Homestay and dive in Raja Ampat?

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partha

Contributor
Messages
73
Reaction score
11
Location
asia
# of dives
1000 - 2499
i'm looking at doing a budget Raja Ampat trip and came across a couple of posts on the homestay option. Has anyone stayed and dived with any of the homestays in RA? Also, I'm planning on being there first week of August. Not the ideal time from what I have heard but has anyone been there around then?

thanks
 
Hey Partha, I was in Raja Ampat in January. I was in the same boat as you, hard to find any solid, reliable information about homestays on the internet or anywhere. I was checking weather conditions regularly for months, surely it couldn't be overcast and raining everyday. So I decided to go on a scouting trip to really see what it was like.
I decided on Kri Island as I read that it was a good location, close to good dive sites. And also that it had reliable 3-4G signal. I made contact with a couple of homestays off Google maps, 1 replied that they had available rooms. But when I turned up on the island, they actually didn't have a room. So I walked up a couple of hundred metres to another homestay called "Mambetron". They lady there was very nice and spoke good English, they had rooms. There were people of all ages and nationalities staying there, and 3 meals a day is included in room price, room price was 300k rupiah I think. It was also situated directly next door to another homestay which was actually a dive centre as well, "Delvin Homestay".
I actually moved to Delvin the next day as they had more available rooms, and I got a bungalow on the water for 300k a night with 3 meals. The phone signal at both homestays were good.
Delvin dive centre were actually pretty good, the boat was in excellent condition & modern. The diving gear was great, I actually brought my own gear except for BCD, their BCD was a brand spanking new scubapro.
Almost the entire boat and diving crew were from Manado and were competent and experienced. I dove for 2 days, the weather was great, all sunshine with a few minutes of light rain.
The sites we dived was Blue magic, Cape Kri, Yenbuba Pier, Chicken reef and I forget the other site. Dives are between 500-550k rupiah depending how many dives you do or if you got your own gear.
The owner of Delvin homestay speaks good enough English, but calling him directly or by SMS is better to get a hold of him.
As things can change, they weren't exactly established when I was there, prices could be different?
All in all, Delvin would be my preferred diving setup when I return. Also they knew some of my diving acquaintances from Bali.
Hope this is of some help to you
 
This pic from balcony of my hut
20180122_180739.jpg
 
Have a look at this website:
Stay Raja Ampat: The best Raja Ampat accommodation

It is full of reliable info and they have a very nice search engine for homestays. You pick your choices (e.g. diving center, nice house reef, English speaking, good 3G signal) and you get a list of matching homestays with plenty of reviews from other travelers etc. Once you decide they also help you book it.
stayrajaampat.com is the homestay owners' association hence it is as legit as it can get and they don't get any commission.

Don't use sites like booking.com, tripadvisor or similar to book your stay. Several cases of scam have been reported. I myself met a couple there who prepaid their stay in a homestay through booking.com (or something similar) but the actual owners knew nothing about it. It turned out that a third person had put the homestay in booking.com on the owner's behalf but he "forgot" to let the owners know about the booking although he had received the money. You don't want to have such discussions in the middle of nowhere, following a 100$/2 hours boat ride with people who don't speak English!

www.stayrajaampat.com do all the arrangements between you and the owners directly and you usually pay cash on the spot so you don't worry about loosing your money.

Don't think too much about it. Search a bit, find a homestay matching your needs and go there. You will love it!
 
Last edited:
Awesome. Super helpful. Cheers.
No worries!
Just another bit of info, if you find that you have to stay overnight at some point of your trip, & you have a choice between Sorong and Waisai, I would choose Sorong. My experience from staying overnight in Waisai was that it's a bit underdeveloped, and overpriced in terms of accommodation and local transport prices. When I rode through Sorong, the roads were more developed, more restos & accommodation, & transport cheaper
 
I can stay and dive from three different islands for total of 3 wks instead of one wk LoB for the same price!
I know what I will do and thank you for the very useful info.

Cheers.
 
Keep in mind that transport between islands is "expensive", but there is this facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/StayRajaAmpat/ where you can look for fellow travellers to split the cost, especially if your dates are flexible.
 
I would rather have the locals making some money than the big corporation from outside!
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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