RAJA AMPAT
Raja Ampat is the final frontier at the eastern end of Indonesia. Raja Ampat offers amazing diving and the most stunning topside scenery of any dive destination on Earth. This is where Dr. Gerald Allen counted 273 fish species on a single dive.
Raja Ampat is special because it is one of the few marine environments in which you can see the full range of marine life. From sharks, manta rays, batfish, groupers, pygmy seahorse or schooling jacks and barracudas, schools of fusiliers, pale-tailed surgeonfish, goatfish and large six-banded angelfish, purple and threadfin anthias add to the spectrum of color, in the cracks and crevices of the reef are full or interesting specimens including banded pipefish, white-eyed and even giant morays. Titan triggerfish are at home feeding on hard coral chunks, slender fusiliers, and green and blue damsels.
Raja Ampat diving region includes the Pacific’s most important Leatherback Turtle nesting site. Every year, from April to September, thousands of Leatherback Turtles nest in the northern West Papuan Beaches, and represent the largest remaining leatherback turtle nesting in the Pacific Ocean. It is known that these animals have traveled across the whole Pacific to nest here. Then, they leave West Papua and go to California to feed.
The area’s reefs are covered in a diverse selection of both hard and soft corals. The coral coverage in Raja Ampat Diving is good, with lots of gigantic mushroom leather corals, purple soft corals and sea squirts. Hard table corals, staghorn patches, green and brown elkhorn and finger corals cover the substrate along with brown soft coral bushes and hydrozoans. In the deeper sections of the reef you can find large pink, lilac and purple gorgonian fans, bushes of bright red sea whips, and sea fans presenting an incredible assortment of colors. Enjoy all the species, look for small green sea pens, spiky blue-jade tube sponges, and brown hydrozoans and giant tridachna clams (They are probably over 100 years old and so are quite a rarity). Look carefully in the anemones to find porcelain crabs!
Raja Ampat is special because it is one of the few marine environments in which you can see the full range of marine life. From sharks, manta rays, batfish, groupers, pygmy seahorse or schooling jacks and barracudas, schools of fusiliers, pale-tailed surgeonfish, goatfish and large six-banded angelfish, purple and threadfin anthias add to the spectrum of color, in the cracks and crevices of the reef are full or interesting specimens including banded pipefish, white-eyed and even giant morays. Titan triggerfish are at home feeding on hard coral chunks, slender fusiliers, and green and blue damsels.
Raja Ampat diving region includes the Pacific’s most important Leatherback Turtle nesting site. Every year, from April to September, thousands of Leatherback Turtles nest in the northern West Papuan Beaches, and represent the largest remaining leatherback turtle nesting in the Pacific Ocean. It is known that these animals have traveled across the whole Pacific to nest here. Then, they leave West Papua and go to California to feed.
The area’s reefs are covered in a diverse selection of both hard and soft corals. The coral coverage in Raja Ampat Diving is good, with lots of gigantic mushroom leather corals, purple soft corals and sea squirts. Hard table corals, staghorn patches, green and brown elkhorn and finger corals cover the substrate along with brown soft coral bushes and hydrozoans. In the deeper sections of the reef you can find large pink, lilac and purple gorgonian fans, bushes of bright red sea whips, and sea fans presenting an incredible assortment of colors. Enjoy all the species, look for small green sea pens, spiky blue-jade tube sponges, and brown hydrozoans and giant tridachna clams (They are probably over 100 years old and so are quite a rarity). Look carefully in the anemones to find porcelain crabs!