Disappointed from Raja Ampat

[el_guitarrero]

Well I would be drawn to the conclusions that :
1- you maynot be a very good photographer to shoot only lionfish and scorpionfish
2- You didn't have a very good dive guide, in Mayhem dive site since it is typical to spot anything from 3 to 5 wobbegongs
3- You woud need some appropriate goggles since just on the right handside of Kri Eco resort house reef wall there are LOTS of severnsi pygmies, plus you missed the probably unique Raja Ampat seahorse specie on the gorgonians down Cape Kri
4- probably you would have been better off nightdiving than indulging on peanuts and beer, Mansuar reefs are for instance a great place to spot blue rings.

But anyway, let's agree with your conclusion if that can scare away hords of unexperienced or bored divers from the place and leave more place for us the mundane spot divers.

Pls accept the red nose award for this magnificent post, tied with the one that stated "Bali diving is not very good" . Thanks for the laugh, so funny.[/

I am sorry for you, that my negative experience seems to be a joy for you and you need to make such statements.

As for 1. I am not a professional photographer but I am keen on interesting motives. This divetrip was limited to WA, hence my dissapointment.
We dived in total with 3 dive guides during the 10 days stay in a small Group of 4.
(All experienced divers)
As to 3. it makes me wonder, even after talking to the resort manager and later with the guides, they had severe problems in finding any pygmies. Some dives the guide has been checking for 50 minutes the corals from 30 to 20m without finding anything. Horror.
4. I am not the beer and peanuts kind of guy. Had 2 dissapointing Night dives and closed the book.

Please accept the snob award for your clever comments.

 

[oszillodrom]

Three things:
- From all I've heard, Raja Ampat is better on a liveaboard.
- It's not an aquarium, and sometimes you're just unlucky. In nine months in the Mabul / Sipadan area, I've had maybe one or two weeks of bad or average diving. People told me they didn't like it, and I couldn't even argue with them.
- Maybe your guides weren't that great. I can't imagine how you can dive in that area for 18 years without seeing a frogfish.

 

[el_guitarrero]

I am sorry that you did not have a good experience in RA. We have been 3x and loved it EVERY time!!! The macro was incredible! I would have to say " What did we Not see?" On one night dive our dive guide spotted a twin spot frog fish with eggs! Nothing but good memories for RA!

Jake, where did you dive? What Resort or Liveaboard Route? Thanks...

---------- Post added November 28th, 2014 at 07:16 AM ----------



---------- Post added November 28th, 2014 at 07:19 AM ----------

Three things:
- From all I've heard, Raja Ampat is better on a liveaboard.
- It's not an aquarium, and sometimes you're just unlucky. In nine months in the Mabul / Sipadan area, I've had maybe one or two weeks of bad or average diving. People told me they didn't like it, and I couldn't even argue with them.
- Maybe your guides weren't that great. I can't imagine how you can dive in that area for 18 years without seeing a frogfish.

I came to a similar conclusion... But it makes me wonder how the guides did not see anything. It was sometimes even us who found the animals, not the guides. They were searching but never found anything. Some dives we did not even take pictures / or video.

There was a rumour, that the better guides work in Sorido Resort, wonder if this is true...

 

[pughio83]

Can't believe raja to be that bad! Maybe crap guides!!!! For sure there will have been red Pygmy sea horses on the fans!

 

[Wisnu]

sorry to hear R4 did not meet your expectation.
we stayed and dived with Kri eco resort 2 years ago. In 5 diving days, we saw all what you listed above except Rhinopia, denise, and pontohi but we got many more. It was very productive trip.
we saw walking shark, bobtail and BRO in their house reef during single night dive.
can't recall frogfish
if you're into macro, you can find most if not all critter in your list in Bali or Lembeh- much easier and cheaper to get than R4.

 

[Luko]

I am sorry for you, that my negative experience seems to be a joy for you and you need to make such statements.

