nearly seven hundred species of mollusk, as well as plentiful sharks, rays, turtles, and marine mammals.
Diving Conditions
Crystal clear water, warm temperatures, and a variety of current conditions and depths contribute to an incredible variance in dive sites. There are wreck dives, reef dives, wall dives and deep dives – just to name a few! Divers of every level can find their own sweet spot and enjoy the excellent visibility which is a nearly universal characteristic here. Let’s take a look at just a handful of the incredible dive sites Raja Ampat has to offer.
Kawe
You may have crossed the equator in an aircraft, or in a boat, or maybe even while on land in the past, but the best place to do it underwater is Kawe. Here, you will find an intricate maze of coral structures teeming with fish of every color, shape and size. Watch for leatherback turtles and wobegong sharks!
Jef Fam Group
Jef Fam is just to the west of Batanta Island, and is made up of sandy bottom channels that surround the many limestone islands and islets that make this group of sites unique. Here, you can explore lagoons and bays, coves, cliffs and beaches to your heart’s content!
The entire area is covered with healthy hard coral, and if you visit the Bird Rocks site, you may very well get a look at the rare tasseled wobbegong shark, which shares the water with manta rays and barracuda. Enjoy the sight of a wall covered in spiky blue jade tube sponges, small green see pens, massive sheet and mushroom corals, and pastel colored soft coral in abundance. Here, you’ll see colonies of blue sided wrasse as well as bigeye bream and big angelfish, including some representatives of a variety of angelfish species including keyhole angelfish, bicolor angelfish, and Lamarck’s angelfish. Anthias and rabbitfish, as well as banded sea snakes look for a nibble or two among green cabbage patch corals, and masses of fusiliers join forces with Titan triggerfish as they survey the giant tridachna clams which are estimated to be more than one hundred years old.
In deeper areas, there is a healthy abundance of black coral, as well as brilliantly colored gorgonians where pygmy seahorses hide. Giant moray eels make their homes here, as do batfish and mackerel. With depths of more than thirty-five meters in some places, but many features at depths as shallow as five meters, this area has many dive sites which can be enjoyed by divers of all levels.
Dampier Strait: Cape Kri, Sardines, and Mike’s Point
Schools of sardines are nowhere to be found in this area; however, there are massive numbers of tuna and schooling trevally that sometimes seem endless. Huge gorgonians host seahorses and pygmy seahorses, and chevron barracuda, big napoleons, and white tip reef sharks share the water with massive Queensland groupers, some of which are about the same size as economy cars! Nudibranchs share space with colorful soft coral, and scorpionfish lie in wait inside the nooks and crannies of the walls here.
There is usually a decent current here, which provides for a stimulating drift dive, and visibility is normally at twenty to thirty meters. Due to the current, this site is reserved for intermediate divers and above.
Wai Island
While the area around Wai Island is home to some intriguing WWII aircraft wrecks, it is also very popular with night divers. Here, you’ll find octopus and stonefish, wobbegongs and squid, and a whole host of nudibranchs. Watch for manta rays and sharks, too!
The Passage
This channel, which is just a bit more than thirty meters wide, and which runs between Walib and Wayilbatan Islands, is carpeted with sea fans in every color, which are home to seahorses, nudibranchs and crinoids. Watch for Reindeer wrasse, and keep an eye out for schooling yellowfin barracuda, mobula rays, and eagle rays!
As this wall dive takes place inside a channel, the current can be strong at times, although it is sometimes so calm that you can pause and take a few shots of macro. Intermediate to advanced divers only!
Misool Island
Misool Island is a calm, ethereal dive site which features macro life in abundance. The underwater architecture, with its tunnels and passages, holes and swimthroughs, is home to ghost pipefish and seahorses, soft coral, and more critters than you have probably ever seen in a single place. Misool is popular day and night and great for all levels!
Farondi Island
Farondi Island is famous for caves and tunnels, as well as walls bursting with colorful life. There are leather corals and plate corals, as well as yellow and purple sea squites in abundance, and beautiful Azure damsels and chromis offer a lovely contrast to the bright yellow sponges that seem to be everywhere you look.
Midnight snapper and sweetlips hide in the dark reaches of the tunnels, and gorgonians hold more than twenty pygmy seahorses at a time. Black coral and red sea whips sway in the current, and giant fusiliers seem to cascade like water over the surface of the wall, where ringtail cardinalfish and ringed pipefish peep from their hiding spots among sea fans and purple wire coral.
As currents can be strong and some areas are deep or involve overhead environments, it is very important to stay within bounds of your training and experience here. This area is good for intermediate divers, but is no place for beginners!
These sites are just a tiny taste of all that Raja Ampat has to offer. As you plan your trip, be sure to choose a dive operator or liveaboard with plenty of experience, and you’ll get the most from this incredible diving getaway.