Laval
Contributor
I am afraid that I could not imagine a better dive resort than Sorido Bay Resort (SBR).
We learned about Sorido Bay Resort from a French couple, whom we met at Misool Eco Resort. They traveled extensively through Indonesia (~ 40 dive trips), and, in their opinion, Sorido Bay Resort was #1 dive resort.
So, my wife and I ‘took a dive’ and booked 2.5 weeks with SBR for December 2018. Here is the link to the resort website: Sorido Bay Resort - Papua Diving Resorts - Raja Ampat - Indonesia
It was a challenge to get there from Toronto, Canada. We flew a direct 15-hr flight from Toronto to Hong Kong, then to Jakarta. In Jakarta, we stayed a day at our favourite FM7 hotel/resort resting and enjoying spas, and then flew to Sorong over night (direct flight at 0:30 am). The resort staff met us at the airport (at ~6:30 am) and drove us to a local hotel for breakfast, and then to a marina, where we were boarded a high speed boat, and in less than 2 hrs we were at the resort by lunch.
SBR is a very small resort - maximum 18 guests, but it is rarely full to 100%. This, along with the outstanding staff led by Chris, Jade and Rebeka, created a very welcoming, family-like atmosphere.
All cottages are very spacious and they are located on a nice sandy beach, about 10 meters away from water. Design and quality of construction are very good. Everything in the Resort is well-thought out and built to last.
There is a ‘camera room’ in each cottage, which includes a long table, a camera washing sink and international plugs. Every guest is provided with a ‘camera taxi’, which is a glorified wheel barrel. I found this arrangement is more convenient than having a designated camera room. At the same time, they are in the process of building a designated camera room. On boats they have crates for cameras, but I had my own beer cooler bag.
Grounds at Sorido Bay are very nice, as there is a sandy beach, and you could go to another sister resort (Kri), which is just around the corner (about 15 - 20 min away), and has very good house reef, which is good for snorkelling as well.
The only what we did not like at the resort is Indonesian food. Our diet is very close to a whole plant vegan diet, and we struggled a bit. Other people (not vegetarians/vegans), although, were quite happy with their food.
Boat transfers are fairly short (less than 2 hrs) and very convenient. On a way back you could be in Sorong by 9 am, so you could catch a flight the same day, and do not 'waste' a day of your vacation on a transfer to and stay at Sorong, compared to resorts that are 3-4 hrs away from Sorong.
Diving was fantastic. I was overwhelmed with the variety and number of fish and beauty of corals. ‘Dive guide to divers’ ratio is 1 to 3, but most of times for me it was 1 to 1.
At Caribbean I used to write down fishes I saw during dives. Here it was meaningless, because of the variety and number of fish and corals.
Mantas were on top of each other and on top of divers (at Manta Dropoff site). There were many blacktip sharks, wobbegong sharks, crocodile fish, schools of bump head parrotfish, huge schools of jacks, barracudas, sweetlips (everywhere, but specifically at Cape Kri at 40 m), etc., etc., etc. Near Fam Islands we saw very big pod of dolphins (~100), but at the distance.
I did not do the small staff, but some people did, and they were quite happy.
Current in Sorido Bay area could be very strong, but guides are very careful to avoid any troubles. First of all, the see floor is at about 30 – 40 m only, so you could not get much into troubles to begin with (it is not a wall). Secondly, at dive sites with strong current guides instructed us to stay at a depth with a mild current (lets say at 15 – 20 m), and only at the end of dive, when you ascend higher, you got picked up by current, and it is like a ride on a high speed train – a lot of fun. At one ‘manta’ site (Manta Dropoff), they actually secured a rope to accommodate a safety stop, because the current was very strong.
At the same time, fish is where the current is, and on a number of occasions we had to move to another dive site because there was no current (and not much fish). At another site (Manta Drop Off), we’ve been waiting for current for a several hours, and a lot of mantas came with the current.
At the resort, we met several couples, who after trying various resorts in Raja Ampat 'settled down' at Sorido Bay Resort, which in their opinion is the best. One of them has been to this resort seven times.
We liked it too, and although our family 'policy' is not to go to the same place twice, we booked another 2.5 weeks with Sorido Bay Resort again for December 2019.
If you could recommend me a dive resort with better, as good as or close to diving at Dampier Strait please share your experience.