As for 1. I am not a professional photographer but I am keen on interesting motives. This divetrip was limited to WA, hence my dissapointment.
We dived in total with 3 dive guides during the 10 days stay in a small Group of 4.
(All experienced divers)
As to 3. it makes me wonder, even after talking to the resort manager and later with the guides, they had severe problems in finding any pygmies. Some dives the guide has been checking for 50 minutes the corals from 30 to 20m without finding anything. Horror.
4. I am not the beer and peanuts kind of guy. Had 2 dissapointing Night dives and closed the book.

Please accept the snob award for your clever comments.

Hmmh.. do not mistake yourself, I am not laughing at your negative experience, I am laughing at your statement which goes like "Hey, I'd like to make it known that this geek called G.Allen totally missed the point when was counting fish species on Cape Kri, I'm sure he confused with Candy Crush points on his mobile instead, that all the dorks on Scubaboard are giving you BS when they say Raja Ampat is great for fishlife and diversity and that I the great Guitarrero would like to give people the truth on Raja Ampat after a weektime in Papua Barat and my less than 200 dives overall."

It's funny but when reading people comments it's always either :
- I selected the best place in the world and the best location around, even though it was the first time I 've been,
- Since the dive sucked, I shouldn't have listened to others the whole place is crap, oversold by greedy agents and dumb travelers.

Why not state something in between like : "clearly the guides were not up but a look around helped me notice that the place had a high potential, it may not have been the best conditions for me" instead of trying to carve the 8th commandment on the table of the divespots laws? How about a little humility in your statements? Were you not able to spot something with your own eyes (I have to confess that when I read someone saying a manta feeding station was a highlight, my eyebrows raise ).

I understand people saying Raja Ampat was not their diving cup of tea because there might be too much current, not enough visibility, guides that are finning too much, too difficult for photographying, etc. ...but lacking diversity... heck no, I can you say that ?!

Pls note I will gladly accept the snub award from you, the red nose avenger, what is the prize I won? A trip to Raja ampat?
Ok, let's take as a joke, will you (not the Raja ampat trip I won, the other things)

 

[Hintermann]

Just got back from a 11-day liveaboard from RA and thought the diving was superb throughout. Lots of colourful and healthy coral and every kind of fish large and small. Relatively few "regular" sharks but we saw at least 20 Wobegongs close-up as well as a couple of Epaulette "walking" sharks. As for small fish - Snappers, fusiliers, sweetlips, pufferfish, clown triggerfish, emperor angelfish, parrotfish, bumphead parrotfish, napoleaon wrasse, lionfish, goatfish and lots of others. Countless nudibranchs and flatworms; moray eels all over the place. A couple of great specialist manta ray dives. Crutaceans and octopi at night.

What more do you want? (There were lots more)

 

[jake11]

Our best LOB to RA was on the Dewi Nusantara. We did an 11 day trip that took in both the North and the South. It is a stellar boat with an awesome crew. Yan Alifan, one of the dive guides, has been written about as being one of the best. He is the guide that found the twin spot frog fish with eggs. Everyone was quite excited by this find! One of the best sites on that trip for macro was Batanta! If you can book a trip on the Dewi when Wendy Brown is onboard along with Yan then you will have hit a home run!!! We have been on that boat 3x and LOVED it every time. I would give RA another chance for sure!!!Good luck! When I have a bit more time I will pull out my log book and list my favorite sites for you!!

Jake, where did you dive? What Resort or Liveaboard Route? Thanks...

---------- Post added November 28th, 2014 at 07:16 AM ----------



---------- Post added November 28th, 2014 at 07:19 AM ----------




I came to a similar conclusion... But it makes me wonder how the guides did not see anything. It was sometimes even us who found the animals, not the guides. They were searching but never found anything. Some dives we did not even take pictures / or video.

There was a rumour, that the better guides work in Sorido Resort, wonder if this is true...

 

[supergaijin]

i draw the conclusion, that this part of Raja Ampat has almost no macro stuff and is heavy marketed in magazines etc. - For me I had much better and impressing dives in other places and i feel somehow betrayed...or dissapointed.

This divetrip was limited to WA, hence my dissapointment.

I think you just answered yourself.

 

[puncho]

I did a liveaboard for 8 days and by the end, I had to tell my DM to stop showing me pigmy seahorses! Though I haven't dove that much, I thought the diversity was excellent and thinking of going back instead of going to Palau