Raja Ampat and Ambon Trip Report

[AlMitch]

Frik WetPup, you really do seem to have a wack of bad luck, I mean hit in the head by a fan blade......and a flooded camera and food poisoning and busted BCD!!! #FML indeed!!

Thanks for the honesty!

As for the currents in Ambon, that just sounds like the dive shop did not time the dives very well in terms of the tides. BUT then again if you can only dive at slack tide then it really does restrict your diving! And as you say reef hook + muck dive = unpleasant!

 

[Luko]

I've heard some people who had the chance to dive Milne Bay putting it straight on top of their dive list.
Unfortunately, it's a very long and costly trip for us europeans, Lacey rhinopias apart, what do you find so special compared to some of the best places in Indonesia (R4, Komodo, Alor, Ambon, N/Sulawesi) ?

 

[Wingy]

Milne Bay is spectacular....the way to spoil yourself for life.

Its a long trek from even here in Australia......but worth it.

 

[mikeycanuk]

Ok the RA part of your trip report wasn't humerus....but it did bring a smile to my face. A tiny glint of silver in another wise cloudy trip?

At least we didn't spend a fortune on ho hum diving. How was the weather, I did check a few times online and it never seemed that great.

Hope your next trip is better! Hard to believe it took you 42 hours, I calculated 56hours, including a 6 hour boat ride to Misool.

 

[scorpiofish]

"I didn't think RA was bad, just average."


You need to get out more.

If half the places you have been are better and half worse, then you visit some pretty nice places, or not very many. Seeing tons of fish (bigger than a glassy sweeper) is rarer than you think. You were also limited to boat distance from the resort. Manta Sandy is a lame dive, I usually have them drop me somewhere else or I roam around away from the Manta seating area. I have been to Raja on many occasions. Here are places I have been that I think are not as good as Raja:

Any place in the Caribbean or Atlantic (the eleven places I have been)
Any other place in Indonesia (the six other areas I have been to)
Socorros
Hawaii
Palau
Andamans
Tonga
Eastern Fields (PNG)
Florida

That's over 20 places to left of average and I've forgotten a few. I have not been to Milne, but like most of the Philippines, it's a bit macro-centric for my tastes. The Galapagos and Cocos could be to the right of average, but it can hit and miss and it is hard to compare to tropical diving.

I, too, carry a spare body. Then I realized I needed spare electronics for the strobes, too. It's always something.

 

[dirtfarmer]

Sucky dive trips suck...nothing worse than camera floods at the start of a trip...I carry a backup also
When I was in Ambon recently the diving was limited to 2 a day due to currents... macro photography and current is not a fun mix. I'm wondering if timing Ambon between new/full moon would mean less current? I was surprised for a bay the current was so strong; it was during a New Moon.

I found diving Raja Ampat pretty epic especially the Misool area, I've never seen such huge and varied schools of fish... on some dives I could hardly see the reef thru the fish, and when I could see the reef I saw a profusion of colorful soft coral, healthy hard coral, and huge gardens of sea fans in every color. The Kri area didn't rate as high as Misool in my book either, it seemed to have more hard coral and less soft coral than Misool so I can see why you were disappointed. If I had only dived the Kri area I would say Raja is overrated but I was lucky enough to dive the Misool area for 7 days ( 2 different liveaboards)

Everybody's has their point of reference and Wetpup your bar must be pretty high... Milne Bay is on my bucket list I'm seriously thinking of starting to plan a trip there...ever been on the Chertan? they do muck only trips that I'm curious about
How's the weather etc in November?

 

[WetPup]

I've heard some people who had the chance to dive Milne Bay putting it straight on top of their dive list.
Unfortunately, it's a very long and costly trip for us europeans, Lacey rhinopias apart, what do you find so special compared to some of the best places in Indonesia (R4, Komodo, Alor, Ambon, N/Sulawesi) ?

It just screams "look at me! I'm awesome!". I can't really explain it beyond it just screams colourful tropical paradise. I like Lembeh and Ambon for the critters, but they're not exactly "pretty". I thought R4 lacked colour - and while I appreciate that others may have had a different experience to me, this is what I experienced. Komodo I just simply don't like the style of diving there - negative entry with a big camera and if you don't manage to hook in immediately you miss the dive site? No thanks.

I find Milne Bay to be pretty much unpolluted, very few people around, colourful and healthy reefs, fishy, critters...It just pops! It's got everything in one spot.

