Trip Report Raja Ampat via liveaboard

[Chris Underwater]

Earlier this season (October/November) I had the pleasure of spending a lot of time in Raja Ampat, which included three liveaboard trips on La Galigo.
La Galigo is what I would classify as an upper middle class boat - nothing fancy, but way above a budget liveaboard. They offer three different trips: Ultimate Raja Ampat (12d, all around Raja), South (9d, Misool & Central), North (8d, Central & North). I did all three of them back to back, and here are my overall impressions about these trips:
- boat: enough space for everyone and everything, 14 passengers max, with 16 crew. In good shape and well maintained, great cabins with lots of storage space. There were some minor issues in the cabins during the trip, which were taken care of by the crew swiftly. The sundeck could be improved with more shade, which apparently is already planned for the future.
- food: great food quality and variety, a nice mix of indonesian and western.
- crew & service: among the best I have seen on any liveaboard. Everyone was super attentive, you always got a helping hand before you even knew you needed it. The crew members were super friendly and great fun as well, and always up for a chat and/or joke. They were also great at their respective jobs.
- organization: extremely good itinerary planning and execution. We got an extensive briefing each evening on the following day. Distribution of dives and the occasional land visits over days felt perfect. The land visits themselves (1-2 per trip) were very well received by all guests. Individual pickups/dropoffs from or to the hotels/airports were well organized and worked flawlessly.
- diving operation: divers were split into three groups, so 5 people max per group. The group setup was done by experience and air consumption of the divers. Groups were staggered a bit when going for dives, since the dive deck is on the smaller side. Diving is done from to smaller dinghies, the crew handles all the equipment with care and efficiency when loading/unloading those. Dive briefings were extensive with some very exquisite map drawings. The divemasters knew the sites well and did a very good job.
- communication: both the back office before and the cruise director on the trips did a fantastic job at providing the necessary information and answer any questions at lights speed.

Overall I (and everyone else on all three trips I did) had a fantastic time on La Galigo. While it misses a few nice-to-have things many of the upper class boats have, like a camera-room for example, it is a very solid and well run boat. And more importantly: you get to be part of a family-like group of extremely friendly and fun, but also highly skilled, motivated and service-oriented people. This makes this boat great value for money and a fantastic choice for diving in Raja or Komodo. I will be back!

Trip video:


Surface intervals in Raja:

 

[JustinJRL]

Outstanding. You captured the wide angle, the macro, and the colors of RA in a four minute video. I could have watched another 20 minutes!

 

[Chris Underwater]

Outstanding. You captured the wide angle, the macro, and the colors of RA in a four minute video. I could have watched another 20 minutes!

Thanks!
And, luckily for you, there now is also this:

 

[Sahriar]

We are thinking of booking and wondering if you have any advice on the cabins. Did you say in the Suite, the above deck Master Cabin, or the below deck Deluxe Cabin? If you stayed in multiple cabins, do you have a preference for one over the other? Thanks!

 

[Chris Underwater]

We are thinking of booking and wondering if you have any advice on the cabins. Did you say in the Suite, the above deck Master Cabin, or the below deck Deluxe Cabin? If you stayed in multiple cabins, do you have a preference for one over the other? Thanks!

I stayed in different cabins below deck on all trips and liked them. The upper deck cabins looked nice as well and have better view obviously, and the suite has more space. Comes down to personal preference, I don't think you can go wrong with any of them.

 

[greybanded]

Hoping to get to Raja Ampat in the next year or two. If you could only do one route on a liveaboard which would you choose? The South(Misool/Central) trip or the North (Central plus north) trip? 12 days seeing both is too long for me. Which has the better overall diving? Also interested in land excursions/scenic views maybe spotting birds of paradise etc... Most interested in large schools of fish and prettiest reefs. Thanks.

 

[cetacean]

Hoping to get to Raja Ampat in the next year or two. If you could only do one route on a liveaboard which would you choose? The South(Misool/Central) trip or the North (Central plus north) trip? 12 days seeing both is too long for me. Which has the better overall diving? Also interested in land excursions/scenic views maybe spotting birds of paradise etc... Most interested in large schools of fish and prettiest reefs. Thanks.

@greybanded

The trade-offs between the north and the south are pretty clear...
The north has more locations with large schools of fish (in general), sees more divers (it's closer to Sorong, has more resorts, althought still fairly sparse), however the vis in the north isn't quite as good as it can be in the south.

The south also has a few more truly unique sites (around Misool, etc.).

There are several locations in which various birds of paradise can be observed, however few are on the islands (except in the north around Waigeo, and there, it's limited). The best places to see birds of paradise are north and east of Sorong (and across to Manokwari).

 

[rmorgan]

The best places to see birds of paradise are north and east of Sorong (and across to Manokwari)

We’re booked for a boat that disembarks in Manokwari. Do you have insight into whether it makes (any) sense to look for a road transfer back to Sorong, in hopes of birds of paradise? Is the relatively-sensible course to go from Manokwari into the Arfak Mountains for a couple of days? Or—is the whole idea nuts?

 

[cetacean]

We’re booked for a boat that disembarks in Manokwari. Do you have insight into whether it makes (any) sense to look for a road transfer back to Sorong, in hopes of birds of paradise? Is the relatively-sensible course to go from Manokwari into the Arfak Mountains for a couple of days? Or—is the whole idea nuts?

@rmorgan

Not completely nuts, but not easy (by any means) either. I haven't heard of any resorts in the Arfak mountain region, so this will only work with homestays, and that will likely require getting a hold of someone locally who can help arrange stays, guides, etc

You might try:

Magnificus Expeditions - premier birding ecotours in Papua, Indonesia

We offer the highest quality birding ecotours in Indonesian Papua, with an emphasis on forest conservation and local community involvement.

www.magnificusexpeditions.com

We managed to view 5 different species on an extended travel study trip that left out of Darwin, traveled up and around the Bird's Head Peninsula, and then down into Cenderawasih Bay.

The display sites are fairly well known, but they usually aren't easy to get to.

BTW - a road transfer between Manokwari to Sorong sounds like an adventure, but potentially not that great for viewing. You would need to get some insights into known viewing sites (and then be there early mornings...)

 

[rmorgan]

Thanks for your insights, and for the link. That all makes perfect sense. The booking’s two years out, so I’ll have time to study up.