Kendall Raine
Contributor
I traveled as a single diver aboard Coralia for a nine-night cruise around northern Raja Ampat in early April 2024 (following a nine-night stay with my wife at Papua Explorers-separate report). The cruise visited sites at Batanta, Fam, Kawe, Wayag and the Dampier Strait. This was my second trip to Raja (the first in 2018 aboard Dew Nusantara).
One never knows what you’re going to find when you book on an open boat. Will the group include knuckleheads, jerks, or someone with a virus? In this instance none of the above and the group was delightful with divers from Germany, Switzerland, Australia and the US. The average level of diving experience was a bit lower than I expected (<500 dives/diver), but that wasn’t a problem with the sites elected.
I chose Coralia based on glowing diver reviews and the northern route (Sorong to Batanta, up to Fam, Kawe, Wayag, Aljui Bay and finally into the Dampier Strait before heading back to Sorong) in the interest of big animal sightings, fabulous fishy reefs and visiting the spectacular northern part of the regency at Kawe and Wayag. I got all that plus a guide (Billy) who was adept at finding so many small creatures it was a competition whether to focus on some tiny alien-esque life form tucked in the tentacles of an anemone or the parade of schooling scad being buzzed by marauding jacks overhead.
We saw relatively few other LOBs once we left Sorong-many had already sailed west to Ceram and the Banda Sea for the season-and none north of Fam/Dampier Strait.
What we did see was all manner of marine life, big and small, weird and wonderful, common and rare. Everything from manta’s, sharks (Grey, Black and White Tip, Walking and Wobeggong), and sleek reef predators to the tiniest pygmy seahorses, translucent shrimp, blue ringed octopus, wonderpus, crocodile fish, leaf fish, squid, cuttlefish (Dwarf, Broadclub and Ornate), ghost pipefish and nudibranchs of all sizes, shapes and colors.
In every way Coralia lived up to its reputation as one of the best LOBs in Raja. The vessel itself is beautiful, spacious (157’ LOA) and comfortable, accommodating the fifteen divers on this trip with lots of space to spread out. Built in Kalimantan in 2018, Coralia is a traditional pinisi wooden motor sailer (the sails are for show) that accommodates 16 guests in eight cabins. As a solo diver I chose one of the lower deck cabins in shared configuration. Lower cabins are forward of the engine room and salon and are set up in either queen or single bed configuration. The four master cabins are on the main and upper decks aft. These had their own private sun deck space and seemed really nice, although one guest noted the location above the engine room as being a bit noisy when we were underway at night.
Complimenting the beautiful vessel was a crew that was very well trained, proactive, service oriented and highly capable. Cruise Directors Desi and Beat are a Swiss couple who have been aboard Coralia since 2018, by way of Thailand and other locations in Indonesia. They are delightful hosts and appear to have a very friendly relationship with the otherwise all Indonesian crew. Better yet, they were alert and anticipated guests needs and wishes-always looking around corners. When one diver in my group of three was clearly uncomfortable in current (?!), having aborted a dive in the first five minutes, Beat and Desi took me alone on the next dive to visit a deeper, big current, spot at Cape Kri to see a large school of sweetlips. They did this without my saying anything (maybe Billy said something). To me that is the mark of great cruise directors/guides (informed, proactive, compassionate, flexible and discrete). By Day 3 Billy stopped asking me what my gas was during the dives (once he realized our gas consumption was about the same) and would send the other two members of the group up to their safety stop on his DSMB when they reached 700 psi, allowing the two of us to continue for another 10-15 minutes before ascending under my DSMB. Again, I never asked for that or said anything. Billy just did it. No matter how routine (by Raja standards) the rest of the dive was, the last five minutes always produced something spectacular. For that matter, the attitude of the crew, from stewards, engineers, tender drivers to dive guides, seemed to be “what more/else can I do to please/help you?” The crew genuinely seemed to be a very happy group who got along well and worked as a team.
Meals aboard Coralia were a real highlight. The day started with a light breakfast (fruit, yogurt, toast), followed by the first dive of the day at 8 am. A larger made-to-order breakfast preceded the 11 am mid-morning dive. Lunch is served around 1 pm followed by the afternoon dive at 3 pm. The night dive started around 6:30 pm with dinner served at 8 pm. A mix of Indonesian and western dishes was available at lunch and dinner and typically involved a chicken, fish and meat offering together with tempe, tofu, green vegetables and, of course, rice or noodles. Each dish was uniformly delicious; cooked and seasoned properly.
Dive operations were no less highly organized with dive guides, tender drivers and the engineering staff all working briskly to get divers in and out of the water quickly and safely. We had four guides on this cruise and each was a long standing diving veteran having worked throughout the country prior to joining Coralia.