I've been there a few times. Once back when Mike Ball operated the Paradise Sport liveaboard (I believe the boat ended up being sold to operate in Palau or something in the end?), and two trips to Tawali.

---------- Post added January 7th, 2016 at 08:06 AM ----------

Ok the RA part of your trip report wasn't humerus....but it did bring a smile to my face. A tiny glint of silver in another wise cloudy trip?

At least we didn't spend a fortune on ho hum diving. How was the weather, I did check a few times online and it never seemed that great.

Hope your next trip is better! Hard to believe it took you 42 hours, I calculated 56hours, including a 6 hour boat ride to Misool.

Weather was ok. Typical tropics - afternoon showers. Was normally alright in the mornings though.

---------- Post added January 7th, 2016 at 08:12 AM ----------

"I didn't think RA was bad, just average."


You need to get out more.

If half the places you have been are better and half worse, then you visit some pretty nice places, or not very many. Seeing tons of fish (bigger than a glassy sweeper) is rarer than you think. You were also limited to boat distance from the resort. Manta Sandy is a lame dive, I usually have them drop me somewhere else or I roam around away from the Manta seating area. I have been to Raja on many occasions. Here are places I have been that I think are not as good as Raja:

Any place in the Caribbean or Atlantic (the eleven places I have been)
Any other place in Indonesia (the six other areas I have been to)
Socorros
Hawaii
Palau
Andamans
Tonga
Eastern Fields (PNG)
Florida

That's over 20 places to left of average and I've forgotten a few. I have not been to Milne, but like most of the Philippines, it's a bit macro-centric for my tastes. The Galapagos and Cocos could be to the right of average, but it can hit and miss and it is hard to compare to tropical diving.

I, too, carry a spare body. Then I realized I needed spare electronics for the strobes, too. It's always something.

I have literally dived on all 7 continents, and you think I need to get out more? lol

I travel a lot. I'm spoiled. I can't help but make comparisons with other places I've been.

My experience in Raja was mediocre. I'm not discounting that others have had great trips there, but my experience was that the visibility was generally quite poor, the reefs lacked much colour, and despite it being "fishy", it wasn't particularly colourful. I guess it depends where else you may have dived, but I found even the GBR to be more colourful than Raja Ampat *shrug* I've seen similar numbers of fish on the GBR and PNG a number of times - even if the diversity isn't quite on the same level.

My experience was what it was.

 

[Wingy]

Dirtfarmer - put Milne Bay at the top of the list for reasons Wetpup has outlined above.....and it is not just a muck dive area - so much more - Deacons Reef is a magnificent spot just on its own and far from muck centric the area has a lot more to offer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxtUpIb1Ri0 < just a little sample

 

[gilbubblefish]

My experience in Raja was mediocre. I'm not discounting that others have had great trips there, but my experience was that the visibility was generally quite poor, the reefs lacked much colour, and despite it being "fishy", it wasn't particularly colourful. I guess it depends where else you may have dived, but I found even the GBR to be more colourful than Raja Ampat *shrug* I've seen similar numbers of fish on the GBR and PNG a number of times - even if the diversity isn't quite on the same level.

My experience was what it was.

if you dive only around KRI area and you have bad luck with poor visibility , i completely understand....there is a lot of fish but it is lacking color...did 4 cruise in R4 and hit 3 times bad visi on this KRI area...felt the same than you ...misool with nice vis is spectacular. i understand that some divers don't like live aboard or cannot go on boat because they travel with a non diver or whatever reason...but R4 is typically a live aboard destination...there is much more than KRI : 2 dives around KAWE are fantastic, in Misool i would say at least 5 spot are absolutely world class, and 1 in south PENEMU...compare to these spot only CAP KRI and may be blue magic can be listed as excellent to world class....
Of course this is only my point of view regarding my little experience on this area...

 

[WetPup]

In my original post, you will see that I mentioned that I have previously been diving around the Misool area. I was there on a private vessel, not a commercial liveaboard. And that I wasn't particularly impressed with that either. I had put it down to my youth at the time of that trip as I was only 16-17 and was far more interested in things other than diving. But after this trip, I wonder if it really was simply that unremarkable.

I knew my thoughts on RA would cause some debate due to its reputation. I do appreciate that some people have amazing experiences there. I didn't. That's just how these thing go.