As I was writing this report mkruidenier's report popped up.
Glad to hear someone else enjoyed this area and this resort as much as we did.
Just returned from our 2 ½ week trip to Indonesia. Absolutely fantastic!
The focus of our trip was to visit and dive the area of Raja Ampat.
My wife ( a bit of a nervous diver) wasnt sure how much diving she wanted to do and the timing didnt really work out for any of the liveaboards in the area so we opted for a land based operation and decided on Misool Eco Resort.
What a choice!
After an exhaustive couple days of travel (our fault for flying on points), we landed in Sorong where we were met by the representative from Misool Eco Resort.
Our bags were collected for us while we had an opportunity to meet some of the other guests heading to Misool.
We were then loaded into taxis and taken to the port where more Misool staff and the transfer speed boat were waiting for us.
We were quickly underway and provided with an excellent box lunch and much needed Bintang refreshment.
3 ½ hrs later the island of Batbitim and the Misool Eco Resort came into view.
We were quite anxious to see how accurate the photos we had viewed online really were and I am pleased to report we were not disappointed.
More smiling faces waiting for us as we disembarked the speedboat, a welcome cocktail and a quick tour of the property.
Eight simple (and simply gorgeous) water cottages and one larger deluxe cottage, all built on stilts surrounding a shallow lagoon. A large smartly designed dive centre with individual storage and work areas for all divers and snorkelers and an open air dining area offering views of the lagoon and the entire property.
After settling in, we gathered in the dining area for our first of many excellent meals and an opportunity to chat with the owners and dive staff about the week ahead.
Meals at Misool are served buffet style and include a mix of authentic Indonesian specialities and Western favorites.
The amount of food on offer is ridiculous.
Each day starts with a light first breakfast before the first dive of the day. A full second breakfast follows dive #1. Lunch, an afternoon snack and dinner are slotted in between dives throughout the rest of the day.
You really need to keep diving just to avoid eating your day away.
Each evening the sign up board is pulled out , dive sites for the next day are discussed and each guest can decide if they want to join in as a diver on some or all four of the possible dives, join as a snorkeller (if the site warrants) or on certain days take a day trip to visit nearby lagoons, cave paintings or local villages.
Finally to the diving.
Simply unbelievable.
We have been to a number of the popular dive locations around the world and in my opinion nothing compares to the fish life, reef health and diversity we encountered in Raja Ampat while staying at Misool.
Pygmy Seahorses on every dive. White Tip and Black Tip Reef sharks, Carpet sharks, turtles, squid and so many colourful nudibranchs that after awhile you start to ignore them.
Enormous schools of barracuda and batfish have no fear of divers and follow along on every dive.
Perhaps the best thing for us diving the sites around Misool is that the diving really is for anyone.
There are a number of sites best suited for divers that are comfortable diving in some current and those divers are often rewarded with encounters with mantas and mobulas.
Other sites have next to no current and quite often end in spending long safety stops in beautiful coral gardens surrounded by more vibrant colours than anywhere else we have travelled.
The snorkelers staying at the resort really enjoyed coming out on the dive boat and free diving these shallower sites.
The dive staff was incredibly accommodating. My wife was happy to stay at shallower depths and always had a divemaster guiding her.
The choosing of dive sites was kept very flexible and when we requested to revisit certain sites later in the week our dive guides were happy to oblige and always displayed an uncanny ability to spot the weird and wonderful.
I think it is obvious we thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Misool.
The folks at Misool have really outdone themselves creating such a wonderfully comfortable property in such a remote location.
The water cottages built entirely of reclaimed driftwood are really special and provide all of the comforts of a high end resort.
The work Misool has taken on to protect the local marine environment and work with local communities is also very impressive.
Hopefully they will be able to continue to have success in their efforts.
The only regret we have about our trip is that we did not spend more time at Misool.
After spending such a long time to get to Misool we really would of liked another week.
More time on the island would of allowed us to perhaps take a few dives off and spend some time just relaxing at the resort, snorkelling or diving the house reef, hiking around the island and swimming in the lagoon with the baby reef sharks that spend their days in the shallow waters.
With a few more days I may also of been able to spot the manta rays which unfortunately eluded me.
Just not my week, I guess.
( We ran into some divers from the Paradise Dancer back in Sorong at the end of our trip and were informed that they did see my mantas on one of the sites we were on just a day earlier).
The rest of our trip was spent on Bali relaxing above water in Ubud.
Because the Mantas had eluded us at Misool we did need to try one more time and headed out to the east coast of Bali to Padang Bai where we spent a day diving with Gecko Dive and were not disappointed.
Our first dive with Gecko took us to Manta Point off of Nusa Penida, a well known cleaning station in Manta circles.
Sure enough within two minutes underwater we were surrounded by huge Manta rays.
We spent the next 50 minutes being entertained by various groups of 2 to 6 Mantas flying by in formation.
A second dive with Gecko was an excellent drift dive where we cruised along for miles watching a wonderful wall go by.
