Invited by a co-worker to join a group of experienced divers who had booked the entire Arenui (thearenui.com) liveaboard. Raja Ampat had been on my bucket list forever, and the invitation tipped my wife and me over the edge. Ridiculously expensive, it promised boutique service, a beautiful vessel and of course, a world-renowned destination. While other liveaboards might have been less expensive, we considered it a wash since so many friends would be there together.
The Vessel
As the website suggests, this is an authentic Indonesian "phinisi" built specifically for diving, about 12 years ago, and completely refurbished during the COVID pandemic. Teak and another dozen Indonesian hardwoods surround you, and if the cabins aren't a modern version of luxury, you instead feel yourself transported back in time. The cabins were quite large, and could have accomodated a 3rd person in a side berth that doubled for us as a sofa. The aft cabins were more expensive and boasted large windows providing the expected island views underway. Our cabin forward gave us minimal engine/generator noise, at the price of a little more motion at night moving between island dive sites, and with the occasional bang as a wavelet hit the hull flat on. We quickly got accustomed to our cabin's characteristics and it didn't affect our sleep. Each cabin had a hot shower, which was used four times a day to wash off and warm up immediately after a dive and before the next meal. No shortage of hot, reverse osmosis water.
The Meals
Since my wife added "no hot, spicy" to her pre-voyage meal questionnaire about allergies, etc., we expected to be cramped in our choices. Although some mild spice was common with many dishes, there was no shortage of incredibly creative dishes with lots of local fish as well as chicken and meat dishes. Notwithstanding religious custom, there was plenty of alcohol for sale on board at restaurant prices. However, your first drink made your last dive the last of the day. You made your personal meal selection after an announcement by the maitre d' during the morning, and afternoon snacks. Your particular choice was brought out individually in the large common room or up on the upper deck if the evening weather cooperated. Grilling up on deck was a treat on three evenings.
There were FIVE meals a day, starting with a continental breakfast "plus" before the first dive of the day, and a full breakfast before the second. Lunch was served before the third dive, and the fourth dive always happened just before a fast sunset, so that it was always a night dive. A sumptuous dinner followed, and our group made liberal use of the liquor locker.
The Conditions
Before leaving, my wife would check the weather on a twice-daily basis. It drove me nuts. Weather.com noted "rain", "rain", "rain" every damned day, and indeed when we finally arrived, we sat in a hut for 45 min while a downpour passed through before taking one of the two tenders out to the boat moored in Sorong harbor. But as it turned out, rain was a brief, every-other-day phenom that didn't affect a thing. While we didn't have lots of hot sunshine, that worked in our favor, as the weather was still delicious, the water was uniformly 82-84F at all depths and the air temp made T-shirts the most you'd wear on deck. Came home with a tan, but no loss of skin.
Dive Conditions
I'll state right off that visibility was occasionally a disappointment. And the reason is that there's SO MUCH underwater life, including on the microscopic scale. Worst was 30ft, best was maybe 70ft, and no Caribbean 'unlimited vis'.
Current was variable, and only occasionally tiring. In the "worst" spots, we did just a gentle drift dive. In the medium spots, the guides were perfect in choosing a route, with only a bit of effort at the finish as you circled a small reef or island. Most of the time, it was negligible, and perfect for macro and other photography. On that note, there were two days out of the twelve devoted to muck diving, where the divemasters were just that in picking out tiny hidden stuff.
The reefs were in very good shape, with perhaps only three or four out of the 39 dive sites showing coral stress.
The Rules
Other than Sorong harbor, which was a cesspool of plastic trash and oil slicks, the islands west of West Papua were pristine paradises. The people are very poor, but are good at not spoiling their own back yard. There was no competition for space with the fishermen, while the only competition was for the prime dive sites, which are carefully apportioned with boats like ours getting good picks (since we arrived very early in the morning or the night before). Moorings are widely used, with one large steel Chinese dive touring vessel the butt of much scorn and dislike by the crew over its known habit of anchoring close to the reef on its own hook. We saw it twice, briefly, during our 12 days.
The divemasters were particular about us staying off the reef, and reef hooks and gloves were not permitted. The first day was a pair of acclimatization dives, where the DM's assessed us as much as we assessed them. With half our group over 60 and three over 70, we found out that the crew had plans to dial things back a bit. They quickly found out otherwise, and we were told that we dove more and drank more than any of the last six charters.
I was initially distressed at being "assigned" a DM who would guide our group of four for the entirety of the trip. "I don't need no stinkin' DM!" Well, I was sorely mistaken. Fery, our DM/guide was a master at finding stuff, was personable, and made the trip so much more than it would have been without him. It was not at all intrusive.
Indeed the dive guides kept an eye on each other as well as us, and when special finds came up, there'd be two groups pulled together so that everyone could enjoy the blue-ringed octopus, or the Wobbegong shark or the pygmy seahorse. There were thirteen of us in four groups, and we never saw more than one other group close by.
I was also distressed at the planned 60-minute dive limit, which they adhered to religiously. As it turned out, just completing 39 dives was challenge enough, without wanting an extra 10-15min because your air use was good. By the end of day #2, I wasn't sure I could even dive every day, much less do 39 dives. But it was all jet lag and getting into the rhythm, and pretty soon we had it down.
The Travel
If I never return to Raja Ampat, it'll be for one of two reasons. It's possible that the diver density will increase to the point that conditions will suffer or commercialization will destroy the special atmosphere of these magical islands.
But it's also possible that I just won't be able to bear another 47-hour trip, magical destination or not. Unlike Fiji, for example, there are no direct flights to Sorong. We might have done better pre-COVID or at a different time of year, but my wife and I had 3 hours pre-departure from SFO, 17 hours to Singapore, 9 hours layover, 2 hours to Jakarta, 11 hours layover in Jakarta with a blessedly cheap $30 per person hotel rental for 6 hours while we crashed, and a final 5 hours to Sorong. I'm thinking, maybe never again. And maybe by the time there's a non-stop to tiny Sorong, Raja Ampat may have lost its magic. Dunno.
See Post #2
