- Circular itinerary visiting the must-see sites of Dampier Strait and Wayag
- Encounter both reef and oceanic manta rays at renowned dive sites
- Dive the well known and action-packed Dampier Strait
- Experience Wofoh Island's colourful blue wall
- Spot wobbegong sharks and walking sharks
- Visit a pearl farm and dive beneath the jetty in Aljuy Bay
- Hike to enjoy the stunning panorama of Wayag
- Night dives included in the schedule
Day 1:
Arrive at the airport and transfer to the vessel for boarding, room allocation, document checks, and safety briefings.
Days 2-6:
Starting from Sorong in West Papua we head to the south of Raja Ampat’s largest island Waigeo to the famous Dampier Strait. Here you can expect to dive at some world class, adrenaline-packed dive sites such as Cape Kri, Chicken Reef, Sleeping Barracuda, Sardine Reef, Mioskon and Blue Magic. At the other end of the Dampier Strait is Lalosi, a drift dive completely full of fusiliers and with a chance to see wobbegong sharks. The well-known manta aggregation sites of Manta Sandy and Manta Ridge are also in this area.
Sawandarek is on the island of Mansuar and features a great jetty dive. You can also visit Papua Explorer’s coral restoration project here. For those interested we can take a walk around the village at Sawandarek or Arborek. After a night dive on our first day of diving we will travel to Penemu for two dives. Famous Melissa’s Garden awaits us with its spectacular, healthy and wide-spread hard coral plateau in the shallows. At Keruo Wall we can admire large gorgonian sea fans and lovely reef tops, and we might also explore My Reef and Batu Rufus. A short hike to the viewpoint of Penemu offers a spectacular view of the lagoons and its surrounding islands.
Next, we make our way to Wofoh, where several unique dive sites are easily reachable from one mooring point. On one side, we will have the backdrop of Wofoh and Taman Wofoh, two small islands with pristine white coral sand beaches and on the other side we can take in vistas of the forested mountains and valleys of West Waigeo. We will do one or two dives at Wofoh before heading into Aljui Bay. Inside this bay, there is also an opportunity to take a little tour to visit the pearl farm and learn all about how pearls are grown. A late afternoon dive at the pearl farm jetty might be possible and it can be full of schooling fish and wobbegong sharks. During the night dive, it is not unusual to find macro favourites like toadfish, octopus and Epaulette walking sharks.
An even more stunning panorama can be indulged at world-famous Wayag, which is in the very north and across the equator in the Northern Hemisphere. In the morning, for the fit and adventurous, we will climb to the top of Mount Pindito for the fantastic views. We can then do two dives. The dives at Far Out Rock and Figure 8 are characterised by pretty sloping reefs where we look for nudibranchs, leaf fish and moray eels. In the afternoon, we will go for a scenic tour in the speedboats. Look for baby manta rays and turtles as we cruise around. At the ranger station, we look for black tip reef sharks swimming over the sand in the shallows.
Next day we will dive at the island of Kawe. Here the dive site Black Rock awaits us, soft corals bloom in a variety of colours from the rocky outcrops, amazing us as Raja Ampat’s full abundance comes to life in a most vibrant display. Eagle Rock is our next stop and is named for the majestic eagles circling above the small, rocky islands. Underwater, divers can encounter creatures like wobbegong sharks, schools of sweetlips, batfish and barracudas, bumphead parrotfish and reef sharks, even the occasional manta ray! We will go back into Aljui for another magnificent night dive with the critters.
The following day will be spent on the western tip of Gam island, at an island called Yangeffo, which protects a sheltered bay. This small area has multiple world class dive sites. Famous ones like Citrus Ridge and Mayhem always amaze divers with their vibrancy and biodiversity. Sunsets and sunrises are very special at our mooring point at Yangeffo: as the sun drops, the surrounding forested hills become alive with flocks of sulphur crested cockatoos and Blyth’s hornbills emerge to return to their roosting places.
The remainder of our adventure will be spent diving in the Dampier Strait.
Day 7:
Our last day will offer two more action-packed dives in the Dampier Strait. We can also arrange for a bird watching trip on the last morning to see the enigmatic and endemic red bird-of-paradise. After lunch, we make our way back to Sorong for hearty goodbyes.
Day 8:
Disembark the vessel after breakfast and transfer to the airport.
Sample itineraries are for guidance only. Actual itineraries may differ slightly due to factors such as weather, wildlife, logistics and local regulations.
Twin or double bed3 peopleNon shareable
Twin beds2 peopleShareable
King size bed2 peopleNon shareable
