Ultimate Underwater Expedition in Indonesia

Ulti­ma­te Under­wa­ter Expe­di­ti­on

The roaring engi­nes fixed to a lar­ge woo­den boat are final­ly quiet. Not­hing can be heard but the rif­ting litt­le waves, lap­ping against the vibrant paint on the sides of the ves­sel that grace­ful­ly slows down. Nati­ve birds hop on the tip of a small tree in one of the deser­ted islands in the distan­ce.

Raja Ampat or ‘Four Kings’, is the name given to the­se islands and comes from a local myth. The four major islands found here are Wai­geo, Miso­ol (which is home to anci­ent rock pain­tings), Sala­wati, and Batan­ta.

Under­wa­ter enthu­si­asts flock to this regi­on becau­se it offers the world’s best mari­ne sights. Two days ear­lier, some of the­se tra­velers had been at a dea­fe­ning cor­ner of a tou­rist trap in Bali. Once they took their flight to the bird head of the island of Papua ever­ything chan­ged as they embar­ked on a diving tour of a life­time. In the Raja Ampat islands, divers can explo­re ver­ti­cal under­wa­ter walls. The thrill of drift diving is ano­t­her gre­at chal­len­ge. The­se are the awe­so­me expe­ri­en­ces you will find in Raja Ampat.

Mean­while, on this tour several divers were well equip­ped and loo­ked advan­ced. The ter­rito­ry wit­hin the islands of the Four Kings is enor­mous, covering 9.8 mil­li­on acres of land and sea, home to 540 types of corals, more than 1,000 types of coral fish and 700 types of mol­lusks. This makes it the most diver­se living libra­ry for world’s coral reef and under­wa­ter bio­ta. Accord­ing to a report deve­lo­ped by The Natu­re Con­ser­van­cy and Con­ser­va­ti­on Inter­na­tio­nal, around 75% of the world’s spe­ci­es live here. When divers first arri­ve here their exci­te­ment is pal­p­a­ble. It’s com­mon to hear peop­le prai­se God as they take in the remar­kab­le sce­ne­ry. Others pre­fer to remain in silence taking in the over­whel­ming sight of so many islands with crys­tal clear water that soft­ly brushes over the white san­dy beaches.

Disi­ni bagus!”, says the fri­end­ly local gui­de who had been appoin­ted by the tour ope­ra­tor who runs an eco-lodge in Raja Ampat, indi­ca­ting that they have arri­ved at one of the most fan­tastic diving sites. On other days, this gui­de is just a simp­le fisher­man. The local fisher­men here are accusto­med to for­eig­ners and are fri­end­ly, espe­ci­al­ly when offe­red pinang (betel nuts) or some sweet can­dies. The­se are very popu­lar and offe­ring the­se sweets is con­si­de­red poli­te and a good way to win an instant smi­le. The fisher­men usual­ly eat this snack during Para-para Pinang, or soci­al chat­ting and exch­an­ging fun­ny sto­ries while chewing Pinang. In many respec­ts, like natu­re, cul­tu­re, and histo­ry, the­se fisher­men are clo­ser to the Moluc­cas.

No doubt about it, Raja Ampat is defi­ni­te­ly the richest place for fish that I have ever been.” --Dr G.R. Allen

I was like a five-year-old, see­ing a reef for the very first time. I was awest­ruck, held by the incredi­ble power of this richest reef. We must, with all avail­ab­le resour­ces, pre­ser­ve the beau­ty of Raja Ampat. This may be the last frontier.”--Michael Aw

I love the peop­le, I love the diving, it’s super! I’ve never been for a second time to the same dive desti­na­ti­on but now I’m thin­king about going back for the third time! Should I say more?” --Peter van Dalen

(The­se tes­ti­mo­ni­als are taken from www​.iri​an​di​ving​.com)

While the land­s­cape may look like a dream, this is not an illu­si­on. As you embark on your dive, the phra­se ‘Atten­ti­on to detail’ takes on new mea­ning as pig­my seahor­ses swim around your fin­gers. Man­ta Rays and wob­be­gongs will gli­de right by you. Tuna fish, giant tre­val­lies, snap­pers, and even bar­ra­cu­das are the­re to com­ple­te your under­wa­ter ‘mee­ting list’. Not to men­ti­on the fri­end­ly assi­stant of the dugong, and a busy col­league, the turt­le. Natu­ral and untouched beau­ty is the main attrac­tion here. With no unne­cessa­ry ada­ges, the sky, the lush islands, the sea, and ever­ything above and under it is genui­ne­ly say­ing ‘Wel­co­me to Raja Ampat Islands; your per­so­nal Dis­ney­land of diving sites’.

More fac­ts about the Raja Ampat Con­ser­va­ti­on Area:*

  • This area is home to 1,511 spe­ci­es of reef fish in the Bird’s Head Seas­cape;
  • 1,320 spe­ci­es of reef fish in Raja Ampat;
  • 75% of all known coral spe­ci­es in the world;
  • 10 times the num­ber of hard coral spe­ci­es found in the ent­i­re Carib­be­an;
  • In the Birds Head Seas­cape the­re 600 spe­ci­es of hard coral recor­ded;
  • 5 spe­ci­es of end­an­ge­red sea turt­les;
  • 57 spe­ci­es of Man­tis Shrimp;
  • 13 spe­ci­es of Mari­ne Mam­m­als;
  • And 27 spe­ci­es of ende­mic reef fish found only in that area

*accord­ing to a tour ope­ra­tor