First published: 22/07/23.

Zoë Sheng 1

Raja Ampat Islands

Raja Ampat Islands (On tentative list)

Raja Ampat Islands by Zoë Sheng

Highly recommended even for non-divers. Obviously the main draw is diving and even snorkeling is popular at the resorts but you'll be missing a lot of the area just looking at the lush-green karst and trying your luck to see a special bird, or any bird really. The obvious choice of coming here is a liveaboard but resorts have their own transportation so staying on one and doing day trips is a good option, and you can even get a public ferry of sorts if you want to go budget (not recommended). So I went with the liveaboards for ~2 weeks and the price was higher than most places around the world but I wouldn't want to compare this to a budget safari on the red sea - you get a lot more out here and the distances are quite far so fuel costs are something to keep in mind. All tours start in Sorong which has decent flight connections but I would recommend not having to stay in a hotel here because it's not a lovely town or anything, thus try to arrive with a morning flight and go directly to the boat. The tour I chose was specific because it started going to Misool in the south, prettier for underwater but troublesome to arrange diving because local "owners" will restrict each site to one boat per hour. In Central, the area that is in the center of the islands, you don't have this problem and you get more of a mix between underwater and surface beauty. Finally the tour went north to the outskirt islands which are slightly prettier than the rest but underwater life isn't as good there. I would in hindsight recommend a south+central tour instead, saving money for sure, but definitely saving rough overnight migrations to the outer islands and back.

Central also has the famous manta cleaning station where you reef hook into the cliff and watch manta rays storm by by the second. You won't get many sharks around these parts, whalesharks are possible but not common, the highlights were usually cuttlefish, giant turtle (at one of the resorts, it's famous if you ask around) and the usual blend of coral life. So I wouldn't highlight this part of the world as unique for that. In fact I saw more diverse diving in North Maluku, with the eastern part of said province being the new secret spot to go as it doesn't have the tourist masses and the nature is more pristine. Raja Ampat does have the history and reputation to boast but as an analyst for natural criteria I would definitely pass on Raja for better spots. Now this isn't to say the place is bad, it's surely a must-see, but I think there are some issues. For one the birdlife seems to be totally missing. You can try to find the bird of paradise but even just seeing random birds is hard. Apparently they get trapped and hunted by local communities. The two days visiting the geosites (Karawapop & Piaynemo) was dead quiet with zero birds in the air or forests. Shocking.

Final note that you need to ensure your visa (which currently is only valid for a month) is not an issue while you are away on a boat. The local immigration office will not renew it unless you only have two weeks left (wtf, right?) and it takes several working days to process. Handing to them too early is not possible although the boat mentioned using an agent to handle all this but you actually have to take a pic and fingerprints locally so not sure how much it helps - well, just don't bank on everything going smoothly and you may have to add a spare day to sort this out which in Sorong isn't much fun.

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