Raja Ampat Liveaboard Diary

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Day 3 Update 2:
The two other dive sites we dove were Mayhem and Melissa's Garden. Loads of life on Melissas Garden: quite a few Wobbegong Sharks, Cuttlefish, banded sea snake and loads of little stuff.
The crew organized a hike for us at one of the islands. It was more of a stair climb to the top. The stairs were nicely made, so getting to the top was pretty easy. We could see the surrounding islands and the boat out in the open ocean. Some of the group said that this was the iconic view of Raja Ampat used in Dive Magazines and advertising.

Day 4:
Today's we spent at a pearl farm, diving under their three Jetties. This was a spectacular muck site. We dropped down right next to the first jetty and there were huge schools of fish darting into and out of the jetty. I saw a cloud of sand under the jetty and thought it was another diver stirring up the sand. It turned out to be a Wobbegong shark feeding on the fish darting in and out of the jetty. He would spring up so fast that I could only see him after he caught the fish and was settling back down to wait for the next batch. Very cool. Much to the chagrin of Geil, I was too engrossed in the sight to bother taking out my camera to get footage.
Sea Horses, Flamboyant Cuttlefish, Praying Mantis shrimp were the high light of the rest of that dive.
We returned to the Main Jetty for our night dive. More flamboyant cuttlefish (although I have a sneaking suspicion that it was the same one), a Frogfish with eggs, seahorses, nudis. Tonight we leave the north and motor for 6 hours to arrive in Central Raja Ampat. We will be diving around the island of Batanta.

Day 5:
Today was Manta Cleaning station Day and boy did it not disappoint. Motoring up to the dive site there was a huge splash next to the boat and we could see the Manta diving back down. We dropped down on the cleaning station and I really was unprepared for how large Mantas are. There were three or four of them circling us and it felt like the largest one was 20' across. I guess if you account for magnification they were still 12' - 14'. At one point I had to put down the camera and just be. I don't think I'll ever forget when one did a fly-by within arm's length above me.
We did a second dive at the site and alas, there was only one and he scrammed as soon as he saw us. We spent the rest of the dive in the shallows hovering over dense hard coral garden. There was not a spot of sand to be seen. It was cool to watch the smaller fish darting in and out of the lettuce coral.

I enjoy reading! Im heading there soon. Is there anything you wish you brought or you did bring and recommend bringing ? I followed some advice from divers here and just got a reef pointer, alcohol vinegar solution, new light, and my favorite snacks, warmish pjs.. It says I should have a surface market but don’t have one. I’m packing. First liveaboard in many many years.
 
I enjoy reading! Im heading there soon. Is there anything you wish you brought or you did bring and recommend bringing ? I followed some advice from divers here and just got a reef pointer, alcohol vinegar solution, new light, and my favorite snacks, warmish pjs.. It says I should have a surface market but don’t have one. I’m packing. First liveaboard in many many years.
Reef Pointer is a must especially if you are taking photos. I was lucky enough to have another guest lend me her spare. SMB, you should have also. While the guides are very professional, weather can change at anytime (as I found out this evening) and you may need to surface without a guide. Get one and try to practice using it before you go.
 
Day 6:
We left central Raja Ampat last night and motored for much of the night to get to the Southern most island of Misool. Our first site was off a rock called "Boo", and the site was called Boo Windows. Our highlight was a resident green turtle who blithely continued to have his breakfast of soft coral while we all crowded around for a picture.
The second dive of the day started off with Pigmy Seahorses. One of the pair was rotund, so we were guessing pregnant. That's when it got interesting. Out of nowhere we were surrounded by about 6-8 mantas. It was much better than the previous cleaning station as the Viz was better. We could get tons of pictures and if we stayed around the pinacles on the site we could hide from the small amount of current. They spent the better part of our 67 minute dive hanging out with us.
Day 7:
Today we continued diving sites around Misool. Our 4pm dive was at Magic Mountain: apparently one of the few sites world wide that Oceanic and Reef Mantas share the cleaning station. The viz was very good on the site (even better than the day before) and we spent 30 minutes with the Mantas and the rest of the time hanging out in the Shallows. This was really a great site to see the mantas. The fact that we went in in the afternoon helped with the available light and combined with the good viz you could really see them.

Day 8:
Today's highlight is a site called Four Kings. On the site there are 4 pinnacles that are vary from 15' at the top of the first one to about 60' at the top of the last. The topology of the site was interesting to dive because you go from reef dives to wall dives to slope dives (between the pinnacles). The site could also get very deep very quickly as the pinnacles extended to a deep floor. I skipped the night dive as this one wiped me out with all the kicking against the current. Tomorrow is our last full day before starting back to Sorong.
 
I enjoy reading! Im heading there soon. Is there anything you wish you brought or you did bring and recommend bringing ? I followed some advice from divers here and just got a reef pointer, alcohol vinegar solution, new light, and my favorite snacks, warmish pjs.. It says I should have a surface market but don’t have one. I’m packing. First liveaboard in many many years.
In case someone hasn't already told you: Lycra Socks. They are the greatest thing ever invented in the history of diving. Spare computer batteries if your computer has a self replaceable battery. If you can't replace them you might consider getting your dive shop to replace it even if it doesn't need replacing. don't bring too many clothes. I brought 4 sets of swim suits and rash guards. As I dive I come up wash them with a little shampoo and leave that set for the next day. My dry swim suit bottoms serve as underwear until the next dive. I brought lightweight synthetic swim shorts and shirts. I also brought a sweatshirt that I wear almost daily between dives. If I think of anything else I'll post
 
Lycra socks are wonderful. Somebody here told me about them a couple of years ago. They are good for under sandals on wet landing walks, too.
 
Love this. Is this also your first dive experience in Indonesia, Raja Ampat, or the coral triangle? How do you like it so far and how does it compare to other diving you’ve done?

