Raja Ampat Dive Sites
Misool Island - the eye-catching reefs around Misool offer a wonderful kaleidoscope of colour. Sloping walls are carpeted with soft corals of every colour imaginable housing all manners of critters from ghost pipefish to harlequin shrimp to pygmy seahorses. As with many other location in Irian Jaya, Misool Island is remote, only accessible by boat and the underwater world is in one word "spectacular". Large predators such as epaulet sharks and barracuda, but also small species are found in these waters.
Critters Corner - at the end of the Cross Wreck is this wonderful little area back towards the beach. Surrounded by the sand and rubble is a vast group of critters, including frogfish, leaffish, devil scorpionfish, seahorses and mantis shrimp.
Aircraft Wrecks - A P40 aircraft wreck that was shot down was discovered lying at 27 meters depth, the plane which is still largely intact is a great dive site.
Mike's Point - This rocky outcrop just off Cape Kri was bombed during WWII. From the air, it was mistaken for a Japanese ship due to its size and the wake left by speeding currents. Walls surrounding the islet drop to over 40 meters and draws huge schools of sweetlips, snappers and fusiliers. Impressive array of giant sea fans on a shelf at 27 metres can be explored for pygmy seahorses and the walls and coral crevices home all manners of reef life. Mike's point is named after pioneer Max Ammer's son.
Wai Island - This island is famous for its visiting manta rays and a couple of WWII aircraft wrecks. Nonetheless, it is also popular for night diving in the isolated bay. All manner of creatures come out to feed including octopus, stonefish, epaulette sharks, wobbegongs, squid, pipefish and many rare nudibranch.
Cape kri - is one of the best dive sites in Raja Ampat, with an enormous amount of marine life. Marine Biologist and respected author of a number of marine reference books Dr. Gerald R. Allen said "On my last trip to Raja Ampat, I recorded 283 fish species during a single dive near the Kri Island resorts. This is the most fishes ever seen on a single dive over a career spanning almost 30 years."
Much of that diversity is made of smaller species. There are many different varieties of reef fish including snapper, fusilier, sweetlips, butterfly fish, and angelfish. Large schools of reef fish usually engulf divers as they fin over the reef. Coral is also abundantly healthy in hard and soft coral varieties. In addition to these expect to see large napoleon wrasse, car sized Queensland groupers and reef sharks as you drift along with the fish. It is best to stay deep here to avoid the stong surface currents.
Sardine Reef - is a large sloping reef off Kri Island. There are no actual sardines here but the fish are so tightly packed that it derives the name of the dive site. Large schools of trevallys and dogtooth tuna almost block the sunlight as they school overhead. The coral reef is not deep, but currents can be strong and this is often a drift dive. This dive really is a fish frenzy, you even need to stay close to your buddy if you want to keep them in sight for the living walls of fish.
Large table coral formations make a perfect home for an abundance of fish life. Moray eels weave their way underneath and lionfish can often be seen lurking. Critters can be found here as well and its worth looking at every gorgonian sea fan for pygmy seahorses.
The Passage - the passage lies between the islands of Gam and Waigeo. It is only about 25 meters wide and looks more like a river from the surface. A jumble of rocks marks the entrance to this enchanting looking dive site, the coral almost grows to the surface here. The passage is usually dived as drift dive because the current can be strong. However there are sheltered areas where it is possible to stop and have a hunt around. Plenty of life can be found here including octopus, flatworms and cuttlefish, even the Wobbegong shark can be spotted on occasion. Schools of bigger fish await out in the current such as jacks, tuna, barracuda and sharks. Caves and arches also make up some of the topography here.
Out in the current reef sharks can be seen, large pelagic species such as tuna, barracuda and trevallys too. The visibility around this area is fairly good between 20 to 30 metres.
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