Raja Ampat with Blue Manta, 10-20 Feb, 2022, with 16% off group rate

I’m putting a group together, along with @Dan, for an 11-day, 10-night liveaboard in Raja Ampat in February 2022 with the best liveaboard operator for the area, White Manta Diving - Home. You can see a promotional video of the trip:



And a video about our vessel, the KM Blue Manta:


Raja Ampat is the epicenter of marine biodiversity with the world’s richest collection of underwater flora & fauna.

A sample itinerary for the trip can be seen here, and covers Raja Ampat's best areas, including Misool and the Dampier Strait, with up to 33 dives.

The trip dates will be February 10-20, 2022 (trip code: BMRA223): White Manta Diving - Schedules & Rates for KM Blue Manta

With 2 divers confirmed, we need another 5 divers to join this trip. If we get 7 divers, we will split 1 free-of-charge equally among all 7 divers, which will be a large discount. If you're interested, please PM me and we can discuss details.

Happy diving!
Jesse

 

Thanks for putting together & posting this invitation, Jesse. I'm so looking forward to my 9th time in Raja Ampat, especially with Blue Manta.

Guys, check this out:

 

Hi, Blue/White Manta looks amazing. I am actually looking for something for anytime in April this year - 2020- in Raja Ampat. I have never dived in Indonesia. I am considering reserving for 2022, but 2 years advance is a lot of advance for me. Do you happen to know anything about the itineraries they are offering this April: Raja Ampat-Halmahera-Lembeh on the New White Manta; and Raja Ampat, Banda, Maumere on the Blue Manta?? If I have never dived the area before, is this a good place to start? Or should I stick to more traditional dive itinerary for the first time? I am PADI Advanced but have not done a dive in a few years, so very rusty and looking to take it easy and just see some awesome things. Also - I am traveling solo, so looking for somewhere that is friendly and open to solo people! Any advice would be awesome as you seem to be experts!! Also - I am open to resorts, as well as live aboard, if there are good ones.

 

If you want the good cabin spots in a great Raja Ampat liveaboard, you need to book it more than a year in advance.

Itinerary for Blue Manta in April 2020, can be found here: White Manta Diving - Raja Ampat-Ring-Maumere The trip (BMCROS1) seems to still have 2 spaces.

It is a fantastic trip. You’ll like it. What you would see would be similar to this:



Itinerary for White Manta in April 2020, can be found here: White Manta Diving - Raja Ampat-Halmahera-Lembeh The trip (WMCROS) seems to still have 15 spaces. I haven’t done it, but I’d think it’ll be also just as good as that of Blue Manta.

The first dive is a check dive, where DM/guide would see how good your diving skill is, before being group with those have similar skill & air consumption. They also offer class during the trip if needed.

The same with dive resorts, except you would do fewer dives / day and limited dive site near the resort.

 

Looks like fantastic diving. Just for kicks I checked what flights run to get there. OMG 7-8K!!! I had no idea it was that pricey. To the Philippines is a fraction of that and most of the way there. Is there some trick to getting there in a more cost effective way?

 

Huh? Are you talking about flying business class?

I'll be there next week, Raja Ampat 14-25 Jan 2020 with Amira $837 off and paid $1200 for roundtrip Eva Air premium economy seat IAH-CGK and $400 for roundtrip Batik Air economy seat CGK-SOQ. I have paid as low as $600 roundtrip IAH-CGK with Singapore Airlines and $300 roundtrip CGK-SOQ with Sriwijaya before.

Check the domestic flight fare through Flights & Hotels - Online travel - domestic & international - Cheap Prices

 

I just ran it through google flights from ATL to SOQ to get a rough idea of cost.

 

Try the international flights booking with Expedia.com

For example (picking a date around 11 months from now since > a year trip is not yet available), here is what I get:


For domestic flight:

 

If you try to book all the way with google flight you will get ridiculous prices. Do it in two chunks. From your city to Jakarta and then look at a separate flight from Jakarta to Sorong.

 

Thanks I will check it out. That looks more inline with what I expected.