matador
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I thought I should post a quick review of my recent trip to Raja Ampat (Nov-Dec 2017) as a thank you for the wealth of information I found here that helped me organise my trip.
I booked the trip at a very short notice so a few of the resorts that I initially was planning to do my land based diving (biodiversity, RA dive lodge, etc.) were fully booked for the dates I was interested so I opted for a homestay (Deroyen Village). Just to be clear, homestay is not for everybody but for me it was the perfect option as I wanted to focus on diving doing 4 dives per day and explore all the main diving spots from a single base. Deroyen is based in Gam island, right in the middle between Arborek and Cape Kri run by a local family with two very knowledgeable guys and with limited dive equipment on site. Food basic (fish and rice in every meal), cleanliness could be better and the area is between mangroves so no white sand beach there. The main benefit was that I was able to organise the dives the way I wanted so I dived all the places that I was interested while for most of the dives I was diving alone. Last but not least, the total package cost me one third that of the liveaboard package and I did 22 dives (vs 28 on the ****kira liveaboard). Would I go again? 100% yes and I can certainly recommend it for anyone on a tight budget. (btw, this website has all the info wrt traditional accommodation in Raja Ampat: Stay Raja Ampat: The best Raja Ampat accommodation)
****kira: obviously, my expectations were higher for the ****kira boat given the amount of money that the trip cost. I booked a 10 day Misool/Raja Ampat trip that was supposed to go to all the usual places (Misool, Pianemu, Kawe, Arborek, Gam, Kri, etc.). Main reason for selecting ****kira was that it was the only boat at that time that was claiming to travel all the way up to Wayag which was a place that I was very keen on visiting as it is just magical. I would describe the boat as middle of the range, nothing spectacular but not lacking any basics either. The diving schedule was not very intensive and over the 10 day trip we did a total of 28 dives; I would have probably preferred to do more dives around Misool/Pianemu or even visiting the Passage instead of spending too much time around Kawe but for a Raja Ampat newbie I would say that the schedule was solid. Unfortunately, what it did leave a bad taste in my mouth was the reluctancy from the cruise Director to travel to Wayag despite weather conditions permitting the trip. I wouldn't like to bore you with the details but the bottom line was that I was put into a very difficult position having to argue with him while he was trying to influence the other guests against the Wayag trip. It wasn't a very pleasant experience but in the end because of my insistence we did manage to go there and we all had an amazing time (other guests actually thanked me for being so firm...).
I had found a similar comment in another review which claimed that ****kira do their best to avoid doing the extra effort to get to Wayag despite being advertised in their schedule. I dismissed that review and instead I opted for re-confirming the Wayag bit with Diviac (excellent btw) and the operator himself.
Given this experience I would be reluctant to recommend this boat as it was pretty clear to me that they were trying to cut corners and avoid the extra cost if possible which is not great to say the least ...
Anyway, diving in Raja Ampat was spectacular. I have not seen such diversity and amount of fishes while corals are the healthiest I have seen and I have been around the block... Visibility during the period that I was there was not great but I would be surprised if there were crystal clear visibility anytime given the richness of the water and the currents. Btw, the currents in some places are not for the fainthearted (Kape Kri, Blue Magic, etc). I will be definitely going back but next time I will probably stick around the misool area.
Below some pictures from the trip:
Raja Ampat UW Top
above water: Raja Ampat
thanks
I booked the trip at a very short notice so a few of the resorts that I initially was planning to do my land based diving (biodiversity, RA dive lodge, etc.) were fully booked for the dates I was interested so I opted for a homestay (Deroyen Village). Just to be clear, homestay is not for everybody but for me it was the perfect option as I wanted to focus on diving doing 4 dives per day and explore all the main diving spots from a single base. Deroyen is based in Gam island, right in the middle between Arborek and Cape Kri run by a local family with two very knowledgeable guys and with limited dive equipment on site. Food basic (fish and rice in every meal), cleanliness could be better and the area is between mangroves so no white sand beach there. The main benefit was that I was able to organise the dives the way I wanted so I dived all the places that I was interested while for most of the dives I was diving alone. Last but not least, the total package cost me one third that of the liveaboard package and I did 22 dives (vs 28 on the ****kira liveaboard). Would I go again? 100% yes and I can certainly recommend it for anyone on a tight budget. (btw, this website has all the info wrt traditional accommodation in Raja Ampat: Stay Raja Ampat: The best Raja Ampat accommodation)
****kira: obviously, my expectations were higher for the ****kira boat given the amount of money that the trip cost. I booked a 10 day Misool/Raja Ampat trip that was supposed to go to all the usual places (Misool, Pianemu, Kawe, Arborek, Gam, Kri, etc.). Main reason for selecting ****kira was that it was the only boat at that time that was claiming to travel all the way up to Wayag which was a place that I was very keen on visiting as it is just magical. I would describe the boat as middle of the range, nothing spectacular but not lacking any basics either. The diving schedule was not very intensive and over the 10 day trip we did a total of 28 dives; I would have probably preferred to do more dives around Misool/Pianemu or even visiting the Passage instead of spending too much time around Kawe but for a Raja Ampat newbie I would say that the schedule was solid. Unfortunately, what it did leave a bad taste in my mouth was the reluctancy from the cruise Director to travel to Wayag despite weather conditions permitting the trip. I wouldn't like to bore you with the details but the bottom line was that I was put into a very difficult position having to argue with him while he was trying to influence the other guests against the Wayag trip. It wasn't a very pleasant experience but in the end because of my insistence we did manage to go there and we all had an amazing time (other guests actually thanked me for being so firm...).
I had found a similar comment in another review which claimed that ****kira do their best to avoid doing the extra effort to get to Wayag despite being advertised in their schedule. I dismissed that review and instead I opted for re-confirming the Wayag bit with Diviac (excellent btw) and the operator himself.
Given this experience I would be reluctant to recommend this boat as it was pretty clear to me that they were trying to cut corners and avoid the extra cost if possible which is not great to say the least ...
Anyway, diving in Raja Ampat was spectacular. I have not seen such diversity and amount of fishes while corals are the healthiest I have seen and I have been around the block... Visibility during the period that I was there was not great but I would be surprised if there were crystal clear visibility anytime given the richness of the water and the currents. Btw, the currents in some places are not for the fainthearted (Kape Kri, Blue Magic, etc). I will be definitely going back but next time I will probably stick around the misool area.
Below some pictures from the trip:
Raja Ampat UW Top
above water: Raja Ampat
thanks