Diving was done from two fiberglass open tenders typically carrying up to four divers and a guide on the five-minute run to the dive site. Divers were divided into four groups and each tender made two runs to the respective sites. The crew set up and loaded gear for each group and divers needed only get themselves dressed and into the tenders. After each dive the crew swapped out tanks at the stern and washed/hung up everyone’s wetsuits. Fills were always at least 3K at 32%. All dives are guided (a rule in Indonesia) lasting 60-75 minutes (depending on the divers) and pick up was equally quick and efficient. Tanks, weights and fins are removed in the water and handed up allowing divers to easily get out of the water. On our trip we did 27 dives, each at a different site, over eight dive days. Desi and Beat were attentive to people’s comfort levels in current and dive sites progressed from very easy to slightly more challenging (current) as the week went on. The guides were very good at picking the right place to drop in on sites given current patterns at the moment and then adjusting if need be once in the water. At several sites (Cape Kri and Melissa’s) the current was ripping but always in a horizontal (not vertical) direction. My most enjoyable dives were at Cape Kri and adjacent Lau Lau in moderate current (3+ kts) requiring hooking in to watch the massive river of fish parading by. I nicknamed those dives the Predator’s Ball I and II (for those old enough to remember) because there was frantic hunting action with Dog Tooth Tuna, jacks, mackerel, barracuda and sharks making runs through clouds of yellowtail scad and fusiliers.
Most people brought GoPro’s rather than large housed camera rigs. Nevertheless, the Coralia’s camera room is well set up and capable of supporting as many as a dozen serious photographers/videographers. Cameras were loaded onto the tenders using baskets handed down from the camera room and stored in the bow until needed. The camera room would get cramped if Coralia was chartered entirely by photographers with large systems.
Safety, and fire safety, in particular, is given serious attention on Coralia. There was a comprehensive safety briefing given prior to sailing, and each dive group was issued a Nautilus GPS. Li-Ion battery charging is only allowed in the camera room (phone charging in cabins is only allowed when occupied). Heat activated Fire Balls are mounted throughout the vessel (e.g. engineering spaces, cabins, camera room, salon) along with smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, personal smoke hoods, and PFDs provided in every cabin. There are two crewmen on fire watch throughout the night when anchored (one in the engine room and the other roaming the salon and deck spaces). There is only one point of exit (into the salon) from the lower deck cabins (a point of concern to me following Conception) but I got comfortable with this prior to booking through conversations with the owner when I learned about all the passive and active safety measures.
The weather was the usual Raja mix of sunshine, overcast and pelting rain (often all within a few hours). Nevertheless, there was little real wind and the seas were never choppy. Visibility was mixed (50-80 feet) and water temperature was pretty consistent at 81-83 F with occasional thermoclines during upwellings.
Despite traveling over Ramadan, domestic flights on Garuda went smoothly (attempts to make reservations on Lion Air were a nightmare), on time and bags always showed up. My wife and I took advantage of Garuda’s extra checked bag (scuba gear) exemption.
One never knows what you’re going to find when you book on an open boat. Will the group include knuckleheads, jerks, or someone with a virus? In this instance none of the above and the group was delightful with divers from Germany, Switzerland, Australia and the US. The average level of diving experience was a bit lower than I expected (<500 dives/diver), but that wasn’t a problem with the sites elected.
I chose Coralia based on glowing diver reviews and the northern route (Sorong to Batanta, up to Fam, Kawe, Wayag, Aljui Bay and finally into the Dampier Strait before heading back to Sorong) in the interest of big animal sightings, fabulous fishy reefs and visiting the spectacular northern part of the regency at Kawe and Wayag. I got all that plus a guide (Billy) who was adept at finding so many small creatures it was a competition whether to focus on some tiny alien-esque life form tucked in the tentacles of an anemone or the parade of schooling scad being buzzed by marauding jacks overhead.
We saw relatively few other LOBs once we left Sorong-many had already sailed west to Ceram and the Banda Sea for the season-and none north of Fam/Dampier Strait.
What we did see was all manner of marine life, big and small, weird and wonderful, common and rare. Everything from manta’s, sharks (Grey, Black and White Tip, Walking and Wobeggong), and sleek reef predators to the tiniest pygmy seahorses, translucent shrimp, blue ringed octopus, wonderpus, crocodile fish, leaf fish, squid, cuttlefish (Dwarf, Broadclub and Ornate), ghost pipefish and nudibranchs of all sizes, shapes and colors.
In every way Coralia lived up to its reputation as one of the best LOBs in Raja. The vessel itself is beautiful, spacious (157’ LOA) and comfortable, accommodating the fifteen divers on this trip with lots of space to spread out. Built in Kalimantan in 2018, Coralia is a traditional pinisi wooden motor sailer (the sails are for show) that accommodates 16 guests in eight cabins. As a solo diver I chose one of the lower deck cabins in shared configuration. Lower cabins are forward of the engine room and salon and are set up in either queen or single bed configuration. The four master cabins are on the main and upper decks aft. These had their own private sun deck space and seemed really nice, although one guest noted the location above the engine room as being a bit noisy when we were underway at night.
