Raja Ampat trip

[edpdiver]

I went on a trip to Raja Ampat for a 10-day stay at Sorido Bay with my wife. We started in Bali for 6 days of non-diving activities. From there, we flew to Makassar, where we stayed overnight, then left on a morning flight to Sorong. There were a few people going to the Kri Eco Resort, and my wife and I were headed to Sorido Bay. They are very close to each other, and both are owned by Max Ammer, so the transportation is arranged for people at both resorts. There is a quick van ride to the boat, and a 2 hour boat ride to the resort. After arriving at the resort, there is a briefing on the layout and procedures.

The dives are mostly very close to the resort (typically a 5-10 minute boat ride). The dive guides are very good. They start with a dive briefing, which is useful, because they describe the route, and give guidance on how to avoid the currents. They are good spotters for critters, and are fun to dive with. The diving is excellent. Lots of fish, lots of coral (very healthy), and the overall experience is excellent. The only minor complaint is that the visibility is only fair. It was certainly adequate for a good diving experience, but it did make some of the photography challenging. This visibility might have been atypical, but that was our experience. One other thing to note is that there are no guided dives on Saturday. You can dive unguided from the pier. We chose to snorkel, which was actually a lot of fun.

Here are a few typical pictures.

The whole photoset can be found here: 2010 sorido bay - a set on Flickr

The food at the resort is excellent. The rooms are very large and comfortable. There are two classes of rooms; we had the smaller of the two, and it was still huge. One thing that is worth noting is that dives that are outside of a 10km radius from the resort cost extra. We did not want any of these "special" dives, but I do not think that this is clear from the website (actually, Max is redoing the website, so this might be clarified in the upcoming version). We had a good time there, and the diving was good. We plan on returning when we can.

 

[tarzana]

Amazing photos. And you say the viz was not great! Your photos are hard to prove your point! Lovely. Wish I could cart the extra weight around and afford the set up you have!

I am considering going to Raja Ampat. So all of the Flickr photos were taken within the 10 km radius?

Also what exactly was the viz and what were the dates that you were there? I wonder if it was a fluke?

Thank you for sharing all.

 

[edpdiver]

Hi Tarzana,

We were at Sorido bay in the middle of April. I think that the visibility is probably mostly related to the phase of the moon, but you could check with the resort on that. The visibility was typically 60 ft, which was not bad, but the particulate would sometimes make the wide angle photography a little challenging. Still, not a serious problem, but worth noting.

Also, all of the photos were taken within the 10km radius, except for the manta shots. However, one manta ray trip is included with a week stay, so there was no extra charge for that. (Actually, we went on a second manta ray trip, but had not requested it; it was on our bill, but we did not know there was to be a charge, and asked to have it removed from our bill, which they did.)

Hope this helps. Cheers,
Erwin

 

[highdesert]

Amazing shots, as you usually do ...

Raja Ampat is not known for gin clear viz ... what you apparently experienced looks quite good for there. Can't wait to go back, 2011 on a liveaboard.

 

[Wisnu]

Wow, great shots - love all your pictures
How about the current, depth and typical diver to guide ratio?
is it suitable for Jr. OW diver?

 

[edpdiver]

Thanks Highdesert and Wisnu. I appreciate your kind words.

Wisnu, to answer your questions, most of the dives had some current, but not very much. The dive guides knew what the patterns were like, and the dives were not particularly strenuous. The maximum depth of a dive was typically 80 ft, with most of the dive spent at 30-50 ft. In fact, the safety stops were the best parts of of some dives, as the shallow reefs were incredibly pretty. We were the only guests at the resort for our first 6 days, so my wife and I each had our own dive guide. I think that they normally have a ratio of 4:1, divers to guides, but you may check on that. My wife is just OW certified, and has MS, and she had no trouble with the dives, if that gives you a little bit of calibration. I was pleasantly surprised how easy the diving was, but I would contact them to see if they think that junior open water certification is sufficient, just to make sure.

Erwin