Raja Ampat (Misool & Dampier Strait)

Sorong – Misool

Our crew will welcome you at Sorong airport. You will then proceed to Sorong harbour, where our ten-

ders will take you to Coralia. Once all guests are on board, we will make the final arrangements with

the port authorities and head south to Misool.

Misool’s small surrounding islands are a soft-coral paradise and a famous part of Raja Ampat. With its

abundance of stunning dive sites and the natural beauty of karst limestone and jungle-clad islands, this

area invites us to linger for a couple, or depending on the trip length, even several days.

Misool can be divided into many areas, where we can spend the whole day at a selection of amazing

dive sites. Daram is in the very east of these islands and has inviting names such as Candy Store,

Andiamo and Warna Berwarna (meaning Colourful Colour!). The sea fan forests here have to be seen to

be believed!

In the iconic areas of Boo, Fiabecet and Yuliet, we may look through the iconic Boo Windows, with

tonnes of fish surrounding us. We might explore fabulous dive sites like Shadow Reef (aka Magic

Mountain), Nudibranch Rock, Batu Kecil, Whale Rock, Boo West Corner and Yuliet Kecil. And if we are

lucky, we see the majestic giant and/or reef manta rays around here. Admire large coral heads covered

in soft corals, maybe spotting the famous Santa Claus pygmy seahorse, while schools of barracudas and

batfish might pass by. Our eagle-eyed dive masters will look for the endemic walking shark (epaulette

shark) on a night dive at Romeo or Yuliet Besar.

The areas of Sagof, Wagmab and Farondi offer us stunning underwater walls, overhangs and cave

structures, plus amazing macro life, such as nudibranchs, flatworms, anemone crabs and all kinds of

shrimps. In this area, we have the opportunity to visit the wonderful lagoons – a must-see in Misool.

These amazing geological structures come in iconic bee-hive-shaped karst limestone formations and

hard-coral colonies at their base. If the tide is high enough, our crew will take you to the secret bay

right at the back!

There are also lagoons at Wayilbatan, one of them is the Love Lagoon. If we visit this lagoon, we will do

three dives on that day. The hike up the steep stairs is well worth the view – a blue heart shape. A drift

dive through a channel covered in sea fans at Neptune Fan Sea is the perfect place to cool off after the

hot walk. Wedding Cake and Barracuda Rock are other stunning dive sites in this area.

Misool – Dayang – Fam Islands

It is a long crossing up to Dayang, so on the last day of diving in Misool, we will do two dives before

heading north.

Dayang on the northwest of Batanta is at the entrance of a bay and a perfect place to split up the journey.

Here, we might come across wobbegong sharks and get to see great macro life, including ribbon eels,

ghost pipefish and unusual nudibranchs. Dayang Island also offers another great chance to encounter

manta rays, the gentle giants, at their cleaning stations.

Famous Melissa’s Garden awaits us with its spectacular, healthy, and wide-spread hard coral plateau,

completely covered in colourful anthias and damsel fish. At Keruo Wall, we can admire large gorgonian

sea fans and lovely reef tops. A short hike to Penemu viewpoint offers a spectacular view of the lagoons

and its surrounding islands. On the day we visit the viewpoint, we will do three dives. To cool off, we

might do a late afternoon dive at Batu Rufus, followed by a relaxed evening drinking cocktails and

watching the sunset on deck.

Yeben & Yangeffo

We may then visit Yeben area. Expect beautiful coral bommies dotted around a white-sand bottom,

which creates a unique scenery. These healthy, shallow reefs attract an enormous amount of reef fish

and give shelter to cuttlefish blending in, with blacktip reef sharks patrolling around.

Next, we will head to Yangeffo area. Yangeffo Island is situated on the western tip of Gam Island and

creates a sheltered bay. This small area has multiple top-notch dive sites. Famous ones like Citrus Ridge

and Mayhem always amaze divers with their vibrancy and biodiversity. The area here is probably so

abundant due to the surrounding mangroves. Beautiful hard and soft corals grow under and among the

roots of the trees. They create a distinctive environment and are home for species like archer fish,

cardinal fish and different types of juvenile reef fish. If the tides are right, we may visit this fragile

ecosystem, which provides special photo opportunities. Our crew will be happy to take you out in the

tender to snorkel in the mangroves in between dives.

Dampier Strait - Sorong

The remainder of our adventure will be spent diving in the famous Dampier Strait. Moving west to east

in the Dampier Strait, we may visit dive sites around the islands of Arborek, Mansuar and Kri, where

we hope to encounter schools of sweetlips, napoleon wrasse, bumphead parrotfish and the endemic

tasselled wobbegong shark. Sawandarek village lies on Mansuar Island and offers a spectacular reef

and jetty dive. Here we can witness Papua Explorers’ successful coral restoration project and visit the

resident turtles. Arborek is a well-known jetty and night dive and boasts impressive marine life such

as giant clams, schooling batfish and crocodile fish. The well-known manta aggregation sites of Manta

Sandy and Manta Ridge are also in this area. For those interested, there might be an opportunity to

walk around the village at Sawandarek or Arborek.

The central and eastern part of Dampier Strait offer a vast selection of world-class and adrenaline-

packed dive sites, such as Cape Kri, Chicken Reef, Sardine Reef, Mioskon and Blue Magic, of which we

will select the best options according to the current and weather conditions. Our guides can take you

to places where the current meets the reef head on, where you can witness predatory fish like blacktip,

whitetip and grey reef sharks, giant trevally, Spanish mackerel and dogtooth tuna hunting huge schools

of smaller fish like fusiliers and bigeye jacks. On top of the abundant fish life, Central Raja Ampat offers

fantastic macro dives, with chances to spot different species of pygmy seahorses, common seahorses,

cuttlefish and octopuses.

Our last diving day will offer two more action-packed dives in the Dampier Strait, before we start

travelling back to Sorong harbour, where we will spend the last evening and enjoy a special farewell

dinner. The next morning, our tenders will take you back ashore to catch your flights.