Complimenting the beautiful vessel was a crew that was very well trained, proactive, service oriented and highly capable. Cruise Directors Desi and Beat are a Swiss couple who have been aboard Coralia since 2018, by way of Thailand and other locations in Indonesia. They are delightful hosts and appear to have a very friendly relationship with the otherwise all Indonesian crew. Better yet, they were alert and anticipated guests needs and wishes-always looking around corners. When one diver in my group of three was clearly uncomfortable in current (?!), having aborted a dive in the first five minutes, Beat and Desi took me alone on the next dive to visit a deeper, big current, spot at Cape Kri to see a large school of sweetlips. They did this without my saying anything (maybe Billy said something). To me that is the mark of great cruise directors/guides (informed, proactive, compassionate, flexible and discrete). By Day 3 Billy stopped asking me what my gas was during the dives (once he realized our gas consumption was about the same) and would send the other two members of the group up to their safety stop on his DSMB when they reached 700 psi, allowing the two of us to continue for another 10-15 minutes before ascending under my DSMB. Again, I never asked for that or said anything. Billy just did it. No matter how routine (by Raja standards) the rest of the dive was, the last five minutes always produced something spectacular. For that matter, the attitude of the crew, from stewards, engineers, tender drivers to dive guides, seemed to be “what more/else can I do to please/help you?” The crew genuinely seemed to be a very happy group who got along well and worked as a team.
Meals aboard Coralia were a real highlight. The day started with a light breakfast (fruit, yogurt, toast), followed by the first dive of the day at 8 am. A larger made-to-order breakfast preceded the 11 am mid-morning dive. Lunch is served around 1 pm followed by the afternoon dive at 3 pm. The night dive started around 6:30 pm with dinner served at 8 pm. A mix of Indonesian and western dishes was available at lunch and dinner and typically involved a chicken, fish and meat offering together with tempe, tofu, green vegetables and, of course, rice or noodles. Each dish was uniformly delicious; cooked and seasoned properly.
Dive operations were no less highly organized with dive guides, tender drivers and the engineering staff all working briskly to get divers in and out of the water quickly and safely. We had four guides on this cruise and each was a long standing diving veteran having worked throughout the country prior to joining Coralia.
Diving was done from two fiberglass open tenders typically carrying up to four divers and a guide on the five-minute run to the dive site. Divers were divided into four groups and each tender made two runs to the respective sites. The crew set up and loaded gear for each group and divers needed only get themselves dressed and into the tenders. After each dive the crew swapped out tanks at the stern and washed/hung up everyone’s wetsuits. Fills were always at least 3K at 32%. All dives are guided (a rule in Indonesia) lasting 60-75 minutes (depending on the divers) and pick up was equally quick and efficient. Tanks, weights and fins are removed in the water and handed up allowing divers to easily get out of the water. On our trip we did 27 dives, each at a different site, over eight dive days. Desi and Beat were attentive to people’s comfort levels in current and dive sites progressed from very easy to slightly more challenging (current) as the week went on. The guides were very good at picking the right place to drop in on sites given current patterns at the moment and then adjusting if need be once in the water. At several sites (Cape Kri and Melissa’s) the current was ripping but always in a horizontal (not vertical) direction. My most enjoyable dives were at Cape Kri and adjacent Lau Lau in moderate current (3+ kts) requiring hooking in to watch the massive river of fish parading by. I nicknamed those dives the Predator’s Ball I and II (for those old enough to remember) because there was frantic hunting action with Dog Tooth Tuna, jacks, mackerel, barracuda and sharks making runs through clouds of yellowtail scad and fusiliers.
Most people brought GoPro’s rather than large housed camera rigs. Nevertheless, the Coralia’s camera room is well set up and capable of supporting as many as a dozen serious photographers/videographers. Cameras were loaded onto the tenders using baskets handed down from the camera room and stored in the bow until needed. The camera room would get cramped if Coralia was chartered entirely by photographers with large systems.
Safety, and fire safety, in particular, is given serious attention on Coralia. There was a comprehensive safety briefing given prior to sailing, and each dive group was issued a Nautilus GPS. Li-Ion battery charging is only allowed in the camera room (phone charging in cabins is only allowed when occupied). Heat activated Fire Balls are mounted throughout the vessel (e.g. engineering spaces, cabins, camera room, salon) along with smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, personal smoke hoods, and PFDs provided in every cabin. There are two crewmen on fire watch throughout the night when anchored (one in the engine room and the other roaming the salon and deck spaces). There is only one point of exit (into the salon) from the lower deck cabins (a point of concern to me following Conception) but I got comfortable with this prior to booking through conversations with the owner when I learned about all the passive and active safety measures.
The weather was the usual Raja mix of sunshine, overcast and pelting rain (often all within a few hours). Nevertheless, there was little real wind and the seas were never choppy. Visibility was mixed (50-80 feet) and water temperature was pretty consistent at 81-83 F with occasional thermoclines during upwellings.
Despite traveling over Ramadan, domestic flights on Garuda went smoothly (attempts to make reservations on Lion Air were a nightmare), on time and bags always showed up. My wife and I took advantage of Garuda’s extra checked bag (scuba gear) exemption.