Raja Ampat is my favorite place to dive and I’m a serial diver, at least returning 1X a year since I first dived it. It gets better each time, it seems.

Agree on the clothing part. I travel for about 30 days at a time, mostly spent on liveaboards in hot and humid destinations and I only bring about 4-5 shirts (including my sleep shirt), 3 pairs of shorts, and 2 pairs of pants for my entire trip, one of which is worn on the plane with a light jacket or hoodie. I only bring 6-7 pairs of underwear and do laundry or some bad liveaboard underwear math/scheduling.
 
Day 9:
Our Last full day and almost everyone did all four dives. All 4 dives were in the same general area with no motoring between dives. We had a few Frogfish and a bunch of Nudi's on those two dives. One of the things I realized is that the dives are all conducted in a similar fashion: Most are on pinnacles with slopes and walls. There are often ridges projecting out from the dive site. The guides start you deeper and as you hit the half way mark, you turn and slowly make your way back to the shallows. Fortunately, there is so much to see that your safety stop is far from boring. As a matter of fact, I think some of my best photos came on the safety stop as there is so much more light. The guides don't police any of the guests and we all manage our gas based on our consumption. I only managed to get separated from my group once and that was because I was staying put and they got pushed by the current (That's my story and I'm sticking to it). Other than that we all surfaced at the same time and given that we are such a diverse bunch, it's actually kind of cool.

Day 10:
Last Day Diving :(
We only had two dives today as we motored back to Sorong from the southern part of Raja Ampat around Misool. This is where this boat really really shined for me. That crossing was rough. In relative terms... We're not talking Deadliest Catch 40' swells or anything, but we were sliding around the boat. The wide beam plus the stabilizers meant that I barely felt it. I fell asleep on the back sundeck and only awoke when the sun had swung around to face the back of the boat. Walking down the port stairs to the main deck I could really feel the wind. I've been through hurricanes in my life so I have a sense of what really strong winds feel like. We were cruising at 9 knots or so and that wind felt at least 50. Still, It was bouncy on the boat, but not unmanageable. I should say that the crew passed out motion sickness pills before we started the crossing and I took it as my cue to make sure I took a couple of my own. I really don't want to be in a Phinisi cruising at 2 knots in that type of crossing.

Is this also your first dive experience in Indonesia, Raja Ampat, or the coral triangle? How do you like it so far and how does it compare to other diving you’ve done?
Prior to this, My only dive experience outside of Florida were two DSD dives in St. Lucia, Two dives in St. Maarten and two in Saba. I'm not certain how I would be able to top this experience, except to come back here. There really is no comparison to anything I've ever done. The sheer density of life on these reefs is breathtaking (I'm really trying hard not to use superlatives, but it's hard).
 
Day 9:
Our Last full day and almost everyone did all four dives. All 4 dives were in the same general area with no motoring between dives. We had a few Frogfish and a bunch of Nudi's on those two dives. One of the things I realized is that the dives are all conducted in a similar fashion: Most are on pinnacles with slopes and walls. There are often ridges projecting out from the dive site. The guides start you deeper and as you hit the half way mark, you turn and slowly make your way back to the shallows. Fortunately, there is so much to see that your safety stop is far from boring. As a matter of fact, I think some of my best photos came on the safety stop as there is so much more light. The guides don't police any of the guests and we all manage our gas based on our consumption. I only managed to get separated from my group once and that was because I was staying put and they got pushed by the current (That's my story and I'm sticking to it). Other than that we all surfaced at the same time and given that we are such a diverse bunch, it's actually kind of cool.

Day 10:
Last Day Diving :(
We only had two dives today as we motored back to Sorong from the southern part of Raja Ampat around Misool. This is where this boat really really shined for me. That crossing was rough. In relative terms... We're not talking Deadliest Catch 40' swells or anything, but we were sliding around the boat. The wide beam plus the stabilizers meant that I barely felt it. I fell asleep on the back sundeck and only awoke when the sun had swung around to face the back of the boat. Walking down the port stairs to the main deck I could really feel the wind. I've been through hurricanes in my life so I have a sense of what really strong winds feel like. We were cruising at 9 knots or so and that wind felt at least 50. Still, It was bouncy on the boat, but not unmanageable. I should say that the crew passed out motion sickness pills before we started the crossing and I took it as my cue to make sure I took a couple of my own. I really don't want to be in a Phinisi cruising at 2 knots in that type of crossing.


Prior to this, My only dive experience outside of Florida were two DSD dives in St. Lucia, Two dives in St. Maarten and two in Saba. I'm not certain how I would be able to top this experience, except to come back here. There really is no comparison to anything I've ever done. The sheer density of life on these reefs is breathtaking (I'm really trying hard not to use superlatives, but it's hard).

Uh oh, you've ruined yourself. In any event, you can probably understand why all that I want at the end of a Raja lib trip is to stay on the boat and do it all again!

Thanks so much for sharing your adventure with us. Safe trip home
 
@chillyinCanada @Dan I see a serial raja diver in the making. I think @seaseadee has caught the bug! It’s contagious.

You have given yourself a difficult place to top. It’s spectacular! Maybe you will be back for a 12 day trip next! :D congrats on a great trip.
 
@chillyinCanada @Dan I see a serial raja diver in the making. I think @seaseadee has caught the bug! It’s contagious.

You have given yourself a difficult place to top. It’s spectacular! Maybe you will be back for a 12 day trip next! :D congrats on a great trip.

:D

@seaseadee thanks for the excellent diary. I enjoyed reading it, reminding me the trip I just completed last month (which I still am editing my videos before I can write the trip report).

It's a though bug to get rid of. My 9th trip there will be in February 2022 with Blue Manta.
 
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