Ahe Dive Resort, Cenderawasih Bay (long review)

[Madacub]

Hi all, this is a report of my trip to Ahe Dive Resort, Cenderawasih Bay. It is on the northern coast of Papua island, a bit east from the Rajah Ampat area. It is a little remote, but not too much trouble to get to, all things considered. I was also pleasantly surprised that the planes to and from there were good sized, so I was able to get away with two carry ons and about 23 kg in the hold, on all connections. Ahe is a small island in Cenderawasih bay, about half an hour from the mainland.

The publicity from the resort touted the diving in general, as well as the whale sharks. They also indicated feeding of the whale sharks, but the impression I got from that was that the feeding was incidental, and that the sharks were there in general. They did give fair warning that this was a pretty rough resort, only 6 hours of electricity a day, no showers, no hot water, no English spoken by general staff, etc.

The part about the rough resort was true enough (!) - but no problem, that was expected. They are set up for about 6 guests but seem to be expanding.

The part about the excellent diving in general was overstated to say the least, as far as my experience went. The coral was very decent (maybe good bit of bleaching) but the fish life was very disappointing. Especially since they were talking about pristine reefs, untouched by divers etc. Apparently they have stopped the dynamite fishing and overfishing, but it will take time for the stocks to recover. Very disappointing in this regard. Visibility was also poor while I was there, although apparently this is unusual. Someone who had been there the previous month had seen about 200 dolphins on the surface and had better visibility, but was also disappointed in the fish life. Basically mediocre is how I would describe it (the diving in general).

But the whale sharks were the main attraction and that I got. The whale sharks feeding location is about 2+ hours away from Ahe; departure from Ahe to them is at the ungodly hour of 5:00 am! We saw three of them, one about 12-15 feet, the other two about 15-20 feet, I may be a little conservative in my estimates. But be aware that this is a shark feeding operation. They were there because they were being fed, nothing more. They say they believe the sharks are resident year around in the bay. I don't know how much they have researched this, but be that as it may, at the spot we go to see them, they are there for the feeding. In general, I don't have a problem with shark feeding (PROVIDED it is safely done, and the sharks are not fed too much) but I wonder about this for whale sharks which are pretty rare and very poorly studied even by marine biologists.

Anyway, that being said, it was a blast for sure. Very shallow, maximum 30 feet, average 10 feet, so the dive lasted 2 hours! And the sharks were there all the time, swimming in and out of where we were, although it seemed that one of the larger ones may have left for the last half hour. We were within touching distance often, although we were not allowed to touch.

Overall, would I have gone there, if I knew then what I know now? Probably not. But if someone has been diving 15-20 years and just wants to see whale sharks, then sure go ahead. But personally, I would probably prefer to go to the Maldives, Philippines, Seychelles, Belize during the whale shark seasons before getting to that stage of coming here. It's pretty pricey for the basic operation they have.

The real bad part is their operations. The person in charge (Arne) is not a diver (!!!). Nobody else speaks English (or any European language). We had to write out or mime out communication as Arne was off the island a good 50% of the time. The dive guides do the best they can, but they need better leadership. They have a couple of pirahu boats fitted with motors. These are the traditional outrigger boats. They were not in good condition and broke down while we were there. Motor failure as well as outrigger coming off while we were at sea! The resort is very new and has had help setting up their operations and training of their dive guides. Both of the professional outfits that did this (one in Bali and one in the Netherlands) are no longer working with them. Arne is determined to go it alone from what he told me. They used to have a British?Australian? Operations manager who was a diver and had experience in Rajah Ampat but Arne dismissed him in Dec after a couple of months or so. So far the cylinders and compressor are okay, but without good management, who knows what will happen over time. As it is, one of our divers was not regular in checking his cylinder before putting it on the boat and had empty cylinders twice, so had to sit out the dive. They do not carry extra cylinders on the boats.

We come back to shore after every dive. Gear is put onto new cylinders and put back on the boat. We jump into the water with fins and mask, then they hand down the BCD/cylinder combo. Similarly, we hand up the gear before climbing back into the boat. The staff is not used to currents and given the condition of the boats are very leery of even minimally rough waters. The overall impression is that this is an outfit that needs a lot more time and good management/leadership to come up to standard. Right now, their view is “This is an “eco resort” out in Papua, so you get what you get”. In my opinion, I can live with that as far as the lodging and meals and drinks go, but I want more professionalism in the diving operations and boats, even with the lure of whale sharks.

I realize this is fairly negative in tone – I do acknowledge that seeing whale sharks this close up and for such an extended period of time is a unique treat. As I said, that part was a real blast! Would I go again? Maybe. If the fish life improves and if the resort management provides better management. Even better: A liveaboard! Because the whale sharks were the thing!, the general diving cannot compare to other diving in the area (ie Indonesia).

Hope this helps. Let me know if anyone needs any more details.

[Magrone]

Thanks Madacub,

This is excellent info. I was considering Ahe Dive Resort but wanted to know what the quality of diving was outside of the whale shark dives. I don't think this will even be on my destination radar anymore. Thank you very much for the informative report.

[Luko]

Interesting report.
I might give up on this one too, I agree whalesharks are not enough for a destination (although I had previously heard the place was not that great for other purposes diving).
Thanks for saving my time, money and most of all, a big disappointment.

[highdesert]

What Magrone and Luko said ...

[bleeb]

I'm curious about what they were feeding the whale sharks? Whale sharks are filter feeders, interested mainly in krill, plankton, and possibly large schools of tiny fish. Normally, saying an operator is engaging in shark feeding tends to bring to mind the stereotypical images of hunting carnivores going after large fish or fist-sized chunks of meat. Whale sharks seem more like baleen whales, or are you talking about a different type of fish? Thanks.

