Crocodile encounters in Raja Ampat?

[Hintermann]

I know that this might sound silly but I had disbelieved stories of the dreaded "Saltie" - in Raja Ampat until I found this article by chance yesterday. Crocodile attack! - Divernet

Swimming among sharks is one thing but a Saltwater Crocodile is something else. I am going there in November and doing a mixed north & south itinerary. I won't do anything silly or go where the guides advice not to but is there a chance of meeting one of these fearsome monsters? I hope not.

 

[highdesert]

Does DAN cover that?

 

[Zippsy]

It's extremely easy to avoid the mangrove areas where you might be diving. Most trips we might approach the shallow mangrove area once or twice if customers are happy to. If you don't want to be near there, stay down below 5 meters when others are there.

 

[Warmwater Wank]

H--Raja Ampat is a big destination, unlike most places people go to. No LOB goes to all the dive possibilities on any one trip, so while technically you certainly could see saltwater crocs that would happen at a few mangrove dive sites. Typically this is not a big part of the normal itinerary. Your boat may or may not go near a mangrove area and even if it does, the briefing would alert you. I'm told due to excess paperwork required, most boats prefer to bring back all their passengers. Doubtful they will drop anyone in as croc bait, though I suspect there have been some temptations along the way.

As a reference, Raja Ampat is about the size of Denmark. While salt water croc danger is probably even lower in Denmark (I've never been but I assume...), it's big enough territory that in either case it's hard to generalize about specific dangers or concerns. If you are on a good boat with a good crew and good dive guides, no worries--they would tell you these things like Zippsy just did. (If you don't have that combination you may have more to worry about than crocs! )// ww

 

[Shasta_man]

I think they quit going some places where they were seen, but it's possible. Our trip did a dive which started on a shallow reef and ended at the edge of mangroves where you can see lots of archerfish. I didn't go into the dark mangrove areas, thanks very much.

 

[gee13]

Wheres the sighting??? We dove near croc sighted RA mangroves but no luck...I even had my wide angle dome all setup for it too, would have been a pretty good shot .. ok jokes aside its an incredible story of survival ... hope no one encounters such a beast uw ... it does seem a rather rare occurence given all the divers that do dive the mangroves in RA

 

[dkr82]

I know that this might sound silly but I had disbelieved stories of the dreaded "Saltie" - in Raja Ampat...

This came up in a thread over on Reddit yesterday.. Disbelieve all you want, here's a pic..

Salt Water Croc at about 30m, Indonesia : scuba

For those interested in the specifics of this photograph. This picture was taken on March 8th, 2014 in the Raja Ampat region of Indonesia (West Papua) in the sea around the island of Batanta (Dive Site: Algae Patch 1) on a "muck dive". Photo taken with a Canon G11 in housing. Estimated length of croc is about 3 metres +/-. Was on a dive trip on the live-aboard MSV Amira.

I can't imagine the degree to which I'd poop myself if I was checking out the muck and looked up only to be face to face with a saltwater croc..

 

[pughio83]

Amazing...would love to see this

 

[Adventure-Ocean]

Many years ago I was diving for science in Palau. We spotted and eventually caught a much smaller crocodile. It was about 4ft long. Very strong jaws that snapped a nice chunk of fiberglass off the boat. I don't know alot about these animals but I would not want to confront a crocodile of any size while in the water with them. Adventure-Ocean Have you ever caught a crocodile

 

[Uli Kunkel]

I've read somewhere or heard from someone, I can't remember, that Salties can only take prey at the surface. I don't know how true that is and I am not sure I would be willing to test out that bit of knowledge. Still... it would be good to know.