Fiji V Raja Ampat

[hutchinson12]

Hi, Has anybody been on the 10 day Fiji Siren or 7 day Raja Ampat -Black Manta?
Looking at choices for early January 2015. Also any other Liveaboard recommendations are welcomed!!
Anybody been to both places?...which did you prefer?
Thank you!

 

[Worldwide Dive and Sail]

Hi Hutchinson12

Thanks for thinking of us in regards to your trip in 2015. We'd be pleased to send you our Fiji availability and further info if you wish, we also offer Raja Ampat trips too (though only 10 night trips are currently scheduled).

Much depends upon what you are looking for from your diving experience, so whilst other people's advice on both places is valuable for comparison here's some info that we though might be useful in helping you to decide...

Corals:- Both destinations offer stunning hard and soft corals, with sea fans. Though Fiji will top Raja Ampat on the soft coral front overall, RA has some stunning soft coral sites such as Citrus Ridge in Waigeo.

Macro:- Raja Ampat has great diversity of species. several types of pygmy seahorse, octopus, pipefish, eels, nudibranchs. In Fiji we do find seahorses (also pygmy seahorses) ribbon eels, nudibranchs and pipefish - just not in the same quantities as you would do in RA

Sharks:- Fiji "wins" on the abundance of sharks - with schools of grey reefs common in Nigali Passage and hammerheads, black tips & white tips also seen. RA has the wobbegongs though and possibility of Epaulette ("walking') shark sightings

Mantas:- on a par, though RA might just top it with Manta Sandy

Fish Schools:- RA offer bumpheads, jacks, barracuda & snapper in large schools - plus the diversity of fish species which would be hard to beat elsewhere.
Fiji has big fish schools also - Barracuda, snapper, jacks and plenty of smaller species but just not as many as RA would offer.

Topography:- RA provides reefs, walls, coral gardens, black sand,
Fiji provides reefs, walls , coral gardens, pinnacles

Water temp:- Fiji average 26-27C v. Raja Ampat average 28C

Getting there Fiji:- From HK there are direct flights to NADI and then its 2.5 hour overland transfer to Volivoli Beach Resort- the departure point for Fiji Siren
Getting there RA:- From HK flight to Jakarta and then an overnight stopover, before am flight to Sorong - from where liveaboards depart

We receive regular updates from our on board dive teams that you may find useful in researching what was seen in January this year, for each destination.

Best of luck with your decision and please do pm us if you have any questions,
Siren Fleet

 

[irenedabanian]

Hi, Has anybody been on the 10 day Fiji Siren or 7 day Raja Ampat -Black Manta?
Looking at choices for early January 2015. Also any other Liveaboard recommendations are welcomed!!
Anybody been to both places?...which did you prefer?
Thank you!

There is no comparison. Raja on the manta is it. Fiji is good for first diving experience. The previous reply came from the marketing people of the siren fleet and not from an independent scuba diver. Watch out.

 

[hutchinson12]

There is no comparison. Raja on the manta is it. Fiji is good for first diving experience. The previous reply came from the marketing people of the siren fleet and not from an independent scuba diver. Watch out.

Thank you Irenedabanian,

We are really struggling to choose a dive destination for over the New Year. Likely our last big drive trip for some time so looking for something big, prefer a liveaboard.

Reason we were looking at Fiji is we were blown away by 3 days of diving we did at Taveuni couple of years ago and thought if the rest of Fiji is as good it would bring a greater variety to a liveaboard than Raja.

Totally agree with your warning over the reply from the Siren fleet we treat it in that way.

With this is mind I wondered if you could expand on your comments comparing Fiji and Raja. Also any advice you may have on other dive destination in that region for that time of year.....PNG, Solomon Islands, Yap. For the record we have dived Komodo, Palau, Philippines, Galapagos, Thailand, Maldives, Great Barrier Reef and would prefer somewhere new to us.
We will be going back to Komodo this year so also wandered if Raja would be too similar to do in the same year

Any help you can offer would be much appreciated.

 

[chillyinCanada]

It may come down to which boat you can actually get booked on for your chosen time. I haven't been to Fiji but don't think you'd be disappointed in either location. You already know you enjoyed Fiji.

 

[ronscuba]

For the record we have dived Komodo, Palau, Philippines, Galapagos, Thailand, Maldives, Great Barrier Reef and would prefer somewhere new to us..

You've dove many great places. What's your opinion on those places ? What did you like/dislike ?

 

[Shasta_man]

I would not say it's such a clear cut diff for RA vs Fiji. From the US, Fiji is much easier to get to, but it's likely the opposite for you in Hong Kong. I've been to RA, Komodo and Fiji. RA is very similar to Komodo, though I felt RA was a bit better in the variety of diving. Fiji is very good and some spots are awesome. I'd say it's more that RA has more very good spots compared to Fiji. However that's balanced by some shark action in Fiji which you get very little of in RA. I really like the people in Fiji and that's great whether on the boat or on land afterward. You can also go for shorter trips (7-10 days) compared to the usual 12-14 day trips in RA. Pluses and minuses.

 

[Worldwide Dive and Sail]

Totally agree with your warning over the reply from the Siren fleet we treat it in that way.

Dear Hutchison12

We are sorry to read you felt you needed to be warned of our reply to your thread. We think we are very honest and clear in who we are and indeed the owners of scubaboard have encouraged Siren Fleet marketing to interact with scubaboarders in this way.

As Siren Fleet have yachts in both Raja Ampat and Fiji our marketing department not only promote both destinations but our team have personally dived in both places. We therefore felt we are in a good position to provide a comparison of the destinations which might serve to assist you in deciding which you would prefer to dive.

This was in no way meant to sway you to book the Fiji Siren over Black Manta, though of course we would be happy to have you aboard one of our yachts.

Best wishes for your dive vacation,
Siren Fleet Marketing Department :blinking:

 

[chillyinCanada]

Siren Fleet, you are a class act.. I remember when I was looking into Raja Ampat. You were very helpful with me both in my initial thread and privately as we took our conversations away from the thread.

I qualify my statement above by saying in the end I dove with a different company. Not because I have any reservations about Siren but because they were full.

 

[Darnold9999]

Not sure why anyone is questioning Siren here. They have boats in both places they offered a comparison of the two places and disclosed who they were. Seemed very fair to me. If they were comparing themselves to another boat or only had a boat in one location I might question the info they provided. I personally welcome their input to the board. In this particular case I was interested in the reply as I have been to RA but not Fiji and am considering a Fiji trip. Have dived with Siren in the Philippines, had a great time and would dive with them again.