A great trip all around. We will definitely be back.
Glad to hear someone else enjoyed this area and this resort as much as we did.
Just returned from our 2 ½ week trip to Indonesia. Absolutely fantastic!
The focus of our trip was to visit and dive the area of Raja Ampat.
My wife ( a bit of a nervous diver) wasnt sure how much diving she wanted to do and the timing didnt really work out for any of the liveaboards in the area so we opted for a land based operation and decided on Misool Eco Resort.
What a choice!
After an exhaustive couple days of travel (our fault for flying on points), we landed in Sorong where we were met by the representative from Misool Eco Resort.
Our bags were collected for us while we had an opportunity to meet some of the other guests heading to Misool.
We were then loaded into taxis and taken to the port where more Misool staff and the transfer speed boat were waiting for us.
We were quickly underway and provided with an excellent box lunch and much needed Bintang refreshment.
3 ½ hrs later the island of Batbitim and the Misool Eco Resort came into view.
We were quite anxious to see how accurate the photos we had viewed online really were and I am pleased to report we were not disappointed.
More smiling faces waiting for us as we disembarked the speedboat, a welcome cocktail and a quick tour of the property.
Eight simple (and simply gorgeous) water cottages and one larger deluxe cottage, all built on stilts surrounding a shallow lagoon. A large smartly designed dive centre with individual storage and work areas for all divers and snorkelers and an open air dining area offering views of the lagoon and the entire property.
After settling in, we gathered in the dining area for our first of many excellent meals and an opportunity to chat with the owners and dive staff about the week ahead.
Meals at Misool are served buffet style and include a mix of authentic Indonesian specialities and Western favorites.
The amount of food on offer is ridiculous.
Each day starts with a light first breakfast before the first dive of the day. A full second breakfast follows dive #1. Lunch, an afternoon snack and dinner are slotted in between dives throughout the rest of the day.
You really need to keep diving just to avoid eating your day away.
Each evening the sign up board is pulled out , dive sites for the next day are discussed and each guest can decide if they want to join in as a diver on some or all four of the possible dives, join as a snorkeller (if the site warrants) or on certain days take a day trip to visit nearby lagoons, cave paintings or local villages.
Finally to the diving.
Simply unbelievable.
We have been to a number of the popular dive locations around the world and in my opinion nothing compares to the fish life, reef health and diversity we encountered in Raja Ampat while staying at Misool.
Pygmy Seahorses on every dive. White Tip and Black Tip Reef sharks, Carpet sharks, turtles, squid and so many colourful nudibranchs that after awhile you start to ignore them.
Enormous schools of barracuda and batfish have no fear of divers and follow along on every dive.
Perhaps the best thing for us diving the sites around Misool is that the diving really is for anyone.
There are a number of sites best suited for divers that are comfortable diving in some current and those divers are often rewarded with encounters with mantas and mobulas.
Other sites have next to no current and quite often end in spending long safety stops in beautiful coral gardens surrounded by more vibrant colours than anywhere else we have travelled.
The snorkelers staying at the resort really enjoyed coming out on the dive boat and free diving these shallower sites.
The dive staff was incredibly accommodating. My wife was happy to stay at shallower depths and always had a divemaster guiding her.
The choosing of dive sites was kept very flexible and when we requested to revisit certain sites later in the week our dive guides were happy to oblige and always displayed an uncanny ability to spot the weird and wonderful.
I think it is obvious we thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Misool.
The folks at Misool have really outdone themselves creating such a wonderfully comfortable property in such a remote location.
The water cottages built entirely of reclaimed driftwood are really special and provide all of the comforts of a high end resort.
The work Misool has taken on to protect the local marine environment and work with local communities is also very impressive.
Hopefully they will be able to continue to have success in their efforts.
The only regret we have about our trip is that we did not spend more time at Misool.
After spending such a long time to get to Misool we really would of liked another week.
More time on the island would of allowed us to perhaps take a few dives off and spend some time just relaxing at the resort, snorkelling or diving the house reef, hiking around the island and swimming in the lagoon with the baby reef sharks that spend their days in the shallow waters.
With a few more days I may also of been able to spot the manta rays which unfortunately eluded me.
Just not my week, I guess.
( We ran into some divers from the Paradise Dancer back in Sorong at the end of our trip and were informed that they did see my mantas on one of the sites we were on just a day earlier).
The rest of our trip was spent on Bali relaxing above water in Ubud.
Because the Mantas had eluded us at Misool we did need to try one more time and headed out to the east coast of Bali to Padang Bai where we spent a day diving with Gecko Dive and were not disappointed.
Our first dive with Gecko took us to Manta Point off of Nusa Penida, a well known cleaning station in Manta circles.
Sure enough within two minutes underwater we were surrounded by huge Manta rays.
We spent the next 50 minutes being entertained by various groups of 2 to 6 Mantas flying by in formation.
A second dive with Gecko was an excellent drift dive where we cruised along for miles watching a wonderful wall go by.
A great trip all around. We will definitely be back.
