Erwin Poliakoff
Contributor
My wife and I recently returned from a great trip to the Misool Eco Resort in southern Raja Ampat. We have been on liveaboards in Raja Ampat previously, and some of our favorite dives were in the area around this resort, so we thought we would give it a try. I highly recommend it. It takes a couple of days to get to the resort. You have to time the trip so it coincides with the dates of the transfer boat from Sorong (3-4 hour ride). We went for a 12 night trip at the resort, and they arrange for a night in Sorong hotel on the way out. We got into Sorong the day before our boat transfer, which allowed us to recuperate a little bit before the ride to the resort. The resort recommends taking the red-eye flight from Jakarta to Sorong, which many of the guests did. For us, at least, I think that this is bad advice. I was glad to have overnighted in Sorong on the way to the resort.
The resort itself is wonderful. I think that they can have as many as ~45 guests. There were probably about 30 guests while we were there. The service, setting, and diving are all fantastic. My wife has MS, and needs a little extra help getting around, and while on the boat. The staff were fantastic in assisting her when required. The dive boats had only a maximum of 8 divers plus staff, and there were no more than 4 guests per guide. I thought that this was fantastic service. The dive sites were as good as I remembered, maybe better. The only downside is that the visibility is not very good in October because there is still a lot of plankton in the water. It was okay, but definitely not as good as one might find in January through March (we are going back in February, so we will test this assertion directly). On the other hand, the plankton brought in huge schools of anchovies, which were very cool in their own right, and also brought in other stuff, including schools of mobula rays. The resort offered at least 3 dives per day, and also had dusk or night dives on many of the days of our trip. I typically did 3 dives per day, while my wife would go on two per day. I did not do any of the dusk or night dives, but the guests who did loved them. There was little in the way of muck diving, so we are going to add an Ambon component to our next trip to Misool in February 2018. On the other hand, the gorgeous reefs were what we wanted to see, and we were delighted at the quality of the reefs. Just for completeness, I want to reiterate that the resort facilities were excellent, as was the food.
Below are some pictures to give an idea of what the diving was like.
002_adj_DSC_5899 by Erwin Poliakoff, on Flickr
006_adj_DSC_5152 longnose hawkfish by Erwin Poliakoff, on Flickr
015_adj_DSC_6130 by Erwin Poliakoff, on Flickr
053_adj_DSC_6301 by Erwin Poliakoff, on Flickr
013_adj_DSC_5901 by Erwin Poliakoff, on Flickr
062_adj_DSC_5101 juvenile boxfish by Erwin Poliakoff, on Flickr
20_adj_DSC_6269 by Erwin Poliakoff, on Flickr
The whole Flickr album is located here: 2017 Misool Flickr album
-Erwin
The resort itself is wonderful. I think that they can have as many as ~45 guests. There were probably about 30 guests while we were there. The service, setting, and diving are all fantastic. My wife has MS, and needs a little extra help getting around, and while on the boat. The staff were fantastic in assisting her when required. The dive boats had only a maximum of 8 divers plus staff, and there were no more than 4 guests per guide. I thought that this was fantastic service. The dive sites were as good as I remembered, maybe better. The only downside is that the visibility is not very good in October because there is still a lot of plankton in the water. It was okay, but definitely not as good as one might find in January through March (we are going back in February, so we will test this assertion directly). On the other hand, the plankton brought in huge schools of anchovies, which were very cool in their own right, and also brought in other stuff, including schools of mobula rays. The resort offered at least 3 dives per day, and also had dusk or night dives on many of the days of our trip. I typically did 3 dives per day, while my wife would go on two per day. I did not do any of the dusk or night dives, but the guests who did loved them. There was little in the way of muck diving, so we are going to add an Ambon component to our next trip to Misool in February 2018. On the other hand, the gorgeous reefs were what we wanted to see, and we were delighted at the quality of the reefs. Just for completeness, I want to reiterate that the resort facilities were excellent, as was the food.
Below are some pictures to give an idea of what the diving was like.
The whole Flickr album is located here: 2017 Misool Flickr album
-Erwin
