Indah 'Beautiful' Indonesia

Indah means beautiful in Indonesian, and that’s certainly true of this archipelago of over 17,000 tropical islands, stretching from the Indian Ocean to the South Pacific. Arguably, the most beautiful parts of Indonesia are underwater, on the dazzling coral reefs that surround her near endless islands.

In the far easterly province of West Papua in the Coral Triangle sits Raja Ampat. Between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, deep sea currents funnel through a 1,500-island archipelago. The “Four Kings” are marine protected areas and no-take zones called Waigeo, Batanta, Salawati and Misool. The Emperor Raja Laut is a 31 metre schooner-style yacht that holds just 12 guests. I boarded in Sorong around lunchtime. That same afternoon I was already in the water, diving the island of Mansuar at Yenbuba Jetty.

There followed six more days of exhilarating diving on this North and Central itinerary, but you can opt for a longer alternative which includes Misool in the south (contact us if you'd like to include Misool in your itinerary). Here were a few of the outstanding moments.

Along the Western edge of the Dampier Strait Mayhem is a large pinnacle that’s home to a massive variety of fish. In an attempt to evade the upwelling current, they teeter at the edge of the reef. I passed tall barrel sponges, huge brain and porites corals, low mushroom and staghorn corals followed by a random whip coral garden. A wobbegong shark tried to evade us by sitting motionless on top of a green table coral, but we managed to catch a glimpse.

In notoriously calm waters northwest of Batanta are the Fam islands. Melissa’s Garden is an oval reef on a plateau between three islands. There was so much macro life here hiding in delicate rolling staghorn coral: pughead pipefish within an anemone; ribbon eels bobbing up and down and yellow damsel fish among the coral branches.

At The Maze we crossed the equator during a dive! It was like being in a giant mushroom forest amongst the limestone pinnacles. Mother Nature slammed her angry waves against the increasingly worn stalks while schooling fusiliers glided by with ease.

We ended one day with a night dive at the Pearl Farm jetty. Nothing could prepare me for Raja Ampat in the full moon rush hour! A netted ceratosoma glowed like a peacock in the light of my torch; decorator crabs threw debris onto their bodies and scurried past us while a tiny painted frogfish balanced in the current, sideways on one webbed foot. Some of the other divers were even lucky enough to see a “walking” epaulette shark.

The current against the west side of Kawe Island picked us up and threw us right into the action of Changgo (otherwise known as “Do It Again”). Much of the underwater landscape in the north is cracks and swimthroughs. Schooling grunts and sweetlips hung motionless in these, mocking us as we were unable to stop! A school of bigeye trevally swirled past as fast as a tornado.

Manta Ridge is in the Dampier Strait between Gam and Mansuar. You’re requested to stay off the cleaning stations and be no shallower than 10-12 metres. This allows the mantas to be cleaned undisturbed. I had never seen such massive reef mantas in all my years of diving.

We were lucky enough to have six reef mantas playing together, blocking out the sun above us. Blue Magic has water as blue as blue can be. Its oval shape again provides a splitting current. Grey reef sharks sped by on the deep plateau, eyeing up schools of Spanish mackerel, while yellowtail barracuda and bigeye trevally jostled for space. The shallower slope was very pretty and you can often see oceanic manta at the cleaning station.

Cape Kri is famous for having the largest biodiversity of fish recorded anywhere in Raja Ampat. Marine scientist Dr Gerry Allen counted 374 species here at the northeast point of Kri Island during just one dive! At 35 metres there's a school of more than 75 sweetlips. A whirlpool effect is created by current rising from the depths and over the ridge. This brings food for the fauna that lives here. Cape Kri had three of the largest black sweetlips I had ever seen; three turtles graced us with their presence in just five minutes; rabbitfish, jacks, two kinds of reef sharks, Moorish idols, various types of angelfish … I could just go on and on. Our guide Donny even found a threadlike Pontoh’s pygmy seahorse on a delicate piece of flotsam.

This trip was interspersed with some land tours which allowed us to explore the area from higher viewpoints as well as skiff rides in amongst the ancient limestone, coral and plankton islands. These were some of the most nutrient-rich waters I have even had the pleasure to dive. Next time I'll be sure to include the South as well. What a good excuse to return?!

All images by Cath Bates

We have a wide selection of diving holidays to Raja Ampat including liveaboard or resort-based diving holidays. To find out more and to start planning your dream holiday, contact us today.