You could see some of my videos from this trip following this link: Val Saknenko
We learned about Sorido Bay Resort from a French couple, whom we met at Misool Eco Resort. They traveled extensively through Indonesia (~ 40 dive trips), and, in their opinion, Sorido Bay Resort was #1 dive resort.
So, my wife and I ‘took a dive’ and booked 2.5 weeks with SBR for December 2018. Here is the link to the resort website: Sorido Bay Resort - Papua Diving Resorts - Raja Ampat - Indonesia
It was a challenge to get there from Toronto, Canada. We flew a direct 15-hr flight from Toronto to Hong Kong, then to Jakarta. In Jakarta, we stayed a day at our favourite FM7 hotel/resort resting and enjoying spas, and then flew to Sorong over night (direct flight at 0:30 am). The resort staff met us at the airport (at ~6:30 am) and drove us to a local hotel for breakfast, and then to a marina, where we were boarded a high speed boat, and in less than 2 hrs we were at the resort by lunch.
SBR is a very small resort - maximum 18 guests, but it is rarely full to 100%. This, along with the outstanding staff led by Chris, Jade and Rebeka, created a very welcoming, family-like atmosphere.
All cottages are very spacious and they are located on a nice sandy beach, about 10 meters away from water. Design and quality of construction are very good. Everything in the Resort is well-thought out and built to last.
There is a ‘camera room’ in each cottage, which includes a long table, a camera washing sink and international plugs. Every guest is provided with a ‘camera taxi’, which is a glorified wheel barrel. I found this arrangement is more convenient than having a designated camera room. At the same time, they are in the process of building a designated camera room. On boats they have crates for cameras, but I had my own beer cooler bag.
Grounds at Sorido Bay are very nice, as there is a sandy beach, and you could go to another sister resort (Kri), which is just around the corner (about 15 - 20 min away), and has very good house reef, which is good for snorkelling as well.
The only what we did not like at the resort is Indonesian food. Our diet is very close to a whole plant vegan diet, and we struggled a bit. Other people (not vegetarians/vegans), although, were quite happy with their food.
Boat transfers are fairly short (less than 2 hrs) and very convenient. On a way back you could be in Sorong by 9 am, so you could catch a flight the same day, and do not 'waste' a day of your vacation on a transfer to and stay at Sorong, compared to resorts that are 3-4 hrs away from Sorong.
Diving was fantastic. I was overwhelmed with the variety and number of fish and beauty of corals. ‘Dive guide to divers’ ratio is 1 to 3, but most of times for me it was 1 to 1.
At Caribbean I used to write down fishes I saw during dives. Here it was meaningless, because of the variety and number of fish and corals.
Mantas were on top of each other and on top of divers (at Manta Dropoff site). There were many blacktip sharks, wobbegong sharks, crocodile fish, schools of bump head parrotfish, huge schools of jacks, barracudas, sweetlips (everywhere, but specifically at Cape Kri at 40 m), etc., etc., etc. Near Fam Islands we saw very big pod of dolphins (~100), but at the distance.
I did not do the small staff, but some people did, and they were quite happy.
Current in Sorido Bay area could be very strong, but guides are very careful to avoid any troubles. First of all, the see floor is at about 30 – 40 m only, so you could not get much into troubles to begin with (it is not a wall). Secondly, at dive sites with strong current guides instructed us to stay at a depth with a mild current (lets say at 15 – 20 m), and only at the end of dive, when you ascend higher, you got picked up by current, and it is like a ride on a high speed train – a lot of fun. At one ‘manta’ site (Manta Dropoff), they actually secured a rope to accommodate a safety stop, because the current was very strong.
At the same time, fish is where the current is, and on a number of occasions we had to move to another dive site because there was no current (and not much fish). At another site (Manta Drop Off), we’ve been waiting for current for a several hours, and a lot of mantas came with the current.
At the resort, we met several couples, who after trying various resorts in Raja Ampat 'settled down' at Sorido Bay Resort, which in their opinion is the best. One of them has been to this resort seven times.
We liked it too, and although our family 'policy' is not to go to the same place twice, we booked another 2.5 weeks with Sorido Bay Resort again for December 2019.
If you could recommend me a dive resort with better, as good as or close to diving at Dampier Strait please share your experience.
You could see some of my videos from this trip following this link: Val Saknenko
