Raja Ampat at night ...

[highdesert]

Greetings, Indo junkies ...

Having been to Raja Ampat before, and about to go back (leaving in a week ), I am curious about something ...

If you have dived there, what is your opinion of the night diving, particularly in comparison to other areas of Indonesia? I have my own opinion, but I've heard mixed reports from some others, so I'm just curious if there's a consensus out there. So ... open-ended question ... your thoughts about marine life, different marine life, lack of or abundance of marine life ... any thoughts you have.

Thanks!

 

[photog]

Raja Ampat ...
If you have dived there, what is your opinion of the night diving, particularly in comparison to other areas of Indonesia?
Thanks!

It's amazing in Raja Ampat. I've done 350 or more night dives there and seldom had a bad one.

The ones we did in Oct/Nov 2011 were some of the best dives of my life. So many critters! Everything from Harlequin Shrimp and Blue Ring Octopus to a big crab grabbing the butt of a sea hare, Spanish Dancers with shrimps on top (2 kinds), dozens of funny decorator crabs, a Melibe nudibranch feeding.... I couldn't begin to remember everything we saw. The guides and other divers were flashing at me so much to come look at something new.. I couldn't keep up with it all.

I hate to miss a night dive in Raja Ampat and hear the stories from returning divers.. and the "walking sharks" are nocturnal too (some nice video), and .. and .. no ... stopping now.... there were a lot of ghost pipefish and the Chocolate Mint frogfish and the ....

After the trip I put some comments about night dive here with photos of Harlequin Shrimp pulling and pushing a starfish into their den:

Raja Ampat 2011 Dives - Facebook Album

 

[ocdiver1]

Been to RA 3 times, including a trip I just got back from where I did a night dive every night of the trip. The highlight of night dives is seeing the epaulette "walking" shark, otherwise to me night diving there is fairly ordinary. If you're specific question is about night dives, you'd get better in places like Lembeh and Ambon.

 

[jake11]

We have been to RA 3x and we have never missed a night dive there. Loved most of them. Cool stuff comes out at night and I for one would not miss the night diving!

 

[MA]

I've never been a huge fan of night dives, tend to miss them on my liveaboard trips. But RA changed that! I"m now addicted.

 

[frogfish]

After 3 R4 live a boards: night dives around dives around Dampier Strait are good, Misool ok... But pearl farm pier is amazing

 

[jake11]

After 3 R4 live a boards: night dives around dives around Dampier Strait are good, Misool ok... But pearl farm pier is amazing

I agree! Do not miss the night dive at the Pearl Farm! It was awesome!

 

[scorpiofish]

Some sites are just OK. Most are quite good. Some are incredible. If the dive site ends in the word "jetty", do not miss.

 

[Magrone]

On my 10 day trip to Raja last March of the North and South, Pearl Farm Pier in the North is the only night dive that really sticks out in my mind...but it's a muck dive so that makes sense. Misool was Night Dives on walls, which can be missed . Pearl Farm Pier is comparable to Lembeh. I love night dives anyway so I didn't miss any, but I think the North is better for night dives.