[Mike Veitch]

There are some really nice reefs about 70 miles or so from Nabire, it truly is a great liveaboard destination, i was just there, i can't comment on the reefs close to the resort.

Bleeb, the whalesharks suck on the nets that have baitfish in them.. the baitfish that are stuck on the bottom of the nets that have died pretty much turn to mush and the whalesharks just suck it right out

[bleeb]

Bleeb, the whalesharks suck on the nets that have baitfish in them.. the baitfish that are stuck on the bottom of the nets that have died pretty much turn to mush and the whalesharks just suck it right out

Neat. Hadn't heard of that behavior before. Probably shows my limited knowledge of whale sharks. Sounds like it would be interesting to watch. Thanks for explaining.

[Madacub]

As far as I could tell, the whale sharks were not really able to suck through the nets, but I could be wrong; they sure were trying. The little fish, about the size of a little finger, were not "turned to mush" when I was there. For sure, they were being fed from the fishing boat (actually a large fishing boat/platform, maybe 50 feet by 25 feet, roughly) by them coming up to the surface and the fish being dumped down. Maybe they were also able to suck through the nets, but as far as I could tell, this was more a lure and an exercise in frustration for the whale sharks.

You are right, Bleeb, they are filter feeders (maybe not baleen though, I think that applies to whales, not fish, not sure); I heard somewhere that this is the only place where they have been observed to feed on fish of this size. I can see why you say "Normally, saying an operator is engaging in shark feeding tends to bring to mind the stereotypical images of hunting carnivores going after large fish or fist-sized chunks of meat.", sorry, I should have explained better.

[utilasusie]

I was thinking of a liveaboard trip from Raja to Cenderawasih to get the mantas and whale sharks, but also the fantastic reefs of Raja so don;t mind reading that there isn't so much else to see in the bay - lack of fish etc - for me the whale sharks would be the main draw. Seen them in Utila and Philippines but this sounds totally awesome!

[askkang]

I was there in March 2011 with some friends and we had an incredible time aside from the Whale Sharks.

Basically, they have forewarned about the lack of big fishes around Ahe Island and the basic Resort Facilities.
There are lot of short comings as mentioned by you, in term of Dive Operations i.e. small boat, motor break down,
inability of guides to speak English among others.
I would consider ourselves lucky as I was able to communicate with them in Bahasa Indonesia.

Setting out early in the morning at 5am should be acceptable once you understand the rational.
The boat ride to the fish platform takes around 2.5-3hours each way. They can only bring 1 tank per diver, so, its only 1 dive out.
We went on 3 whale shark trips and we managed to get 2 hours of diving out of our 1 tank as the dives can be very shallow.
The feeding of the whale sharks is not conducted by the Dive Operator but by the fisherman of the Fish Platform.
The Fish Platform operators allows the Dive Operator to dive under their platform without any benefits in return, I was told.
Usually, after spending about 2 to 2.5 hours at the platform, the fisherman on the Fish Platform will tell the dive guides to
leave as they wanted to start fishing. For this, they do line fishing and they wouldn't want divers getting tangled with their
lines.

The Fish Platform is used to fish for 'ikan puri' or anchovies and they also fish other big fishes like tunas and mackerels that got attracted
to the platform. Most of the fishes caught are dried.
From the observation during my trip, the whale sharks do 'suck' on the nets for the ikan puri and they do feed on the small fishes. I managed
to get some video footage of all these feedings.
On one trip, we had 8 whale sharks under 1 platform and they hang around for the whole 2 hours we were there.
According to the guides, the most they ever saw under 1 platform was 15 whale sharks.
Most of the whale sharks are around 4-6 meters in size but we did saw 2-3 bigger ones of around 10-12 meters.
We also saw another shark, possibly a silky shark under the platform.

Another unique behavior of the whale sharks that you should get to encounter is that they enjoy playing with divers' bubbles.
This, I was told has dumbfounded even the Researchers/Conservationists from Maldives Whale Sharks Conservation Centre.

As for diving in general, the dive guides are still not very experienced with 'spotting' and looking for interesting stuff
for divers. However, they will be able to show you some pygmy seahorses easily.
Again, I would consider myself fortunate as I was able to communicate with the dive guides in Bahasa Indonesia.
Also, I am an experienced diver who also did some dive guiding. This was helpful as we were able to find some
interesting macro stuff during our dives.

We were however surprised that the reef around Ahe Island itself offers one of the better diving experience
compared to other nearby Islands.
We saw White Tip Sharks, Black Tip Sharks, Eagle Ray, school of Bumphead Parrot Fish, Napoleon Wrasse
among the bigger stuff.

We also encountered big pod of dolphins in the hundreds during our boat ride coming back from our dive.
On the trip to the fish platform, I also saw a Whale breaching the surface.

I am going back to Ahe again in November.

My advise to others considering going there :
1. Keep your expectation low on the diving in general. I would think for those who make the trip to Ahe are very experienced who has logged
hundreds of dives, so the general diving may not impress you.
2. Keep an open mind with the local guides, they do try their best and can be very helpful if they understand what you want
3. Understand that the Manager, Arne has to be away from the Resort to keep in touch with the world (e-mails & internet) during the day, thus
it is best to discuss with him during the evening/night for him to convey to the guides due to the communication problems
4. If you haven't dive with the Whale Sharks and wants to have practically guaranteed chance, then this is a good place to go.

Am sharing here a link to a video compilation of my trip in March : YouTube - Ahe Dive Resort